A Man And His Son

Mother Figure

Minato was walking along the village streets while pushing Naruto in a stroller. 
The Hokage sighed, his friends insisted he hang out with them for old times sake and they can play some poker, Minato hasn't been out to do anything for himself in a long time not since Kushina died but he figured it'll be good for him to be among friends again.
"Well son I'm not going to your dear old dad is nervous, he hasn't really been the most socially active for the past eighth months, let's just hope my buddies aren't too mad at me for actively avoiding them.
"Mama Mama!!"
Minato turned his head to see a baby, she looked a few months older than Naruto was slowly toddling to her mother and father.
"Come on baby you can do it."
The small child clumsily walked into her mother's arms.
"Good job sweetie!"
The mother praised her baby.
"Mama mama!!"
The baby babbled as she laughed gleefully.
Minato smiled at the scene as he continued to walk.
"The baby learned how to walk, I can only imagine what mischief you'd get into when you're at that point in your life."
Minato giggled as he continued to walk.
"Maaa."
Naruto said quietly, trying to mimic that word the other baby said to the lady that was holding her, it almost sounded like the word Naruto calls his father but it's sounds different and apparently it's a word you call a girl who holds you and hugs you like that woman is doing with her baby.
"Maaa."
Naruto said quietly again as he tried to make his mouth say the foreign word.
Minato continued to walk until he made it to his destination, the Uchiha head house, the home of his friends Fugaku.
"Well here we are Naruto, this is where your friend Sasuke lives but he's at the academy around this time of day."
Minato knocked on the door after a few seconds the door opened to show Mikoto.
"Minato, it's good to see you again."
Mikoto said happily.
"Likewise...Gakky insisted I come hang out with the guys again it's been awhile since I had actually been social."
Minato said a bit embarrassed that he secluded himself for so long.
"No one is mad at you, you need time to grief and gather your thoughts."
Mikoto turned and motioned Minato to follow her and the man followed and he was led to a room with all of his friends.
"Look who finally decided to come out again."
Fugaku stood up and extended his hand to Minato, which the blond gladly shook.
"Come on, grab a seat Minato so I can flush out your wallet too."
Shikaku said as he started shuffling the deck and he started handing out the cards.
"Win one game and you start acting cocky Shikaku."
Hiashi grabbed his cards as he started thinking of strategies to use.
Minato grabbed a chair and he sat at the table.
"Man it's been awhile since I hung out with you all, sorry about pushing all of you away."
Said Minato as he took his deck of cards?
Hiashi patted Minato's back.
"No one blames you Minato you needed time to grieve, trust me when my wife passed I needed the time to process everything. Although I'm surprised you still did your Hokage duties during the time."
"Well I can't ask the third since he left to go on vacation and I wouldn't dare leave it to Danzo."
Minato said as he started shuffling his cards.
"That Danzo guy always been shady, I heard he tried to kill the third so he could be the Hokage."
Shikaku whispered.
"Yeah he did luckily Kakashi informed the third about it, so the third disbanded Roots..but I think they're still around so I sent Kakashi and Anko on reconnaissance in the Anbu just in case."
Minato whispered to his friends, surprising them.
"Damn Minato I forget you're actually a pretty competent shinobi."
Fugaku teased his friend.
"Hey! I can be smart too!"
Minato shouted, causing his friends to laugh.
"There's the Minato we all know after all this time you're still hotheaded."
Shikaku said as he laid out one of his cards.
"I guess I got tired of being emotional. I just needed to hang with friends for a bit, and take your money."
Minato said as he laid out his cards causing the other men to groan at their losses.
"Damn it's been nine months and you haven't lost a beat."
Shikaku said as he handed a few dollars to Minato.
"Dada dada!!"
Naruto tugged on Minato's shirt.
"What's wrong Naruto?"
"Numm Numm."
The blond baby started nibbling on Minato's shirt.
"Sorry guys he's hungry."
Minato grabbed his son's diaper bag and he pulled out a bag of banana slices, Naruto recognizing the snack he grabbed the slices of fruits and he started eating them on his own.
"You're actually pretty good at handling your kid considering he's your first child."
Shikaku commented on Minato's parenting skills.
"Kushina would make me go to parenting class when she was pregnant, it definitely helps out when I'm caring for Naruto."
 Minato sighed, mentioning the name of his deceased wife still hurts a little.
Everyone stayed silent for a few minutes with the exception of Naruto's babbles, Minato felt bad he didn't mean to spoil the light hearted atmosphere.
"I'm sorry everyone I ruined everyone's good fun."
Minato was preparing to leave until Fugaku grabbed his wrist.
"You're fine there is nothing wrong with grieving, besides we all miss her.
The Uchiha assured Minato.
Minato nodded as he sat back down and continued to play poker.
"Hey if you don't mind me asking, do you think you'll try to look for someone else? I mean the boy might need a mother in his life."
Shikaku asked  Minato.
"I don't know Shikaku.... it's been nearly a year since it happened and I should be looking but it just doesn't feel right."
"You can't rush these things my beloved died nearly ten years ago and I still haven't remarried, it's a process Minato....but your pain is a bit greater and especially since Naruto never met Kushina."
Hiashi words seem to get Minato thinking.
"Naruto does need a mother figure in his life because I feel if it was just me raising him he'd be a mess."
"You're doing a good job so far so I don't see how he'll turn out bad."
Fugaku said to the man.
"Yeah, give yourself more credit compared to all of us when our kids were first born you're practically a god among men."
Shikaku patted Minato's back knowing he got a bit lazy when raising Shikamaru.
"Father, we're home, sorry about the delay. I went to go get these two some ice cream."
Itachi said from the front door.
"Hey Dad guess what I got top of class during ninja tool practice today and sensei even let me take the target board."
Sasuke rushed into the room with the target board and ice cream while Hinata followed behind with her ice cream.
"Good job son but of course a Uchiha would pass with flying colors."
Fugaku rubbed his youngest son's head.
"And how about you Hinata? How was your day."
Hiashi asked his daughter.
"I I did okay, Iruka sensei said I'm good at medical ninjutsu."
Hiashi smiled.
"Just like your mother."
"Sasa!!!"
Naruto started reaching out to Sasuke and Hinata.
"Heh I guess Naruto feels like playing with you two."
Minato handed off Naruto to Sasuke.
"Thanks Mr.Uzumaki."
Sasuke bowed.
"Thank you Mr.Uzumaki."
Hinata bowed.
"No problem kids and thank you for being good to Naruto."
Minato smiled.
Sasuke and Hinata left the room.
"The way they look now they look like a married couple with a baby."
Shikaku said, causing Fugaku and Hiashi to double over in shock.
"My daughter is not allowed to have a relationship until she comes of age."
Hiashi said.
Minato and Shikaku started laughing.
While the adults were enjoying a good laugh, Sasuke and Hinata went to the younger Uchiha's room.
"T this is your room Sasuke."
Hinata said as she saw the room it had various posters of well known ninjas and a couple of practice dummies and a few gaming systems.
"Yeah it's pretty cool right?
Sasuke smiled.
"Ah ah!"
Naruto started reaching for Hinata.
"I guess Naruto wants you now."
Sasuke handed Naruto to Hinata.
"I need to pick up all my ninja tools anyways so he doesn't hurt himself.
Sasuke started picking up his various Ninja tools and other items that were laid across the floor.
"Maaa maaa!"
Naruto babbled up at Hinata.
"What was that Naruto?"
Hinata asked the baby.
"Y you've been really talkative lately."
"Maaa....Maaaa!!"
Naruto shouted.
"And done."
Sasuke said as he placed all of his potentially dangerous objects away.
"What should we do first Sasuke?"
Hinata asked the young Uchiha.
"W-well I think we need to do our homework."
Hinata suggested.
"We can do homework later, I think we should play a game or something like that."
Sasuke suggested.
"No games until your work is finished."
Itachi walked into the room.
"Aww, but Itachi I can do it later and I want to show Naruto and Hinata my new game."
Sasuke pleaded with his older brother, but the elder brother poked Sasuke's forehead.
"You'll have plenty of time for that Sasuke."
"Fine."
Sasuke took his homework out of his backpack and he started getting to work, Hinata did the same.
"Here I'll take care of Naruto for the time being.
Itachi said as he was handed the baby by Hinata.
"Ah ah Maaaaaa maaaa!!!"
Naruto shouted as he reached his hands to Hinata.
"Wait what did he say?"
Itachi asked, making his ears wasn't playing tricks on him.
"I I don't know if he's been doing that for a bit."
Hinata replied as she handed her work to Itachi.
"Does t that look good Itachi?
"Yeah it does, I reckon you're a bit smarter then my baby brother."
Itachi said, earning a glare from Sasuke.
"Hey this is easy for me too!"
Sasuke exclaimed as he continued to work, but the young boy was still stuck on a few problems.
"I c can help."
Hinata walked over to the boy and walked him through some of the problems.
"Oh I get it."
Sasuke said as he did the rest of his homework.
"Done!"
Sasuke handed his paper to Itachi.
The older brother looked it over.
"It's a little sloppy but it's passable."
Itachi said.
"Now we can have some fun."
Sasuke said as he went over to Hinata and Naruto.
"So what should we do? I think I have some old toys lying around from when I was little."
Sasuke went into his closet and grabbed a shinobi action figure.
"Here's one."
Sasuke handed the toy to Naruto.
Naruto looked at the toy in amazement, he never had a toy like this before.
"I I think he likes it."
Hinata said as she picked up the boy.
Sasuke brought out some more of his action figures and both him and Hinata started playing with Naruto.
The baby was having a lot of him with his new toy, his dad never got him anything like this before.
Sometime later Hinata and Sasuke noticed Naruto was starting to move more slowly and his eyes were getting heavier but he wanted to play more.
"I think he's getting sleepy."
Sasuke said as he picked up the baby.
"We should bring him to Mr.Namikaze."
Hinata suggested.
The two kids went back into the living room, where the adults were wrapping up their game of poker.
"Well fellas it's been fun but I need to get my son home for his naptime and take my winnings with me."
Minato said as he stood up.
"Can't believe you still got it even after all this time."
Shikaku sighed, mulling over his losses.
"What can I say, my skills never fail me."
Minato gloated.
"Well I can tell you're starting to become less of a hermit now."
Fugaku said to his friend.
"Yeah I guess I am, I think hanging out with friends was exactly what I needed."
Minato smiled.
"We're all here for you Minato, and believe me I know loss is burden and grief is a process."
Hiashi said, earning a handshake from Minato.
"Thanks guys."
"Mr.Namikaze."
Hinata and Sasuke walked into the room holding Naruto, whom was fighting the sleepiness that was starting to overcome him.
"Aww look at little Naru-sun!"
Minato picked up the baby, his previous demeanor changing in an instant.
"Well that was fast."
Shikaku commented on Minato's shift in personality.
"We all were like that when our kids were babies."
Fugaku said.
"Ah ah Maaaa!!"
Naruto started reaching out to Hinata.
"I guess he was having a great time."
Minato said.
"We were just playing with some of my old toys."
Sasuke said as he handed the toy Naruto had to Minato.
"He can have it."
Sasuke said as he blushed a bit.
"Thanks Sasuke."
Minato handed the toy to Naruto, the baby was quiet for a second before he resumed reaching out for Hinata.
"I think he wants to go to Hinata."
Hiashi said.
Minato handed Naruto to the Hyuga girl, when he did his son went quiet.
"Maaaa maaa Mama."
Naruto said to Hinata.
When Naruto said that, everyone went silent.
Hinata started blushing a deep red.
"D did he just call my daughter."
"Mama."
Naruto cut off Hiashi and started drifting off to sleep.
"What the hell."
Shikaku exclaimed.
"Well damn, you might have to start looking for a wife sooner than expected, Minato."
"I guess I do."
Minato commented.
"Well it's only natural Naruto would call her that, Hinata is just like her mother hell, even Hanabi called her mother when she was about your son's age Minato."
Hiashi patted the man's back.
"Well thanks for taking care of my son Hinata, apparently you're really good at it."
Minato smiled at the young girl.
"I I."
Hinata was still blushing a deep red, she couldn't even form a proper sentence due to the situation.
"I think it's best I get my daughter home, if she blushes any redder she'll be mistaken as a tomato."
Hiashi waved goodbye as he escorted his daughter out the house so they could go home.
"Well, I guess I better go home...maybe on the way I can find a woman to be Naruto's actual mom... preferably someone who's near my age."
Minato left the house.
After waving off his friend Fugaku turned to Sasuke.
"Naruto doesn't call you Dada does he?"
"DAAAAD!!"
Sasuke whined as he started blushing.
"Relax I'm just asking."