Naruto's Kit

Chapter 18

The day after the festival Naruto had somewhere specific in mind he wanted to go. He didn't tell any of the girls with him where he was taking them, but Hinata had a good idea and Akane for some reason felt the area was becoming very familiar to her. They came up to a large house down by a beach different from the one their hotel was at.

"So this is the place Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Yep. Hasn't changed a bit." He told her.

"Just where are we Otou-san?" Akane asked.

"Well Akane-chan, remember when I told you about my first mission outside Konoha?" Naruto asked her.

Akane immediately realized what he meant, but decided to be playful. "So this is where the Princess of Snow lives? But this isn't Land of Snow."

Naruto groaned while Hinata heard the subtle playful tone in the girl's voice. "Wrong mission sweetheart. This is the house of the bridge-builder's family." He immediately felt a glomp on his right leg, and saw Akane hugging him tightly. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong at all." Akane happily answered with a small tear. After hearing what he called her, her heart exploded with joy. Ever since hearing about her forgotten past, she feared Naruto might actually just be acting okay to avoid upsetting her. Like he didn't really see her as family but didn't have the meanness to kick her out of his life. Now, she felt he really did care about her, even if logically he shouldn't. 'I love you, Otou-san. I will make you proud of me.'

Naruto decided to pick her up and carry her on his shoulders, which she didn't mind one bit. Then he and the others walked up to the door and he knocked. After a moment Tsunami answered and quickly smiled. "Oh my, is that you Naruto? Good to see you again. And who's this with you?"

"Hi Tsunami. This is my girlfriend Hinata and on my head is my daughter Akane. The other little girl with the red marks is her friend Shiba and her two pets."

"Daughter huh?" Tsunami asked, looking over Akane, then Naruto, then Hinata and back to Naruto. "But she doesn't look anything like you. And who's the mother?" Akane pointed to Hinata, surprising Tsunami. "Aren't you both a little young to be parents to a girl her age?"

"We're not... biologically her parents. B-but that doesn't matter. We both consider her our daughter." Hinata told the older women politely.

Tsunami smiled. "Why don't you all come inside? Inari and Otou-san should be back any minute."

"Where are they by the way?" Naruto asked as they all slowly stepped inside the house. He noted that while the exterior was exactly like he remembered from his last visit, the interior wasn't.

"Getting some plywood I think to make a gazebo for someone." Tsunami told him. "So did you just happen to be in Wave and decide to pay us a visit?"

"Sort of. I brought my girls here for a trip and thought it would be nice to say 'hi' while I was here." Naruto answered. "Were you at the festival last night?"

"Yeah. Were you there?" She asked and they all nodded. "Huh. Wonder why we didn't see you."

Meanwhile, at their hotel, the three people who had broke into Naruto's apartment had tracked his scent to there and went inside. They asked for a young blonde man wearing orange accompanied with a small redhead girl. The hostess said they were out for the day and would return later. So they went back outside. Not wanting to wait an unknown amount of time, they tried to track down the same scent to find them. Sadly, it was intermingled with too many others so they had to split up and search.