Normal POV

Typically when there was a knock on her door, Lauren expected it to be a messenger ninja telling her to report to Tsunade or something along those lines. After all, everyone in the Uchiha district was close enough to the point where knocking on front doors usually didn't happen and instead people just waltzed right in.

However, when Lauren opened the front door she instead found the Hokage herself, standing there proudly.

"Tsunade-sama…?" Lauren said, her eyes wide in confusion and disbelief. Tsunade grunted and posed a hand on her hip.

"I needed to get out of that damn tower for once so I decided to come and talk to you myself," she said and then locked eyes with Lauren. "May I come in?"

"Of course!" Lauren said and immediately stepped aside to let Tsunade in. With a tiny bow of her head Tsunade stepped inside and quickly strutted towards the kitchen.

"Liquor?" she said, and Lauren rolled her eyes with a grin.

"Top cabinet all the way to the right."

Tsunade grunted in thanks and walked over to aid cabinet, pulling the tiny door open. Inside, to her surprise, was a good amount of bottles.

"Oh, quite a nice collection," the Hokage commented and started to rummage around inside. "It's smart that you keep it in the highest cupboard too."

"Of course," Lauren agreed, leaning against the doorframe to the room. She crossed her arms and watched Tsunade patiently. "Daisuke will eat and drink anything he can get his hands on."

"Well, if that boy starts drinking at his age he can come and talk to me," Tsunade mumbled seriously and Lauren laughed. However, after a couple of seconds she paused and glanced to the clock on the wall, realizing something.

"Speaking of kids, Tsunade-sama, I am supposed to depart briefly to go and pick them up from the academy," Lauren said, and Tsunade dipped her head considerately.

"That's fine," the Hokage said and pulled a bottle of vodka out of the cupboard. Quickly she found a shot glass, poured herself a heaping dose of the liquor, and then down it professionally. After swallowing and letting out a deep breath, she continued, "I'll walk with you there. We can talk on the way."

"Oh, alright," Lauren said, blinking in surprise, and then threw a thumb over her shoulder. "Let me get my shoes on then."

Tsunade nodded and as Lauren turned back into the hallway she saw Tsunade pick up the bottle of vodka again. Laughing, the brunette simply did as she said and stepped onto the landing, slipping on her shoes. A couple seconds later Tsunade followed after her, looking happier now that she'd gotten some alcohol in her.

"So, where's your other kid?" Tsunade spoke as Lauren locked her front door—just to be safe. "Likely with Akio, right? I've heard that they're pretty much inseparable."

"Nanami and Akio are getting a little bit better about it as they're getting older," Lauren replied, but didn't deny that fact that they were with each other all the time. "But yes, today Naruto came over and took the two out for the day. He felt that he wasn't close enough with Akio as his uncle, and wanted to spend some time together."

"You trusted Naruto to take care of a 6 year old and a 5 year old by himself?"

"Of course not," Lauren snorted, waving her hands in the air. "Sasuke went with them. They're having an "Uncle's Day Out" with their youngest niece and nephew."

"Is that the excuse Sasuke used to protect them from Naruto?" Tsunade question, smirking in amusement, and Lauren nodded.

"Yes, definitely. Anyway, Hokage-sama, you said there was something you wanted to talk with me about?"

"Ah, yes," Tsunade said, and immediately Lauren could see the blonde shifting back into her serious, business-like state. "I came to talk to you about some rumors I heard yesterday from some of my men."

"Rumors? About what?" Lauren replied, immediately becoming serious as well. It'd been a while since they'd heard anything on Tobi, Zetsu or Kabuto…

"There's a group of bandit ninja we've been tracking lately, and apparently they're planning to sneak into the Leaf Village soon. However, from what we understand they're planning to sneak in through the Uchiha district."

"The Uchiha district?" Lauren repeated, surprised. "Why here?"

"Apparently they think it's still abandoned and that no one will notice them. I don't know," Tsunade said, waving her hand in the hair irritably. "But either way, it's my job to let you know to be on the lookout. Most of the people of your district are home, from what I've heard, so if they do make it in I expect that you'll all notice and alert us."

"Of course," Lauren agreed immediately. She was glad as well that nearly everyone was home this week. Only Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu were gone (and also Suigetsu and Juugo—but that was normal).

"I've positioned a few men to guard the border where they're planning to infiltrate, so hopefully they'll stop anything before it can be brought into the Uchiha district."

"I appreciate that, thank you," Lauren said sincerely, her eyes shifting up towards the school court yard as it came into sight. Together she and Tsunade walked into said courtyard just as the bell was ringing, and multitudes of kids started to fly out. After a minute Daisuke, Emi and Haruka walked out of the building, glancing around for one of their parents.

Lauren waved her hand to get Daisuke's attention, and at spotting her he immediately grabbed Emi and Haruka and dragged them in that direction.

"Hey mom!" he exclaimed with a grin at seeing her, and while Lauren ruffled his hair lovingly and he attempted to make her stop, embarrassed, Haruka turned his attention to the Hokage.

"Tsunade-baa-sama?" he questioned and Tsunade was tempted to roll her eyes. All the kids referred to her in such ways…but as long as they didn't call her as rudely as Naruto still did then she supposed that there was no reason to mind it.

"Is there a certain reason you're here?"

"Oh, I was just talking with Lauren," Tsunade said and then rubbed the back of her neck, glancing in the direction of the Hokage tower. "Though, I should be getting back before Shizune gets too mad."

"Hai, of course," Lauren immediately said with a bow and with a final dip of her head Tsunade then proceeded to disappear into thin air.

"C'mon," Lauren spoke after a minute, nodding her head towards the school gates. She smiled at the three children. "Let's head home."

Nodding, Daisuke, Emi and Haruka started walking beside her.

"So, what was up with Tsunade-baa-san?" Daisuke questioned as they went, looking up to his mother with a quizzical frown.

"She talked to me about some things," Lauren said, waving away his worries. "When we get back home I'll let you know. Let's go and see Uncle Itachi and Aunt Taylor first though, alright?"

Haruka sighed, running a hand through his short red hair.

"If you say that then that means something bad is going on."

"What?" Lauren said, blinking in surprise.

"I mean, anytime you adults need to communicate news—which is usually bad news—you gather up before you say anything."

"Ooh, you're getting good at spotting patterns, Haru," she admired, grinning at him. "You'll be a fine ninja someday."

Snorting a laugh, Haruka rolled his eyes at her compliment, but Lauren could still tell that he was happy about it. Emi, on the other hand, now looked a little concerned.

"Wait, is something bad going on then?" the girl questioned, her eyes widening with worry and Lauren sighed.

"Honey, nothing bad is going on," she responded honestly, lovingly placing her hand on Emi's head. "Tsunade-sama just gave me some information and I think it'd be easier just to share that information once when most of us are together."

"Oh, okay," Emi relinquished, smiling up at her, and Lauren smiled in response. A couple minutes later the four entered the Uchiha district and approached Itachi and Taylor's home.

"Tadaima!" Emi called as she opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately Taylor's head popped out of the kitchen, a bright smile on her face.

"Okaeri, minna!" she called in return and then shifted her eyes up to Lauren. The brunette smiled at her wearily. Taylor seemed to get her drift.

"Is it bad?" she asked, sighing as she wiped her hand with a dish rag. Lauren waved her hand.

"Not too—I just thought I'd share the information."

"Alright, well, what's up?" Taylor continued, guiding Lauren and the three kids into the family room. Lauren took a seat on the sofa, and Taylor took a seat on the other end. The kids simply threw themselves on the other pieces of furniture, making themselves comfortable. Together, the three eight year olds and young, blonde mother listened as Lauren calmly explained what Tsunade had relayed to her earlier on.

"Well, their method of entry really makes no sense at all," Taylor said exasperatedly when Lauren was done. Her brown was furrowed in confusion.

"That's what I said," Lauren agreed. "But according to the information Tsunade received our district is where they plan to come in, so I won't simply brush the information aside."

"No, of course not! I'm grateful she let us know," Taylor said and then stood up, smoothing out the apron she'd forgotten to take off earlier. She then proceeded to walk over and bend down, kissing Emi's forehead. Unlike the displeasure the boys usually displayed at their mother's doing such a thing, Emi smiled at Taylor happily.

"Now, Emi," Taylor then started tenderly, placing her hands on her hips. She shifted her serious glance to Daisuke and Haruka as well. "You all just heard what Lauren said, and I expect that you'll stay away from the forest until this matter is resolved."

"But mom!" Daisuke instantly whined, shooting a pleading look to Lauren. The brunette sighed, running a hand over her pulled back hair.

"Dai, I know that you, and Haru and Emi like to go there to practice throwing and chakra control, but for now please follow directions and don't go near the forest."

Huffing, Daisuke crossed his arms and turned his head to the side defiantly.

"Fine," he eventually gave in at seeing Lauren's stern look, and the brunette nodded in relief. However, before she relaxed herself completely she paused and glanced over to Haruka.

"I'll let my parents know when I get home," he spoke, already knowing what Lauren was thinking, and immediately the female smiled.

"Ah, Haru, you're so reliable. Thank you," she replied, and the Haruno nodded. He didn't like to be cocky about it—but honestly he was the most responsible of their little group. Not to say the other two weren't, but…he was the most mature.

Daisuke was the fun, cool guy of the group. He was popular at school, and was…alright grade wise. He didn't like to study anything in the book sense, but he enjoyed practicing his kunai throwing and chakra control by running up trees and racing Haruka around the forest.

Emi—in the maturity sense—was a little bit better. She typically remembered to do her work, but was sometimes a little forgetful. In class she was shy, so she wasn't too outgoing, but no one seemed to dislike her. She was the shy pretty girl, and while she was also one of the top ranking in book smarts and a middle ground student in chakra control, she struggled a little with her weaponry skills.

Haruka was near the top of his class in book smarts, chakra control and weaponry skills. He was fairly naturally gifted in all three subjects, but in class he was quiet and stoic, and therefore not many people spoke with him. He wasn't too popular at all, but then again he really didn't care. He hadn't chosen to become a ninja to make friends.

"So, Dai, Haru, why don't we get going?" Lauren suddenly interjected, pushing herself off the couch, and the two boys followed her example. With a quick goodbye to Taylor and Emi, the three exited the house and started back towards the front of their district. On the way, they ran into Naruto and Sasuke, who were walking Akio back home.

"Oh, hey!" the blond said at seeing them and Lauren waved. Immediately the three adults began to converse, leaving Haruka, Daisuke and Akio standing there quietly. After a minute, however, Daisuke turned to his younger cousin and placed a hand on his shoulder friendlily.

"Is Nanami home?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's take you home then too," Daisuke said and turned back towards Emi's house. Haruka strolled beside him, and together the two escorted the youngest Uchiha back home. When they returned to the where they'd left Lauren, Naruto, and Sasuke a couple minutes later, it seemed that the adults were finally beginning to wrap up their conversation.

"I wish we'd known sooner," Sasuke was saying when Haruka and Daisuke walked up.

"Team 7 took a mission from Tsunade yesterday, so we'll be leaving in two days and won't be here to help out if anything happens…"

"Well, that's alright," Lauren responded, patting his shoulder. "We've got a lot of people here anyway, and Tsunade is already taking precautions to help out too."

"Exactly!" Daisuke piped up, tugging on her sleeve. "So all you guys stop worrying so much! It's dinner time!"

Lauren rolled her eyes, seeing where her sons motive was.

"I guess you're right Dai," she relinquished and looked back up to Naruto and Sasuke. The blond smiled cheekily, saluting them.

"Have a good night!" he said, and then with a boost of chakra hoped into a nearby tree and started bounding back towards the village. Sasuke rolled his eyes at his teammate and then with Lauren, and Haruka and Daisuke, turned and started back up the road. After a minute they reached his house, and he bid them a quiet goodbye before walking up the front steps and disappearing inside.

A couple more steps up the road they came to the crossroads, and Haruka turned to head home.

"Hey, Haru," Lauren called before the boy could get too far, and he paused. "Hidan and Kakuzu are out a mission, right? If you want you can stay over for dinner."

"No thanks," he replied. "My mom's making pasta for dinner, so it should be alright."

"Oh, okay," Lauren replied, and then chuckled quietly as Haruka turned and started sprinting up the road to his house. She could see the shaky blue chakra lining his shoes, and silently found herself amazed how much the boy practiced his techniques.

"Mom, hey mom!"

"Oh, what Dai?" Lauren said and turned to her son. He stared up at her with bright blue eyes and grinned.

"If I beat you in the house you have to make pasta for dinner too!" he yelled over his shoulder, already sprinting up the front steps, and Lauren blinked in surprise. By the time she'd even taken a step after digesting his words he was standing in the open doorway.

"I win!" he yelled happily, and Lauren grinned at him.

"You cheated!" she accused him, stomping playfully up the front steps.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh! You're chakra control is getting better, so it's not fair!"

Daisuke laughed and then turned and ran as Lauren chased after him. The female, being much bigger, caught him quickly since she'd made a rule banning use of chakra in the house after Daisuke had broken a few things while trying to use it, and together the two slid to the end of the hall, Lauren gripping onto Daisuke tightly. When they stopped both laughed happily, and Lauren took a minute to treasure the happy face of her son.

Usually they didn't have moments like this, because she was always bugging him to stop fooling around or do his chores, but she was honestly grateful when moments like this did happen. It reassured her that her kids actually loved her and were happy with the family they'd been given.

"Well, what the hell happened here, yeah?" Deidara's voice suddenly cut in, and the two looked up to find him standing a few feet in front of them, eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Mom tackled me!" Daisuke accused, and Lauren gasped.

"No I didn't!"

"Oh, is that so?" Deidara said, mouth stretching into an amused grin as he approached them. Daisuke quickly scrambled away, running past Deidara and into the family room while laughing quietly. Lauren remained on the ground, staring with wide eyes as Deidara stopped in front of her and leaned down.

"Should I punish you then, yeah?"

"Oh god," Lauren responded, rolling her eyes, and then froze in shock when Deidara suddenly picked her up, flinging her over his shoulder.

"Deidara!" she yelled, laughing slightly, and the blond simply turned and carried her back towards the stairs. At that moment Daisuke and Nanami's heads popped out from the family room, watching as Deidara finally flipped Lauren around and bent down to kiss her happily.

"Ewwwwww!" the kids chorused, looking at each other in disgust. This was actually one of the subjects they agreed on: their parents kissing was gross!

"Oh, hush!" Lauren responded as Deidara set her down on the floor, continuing to hold her from behind with his arms wrapped around her torso. Lauren smiled at him happily and then looked at her still grossed our kids.

"Now, what do you say we have some pasta for dinner?"

"Yeah!"

"No."

"But mom it's been over a week!" Daisuke groaned, rolling off the couch and onto the floor in a fit of anger. Haruka and Emi were seated nearby, and Taylor and Deidara were standing in the doorway to the living room.

About four days ago the group Tsunade had warned them about had been caught on the border of the leaf village, before they'd even gotten a chance to infiltrate the Uchiha district. They'd appeared sooner than anyone had expected, and had apparently ditched their original schedule of a week—instead opting to come only after 5 days.

"Dai, I know, but please just wait a few more days," Lauren tried to reason with him. The boy immediately groaned, rolling around on the floor more. "Sometimes groups like that play tricks. There may be more—we can't rule possibilities out of the question…"

"Grandma Tsunade got them! Just let us go to the forest and practice!"

"Daisuke," Deidara warned, not liking how much talking back his son was doing at the moment, and the said boy shifted to glare at his father. Knowing how Daisuke's family worked by now, Haruka sighed and quickly attempted to mend the situation before his friend got in any trouble.

"Can we at least run around the district and play games then?" Haruka suggested.

At least that way they'd be able to maybe practice their chakra control a little and have fun while doing it.

"I think that's acceptable," Taylor spoke up, glancing to Lauren and Deidara, and the two nodded in agreement.

"Playing around the district is fine," Lauren started, and immediately Daisuke jumped up, grabbing Haruka and Emi by their wrists and dragging them towards the front door quickly. "—but don't go near the forest!" Lauren continued as she heard the front door slid open and then slam shut a moment later.

"It's so unfair," Daisuke grumbled as he stomped down the pavement, away from his house. Emi and Haruka calmly trailed a little ways behind him, not seeming nearly as upset as he was. Though—Daisuke had a tendency to get really ticked off over little things…

"Anyway—hey!" he suddenly exclaimed, his attitude taking a 180. Daisuke turned around to face them, grinning happily. However, both Emi and Haru could see the deviance still in his blue eyes. "How about we play hide-and-seek?"

"Sure!" Emi agreed immediately, not wanting to ruin her friend's surprisingly good mood.

"Alright, then let's do usual boundaries!" Daisuke continued, placing his hands on his hips sternly. "No one can go out of the front gates, and the area is up to the big tree in the forest!"

"Daisuke, but your mom said—," Haruka started, knowing that Daisuke would do something like this. However, said Uchiha quickly cut him off, waving his hand around in the air nonchalantly.

"Whatever! I'll seek first alright? You two go hide!"

"Daisu—"

"One, two, three—"

Knowing that his friend was beyond reasoning with, Haruka rolled his eyes and then shared a look with Emi. The blond simply smiled at him, not seeming too worried, and then turned and ran away. Haruka followed her example, running to a spot he already had in mind.

"88, 89, 95, 32, 24—ugh, I hate counting—100! Ready or not! Here I come!"

And without a second of hesitation, Daisuke turned and confidently ran down the road. After a minute or two he approached Haruka's house, and the area was completely silent. Hidan was still off on a mission, and Tess had gone to work at the hospital early that morning.

Stealthily, Daisuke ran up to the home and snuck around back. With the help of his improving chakra skills, he jumped from the ground onto the roof of the house and then up into a tree nearby. He climbed the branches quietly and once near the top of the tree spotted a head of red hair.

"You're no fun," Daisuke commented with a huff when he squatted down in front of Haruka. The boy was currently reading a book, his back against the trunk of the tree. He always did this when Hidan got him angry or just wanted to be alone. He'd store a book up here in one of the holes of the trunk and then read it to calm himself down. This little spot in the tree was like his sanctuary.

"Oh? You're fast. I only got to read five pages," Haruka responded, half-joking as a tiny smirk spread across his face. Daisuke rolled his eyes.

"Well, you only hide in one place, unlike Emi."

Smirking, Daisuke extended his hand to Haruka and helped the boy up. "Speaking of Emi, where do you think she—?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The two boys had never felt their hearts drop so fast. They'd heard Emi scream in surprise before. They'd heard Emi scream because of a scraped knee or scream in fear of a bug—but this scream was unlike any of that. The boys felt their lungs halt and their blood stop pumping—they became frozen, shocked with fear.

Haruka was the first to snap out of it.

"Go!" he shouted at Daisuke, smacking his arm harshly, and the brunet suddenly seemed to come back to reality.

"Go!" Haruka shouted again, jumping from the tree branch and descending towards the ground. "I'll get help! Go! NOW!"

Without a second thought, and adrenaline beginning to pump through his veins, Daisuke jumped from tree to tree and ran as fast as he possibly could towards the forest.

Never in his life had he seen Haruka so scared—and never in his life had he ever felt so scared.

This was all his fault.

He knew that Emi sometimes like to hide in the forest, and yet he'd completely disobeyed his mom's orders and made the middle of the forest the boundary line for their game.

If anything happen to Emi it was his fault.

If…if Emi…if she di—

"No," he whispered, his resolution then set. With the blood pounding in his ears and as much chakra as he could manage lining his feet, he jumped into the thick forest without looking back. The trees whirled past him like blurs of green and brown, but he knew where he was. He'd been playing in the forest since he'd been young, and by now he knew it pretty well.

He also knew where Emi typically liked to hide.

As he neared said place, Daisuke realized in the back of his mind that he was currently unarmed. He had no weapons on him, and he didn't know any cool ninjutsu like his parents or aunts and uncles. All he had was his brute force and determination.

He'd make it work.

"Well, what the hell are we supposed to do with her?!" A gruff voice suddenly spoke, and immediately Daisuke skidded to a stop, scrambling up to a nearby tree trunk.

Peeking out from behind it, Daisuke spotted a group of three men in the tiny clearing nearby—and Emi was with them. She was currently kneeling on the ground, being held by her hair painfully and tears dripping down her face.

"I don't fucking know! Just kill the girl!" Another one spoke. "She's too young for our tastes and there's nothing that we can do with her."

Daisuke's blood started boiling, and he lifted his hands up, placing them together.

"Yeah man," the third ninja continued. "She screamed pretty loud earlier. If anyone was nearby they would've heard it. Let's just kill her and get outta here. We're on a schedule."

"You're right," the original voice Daisuke had heard earlier replied, and suddenly they hefted Emi up roughly. She screamed in pain, clawing their hands to release her, and Daisuke finally had enough.

In a split second he made a shadow clone and had it jump out.

"Oi! Let her go!" he called loudly, and immediately the three men jumped into a defensive stance, dropping Emi to the ground. However, when they saw that it was only a pissed off looking kid who had confronted them, they all relaxed, even laughing.

"What the hell!? It's just a dumb kid!"

"Hey! Shut up!" The clone yelled and suddenly lunged at them. The three men froze in shock, and in that instance the real Daisuke snuck in from the side and grabbed Emi's wrist, pulling her to her feet.

"Daisuke?" she said in shock, her teary eyes wide, and the brunet shushed her.

"Let's go!" he said quietly as his clone somehow managed to punch one of the men in the face. The two ninja who hadn't been hurt, however, quickly pulled out kunai and stabbed the clone in the back. Immediately it poofed out of existence and their attention snapped to the real boy and girl who were sneaking out of the clearing.

"Oi! Get back here!" One exclaimed and flung a kunai. It impaled the tree right beside Daisuke's head, and he cursed, continuing to drag Emi along.

"C'mon, run!" he exclaimed, stumbling over the ground, and Emi finally seemed to get steady footing and started to pull her weight. Together the two ran as fast as they could over the forest floor, weaving around trees and desperately trying to get back to the edge of the forest—closer to their parents.

However, in this situation two eight years old definitely had the disadvantage, and the three enemy ninja soon caught up to them.

"Damn brat!" one exclaimed, throwing another kunai, and this time it didn't miss. Unable to dodge, the kunai sliced through the edge of Daisuke calf, and immediately the boy fell to the ground in pain. Accidentally, he dragged Emi down along with him, and the two skidded to a stop in the damp grass.

"Dai? Dai!" Emi exclaimed with worry, crawling to his aid when she saw the blood dripping down his leg. The boys jaw was clenched in pain as he reached down and place a hand over the gash, the blood seeping through his fingers within a couple of seconds.

Emi suddenly became aware of the three ninja who had already caught up with them and reached down, placing Daisuke's free arm around her shoulder, attempting to help him up.

"Ohhhh no! You brats aren't getting away this time!" one of the men exclaimed, pulling out a handful of shurikin. He stomped towards them threateningly, and Emi felt tears build up in her eyes again. With Daisuke like this, there was no way that she'd be able to get them both to safety. This was it…this was…

"You're both going to die right here, right no—"

Abruptly, the man stopped, and Emi glanced up in confusion. However, at seeing what had happened her eyes widened and her heart stopped.

A kunai had been thrown into the man's throat. Blood gushed and he fell to his knees on the ground, his two partners looking stunned. However, just as the two realized that they were likely under attack from someone else, Emi noticed that the kunai in the man's throat was one that she had seen before. It wasn't a normal kunai either—sometimes she even saw her mom cleaning it and—

"Woah!" the men exclaimed and suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Taylor appeared.

Emi had never seen her mother's face so serious and angry looking.

"Damn bitch!" one of them exclaimed, taking a swing at her, and Taylor pulled her kunai from the now dead shinobi's throat, slicing at the man in response. She managed to catch his arm, slicing the skin open, and the man fell back in pain. In the meantime Taylor had also lashed her foot out at the other male, catching him in the stomach and sending him to the ground.

However, it wasn't over yet, and the two clambered off the ground, going at her again—but Taylor had had enough.

Forming a Rasengan in one hand and taking her kunai in the other, she flung the weapon at one, and then lunged at the other. The kunai hit the mark, as did her Rasengan, and immediately the two men were killed.

The forest remained silent, only filled with the sounds of Emi's shaky breathing.

"M-mom?" the tiny blonde managed after a couple of seconds, staring at the woman in front of her—the woman who had just murdered three ninja to save her and Daisuke.

Blinking, Taylor turned to face her daughter, and immediately smiled reassuringly at seeing the distraught look on her face. However, before she could say anything to console the small girl the sound of flapping wings filled the area and a giant white bird descended through the trees.

"You two handle it from here," Taylor said determinedly when Lauren and Deidara hoped of the bird, their faces hard and serious. "I can sense more coming. I need to go and alert Itachi and the others."

"Alright," Lauren responded with the dip of her head, and Taylor quickly disappeared from the area. Once the blonde was gone Lauren and Deidara turned their attention to the two eight years still sitting on the ground nearby.

"Aunt Lauren…Uncle Dei," Emi sobbed, still holding onto a now passed out Daisuke in her arms, and quickly the two adults rushed up to them.

"Emi," Lauren exclaimed pulling the distraught girl into her arms, and the blonde instantly clung onto her. As she did so Deidara gently pulled Daisuke from her lap, looking over his injuries. The cut on his leg didn't look too severe, but it was still bleeding pretty bad.

"Let's head to the hospital, yeah," Deidara said, picking Daisuke up carefully, and Lauren nodded.

"Alright," she said, and gently helped Emi up. The two adults then lead the two kids to the bird, hopped on, and rode back up into the skies. On their way to the hospital, Emi passed out as well, and Lauren couldn't say that she didn't blame her for doing so.

For only being eight years old, they'd been through a lot today.

"It was my fault."

Those were the first words Daisuke said when he woke up.

He'd been taken to the hospital, given stitches in his leg, and then taken back home with the permission of Tsunade. Since Emi refused to leave him, insisting that he'd been hurt because of her, nearly the entire Uchiha district had relocated into Lauren and Deidara's house to wait for him to awaken.

And now, six hours later, he'd finally woken up and limped down the stairs with a pair of crutches just to say that.

"It wasn't your fault," Emi responded, tears forming in her eyes again. Haruka immediately took to rubbing her back comfortingly. He'd been worried sick as well, but had been trying his best not to show it. After all, he didn't want to make Emi cry more than she already had. And, not only that, but Nanami had shed a few tears over her brothers wellbeing as well.

She hadn't known what had been going on, but broke down in tears the minutes Deidara walked in the front door with a limp Daisuke in his arms, his leg wrapped in a multitude of gauze and a few scratches on his arms and face.

Sure Daisuke messed around and usually was scraped up a lot—but this was different. She'd never seen him like this.

"Daisuke…," Lauren started tenderly, not wanting to make him upset, but it was too late for that.

"It was my fault," he said again, biting his lip as he felt anger well within him. "I disobeyed orders and made the forest a part of our game of tag. I knew that Emi sometimes went there to hide, so I should've listened to you guys, but I didn't. She got hurt because I didn't believe you, and I'll take the blame for everything."

"No, I—," Emi tired to interject, but before she could try to shift the blame again Deidara spoke up.

"It is your fault." Deidara said, looking at his son with stern blue eyes. "We warned you and yet you chose to disregard our orders and go to the forest. You put both yours and Emi's lives on the line, and easily could've been killed.

"Daisuke, your mother and I don't give you orders unless it's dangerous or if it's something important, yeah," Deidara continued, kneeling down and placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "We don't give orders like that to torture you or take away your fun—we do it to protect you and our family."

"I know…," Daisuke responded breathily, tears falling from his eyes as he bit his lip even harder.

"So next time…don't tempt danger," Deidara said, squeezing his sons shoulder tightly. "But…you did a good job protecting Emi. Both of you did," he continued, looking over to Haru. "You made the right decision in protecting each other, yeah."

"We were all very worried, but we were also proud of the measures you took," Itachi added in, and Taylor nodded in agreement wiping a few tears from the corner of her eyes.

"You all did very well, just…don't make us worry like that anymore, alright?" she said, ending in a sob as she finally allowed all the worry to flow out of her, and Itachi quickly hugged her tightly. Taylor's tears only seemed to trigger more, and Lauren started crying as well. Deidara quickly went to comfort her, and at seeing their parents cry Emi, Nanami, and Daisuke broke down too. Even Haruka and Akio were broken free of their typically calm attitudes, tears forming in the corners of their eyes.

Soon all five kids were huddled in the middle of the living room, gripping onto each other and sobbing quietly.

Today was the first day the Uchiha district had been thrown into a mild panic. It had been their first scare concerning the kids.

Sure, the adults actually got hurt quiet often when they were on missions, but their kids were different. They weren't skilled like the adults were—they didn't have special ninjutsu techniques. They weren't skilled in taijutsu or genjutsu.

They weren't strong—not yet.

But…this was their first step. They'd chosen to become shinobi, and it was better to learn that the path they'd chosen was a hard one earlier on then to come to the harsh realization later.

This realization would help them get stronger…but…the worry parents held for the safety of their children would never go away. They'd just have to learn and believe and trust in the strengths of their kids.

…but not just yet.

Maybe when they were genin—but…not yet.

Hello! I decided to write another chapter because a lot of you seemed to appreciate the last update.

I do wanna keep writing this story so it was good to see that there are still people who want tor read it.

Anyway, thank you all for the reviews from last time. I really don't know what else to say at the moment because I'm really tired, so...

Good night lol.

Love you.

Please Review!