Notes: The most disappointing part of Road to Ninja to me was that the Genjutsu World was just that: genjutsu. I was raised on fandoms where characters were sent to actual alternate dimensions. Because then the things they did there generally had lasting consequences that spilled over after the return to the home world, in the form of people unexpectedly crossing over later on: ex-lovers, sired children, reborn bad guys, etc. Which technically can't happen with the Genjutsu World, since all the inhabitants and the world itself were fake. But then, Itachi faked being a traitor, Nagato faked being six people and the leader of Akatsuki at the same time, Obito faked being Tobi being Madara, and there are even jutsu that can make death itself fake. So excuse me if I have doubts about anything in Naruto being genuinely fake anymore.

Summary: Naruto names his first son after Menma. Which wouldn't be a problem, except that the boy seems to know and be capable of things that only the original Menma should. Including destroying everything around him, starting with his own family.

The Second Firstborn

A Naruto Fanfic by

Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Chapter 1: Grave Reflections

"Somehow, I knew you'd be here."

The boy slowly looked over his shoulder at the woman, making a half-hearted effort to push his shaggy, black hair out of his golden eyes. "That's why I didn't inform Iruka-sensei. I knew you would find me, Hinata-san."

Hyūga Hinata sighed deeply as she stepped forward to join the boy in front the pristine grave marker. She lowered her head and offered a silent prayer, then gave the boy a few more moments of peace before she reached over and gently placed her hand on his head. "You shouldn't just disappear like that, even if you know I can find you. Your father was very worried when you didn't show up after graduation. He has bad memories about his own, you know that."

"I wanted to show her," the boy responded simply. Then he smirked. "Tell me the truth, Hinata-san. Would he have missed me at all if you hadn't noticed first?"

Hinata frowned. "That isn't fair. You know your father loves you very much."

The boy shrugged. "He broke his promise. He swore his love for the village would never be greater than his love for family. He promised me that he wouldn't become his father. But in some ways, we might all be better off if I was an orphan."

"You don't mean that," Hinata whispered. "I know you don't, Menma-kun."

Uzumaki Menma did not reply, his gaze trained on the grave marker in front of him. He reached out to gently trace the three symbols carved into it: the whirlpool of the Uzumaki clan, the leaf of Konoha, and the cloud of Akatsuki.

Hinata's eyes were drawn to the thick, black bracers on Menma's arms, and after a moment's pause, she activated her Byakugan and stared at them. If Menma noticed, he showed no sign until Hinata spoke again. "Your chakra is starting to overwhelm the suppression seals again," she noted. "I can add some new ones tonight."

"Of course," he murmured. "I'm an Uzumaki. That's all we do: overwhelm. Even ourselves."

Hinata winced. "I really think we should go now, Menma-kun. Your father will be sending out ANBU to look for you soon, if he hasn't already."

Sighing, Menma slowly got to his feet. "Can you give me one more minute alone, Hinata-san? I'm sure I won't be allowed to go out for a while after this."

"I'll be right outside," Hinata promised.

After she had gone, Menma turned away from the grave marker, only to find another woman standing beside him.

"You can't keep doing this," she warned him.

Menma shook his head, completely unconcerned. "I can, actually. I have all the necessary materials."

"You shouldn't keep doing this," she corrected. "Someone will find out... eventually."

"I doubt it. The one person who should know, doesn't. And there are only so many experts in space-time ninjutsu. All that aside, no one truly knows what my chakra is capable of, how potent it can be. Sometimes I even amaze myself."

At a loss, she tried the only tactic left to her. "Please stop this, Menma. As a favor to me."

His eyes narrowed, and his hands balled tightly into fists. "No," he said softly. "You gave me life. You died to give me life."

She smiled sadly. "And I would again. But what you've given me... it isn't life."

"It's enough for me," Menma stated. "Every day I can see you before me is one more day I can convince myself that I exist for a good reason."

"This isn't why you were born."

"I was born to love you, and I'll never stop!" he shouted. Menma took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "I don't understand you. I was cursed with this dark chakra, and it only ever brought me pain and misery. I finally find a way to do something good with it, and you tell me not to."

She shook her head. "I didn't ask to be resurrected from the dead, and then hidden away in a rip in the universe that only you can see. I certainly didn't ask you to kill someone again to maintain this stolen half-life."

He stared up at her with a sad smile. "No. You only asked me to let you die, and I did that. I tried to live without you, and you know what I realized? I didn't ask for this, either. But you decided to give me life, didn't you? I had no say in it. If you can be selfish out of love, then so can I. I've earned that much."

"Your father will never forgive you. You promised him that it was only the one time."

"Then I would say that makes us even for promises broken." Menma took her hand and gently kissed it, holding it against his cheek. "My dream is to not be alone. He can give Hokage to someone else."

"That's not-" she began to say, but was interrupted.

"I was late," said a new voice. "I have no excuse."

Menma blinked and turned to see his father standing several feet away. Sighing, the boy turned away again. "You're the Hokage. I know you're busy."

"I wanted to be there today. I know how important it was for you."

Menma bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, the coppery taste filling him with a sense of familiarity, if not comfort. "You sent Hinata-san after me. That was enough. She's... going to be my mother, soon."

"Stepmother," his father said, almost harshly. "No one will ever replace your mother with us. You know that."

"You don't have to keep saying that."

"I don't expect you to forget her. I never will. All we're doing is surviving, Menma. It's not the same as forgetting. It's just moving on past the worst of the pain."

"Yeah," Menma agreed, forcing himself to smile as he faced his father again. "I just wanted to show her that I graduated. I shouldn't have run off without telling anyone."

"You told her," his father replied with an easy shrug and an easier smile. "That counts. That will always count."

The instant acceptance caused guilt to rise up in Menma's heart, which gave way to something far worse. Agony erupted in his belly, and his legs lost their strength as he began to collapse. He only managed to fall into his father's arms, despite the distance that had once been between them. "Why?" Menma gasped against the man's chest. "Why do you love me, even when I hate you?"

Uzumaki Naruto closed his eyes and buried his face in his son's hair. "I defeated the hate inside of a giant fox. You think I'm going to back down from the hate in my own son?" He laughed softly and kissed the top of Menma's head. "It's okay. You can let it out. I heal fast."

With a choked sob, Menma threw back his head and opened his mouth, his hatred of nearly everything in his life manifesting in the form of a large, violently swirling black sphere.

At once, Naruto began to compress the mass of power through sheer willpower, and once it was small enough, he shoved it into his mouth and forced himself to swallow. His blue eyes briefly flashed black, and he clung to his son desperately as tears spilled out of his eyes. "Wow," he groaned. "That was a rough one."

Menma reached up with a trembling hand to catch the blood that had slowly begun leaking from his father's mouth. "I'm destined to kill you both, aren't I?" he whispered.

"Nah. I'm too stubborn to die," Naruto replied quickly, grinning at him. "Still mad at me?"

Menma shook his head, and didn't resist when Naruto picked him up and rocked him gently, as if he were a much younger child. The boy was asleep in seconds.

"We'll be okay, buddy," Naruto sighed. "Somehow. I promise."

Unable to watch any longer, the woman turned away. Though she was not truly alive anymore, there was a definite ache where her heart had once been, a true testament to Menma's genius.

Shifting Menma to a more comfortable position, Naruto stepped toward the grave marker. "I still don't know if it's right. But it was your last wish, and I'm going to honor it. I'll... come visit you after the wedding. I'm still trying to talk Hinata out of coming with me, but we'll see."

"Let her come, Naruto," the woman sighed. "She's only doing exactly what I asked her to: being the wife and mother I couldn't."

Naruto didn't hear her, of course, and kept talking. "It's getting worse, you know. They don't talk about executing him anymore, either because they don't think he can actually die, or they're afraid of what I'd do. Now it's all exile or prison. As if he'd be less dangerous without me around to protect them from all of his hate. I wonder if this is how it would have been, had my father lived. As it is, Konohamaru's the only one I know for sure wouldn't turn on us. And sometimes I think that's only because he's too blindly loyal to realize that he's guaranteed my spot either way." He sighed and stared into the sky. "I'm starting to realize how truly stressful your job was. Shikamaru actually took maternity leave so he could stay home with Temari and avoid more paperwork. Hasn't done that since their first kid."

The woman smiled faintly at the thought of Shikamaru's five girls, all born with their mother's hair. Shikamaru couldn't go anywhere in the village without someone teasing him about his genes being too lazy to be dominant.

"Tsunade still won't look me in the eye," Naruto murmured. "Menma's never even met her. I shudder to think what she might say to him."

"Nothing he hasn't told himself a hundred times already," the woman whispered.

"Sakura will at least glare at him. And me, of course. Menma didn't know her before, so it never even occurred to him that she used to be nice sometimes. But I guess he feels that way about several people who used to be our friends."

"You're going be late, Naruto," she murmured, shuffling closer and hesitantly brushing her fingertips over his hand. She could not actually touch him, nor could she feel or see anything that indicated the gesture had the intended impact, at first.

But after a long moment, Naruto blinked slowly, frowning. "Oh, right. I've got that council meeting today." He glanced down at Menma and sighed. "Sorry, buddy. Hinata will take you home, and we'll celebrate tonight." Although the grave marker was already spotless, Naruto created a small gust of wind to blow away any dust that might have settled since his last visit. Had he been thinking about it, he would have realized that Menma performed far more thorough cleanings on a daily basis. Without warning, Naruto sank down in front of the grave, letting his forehead fall against the cool stone. He stayed that way for several minutes, then abruptly rose and carried Menma out of the cemetery. By the time he reached the gate and handed Menma to Hinata, the other woman was gone, and any sign of her presence, though virtually undetectable to begin with, was gone as quickly as the brief wind Naruto had summoned.

The white tiger lifted its head from the bed moments before the door opened, admitting Hinata and the still sleeping Menma she carried in her arms. Without hesitation, she carefully placed the boy beside the tiger, covering him with a small blanket and tenderly brushing the hair out of his face, though it stubbornly resisted her efforts, as always. Hinata sighed and eventually gave up, finally turning her attention to the tiger, who had watched her in attentive yet unobtrusive silence. "Please watch over him, Kit. It's been a rough day."

The tiger dipped its head once in acknowledgement, then settled down beside Menma, positioned between the boy and any intruder who might enter through the door or window.

Hinata gave the tiger's head a quick stroke of appreciation, then quietly slipped out of the room.

Naruto had always hated council meetings. It seemed as if the majority of the members were against him, which wouldn't have surprised him, had they been the same ones that just thought of him as the demon brat. Instead, the council was now largely people he'd known most of his life, had actually fought alongside, and considered friends. And despite their differences in opinion, many of them still considered him a trusted comrade.

But Menma was the demon brat now, and he was a lot more dangerous and unstable than Naruto had ever been. The irony was that there was no need for Naruto's generation to warn their children to stay away from Menma: the kids had either figured it out for themselves, or had been warned away by Menma personally. He'd gone out of his way to avoid having any friends that he might accidentally hurt. About the only ones who would come near him at all were the Nara girls, mostly because Temari had refused to let her daughters grow up as victims of the same ignorance that had kept her from being closer to Gaara when they were younger, which she still regretted.

The truly sad part was that most people didn't actually have anything against Menma personally. They simply feared his enormous power, which admittedly had gotten out of control several times, and Naruto could not really blame them. Short of actually imprisoning his son and placing restriction seals over every inch of his body, he'd done everything in his power to keep Menma and everyone else safe. It was no secret that much of Menma's power was tied to negative emotions: when he got upset, he was much stronger, and when he was happy, he was far less of a threat. But Menma was rarely ever happy, and so he rarely ever stopped being a threat to those around him.

So it was no surprise that council meetings were essentially just everyone else in the room pleading with Naruto to do something about his son. They had learned the hard way that trying to bully him into decisions didn't work: the last person to try that was still on border patrol with no hope of returning anytime soon. Anyway, Naruto feeling pressured inevitably lead to Menma feeling stressed, which defeated the purpose of trying to keep him under control entirely. For that reason, Naruto's approaching marriage to Hinata was a godsend to them all.

Surprisingly, while Menma did not actually seem to like Hinata, he accepted her with a great deal more tolerance than he offered anyone else. No one had expected this, given how devoted Menma was to his late mother, but then Hinata insisted on giving the woman's memory far more respect than was considered normal or healthy, for Menma's sake as much as Naruto's. Hinata was also among the few people whose feelings for Naruto had been fairly consistent over the years: she had been in love with him since they were children, and even if Menma did not like that, he definitely respected it. Furthermore, since the village's top two medic-nin were no longer on speaking terms with Naruto, Hinata was essentially the only one who ever treated Menma, even if she was not quite in the same class as Tsunade and Sakura. Thankfully, Menma seemed to heal just as rapidly as his father, so only so much medical treatment was even required. And if push came to shove, Sakura could very reluctantly be persuaded to examine Menma, so long as failing to do so would mean possibly endangering someone else.

Naruto had always known exactly why Tsunade was angry with him: ultimately, it had been his decision to have Menma. His late wife had eventually agreed, but Naruto had always been the driving force behind the idea. Perhaps he hadn't been aware of all of the risks, but he'd been willing to accept the ones he had known about. And she had accepted the ones that only she'd known about. The end result was that the child had unintentionally killed his mother. That's how Tsunade saw it, anyway, and there was a damning amount of evidence on her side. That, Naruto could understand.

Sakura had been the real surprise, however. Despite the fact that it had been years since they'd last dated, and that Naruto had been fairly certain that she no longer had any interest in him that way, she seemed to take the death of Menma's mother fairly personally. Naruto had known that they often worked together, but had never thought of them as being especially close. Especially since Sakura had never really approved of the relationship to begin with. Yet she still felt compelled to be angry at Naruto and Menma for unknown reasons. Naruto had tried to talk to her, but ceased all attempts when she flat out said that Menma never should have been born. Possibly the real reason that Naruto took it so badly was because Tsunade had said much the same thing, and a small part of him feared they might both be right.

But there was no going back. Naruto had made his choice, his wife was dead as a result, and he would do anything to protect the little bit of her he had left in the form of Menma. Even if it was starting to look like he might have to resign as Hokage to do so, Naruto knew he would in a heartbeat. It would be much more difficult to remain in the village then, but Naruto figured that if he did ever resign, the smartest thing would be to leave the village that same day. Menma only enjoyed as much freedom as he did because Naruto was Hokage, and without that, they were both sitting ducks. Naruto had already purchased a house in Suna for the occasion, though in Gaara's name so that there would be no questions asked.

It was nearly midnight when Naruto returned home. Hinata took one look at his face and pressed a hot cup of tea into his hands. Naruto stared at the cup, put it aside, and drew Hinata into his arms, burying his face in her neck and inhaling her familiar scent. Though startled, Hinata quickly returned the embrace.

"I almost punched Shino in the face today," he confessed out of the blue.

Hinata stiffened slightly. "Why?"

"He suggested that if Menma were subjected to the ritual that bonds the Aburame to their bugs, his chakra might be more easily controlled. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, and that it was perfectly logical to him. And it's probably the only way the bugs could even attempt to consume his chakra without spontaneously combusting. But I still wanted to deck him for even suggesting it. I'm an idiot, right?"

"No," Hinata murmured, petting his hair in an attempt to soothe him. "Protecting your son is your job, whether you're the Hokage or not. Anyway, I feel quite certain that his mother wouldn't have done it, and I can't imagine Menma would be happy about this idea, either."

"Would you do it? If he was your son?"

Hinata's voice lost a bit of its warmth. "Naruto, if Menma were my son, bugs would be the least of his worries. Or have you forgotten how we got engaged?"

"How could I forget? I basically told your father that he could either be the father-in-law of the next Hokage, or he could be the idiot who passed up the chance to be the father-in-law of the next Hokage. And that even if the Hokage were actually controlled by someone, he still couldn't give the appearance of being controlled. Which meant his wife couldn't be a Branch House member, and neither could anyone in her immediate family."

"You forgot the part where you called the rest of the clan council a bunch of dusty old farts."

Naruto grinned. "Nah, I just love hearing you say it more." As an afterthought, he added, "Not apologizing to Shino, though."

"Well, you didn't actually hit him?" Hinata asked.

"Nope. But I think he could tell that I really wanted to."

"Since you didn't come home covered in bugs, I think he's over it. I'll ask him later to be sure."

"Thanks." Naruto released her and tried the tea. "Menma still up?"

"No. He's been asleep since we got back from the cemetery."

Naruto winced. "You don't think he's faking, so I wouldn't get to celebrate with him?"

"Do I think your son faked vomiting up a mass of hatred so that he'd be too exhausted to celebrate with you? No, Naruto, and if he did, he'd be more diabolical than any enemy you ever faced."

He rolled his eyes. "I meant, do you think he's pretending to be asleep still?"

"If he was, would there be any point to dragging him out of bed, if he obviously didn't want to get up that badly?"

"...you're protecting him from me, aren't you?"

Hinata sighed. "Only from your rather exhausting brand of love, apparently."

Naruto pouted at her. "You do realize that once we're married, you'll only be benefiting from that, yes?"

She smiled at him. "Of course I do. But we aren't married yet. And even once we are, if Menma wants to hide behind me, how could I say no? Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"That he's depending on you, yes. That you're both teaming up against me, no. Where's my teammate, huh?"

Hinata blushed, and before she could stop herself, began poking her fingers together, an old habit from childhood she had mostly put behind her. "That's... I mean, we can discuss expanding the teams after we're married," she replied firmly.

"Hopefully more than discuss," Naruto added cheekily, grinning when she swatted his arm.

Upstairs, Menma ceased the extra chakra flow to his ears, having heard enough. "They truly love each other."

"Was that ever really in question?" Kit asked, waving her tail lazily. "Your father may be an idiot, but he would not burden you with this woman if she wasn't at least satisfactory. And she seems to be much more than that."

"She is. And that's what bothers me most." Menma shut his eyes tightly. "I don't ever remember him being this happy before."

"Why would he have been? He was watching your mother die slowly, and unable to prevent it. You can only fake so much happiness in a situation like that. You certainly weren't happy then, either."

"It's not supposed to be better without her," Menma whispered.

"You don't want it to be better," Kit corrected. "But if you accept that your mother wanted what was best for you, then it makes perfect sense that the woman she selected to be your father's second wife would make things better than your mother was able to herself, though not for lack of trying. She was bedridden and terribly weak much of the time, there was only so much she could do."

"They'll have children. Children that aren't cursed like me. Then what?"

"Do you not want siblings? Suppose they could take the pressure off of you, and prove that your father is capable of having normal children. That would definitely please the village. And it would give you something new to focus on: being an older brother."

"Stepbrother," Menma murmured.

"They will make the distinction for your stepmother, but not for your father's children, so don't let them hear you say that," Kit warned.

"I won't," Menma muttered, "let them hear me."

Naruto hadn't slept properly in days. He knew exactly why.

Hinata, he could fall asleep with. The very empty bed he retired to every night, not so much.

She was so weird about some things. Naruto had talked Hinata into moving in with him and Menma even before the engagement. It had not been that big a change: she had been around constantly to help with Menma, when his mother was still alive. But Hinata would not even set foot in Naruto's bedroom until their wedding night. So each night, she would go right to the guest room without a word, ignoring all of Naruto's protests. But Hinata had stopped being a guest a long time ago, even Menma had said so.

But then, Menma had also revived his dead mother on his tenth birthday, all so she could tell Naruto to marry Hinata. So maybe Menma wasn't exactly the best person to have an opinion on such things. But what bothered Naruto most about that incident was the undeniable truth.

Menma, who would never allow anyone to replace his mother, had said it was her wish for Naruto to marry Hinata. Hinata swore that Menma's mother had told her the very same thing, months before dying. Naruto had heard the same thing from his dead wife's lips. And he could recall several nights, before the end, where she had made him promise to remarry when she died, knowing that Naruto always kept his word. To do any less would do them all a dishonor.

It felt wrong. Menma wasn't happy, although he at least didn't outright hate Hinata, and seemed to prefer her to any other woman that had approached Naruto with intent to marry. Hinata was happy, but clearly worried for Menma at the same time. Naruto was worried for them both, because while they had more or less gotten along previously, he himself hadn't really factored into their dynamic in any major way. Hinata had spent most of her time either watching over Menma, or caring for his mother. Naruto had understood why she was doing it, but Hinata helping out had allowed him to focus on his duties, and so he had. But now that it was just the three of them, Hinata's feelings were more obvious to all involved, and Menma, for whatever reason, was trying his best to be okay with that.

Everyone wanted Naruto to move on, himself included. No one was asking him to forget his late wife, and he refused to. But even she had made her wishes known in every possible way, and as much as Naruto wanted to view his relationship with Hinata as a betrayal, he knew that it was anything but. The fear that had been there with the idea of Menma was entirely absent, Hinata had made no secret of the fact that she had dreamed of bearing Naruto's children. And Naruto would be lying if he said he didn't want a big family. It was what he'd wanted for years, and he could finally grasp it.

But there was still Menma to consider. Until his power was firmly under control, raising children around him would be risky. They could take precautions, of course, but ultimately their success would depend on how happy Menma was with his family. Naruto had seen that firsthand, and he knew what could happen if things went wrong. But he wanted desperately to believe that they would go right this time. He had to believe that Menma didn't want to destroy them, that Menma wanted to love and be loved in return. Because if Naruto was wrong, if another Uzumaki died under not so questionable circumstances that pointed, however indirectly, to Menma, not even the Hokage's hand could save his own son.

Continued in Chapter 2: Plot to Remake

Minato and Kushina are faced with life without their son. He turns to the Hokage for answers. She turns to Akatsuki.