Kakashi Hatake was just leaving the Hokage tower and heading home, he was wondering how Naruto's day went and he had to admit being a father sure changed him in some ways. Okay so maybe not much on the outside, but he cared deeply for the boy and would do anything to protect him and see him raised to be one of the best ninja this village had ever seen. He smiled at the thought of what would happen in the future if Naruto's name became well known like his and his father's.
He cast a glance at the face of the Fourth on the mountain and wondered if he was doing his old teacher proud with how he was raising Naruto. He hoped so, and his mind turned to what else he could teach Naruto. His chakra control was getting better but it still sucked, his taijutsu was getting better with the style that he was teaching him but Naruto seemed to have a gift for making up moves on the fly, they weren't pretty but they were totally chaotic and unpredictable. With some polish he might turn out pretty good, he wasn't sure about how well Naruto would be with ninjutsu and with his lack of chakra control he got the feeling that his son would be horrible at genjustu.
So maybe focusing on the first two and letting Naruto learn how to find and dispel them would be best, he'd see how well he would do when his class got into transformations next year. But he was glad to see his son making some new friends the Kiba kid was a lot like Naruto in ways and the two were always pushing the other but in a rival and friendly manner that made him remind him of his own relationship with Obito had been.
The other boy Shino was the quiet type but seemed okay, and then there was something else he was noticing and made him grin under his mask. Apparently Naruto was starting to get a small fan club of girls, it reminded Kakashi of his own youth although looking back on it he wouldn't have ignored all those girls, honestly what the hell had he been thinking? He could have had any girl he wanted but he had been too stuck up and focused to just relax and have fun like Obito had tried to get him to do all the time.
Although when he went to pick up Naruto he had noticed a few girls giggling as they were watching his son, although his son seemed to be a bit too dense to notice. Although Naruto did seem to have a small crush on the pink haired friend of his and she seemed to have a bit of on herself although he also noticed how Hinata also was.
'Two girls area already after you, Naruto you are so lucky and yet so screwed at the same time,' he giggled a little perversely at what his boy would be later on in life. Although when puberty set in he would have to have a one on one talk with him, maybe let him read a few parts of his books for him to know how to treat a girl if he got that far, it sure would have helped with his first time. That had been awkward to say the least but at least now he knew a lot of good tricks.
"Yo, Kakashi."
He turned to see Asuma one of the Hokage's sons walking up to him.
"Hey what's up?" Kakashi asked as he stopped in his place.
"We were wondering if you wanted to have a poker game tonight, I'm trying to round up a few more Jonins for it." Asuma asked him while digging for one of his cigarettes.
Kakashi thought about it, usually the Jonins would get together for things like this from time to time. It was a nice way to get the know the new guys, catch up with others and share good stories. Sometimes they went to a certain bar to hang out or pay tribute to fallen friends as well. They hadn't done that in about a month so and he felt the need to relax a bit.
"Sure whose turn is it?" Kakashi was mentally listing the current Jonins and trying to remember the order, he had missed the last two times so that would be...he saw Asuma's smirk and he suddenly realized that Asuma had planned this out.
"Tonight at seven good for you?" Asuma asked still smirking.
He sighed and nodded his head, "Yeah why not."
"Good cause I've been wanting to meet this kid of yours who my old man seems to like so much," Asuma smirked at him. He had never actually met Naruto yet which was odd given how his dad liked him so much. Although it didn't help that he and his father were still having troubles with each other, as a ninja and Hokage they worked well together but as father and son things just didn't work out as smooth. At least his relationship with his brother wasn't as bad although still tense at times.
Kakashi nodded his head as he pulled out his book as he walked on back to his place, it certain would be an interesting night that's for sure. He hadn't had anyone join him over at his new place since Naruto was born. He had always been too busy when Naruto was younger and then missions always got in the way as well. He wondered what Naruto would make of them although he hoped that Ebisu guy wasn't coming, Kakashi respected his abilities as a ninja and a special Jonin that taught ninjas but the guy was way too ridged. He just reminded Kakashi too much of how he was younger.
He also hoped Gai wouldn't show up, the last time they were together he got it into his head to challenge him to a drinking contest. He won it although he paid for it the next morning and he really didn't like to tell Naruto that he was just sick and not hung over. He really didn't like doing that to his own son and swore off drinking competitions until he was a bit older to understand.
Later that night Kakashi set up the table, got the snacks and a few drinks. He had finished helping Naruto with some homework and he seemed excited to see some new faces. He had taken off his combat jacket that everyone got at Chunin level and was just in a black t-shirt. He heard the door suddenly bang open and that would only mean one of two people.
"Worship me all for the goddess of games has arrived!" Anko called out as she marked right in throwing her coat onto a chair. Behind her was a slightly older woman in civilian clothing with long dark hair and strange yet captivating red eyes.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here Anko? I'm still a Chunin after all," the woman asked.
"Kurenai you're my friend and you'll make Jonin one day like me so think of this as meeting your future peers." Anko walked into the living room seeing Kakashi there with a questioning look on his face. She just gave him one of her wide grins, "Hey there Kakashi, hope you don't mind me bringing a friend along."
Kakashi just shrugged his shoulders, "I don't mind it's my house so my rules."
"Great, this is Kurenai Yuhi. So then where's the brat?" Anko looked around only to be suddenly hit by a yellow, black and orange blur.
"Auntie Anko!"
"Hey there Naruto how is school going?" Anko smiled ruffling the boy's hair.
Kurenai was smirking at the scene she had known Anko for years and she never seen her like this. She rarely showed that much affection and the two were actually cute together, she noticed Kakashi giving one of his closed eye smiles. A small giggle escaped her but she stopped as soon as Anko gave her the evil eye for it.
Naruto looked up at the lady and tilted his head, "Hey who is the pretty lady?"
Kurenai knelt down to the boy smiling, "My name is Kurenai Yuhi and you must be little Naruto that Anko told me about, it's nice to meet you."
"Thanks it's nice to meet you too," then Naruto looked at her eyes for a moment, "hey how come your eyes look kind of like the one eye my dad has? Are you part Uchiha or something?"
Kurenai stood up surprised by that and looked to see Anko and Kakashi giving her the same look.
"You know now that you mention it, the resemblance is there..." Kakashi said.
Anko nodded her head, "You ever trace back your family tree Kurenai?"
She gave them both dirty looks knowing they were just messing with her. A knock came at the door and it opened up and a very loud and very familiar voice yelled out to the them. "Hello! Kakashi my rival we're here and with the power of youth I vow to defeat you in poker or I'll do five thousand vertical push ups!"
Naruto of course went to meet his 'Uncle Gai' and hugged him, "Ah Naruto-kun, how are you? Had the power of youth see you through school?"
"You know it Uncle Gai, believe it!" he gave him a thumbs up and Kakashi shuddered at that.
"Gai! What have I told you about poising my son's mind with that crap?" Kakashi yelled at the green glad ninja, apparently even off duty he still wore that bright green jumpsuit. He noticed the other two men with him were Asuma and one of the new Special Jonins; he had short brown hair, a bandana on his head and was chewing on what looked like a senbon needle. He tried to run through the list of names in his head and came up with Genma Shiranui. They greeted everyone and soon after got things rolling, they took their seats as they started to talk about the usual things, missions, gossip, and such.
Naruto came was seated next to his dad as he watched and was trying to figure out the game. That is after they calmed Gai down about ruining Naruto's youthful sprit. And so the poker night started off, they traded a few stories and talked about what was going on, although they had to keep the more graphic parts toned down since Naruto was there, even though he was begging to hear all the 'cool ninja stories' as he called them.
When Naruto found out that Asuma was the Hokage's son he asked him if beards and smoking ran in the family. That caused Asuma to laugh a bit and he guessed it did, although his older brother had to stop since his wife did just have a baby. Kurenai seemed a little intimidated by being in a group of people like this, especially since Gai, Asuma and Kakashi were full Jonins which was the highest rank to gain other than Hokage.
But after a drink and some coxing from Anko she managed to loosen up a bit and she had to admit the interactions between Kakashi, Gai, Naruto and Anko made for some very entertaining evening.
At one point in the game Asuma looked at Kakashi as he was looking at the cards he was given, "hey how come you got to wear that mask Kakashi? It's not fair for the rest of us."
"Consider it the ultimate poker face," he smirked behind it.
"I still think he's cheating by counting the cards," Genma said checking his cards to make sure they weren't marked as well. "Besides how do we know the kid isn't cheating for you?"
"Just because you suck at this doesn't mean you can blame Naruto," Anko grinned and threw in a few chips.
"What are you his mother?" Genma asked her as she gave him a glare, earning him one from Naruto as well. Kakashi saw this and he didn't like sore losers, and he let one of his hands drop out of sight of the board and hang on his side, luckily Naruto noticed this. Then he saw his dad starting to give him one handed signs. One of the things his dad taught him was sign language, with both one and two hands. Naruto grinned under his mask as he made an excuse to get a drink of water, he returned later and gave his dad a wink knowing he was ready.
The game continued until Kakashi 'accidentally' dropped one of his chips, "Naruto can you get that chip for me? I don't trust taking my eyes off my cards in a room full of ninjas."
Naruto nodded his head, "sure thing dad." He went under the table and got the chip but also pulled out a tube of industrial strength glue. He went over to Genma and got ready, "Genma-san can you raise your foot it's wedge under it...no the other one. Thank you."
After gluing both feet to the floor Naruto gave back the chip to his dad and made an excuse to go to the bathroom. Genma was closer to the kitchen and asked him to get some new drinks since they were running low, after a little convincing he signed and went to get up, that's when his feet stayed in place making him fall flat onto his back. He swore as he nearly swallowed his senbon needle and looked to see how his feet were now glowed to the floor.
He glared at Kakashi, "you bastard you and your boy did this when he was under the table!"
Kakashi gave an innocent look, "why whatever do you mean?"
At this Anko had lost it and was laughing so hard she resting her head on the table pounding on it, Kurenai was trying not to and hiding a hand over her mouth and Asuma didn't care it was hilarious. After everything calmed down and Kakashi loaned Genma some spare shoes saying he would give him his originals when he managed to pry them off the floor later the game continued. Naruto also returned and he could see Genma giving him dirty looks, but there was no malice in them.
Naruto however was getting board, "I don't get it, why is this game so much fun? It looks so easy all you got to do is match up the cards don't you?"
"It takes a bit more than that," Asuma said as he tried to go for a cigarette but got yet another warning from Kakashi, he didn't allow smoking in his house if Naruto was there, besides his son was short enough as it was and didn't need to be any shorter. That earned him a dirty look from Naruto as his height was a sore subject for him.
"Well it looks too easy for me," Naruto crossed his arms.
"Oh really?" Anko said and looked to Kakashi, "Why don't you let him join in and show the little chibi how hard the game is."
"I'm not a chibi!"
Kakashi had enough chips as it was and put a third of his into a new pile as Naruto smiled and went to get a chair.
"Kakashi how can you let a child play poker!" Gai said standing up and pointing at him, "This is most unyouthful! It's bad enough he learns this game but to let him play, what kind of father are you?"
"Huh? Sorry did you say something Gai?" Kakashi asked in a blank stare and Gai face faulted at that.
Naruto returned and they dealt him in, after all what were the odds of Naruto staying in longer than ten minutes? An hour later Naruto somehow had amassed most of the chips, Asuma just couldn't believe the little kid was this good and what was worse the boy still didn't understand all the rules as he asked now and then if his hand was good or not, and it usually was good. The others just couldn't believe his luck and Kakashi was starting to plan that as soon as Naruto was old enough he'd hit a few casinos.
With that boy's luck he could gain enough to make a nice sum of money for retirement that is if he lived that long, since it was rare for active ninjas to die of old age, well he'd make sure it would go to Naruto then if that happened.
Genma was banging his head on the table swearing to himself about chibi-Kakashis and ringers. Pretty much after that night Naruto wasn't allowed to gamble with the Jonin unless it was when Kakashi brought in the new guys who didn't know of Naruto's talent. Over a year he would manage to squeeze a lot of cash out of his fellow ninjas before word went around of Naruto and his deadly poker skills.
-Hyuga Compound-
Hinata was training with her cousin Neji in one of the larger training areas, or more likely he was trying to teach her, she had been learning a bit with him. She couldn't help but notice just how much better he was than her. She was breathing hard as she had been pushing herself as hard as she could, she had seen Naruto-kun train and he never gave up. She also wanted Naruto to notice her a bit more but she wasn't sure why, she liked him but why was it that she got so nervous around him? Sure she got nervous with everyone but with him she felt more nervous.
He also made her happy and safe, ever since that night he saved her Naruto had been something very special to her. She also felt weak and she hated being scared, she wanted to be strong and fearless like Naruto seemed to be. She got back into her fighting stance as Neji got into his as he watched her throw the first few strikes. He dodged them and countered with his own hands, he couldn't seal the chakra points but he didn't want to do that anyway. He had noticed how his cousin had been training herself very hard lately.
They continued on until Hinata looked like she was struggling to still stand, he stepped away and dropped his hands.
"Neji-niisan?" Hinata asked.
Neji was still getting used to her calling him that although he still felt that he had to use a respectful tone with her, at least in the compound outside out of ear shot of others he could be a bit more relaxed around her.
"I think we should take a break Hinata-san, why don't we have a drink?" He motioned over to the deck where they had some water. Hinata wanted to argue that is if it was in her but she just nodded and went over and sat down taking some of the cool water. Neji looked at her and was wondering what was going on with his cousin lately, "Hinata-san why are you pushing yourself so hard?"
Hinata jumped a bit in surprise and started to fiddle with her fingers as she looked down at the ground, "I...I need to be stronger, if I want to be a ninja then I can't be weak."
Neji nodded his head thinking he was seeing where this was going, he knew that she had lots of confidence problems after all she was the eldest daughter of the her uncle and would one day lead the clan. That was a lot of weight to put onto the shoulders of a little girl. He thought back to something his father had told him.
It had been a week after Hinata's failed rescue as he had been training very hard, he had been upset that someone had tried to take not only one of the clan but his own cousin. It was only thanks to Naruto that she had been saved and he had ended up in the hospital because of it. He honestly was starting to like Naruto, he was odd, loud and came off as an idiot at times but he was totally loyal to Hinata and his friends. He never gave up or backed down and he had a determination in him that was harder than steel.
It was those qualities that made Neji see what Naruto was like and so he pushed himself to new heights.
"Neji my son come here."
He turned to see his father and stopped what he was doing and looked up at his father, he was smiling down at his son and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Neji my son I think you have much potential maybe even the most potential that has ever been shown in many generations."
"Thank you father," the young boy beamed up at him. "I want to be the strongest there is."
"And why do you want to do that?" his father asked.
"Most of the Main family looks down at us, I want to show them that the Branch members aren't the weakest that we can be just as good."
His father smiled at his son, "that is a nice reason my son but it's not a good one. Son let me tell you how you can become truly strong..."
"Hinata-san I respect that you want to get stronger but you should get strong for the right reasons," he told her and she looked at him with confusion. "My father said that people get strong for many reasons but the best reason is to get strong for others to protect them like the Branch family protects the Main family. If you want to be strong you should do so for the rights reasons so who do you want to gain strength to protect?"
Hinata was taken aback by that and thought about it, and soon a blush reached her cheeks. She played with her index fingers again as she thought about a boy she wanted to be strong to protect, and that was Naruto. He had nearly died because of her and she didn't want him to do that again, she wanted to be able to protect him like she had.
Neji smirked seeing his younger cousin act like this and got an idea of who she was thinking of. "I'm sure he's someone that is worth getting strong for."
Hinata made a small 'eep' sound as she actually managed to blush even deeper. She tried to say something but it took her awhile to be able to speak. "W-who are you getting s-s-strong for?"
Neji gave her a small smile as he got up he walked off a few steps before stopping and looked over his shoulder at her, "my family, and I mean all of my family."
Hinata got the full meaning of those words and knew that he meant her as well. She felt happy at that and gave him one of her warm heartfelt smiles. She felt she had enough for the day and wanted to see if she had any homework left. As she walked on her way to her room she saw her mother go into her little sister's room. Lately she had been very worried for her mother she hadn't been herself for a long time now.
Hinata moved to the doorway and watched her mother put her younger sister in her crib and sit down on a rocking chair, she looked at her mother and she seemed so tired. Hinata walked up to her mother nervously, "mother is something wrong with you?"
She looked down at her precious daughter and stroked her face lovingly, "I'm just sick dear."
"S-s-sick?" Hinata asked worried.
She gave her a small smile, "it's okay I'm getting medicine and seeing a doctor so try not to worry alright?"
Hinata nodded her head but she couldn't help but feel something was very wrong with this, her mother was pale and she was tired a lot lately. She was eating less and she couldn't tell if her mother had lost weight because of the robes that the clan favoured. Hannah reached down and picked up her child seeing how worried she was and held her close. Hinata just held her mother tightly as her mother hugged her.
Hannah had been seeing the doctors and healers and she had been taking the medicine but she was still suffering from headaches and she couldn't even activate her eyes anymore because it hurt so much. She was starting to get very worried but she tried not to show it, she wanted to beat this, she wanted to see her daughters grow up and see what kind of women they would turn into. She even wanted to live long enough to have another child if possible but the fear that her time was growing shorter was always there.
She still had hope at least, that the next few treatments would send it into remission and give her more time but until then she just had to hope and she wanted to live her life with her family. Her precious children meant so much and she didn't want to leave Hinata, and have Hanabi grow up without a mother, and to leave her husband alone. She was happy with her life and would fight with every fibber in her being to stay here. She felt Hinata's body against hers and felt the sting of tears in her eyes, her daughter had such a good heart and she wanted to see it grow.
She knew that her daughter was something special she had a quality that she had seen in only one other little boy. She smiled at the thought of Naruto and how Hinata seemed to idolize him, and was on her way to a crush as well. She wanted to see what would happen with them and see if she could give her daughter advice on boys when the time was right, to do all the things that mothers and their daughters did. She wanted to do all of that and so much more.
'I will not give up, I have to go on for my family.' She thought strongly to herself hugging her precious daughter.
Next up Chapter 16: A Princess' Pain