Konoha Year 54, December 15.
Twelve days remained before the Hidden Cloud delegation arrived in the village.
They were not here yet, but Konoha had already slipped into celebration mode. The streets felt lighter. By early morning the practice yard beside Moke's house was crowded with people getting their reps in, and a pack of kids were tearing around like happy puppies.
In one corner, a few children were grinding through conditioning drills.
Ever since the Death Forest battle, the Security Department had been hauling in anyone who talked reckless in public, so almost no one dared whisper "fox demon" near Naruto anymore. Even so, he still avoided the crowds. He chose the quiet corner and trained on his own.
The other kids were Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, and a new addition, Kiba Inuzuka.
The stray cat Naruto had rescued now had a name, Little Tangerine, and was recuperating at Ino's family flower shop. Naruto had volunteered to keep the cat himself, but Ino shut that down without blinking. Naruto was clumsy, she said, and would only make the cat's wounds worse.
Little Tangerine liked them well enough but hated being bandaged. During one change of dressings it bolted, and when the four finally found it, Kiba stood there with his face crosshatched in cat scratches, gripping the scruff with a deadpan look, unsure what to do next.
And just like that, their little circle grew by one more loud, big-hearted kid just like Naruto.
Now Ino sat on the little swing, rocking back and forth, watching Naruto and Kiba race each other through push-ups.
It had started as a four-way contest, but Shikamaru and Choji bailed just shy of a hundred reps and slumped to the side, sharing chips and commentary. Ino, for her part, declared that girls did not need to train. Muscles were not cute.
Naruto's muscles are kind of nice, she admitted to herself, cheeks warm. But her, sweat and stink and drills The horror. Cute was her job.
"Naruto really is a monster. He isn't even breathing hard."
"Yeah. Kiba's fading. He is nowhere close. His form is breaking."
"You two deserters have no right to talk."
Kiba's temple pulsed at the peanut gallery. The Inuzuka had taijutsu in their blood and trained early. He had strutted in confident he would smoke Naruto and his friends. Reality hit fast.
"Heh. You're strong, Kiba, but you're miles behind me dattebayo. I grew up under my old man's demon training."
"Where is your dad anyway. Didn't he say he would teach us today."
Hearing Naruto brag about his very handsome dad again, Ino tilted her head on the swing. Three sentences from him and he was either praising his dad's strength or his looks.
The others had been skeptical, so yesterday Naruto had invited them home to prove it.
Kushina was ruthlessly stripped of her right to cook.
Moke, delighted that Naruto had found the friends from the story he remembered, put on an apron and made a small spread. Even shut-ins needed the occasional upgrade in diet, and his homestyle stir-fries actually looked legit.
The four kids had nearly yelped when they saw him. Naruto, the chaos gremlin, really did have a very handsome father.
Kushina, thrilled that Naruto had brought friends, kept piling food into their bowls, especially Ino's. Pink hair was cute, sure, but Ino's look beat Sakura's in sheer adorableness, and the girl was steadier. Every "Auntie, you look so young, like my older sister" hit Kushina right in the heart.
Now the poor woman had a new problem. Pink or platinum Which future daughter-in-law Old-mom brain was already spinning.
At dinner they had wondered why Naruto's hair did not match either parent, but they were polite and did not pry. They had heard rumors about Naruto's childhood, the village gossip that he grew up parentless, and guessed that Moke and Kushina might be adoptive.
Kushina had asked Moke whether she should hide her hair color.
He had noticed how low her mood had been and how much this first visit meant to her. She wanted to meet Naruto's friends as herself. He told her not to hide anything, so long as she did not slip into her verbal tic.
With only red hair and the kids' vague descriptions to go on, the village would assume she was a Whirlpool clanswoman Moke had brought in, not a soul returned from the dead.
"Rude. I can control my little catchphrases just fine. I will not let one slip, dattebane."
That was Kushina's reply. Sadly, her self-awareness lagged.
At table, Moke spun stories from his past life and had the kids hanging on every word, which made Naruto beam so hard his whiskers practically curled to his ears. Even listless Shikamaru leaned in, never mind the more excitable ones.
Afterward, Moke judged Naruto's foundational training solid and, with a grand wave, told the kids to come tomorrow. He would teach them personally.
Which is how we got to this morning: their routine nearly done, and Moke still nowhere in sight.
Ino, who had liked the handsome Moke on sight and had been told by her parents that Naruto's dad was a very strong shinobi they should learn from, had sprinted here at dawn with the boys, full of hope.
Now she puffed her cheeks and glared at Naruto. "We got stood up."
"…Dad probably overslept again."
Naruto's face went red. He had expected this.
He could not remember a single day his dad woke up early.
But kids cool fast. In minutes they were in the trees with wooden shuriken, playing ninja.
—
Moke did love sleeping in. In a world light on entertainment, only extra sleep and card games touched the joy of his former life.
But today Naruto was wrong about him.
He had tried to burrow back under the quilt, and Kushina had remembered perfectly what he promised at dinner. At dawn she literally kicked him out of bed for breakfast.
He was stepping out the door when three guests arrived.
Three he had expected.
Shisui. Itachi. Sasuke.
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