A/N: I would like to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter as well as everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.

"What are you reading, my dear little Taka?"

Takao tore his attention away from his new book and turned his attention towards his mother, who took a seat beside him. His beautiful mother had a small smile playing on her lips, telling him just how happy she was to have him by her side. He flickered his eyes towards Katsu, who was making a tower from the toy blocks that their father had brought for them from one of his trips. He then glanced at his father, who was flipping through the newspaper.

"The Tale of Gutsy Ninja," Takao answered, holding the book up for his mother to see. "I found it in the library the other day and Ryo-kun suggested that I should read it. He said the book was about a cool ninja so I decided to go ahead and read it."

His mother blinked her eyes and nodded her head but Takao could see tears forming in his mother's eyes. Normally, he would try to apologize to her however his mum kept crying for the silliest of things now. Even sending him to the Academy was enough to make her mother wail and tell him how she wasn't ready for him to go to school. His father told him that it was going to become normal for his mother but Takao didn't want it to be normal. He prefered having his mother be herself and not cry for every single thing he or Katsu did.

"Y'know my godfather wrote that novel," his mother whispered, running her hand through his hair. "My parents were going to name me after the main character but once they find out that I was going to be a girl...well they changed their mind. They still wanted me to be like the main character so they decided to shorten the character's name to give me, my name."

He hadn't known his mother was named after this character or the fact Jiraiya had written this book. None of his parents liked talking about their life before them, always preferring to tell them stories about the adventures they had before they came back to Konoha. The things he knew about his parents were things he heard from Aunt Sakura and Aunt Hinata; sometimes the occasional villager would tell him tales about his parents. Other then this, he didn't know much about his parents' past.

"What was Jiraiya like?" Takao looked up at his mother with wide green eyes. "Tsunade-baachan doesn't really talk about her old teammate except to tell me that I shouldn't end up a pervert. What is a pervert, Mum? I sometimes hear Aunt Sakura yelling those words to her patients whenever one of them try to grab her butt."

"This is a question that you ask your father and not me, Taka-kun," her mother declared, holding her hands up. The twinkle in his mother's sapphire blue eyes and the bright smile told him that she wasn't really embarrassed about his question. If anything his mum just wanted to see his father's reaction as he tried to explain the strange word to him. He glanced at his father, who rubbed the back of his neck and thinned his lips till it formed a thin line.

"I will explain it to you when you are older," his father promised him, placing his newspaper on the table.

"How old must I be when I ask this question again?"

"Eleven," his mother chirped before his father could answer him. Takao raised his eyebrow and folded his arms against his chest while the older woman just smiled at him. The raven-haired boy glanced at his father, who just let out a sigh of relief and nodded his head in agreement with his mother. Of course, his father would agree. He was saved from the trouble of answering his question for another five more years.

Well he could always go look at the dictionary to find out what the word meant or he could always ask Ryota's older brother about what the word meant, Takao reasoned to himself as he walked towards Katsu. His younger brother grinned, revealing all his tiny teeth at him, before tapping to the seat beside him. Smiling widely, Takao sat beside his brother. He placed his head on the table and watched as Katsu tried to build a tower from the toy blocks that their father brought for him.

Though, the toy blocks were actually meant for him but Katsu had been looking at his blocks with so much longing that he didn't mind his brother playing with them.

"Tall?" Katsu asked, gesturing proudly to the tall leaning tower in front of them.

"Very tall," Takao answered with a smile playing on his lips. "Want me to make it even taller, Katsu?"

The blue-eyed boy beamed, nodded enthusiastically at him before placing the bright green block in his hand. Taking a deep breath, Takao stood on his tiptoe and locked the block on the bright yellow block. For just one small second, Takao found himself staring at a younger version of himself. His younger self was looking at the toy blocks in longing as a fat boy, around his age, play with them. Takao shook his head and stared at his smiling baby brother, who looked at him with so much joy and happiness that it was enough to remind him of where he was.

Dudley was no longer in his life; he was with people that loved him with all their heart.

"Big brother okay?" Katsu whispered. "Big brother sad?"

In the corner of his eye, Takao noticed his mother jerking her head at him. She stared at him with furrowed eyebrows and bit her lips as she waited for him to answer Katsu's question. There was no way he could allow his baby brother to know what he was currently feeling, not when his caring mother was looking at them with concern. No matter what people presumed, Takao did not ever want to see his mother concern about him. For giving him this life, Takao would do everything and anything in his power to make sure she was not worried about him.

"Big brother is fine," Takao answered with a smile on his face. "Big brother was just thinking of how annoying Iruka-sensei's homework is."

Katsu smiled and turned his attention back to the toppling tower while his father placed his hand on his mother's back, and stared at him with eyes that told him he wasn't fooled by him. If Takao had fooled his father with his words then he would consider himself an excellent actor however, it was impossible to trick his father. Sasuke Uchiha was many things but blind was not one of them or so his mother would boast whenever his father caught someone cheating in their usual game of cards.

"Speaking of annoyance, I have some news to tell you," his father declared to them with emotionless eyes. Katsu tilted his head and stared at Sasuke with confusion while his mother twisted her lips into a scowl. Sasuke took in a deep breath. "I am going to be going on a trip for the next couple of weeks and I won't be home until Katsu's birthday."

"What? But why are you going, Dad?" Takao cried, looking down on his feet. "Who is going to train me while you are gone?"

His father's lips twitched and the corner of his lips curled slightly upwards as he looked down at him. "Something has come up with one of my network, Taka. I can't ignore it, no matter, how much I want to. As for who is going to train you while I am gone, the answer is quite simple: Sakura."

"Why can't Mum train me?" Takao inquired, tilting his head at his mother.

His mother grimaced, looked down at her hands before finally swinging her hand at his father, who scowled at her. Something was up, Takao thought to himself, noticing the irritation in his mother's eyes as she stared at his father. The fact Sasuke was rolling his eyes at Naru told him that his father had done something that he believed was right. What on earth did his dad do to make his mum angry with him? Knowing him, it was probably something silly.

"Sweetheart, how would Katsu and you feel about having another little brother or sister to play with?" his mother asked, biting her lips at them as she run her hand through her fiery red-hair.

What on earth did that...

Never mind.

"Mum, if you want to tell me that you are going to give me a new baby brother or sister then I am happy," Takao grinned. "It means that Katsu and me have someone else to play with and annoy the hell out of. Is it going to be a boy or a girl?"

Katsu blinked and blinked his bright blue-eyes at them before smiling goofily at their mother. His baby brother may be young but Takao knew his brother understood what the hell was going on. His cute little brother was probably one of the smartest toddler he knew, not that he knew many. Katsu could speak in full sentences when he wanted to and knew how to read almost all the picture books they had. His father said Katsu was just like him while his mother just rolled her eyes and said Katsu inherited his intelligence from his grandfather.

Takao didn't know who he took after though his mother would like to say he acted slightly like Sasuke when in a bad mood.

He did not know if that was a compliment or not.

"First off, language and second off, your father and I have decided for it to be a surprise."

"You decided for it to be a surprise. I did not," Sasuke corrected, rubbing his forehead. "Anyways, due to your mother's delicate condition, she is not in any shape or form to do any extraneous exercise. So if you see your mother using her clones or god forbid training then stop her," he fixed his black eyes at Katsu and him. "I am not here to take care of your mother so it is your job, Takao and Katsu, to take care of her. Even if your mother threatens you with taking away your books and not teaching you jutsu…"

"I won't do that!"

"Yes, you will," Sasuke and Takao said in unison.

Naru pouted and shook her head at the two of them. "It is when you are like this Sasuke that I really despise being pregnant...that and those contraction. Taking a knife is a lot less painful than giving birth."

"Then you shouldn't have…" his father shook his head and bit his tongue. "Point is Naru, you cannot do anything that costs a lot of chakra or anything that needs a lot of energy. I will know if you used your shadow clones to do the work for you."

For just one second, Takao felt almost sorry for his mother but then remembered that he couldn't use the shadow clones since his chakra levels weren't high enough to perform the jutsu. Perhaps if he could make a hundred copies of himself then maybe, just maybe, Takao could gather an inch of sympathy for his sweet mother. But since he could not make clones of himself do his homework then it was fine for him to say that he didn't feel sorry at all.

Yup, he didn't feel one bit sorry for his mother.

Sasuke rubbed his chin as he entered his eldest son's room. If Naru wasn't pregnant then he would send his more emotionally available wife to talk to Takao about the truth behind his words. She would be able to give Takao all the hugs and kisses that he deserved. Naru always knew the right words to say while he always find some way to mess things up. It was a miracle Naru agreed to date him even after all the shitty things he put her though. If she had been anyone else, he would have questioned their sanity.

"Taka, is everything alright?" Sasuke asked, swinging his son's door opened before slipping into his son's bedroom. His son looked up from his story book and stared at him with wide green eyes. Placing his story book onto his bedside table, Takao nodded and gestured for him to take a seat beside him. Sasuke curled his lips before taking a seat on his son's bright green bed.

"Everything is fine," Takao answered, thinning his lips. "But you aren't here to ask me about my feelings for my new brother or sister, are you?"

"I don't need to have your mother's gift to know that you are very happy about your new sibling," Sasuke answered, placing his hand on his son's shoulder. "What I do wish to know what happened for you to freeze like that? Your Mum and I have notice that you have been acting less like yourself and it is worrying both your Mum and me."

Takao bit his lips, opened his mouth and then shook his head; no doubt remembering how stupid he would be to lie to him. Sasuke may not have his wife's ability to make people's spill their guts out to him but his son was a very bright boy, who knew lying would do him no good. If his son wanted to feel so much better about himself then it was best for him to speak about what happened today. Sasuke just didn't want to leave his son alone without knowing what was going through his son's head.

"Dad, did you ever dream of people that treated you like you were a monster?" Takao pushed his glasses up and licked his thin lips. "Sometimes when I sleep, I see a lady and a man calling me a Freak. There was also a little boy who would always push me and hit me whenever I try to play with his toys. They never call me Takao or any other name; they always called me Freak. Sometimes, I imagined them looking at me like I am one of Mum's exploding clones; you know the one that Mum times to explode."

If he didn't want to get into trouble with the British Government then Sasuke would have gone to England right that second and murdered Takao's relatives. How the hell was he going to cheer his son up once he knew this? His son's experience with his relatives was very much similar to Naru's treatment by the villagers. Honestly, he didn't know how to explain this to him. When he decided to become a parent with his beautiful stubborn wife, this was not what he signed up for. Why oh why did he had to get Naru pregnant? Oh wait, he couldn't keep it to himself.

"Takao, you aren't a freak," Sasuke told his son as he placed his hand on his son's back. "That lady in your dream is someone that doesn't understand just how special you are. From the moment you were placed into my arms, I knew you were going to be someone great. I admit that incident where you teleported yourself to the roof terrified me," Takao blinked his eyes but Sasuke waved his hand. "However it doesn't make you a freak. If someone treats you like a monster then ignore them. Keep your head held high and do what you want."

"But why do people treat other people like monster?"

"Did your mother ever tell you how she was treated by the villagers?" His wife was going to kill him for telling Takao this but, he hoped the story would be enough for his son to understand. Takao shook his head, earning a sigh from Sasuke. "Your Mum wasn't always seen as a hero by the villagers. In fact at one point, the villagers thought your mother was a demon who didn't have the right to live. Can you guess why they believe that?"

"Is it because of her birthday? Iruka-sensei said that Mum's birthday fell on the same day as the Kyuubi's attack," Takao answered, knitting his eyebrows together. "Did they think Mum was the demon reincarnate?"

"Yes because your grandfather did something to defeat the Kyuubi, something that not many people understand," Sasuke replied, placing his hand on his son's messy black hair. "It is because they didn't understand what he did that your mother was treated like a monster. People fear things they do not understand, Takao and for them to become less afraid, they will try to weaken them in anyway they can. The lady in your dream decided to call you those terrible names because she wanted to make herself less afraid. She wanted power over you and for you to have this fear shows that she is winning."

"What did Mum do?"

"What she did best; she smiled and played the fool," Sasuke answered, shaking his head. "Your Mum held her head up high and put on a smile that fooled a lot of people into thinking that she was fine with the world."

"If they treat her like that then why did she forgive them? Mum told me that her smile was the best form of revenge but, it doesn't explain why she forgave them or why she doesn't try to make their lives hard," Takao said, tilting his head. "Why doesn't she do that?"

You asked a question that everyone wants to know the answer to, he thought to himself as he pressed his fingers against the sides of his forehead. For as long as Sasuke could remember, his wife had never once given one hint that she wanted to hurt the villagers in the same way they hurt her. When he heard of what Naru did to Pein and the treatment she received, he had been slightly furious. He might not have been in the right mindset but Sasuke knew unreasonable when he saw it. They only saw Naru for who she was when she saved their asses; not when she was being herself.

It was something he could never fully understand.

"The only person who could answer your question is your mother," Sasuke finally answered. "I may have married your mother and loved her for a very long time but it doesn't mean I understand how she thinks. Her mind is one of the few things that confuses the hell out of me."

"I don't think Mum will be happy if she knows you said that."

"That is why we are going to keep it between us."

Takao grinned and nodded his head before picking up the storybook from his bedside table. For just one small second, Sasuke toyed with the idea of telling his son the truth about Naru's past but decided against it. His son may be having a hard time through his memories but he wasn't ready to know everything. No matter how loving this boy could be, he did not want to take the chance that Takao would look at Naru with fear.

It would kill Naru if this happened.

"You got everything that you need?" Naru asked Sasuke as her husband placed the sealing scrolls into his bag. She wished she could go with her husband to Japan but the bastard had brought in Sakura and Kakashi, who both told her that she was no shape to travel. What was the big deal of her being pregnant? She had a son's relative to destroy. She needed to know what the hell was going on with her son and prepare for the worse case scenario.

"Yes, I have got everything that I need for my journey," Sasuke answered. He blinked his eyes when he caught sight of Katsu toddling towards them with another sealing scroll in his hand. Naru thinned her lips and raised her eyebrow at her husband, who groaned and grabbed the scroll from a smiling Katsu's hand. He ruffled his son's hair. "Now Naru…"

"Don't do a lot of exercise that requires me to use a lot of energy," he opened his mouth and Naru held her hand up. "Make sure that Takao goes to his training and that Sakura doesn't go easy on him. Listen to Kakashi and the others when they tell me that I am doing too much because I always end up doing too much. Am I missing anything else?"

"I think you got everything," Sasuke muttered as he pecked her on the lips. Naru rolled her eyes and glanced at Katsu, who twisted his face into a look of disgust. Of course her cute little son would find it disgusting; Takao made the same expression whenever he caught them making out. At least they hadn't done that in front of their young son. "But I am serious Naru, don't use any shadow clones until Sakura say so."

"You talk like I haven't been pregnant before."

"No, I talk because I know you and how you love to abuse shadow clones," Sasuke corrected. "Besides, think of this as being a break. You can spend your whole time with Katsu and Takao like you always wanted."

"Takao has school and I can't train him because of this condition since I can't take any chance with the baby."

"You can teach him something that doesn't have to do with his ninja training," he informed her. "Just don't push yourself, Naru."

Even though she had already given birth to one kid and raised another one, Sasuke would still act like a mother hen towards her. The man would act like she was still the reckless teenager she had been. Did he really believe she didn't know what to do? Sure, she might have done some insane things but she wouldn't risk the life growing inside of her. Just like she dreamt of being Hokage, Naru dreamt of having the big loving family that she never had.

Though if the child inside of her is a girl with her red hair then Naru would teach her everything she knew about the Uzumaki clan.

"You know Takao would give me a lecture if he sees that I am pushing myself too far," Naru reminded him with a smile on her face. "If that boy could, he would have formed as many shadow clones as he could just so that he could keep an eye on me like you wanted. Now I don't know if he is being overprotective because you asked him to or because he is being himself."

Her husband snorted. "He probably knows that you are going to be your usual self and ignore everything that the doctor tells you. Remember how Sakura told you not to use your Shadow Clones because there is a possibility that it might cause some damage to Katsu's chakra coil system. Until she showed you the evidence, you kept using the shadow clones to do all the housework for you."

"What? You couldn't expect me to leave you to do the housework!" he nodded, earning a laugh from the red-haired girl. "Sasuke, I will let you near a stove but I won't let near any of the cleaning supplies. For someone who is supposed to be a genius, you always find someway to mess up the house."

"I didn't mean to burn your orange shirt."

"Doesn't change the fact you burned my favourite shirt as well as Takao's pants," Naru drawled, picking Katsu up from the ground. "Nope, I rather let Takao or Katsu deal with the housework then you. At least if they did something wrong, I can blame their age or even myself for letting them do it."

"Katsu isn't even old enough to do the housework."

"My point exactly," Sasuke scowled but she just shook her head at him. "If it helps, I would leave the kitchen for you to use. You know how much I love…"

"Mummy and Daddy are being gross." Katsu interrupted before Naru finished the sentence. The redhead glanced down at her son, who had an ugly scowl displayed on his lips. Why must he interrupt them? She cried to herself as she stared into her son's blue eyes. Did he realize just how long Sasuke would be away? She wasn't going to be able to do anything fun until he came back home from his trip. No, her son was still a sweet innocent young boy who had idea about relationships.

She hoped Katsu and Takao wouldn't realize girls until he became jounin but if Takao kept hanging around Ryo then her son might realize girls even sooner then she would like.

If Kami did exist then Naru prayed Takao and Katsu didn't get any serious crushes until they were at least thirteen and don't even start dating until they are fifteen.

"One day Katsu, you will like a girl and want to do gross stuff," Sasuke paused and gazed down at their son's sapphire eyes. "But make sure that if you fall for someone that they are strong and aren't going to be a member of your fangirls. No, you should fall for a girl that is just as beautiful and strong as your mother."

"You know you can't tell him what he should want in a woman," Naru stated. "And what if he falls for a man? You are going to tell our kid that they shouldn't see someone because they are the same gender. I thought we had this discussion before, Sasuke."

"If he falls for a man then I will tell him to find a man that is strong and still good looking," Sasuke retorted. "But until he tells me himself then I am going to tell him like this. And no, we didn't have this discussion Naru. We talked about how even if you have been born a man that I would still have feelings for you because it wouldn't have matter to me."

"Really? Then how would you have resurrected your clan if I had been born a man?"

"I would have always told you to ask Sakura or Hinata to be our surrogate mother," Sasuke stated. "What do you think I would do? Have a relationship with Sakura just because you are a guy? With the things you have done for me, I doubt your feelings would ever compare to her."

"You know she still cares for you, Sasuke and even though she doesn't say it, she still loves you."

If Naru had been any other woman, she would have been worried about Sakura trying to steal Sasuke but Naru knew the two of them. She knew Sasuke had never ever entertained with the idea of being with their pink-haired teammate and would never even think of cheating on her. Sakura might love Sasuke but Naru knew her teammate would rather deal with the heartache then be with a man that would never look at her. No matter what some people of the village thought about the relationship they had, Sakura would never throw herself at a man who didn't love her.

Sakura had a lot more self-respect.

"I know and I care for Sakura like I care for a sister," Sasuke admitted. "I don't even know how you, Sakura and Kakashi forgive me for all the things I put you guys through…"

"Because we are insane like that," Naru suggested, stroking Katsu's hair. "As Kiba would like to point out, we have a very messed up relationship in our team. You think any girl would have been sane enough to marry you after all the things you have done? But the bond Team Seven has is a bond which is forge through a war and missions. You know I hope Takao finds the same kind of bond that we had when he becomes a genin."

"You do realize that you hoped one of his teammates would kill him right?"

Naru blinked her eyes and shook her head. "No way do I want that to happen! If someone even dares to think of laying a hand on Takao then I am going to murder than person in their sleep. No one is allowed to hurt him! I will send...you were joking weren't you?"

"Took you that long to figure out?"

"Well you had a straight face when you said it," Naru protested, cuddling their son closer to her chest. "How the hell was I supposed to know you were joking? If you are going to make a joke then smile."

Sasuke shook his head and glanced at Katsu before looking back at him. He ruffled their son's spiky black hair, which were stubbornly kept in place. Sometimes, Naru wondered how it was possible for Katsu to never have his hair mess up. If she didn't see Sasuke's bed hair, she would have blamed his genes but Naru wondered if there was more to it. No, she might be overthinking things again.

"Naru, if Takao does anything that shouldn't be done without chakra then tell me through one of your summons," Naru felt her smile fall at Sasuke's words. "I know you want to think that it won't happen again but I doubt that contract won't believe me until we have more evidence."

"He only teleported once Sasuke," Naru reminded him. "I know we were lucky he hadn't teleported himself to a warzone but it doesn't mean he would do it again."

"Naru, Takao might need some help in controlling these powers of his," she bit her lips and Sasuke took in a deep breath. "Did you forget how your hair suddenly changed colour? Now I don't want to point fingers but the fact that you were arguing with Takao to eat his vegetables should be an indication that it was him."

"...I know but Takao is terrified of being different," Naru whispered. "He might say what he wants but I am his mother and I know he is uncertain about what is happening to him. I just don't want to give him the reason why he is different. Being different isn't bad but Takao seems to think…"

"You can tell him that being different is fine while I am away," Sasuke said. "If anyone can talk about the perks of being different then it is you, Naru. Out of the two of us, I think Takao would be willing to listen to you because he looks up to you. If you tell him that being different is fine and tell him stories of your own experience then he might just believe you."

"He isn't like the other kids, Sasuke. He doesn't always believe all the things that an adult would say."

"No but he believes in you."

And with those words, Sasuke kissed her cheek, ruffled Katsu's hair before heading out of the house, leaving Naru to contemplate his words.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter.