New Beginnings (A Love Story)

by: Yenina

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO.

Author's Note: The plot's already in my head only waiting to get jotted down to a document. Just a few more missing pieces and I think it's gonna be good enough.

HOWEVER, I am no author. I know next to nothing about creative writing. I also have little knowledge with the uses of punctuations. My grammar may suck. I find it good enough but I don't know about the rest of the world. You have been warned. Because of the following limitations in my writing skills, I may drop this story in the middle even though it's pretty much plotted out. Simply because I already had a hard time writing this one chapter. I don't know how I'll fare with the rest. Seriously, I'm scared of the challenge ahead. I just had to write this one because it just won't let me sleep until I put it down on paper.

I would love to have some encouragements though.

Pairings: Blatant Sasuke/Naruto or Naruto/Sasuke. Still undecided at this point.

Warning: Rating may go up to M in the future. Not Beta-edited so read at your own risk!

CHAPTER 1: "GOING HOME"

It was a foggy day outside the village of Konoha. Nobody was coming in or out of the gate knowing what danger the forest could offer to hapless travelers. Still, the guards-on-duty were more vigilant than ever in guarding the gates and walls of the village. They know that the chances of an unprecedented attack was higher when nature decides to be fickle and help the invaders.

The people within the village had no similar worries. The barrier that protects the village also helps clear out the fog a little, thereby, letting them run and play to their heart's content on what looks to be a usual sunday morning. Mothers were haggling with merchants. Fathers drank beer to their heart's content. Children were always everywhere, carefree and wild.

Team Kakashi, as they are still called today whenever fellow their shinobi see them together, were taking their usual weekend lunch get-together at Ichiraku's Ramen stand. Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Sai, as usual, talked about how their week went and if there was anything new about them. It was clearly a beautiful ordinary Sunday.

Suddenly, as though out of a movie, there was a sudden shift in the fog just outside the gate. A silhouette of a man appeared out of the fog, walking towards the village. The chuunin guards on duty, Kotetsu and Izumo, were suddenly on high alert trying to discern who the lone figure was. As the fog cleared around the man, both chuunins stood there apparently stunned for mere seconds.

It was the prodigal Sasuke Uchiha. The sole heir to the Uchiha fortune and former defector of Konohagakure. He was carrying what looked like a small sack or bundle on his shoulder.

"Oi, oi, It's the Uchiha." Kotetsu said, "Go and call Tsunade-sama, Izumo, and maybe Team Kakashi too."

"I'm on it." Then Izumo disappears. 'Naruto-kun's gonna be delirious for sure.'

Kotetsu then faces Sasuke, before he could completely enter the village. "I would just enter the village, if I were you, Uchiha-san."

"Hn." Sasuke stopped because of his warning, then decided to forego the warning. Stepping one foot into the village threshold, signifying entry to the village.

On the next seconds that followed, almost a dozen of high-strung Konoha shinobi appeared at the gate. Weapons raised and tension rolling all over their bodies. Two of the shinobi suddenly reappeared behind him, wary of the bundle he was carrying. One shinobi held a kunai against his neck, while the other pointed a katana at his back. Only one man among the group, looked nonchalant enough not to raise any weapon but with equally alert eyes.

"Uchiha." The man called.

"Nara." Sasuke called back to his former colleague. "Last I heard I was welcome to come back anytime."

"Ahh... You really are more troublesome than you're worth Uchiha." Shikamaru stated, "Still, when you don't even come by for a visit, at least once in four years. Your welcome is bound to we overwritten. Only Naruto and your reinstated inheritance is keeping you from the bingo book now."

"Hn." He acknowledges, "Tell them to put down their weapons, Nara."

"You realize I can't do that until the Hokage comes over, right?"

Slowly, the bundle the Uchiha carried shifted and one tiny hand wriggled out of its confinement, followed by a black tuft of hair and an incredibly blue dazed eyes. It was a child. A little boy, to be exact. The child looked around dazedly but his eyes immediately went wide and held on to Sasuke's cloak with fear, seeing the sharp object pointed at the older man's neck.

"'Tou-chan?" The child trembled.

"Hush, Itachi. It's alright." Sasuke then pointedly looked at Shikamaru Nara again who looks just as surprised as everybody else about the child and surprisingly, the name. "I'm not saying this again, Nara. Tell them to put down their weapons. You're scaring my child."

"Still troublesome as usual, Uchiha." Shikamaru stated tiredly but with critical eyes assessing the situation. "It's surprising enough that you've finally come back four years after the war, but really... a kid? You've been playing house all this time and you never even sent a message."

"Hn."

"Ahh, troublesome. Troublesome. Put down your weapons everyone. I don't think he's a threat. At least not now when he's with a kid." Shikamaru looked up towards the heavens. "Anyway Uchiha, stay where you are until the Hokage arrives."

Some of the Konoha ninja were confused if they were to follow the order and could not rest their weapons completely. Still, the two behind him brought down their weapons seeing the fear in the child's eyes but did not leave the Uchiha alone.

"Oi oi! I'm no kid! I'mma 'Tachi Uchiya, an' I'm 'Tou-chan's Chibi-'tsune! I'm no kid-tteba!" The boy screamed in a shrill voice pointing rudely at him. Shikamaru's forehead ticked at the uncanny resemblance, reminding everyone of a small child that once roamed the village playing pranks to be acknowledged.

"I told you that it's rude to point your fingers, Itachi." Sasuke scolded but obviously somewhat pleased and gloating.

Shikamaru just sighed. The rest of the shinobi that still had their weapons raised somehow relaxed by the child's antics. 'Seems the older Uchiha's smittened.'

Izumo ran so fast that some of the ordinary Konoha citizens worried what the hustle was about before going back to their usual business throwing it off as the usual shinobi pranks. He created a shadow clone to get to Naruto while he jumped up to the roof top towards the Hokage building.

"Tsunade-sama!" Izumo barged into the door careless of the protocol this time. "It's the Uchiha! He's back!"

"What!?" Tsunade exclaimed crushing the table with the force of her punch, then she was gone.

"Naruto-san! Kakashi-san!" Clone Izumo shouted at the top of his voice upon seeing Team Kakashi standing up, finished with their lunch. Everybody looked at him puzzled. "Sasuke-"

Then just like that, Naruto disappeared leaving a residual trail of orange from his chakra mode, leaving everyone else behind following after him.

Naruto immediately flared up with anger upon hearing Sasuke's name. Before everybody could blink, he was already in his chakra mode sensing where Sasuke was at the moment. He stopped for a split second upon sensing what felt like Kurama's chakra, where he located Sasuke's chakra signature, but he immediately disregarded it. His entire body honed in only on Sasuke.

Sasuke tensed suddenly feeling Naruto's chakra closing in on a speed of light. Naruto then appeared, before anyone else fully realized it, directing a chakra-filled punch at full speed towards Sasuke. In split seconds, his Mangenkyo Sharingan activated and protected him and Itachi within Susanoo's ribcage.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried as he hurled his fist towards the man standing at the gate, belatedly acknowledging the child, who cowered in fear from their Father's sudden display of power and the tension he gave off. It was too late to stop himself in the split second it took for his fist to collide to Sasuke's Susanoo. The impact threw the rest of the shinobi off their feet but Sasuke held his ground.

Waves of of boiling anger in Sasuke made an arm form on his Susanoo shroud, swiping Naruto far away from him with all his might.

"You fucking idiot." Sasuke hissed anger rolling through him. Itachi immediately started crying his lungs out upon feeling Sasuke's discontent especially the giant moster covering him and his father. Upon seeing the child's fear, he was immediately drained off his anger. Susanoo disappeared with his sharingan.

Naruto's sudden burst of anger from earlier seemed to also drain off from him seeing Sasuke unprotected by the Susanoo hushing the child. It was so domesticated that Naruto was stumped and just couldn't find the strength to get angry again.

The man held Itachi tightly against his chest whispering quietly in his ears. When Itachi finally calmed down, he then stared at Naruto long and hard, like a ferocious beast that it almost made the rest of the shinobi present cower with fear. "Usuratonkachi, be glad that you didn't singe even a single strand of my son's hair. I would have skinned you alive."

Simultaneous questions were hurled at him by his former teammates. "The hell, teme. Your kid!?"

"WHAT!?" Two women, Tsunade and Sakura, screamed behind them finally making an appearance with the rest of Team Kakashi.

"Who's the mother!?" Sakura asked without any tact.

Sasuke's cheeks turned a slight shade pink from the question as his eyes slightly turned to look towards a gaping Naruto. He kept silent, not wanting to answer.

Shikamaru catalogued his reaction amidst all the confusion of the returning Uchiha and the now confirmed little new Uchiha in tow.

"So, what does a missing-nin under probation want suddenly appearing in front of us again?" Tsunade finally asked sarcastically.

"I would prefer if we could talk in private, Hokage-sama. " Sasuke answered with a tone that gives no room for contradiction, "Preferably with the Usuratonkachi and Sakura."

"Still not past the name-calling, teme?" Naruto piped in obviously pleased.

"Hn." Naruto bristled at the very Sasuke-like reply. "I prefer you not getting angry in near my son, Naruto. He gets restless."

"My, my, Sasuke-chan." Kakashi joined the conversation, his tone obviously disregarding the serious atmosphere, "You won't even invite your former teacher in the conversation?"

"It doesn't involve you, Kakashi." Sasuke deadpanned but obviously ticked by the namesake.

"Still as harsh as ever with your old teacher, I see." Kakashi smiled behind the mask obviously laughing at his old student's grave tone. Sai chuckled behind him. "Doesn't really matter, does it? I'll be there and you can bet on it, Sasuke-chan."

"But who's the Mother, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura questioned again, displeased with being disregarded.

"Not now, Sakura." Sasuke answered in a clipped tone.

"What the hell, Teme." Naruto almost screamed still riled up as Itachi tensed again. Walking fast until he was almost beside them. "What took you so long!? I should have fucking broken your limbs four years ago if I had known you'd take this long to come back."

The little boy peaked from under Sasuke's collar and had a stare down with Naruto. His expressive eyes showed just how much he did not like this man threatening his father although he was still tense from the feelings permeating the air. Naruto stared back pouting at the kid for his obvious dislike of him. Children liked him, so Sasuke's kid showing him obvious dislike made him feel like a kid all over again with his childish rivalry with Sasuke. "What, what? Wat'cha lookin' at kiddo-ttebayo?"

"Baka! I'm 'Tachi Uchiya an' uhm, Imma beat you when I grow up strong like 'Tou-chan! You baka and I not like you-tteba!" Itachi shouted back at him obviously upset with a matching frown that rivalled Naruto's, rudely pointing fingers at him."You hurt my ' you bad dog-tteba!"

"Whatt-nandattebayo!?" Naruto obviously at this point forgot that he was fighting with a mere child. The rest of the shinobi watching finally lost the last tension left in their bodies earlier and were trying to keep their laughter in. "You chibi-teme! You don't call people bad dog-ttebayo! And don't copy my stutters-ttebayo!"

Sasuke couldn't help the almost laugh that came out as he smirked with mirth liking the fact that his son was winning the verbal fight with the idiot. Although he realized just how upset Itachi was with the current situation.

"I'm no teme! I'm 'tsune-chan, 'Tou-chan calls me his chibi 'tsune-chan! I'm no chibi-teme, you old bad dog-tteba!"

"Oh yeah? I can call you chibi-teme, anytime I wanna-ttebayo!" Naruto smirked childishly. Flicking a "chibi chibi chiiibii-teme!"

A fist came fast and hard on his head. "Stop being such a kid, Naruto. You're obviously upsetting the kid."

"But, Sakura-chan-"

"No buts Naruto." Sakura firmly stated finally looking back at Tsunade who was obviously enjoying the conversation. "Tsunade-sama?"

"All right, all right. The circus is over. Everybody go back to your post we'll be taking over guarding the Uchiha brats. You come with us, Shikamaru." She finally ordered and everybody immediately left except for Shikamaru.

"'Tou-chan, I don't like them. They hurt you and he call us teme-tteba! He's not nice ,uhm, like Unc'e Juugo at all! An' they keep calling me kid! Let's go home-tteba!" Looking up at his 'Tou-chan on the verge of tears.

"Well, for now, we'll just have to bear with it, won't we, Itachi?" Sasuke replied sighing. He might like the fact that his son was obviously winning the verbal argument with Naruto but the childishness was making him impatient.

Big droplets of suppressed tears started falling down Itachi's expressive face that everybody couldn't help but feel for him. He hid his face on his father's cloak draining it with snots and tears, "I wanna go home to Unc'e Juugo..."

"Hush hush, Itachi." Sasuke looked down at his son's form, he may look expressionless to those who doesn't know him as well as his old companions. Still, Naruto saw that he was upset for his son. Feeling slightly guilty for upsetting the child, he decided to do something about it.

"Hey, hey, gaki. Stop being a crybaby and see what I've got here." He said touching the child's head while forming a one-handed seal, not oblivious to the suddenly wary Uchiha. Curiously, Itachi couldn't help but peak. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

With a poof, Gamatatsu, the yellow plump teenage toad appeared. "Yo, Naruto-niichan. What's up?"

"Kyahh! A frog! And it talks, 'Tou-chan!" Itachi suddenly squealed childishly. He perked up instantly, not caring for all the snot and tears marring his face. He started clapping his hands so fast and jumping on his father's arms that he almost fell off. His blue eyes were shining with happiness as he attempted to push himself completely off his father to the almost human-sized yellow toad. "'wanna ride-tteba!"

"Okay, okay li'l kid. This chubby toad ride you've got here is Gamatatsu." Naruto smirked seeing Sasuke's son finally happy, as if forgetting his earlier woes completely. He picked him off from Sasuke's tight grip and placed him on Gamatatsu's neck."Gamatatsu, can you lend the kid your back for a while?"

"Sure thing, Naruto-niichan." Gamatatsu smiled, "Since when did you have a tadpole of your own Naruto-niichan?"

Gamatatsu decided to forego the answer he wanted to hear after seeing the puzzled look on Naruto. Sasuke's face immediately went blank.

"Hey, hey, Gama-chan. My name is 'Tachi and I'm, uhm, two year old!" Itachi called out for his attention raising two fingers to signify his age enthusiastically like any other toddlers would.

"Really 'Tachi-chan? I'm sixteen in Mount Myoboku." Gamatatse replied. "Wanna go ahead and jump around going to the Hokage Tower?"

"Un, un! 'Can I 'Tou-chan!?" Itachi asked his father for permission with big doe eyes. "I really wanna!"

Sasuke looked back at Tsunade and Naruto silently affirming the safety of his son.

"Sai can go ahead with him." Tsunade replied to the silent question. "As for you, Sasuke Uchiha, your status will still depend on the outcome of our meeting. So I do hope you can satisfy our questions."

"Hn." Sasuke answered before looking back to his son, "Go ahead but don't forget to clip your foot tightly to the toad."

"Un!" Itachi nodded, then the soles of his feet was immediately covered with light yellow chakra which he attached to Gamatatsu's side before they started hopping off. Sai hopped on to the toad before he got left behind.

"Hey, hey bastard. What's going on here?" Naruto asked getting more confused upon confirming that the child did have a diluted variation of Kurama's, the Kyuubi, chakra.

Sasuke looked back at him with such venom and hate seeing that his son was now far away from him to feel his anger. "I'm the one who should be asking you the fucking question, Uzumaki. Everything is your fault."

"The hell, bastard!?"

Shikamaru noticed all the subtle changes in Sasuke's body language from the start but still kept his mouth shut just waiting for everything to unfold on it's own. The similarity in personalities between Naruto and Itachi was so scarily obvious that they could almost be twins if not for the obviously Uchiha looks sans the blue eyes. Also adding Sasuke's rage to the mix and the child's chakra similarity to Naruto. It will be nothing short of a surprise for sure.

Author's major notes: Yes. I'll be using a lot of Japanese honorifics. Expressions the characters usually use like chibi, teme, dobe, usutaronkatchi, ttebayo, tteba, and shannaro, to name a few. Because I'm so used to them. It may not look right to some of you but I need it. It simply doesn't feel so Naruto-like if I don't use it in this particular story since there is a need for it.