This story follows Akari Namikaze (daughter of Minato and Kushina / Naruto's sister) through the third shinobi war and the many trials that follow. She's four years younger than Kakashi's group but works closely with them. After the war ends a sit...
Akari's birthday couldn't have been more different than last year. Kushina threw a huge party - literally huge. Their house was filled with people. All the kids around her age along with some of their parents and of course Minato and Kushina's best friends. Even little Itachi came with his parents, Shisui keeping an eye on him. It was a lot of fun. The most fun Akari had had that she could remember. There were games to play, lots of junk food to eat, and a huge cake. By the end of the night her cheeks hurt from smiling too much. It was only after everyone left that she was allowed to open presents. Most of them were useful. Things like a med kit, food pills, recipes, shoes, clothing, weapons, and also a decent amount of money (for hotel rooms and such if she needed extra on missions). She almost felt guilty about how many gifts she'd gotten. Almost. As a kid, she couldn't help but be excited by it.
Most of that summer was spent swimming. Akari loved it and now that she only went on long missions every other week or so there were plenty of opportunities. On days that she went she tried to cajole her friends to go too. Haru, Kenji, Asuma, Kurenai, Yugao, and Anko were the ones she went with most often but every once in a while Raido, Genma, Aoba, Guy, Shisui, Ebisu, Shizune, Iruka, Izumo and Kotetsu would join. Kakashi only came with once, and only because he'd lost a challenge to Guy.
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As the weather began to turn cool once more Akari became excited. It was almost here. She'd meet Naruto soon! Minato had been cooking more than usual, letting Kushina relax as much as possible. Part of this was because he was a genuinely nice and thoughtful man; the other reason was because Kushina was even more likely to become angry these days. She complained occasionally that being pregnant was all Minato's fault and also complained about the size of her stomach. Akari liked that her mother's stomach was so large. Sometimes when Kushina fell asleep on the couch Akari would scoot over and whisper to Naruto.
"Hey Naruto, I can't wait to meet you. I'm so excited to have a little brother. Just you wait, it's gonna be awesome. Mom dad and I are gonna make you into a great ninja, though you'll probably be a natural like me. I bet you'll look like me too - all Uzumakis get the red hair. You're gonna love our parents. Dad is super nice and fun and awesome and mom is... well mom can be scary but she's also really fun to be around and they're both amazing at all sorts of ninjutsu and even cooking. They both love you so much already. You're gonna have so many friends. I'll make sure my friends all let you hang out with us, at least sometimes. Hmm, I wonder what it's like being in there. Can Kurama talk with you? I guess you wouldn't know how to say anything to him even if he could. Hey Kurama, try and take it easy on my little brother in there, ok? I know you and mom don't always get along great but you're part of our family too ya know. I wish I could get to meet you too. Maybe someday.." She let out a big sigh and then whipped her head around, noticing her father in the doorway for the first time. "How long have you been here dad?"
"Pretty much for your whole conversation. You forgot to tell Naruto something."
