A/N: Sorry for the long, long, long wait for this, the third chapter in my Hatake Naruto story. I will be updating this story a little more frequently than the time between this chapter and the previous one. I ask that you all remain patient with me.

I am looking for someone who can draw an image of the Naruto from my story along with Samui. PM me if you think that you can do it, will provide more details as to how Naruto will look later in the story...

Also, I am looking for someone to act as a beta reader for this and my other stories. Preferably someone who has some experience beta reading. PM me if interested.

WARNING: This chapter has a wee bit of whimsy and is completely a slice of life chapter!

As always, I do not own anything to do with Naruto or Naruto Shippuuden. I just do this for fun!

And of course, read and enjoy and if you can't enjoy mine, go read someone else's!

Family Antics

The Same Time

Kurenai

Kurenai was in the kitchen cooking breakfast for her family when she heard the backdoor of the house open and close, followed immediately by the sounds of her husband and son's feet in the hallway leading from the backdoor into the main part of the house, which the kitchen adjoined, along with their voices. She paused for a moment in her cooking, a small smile playing across her lips as she listened to her husband and son's back and forth banter as they walked through the house, again thanking whatever powers that be for how her life has turned out and for her amazing husband and their equally amazing son. As she was finishing preparing their breakfast, Kurenai heard her family enter the kitchen/breakfast room and said, "Good morning, Kakashi-kun, Musuko. How was your morning workout, Musuko?"

As she turned around to look at her husband and son, both of which were covered in dirt from their sparring match that they had just finished, her son said with a shrug, "Good morning Kaa-san. My workout was great, though Tou-san interrupted my progression through the Ōkamisuga Suitaru katas."

Kurenai turned to look at her husband, who was wearing a very sheepish look as he brought his hands up in mock surrender, "Hey, all I wanted to do was test him to see how far he had progressed. By the way, Kure-chan, good morning."

Kurenai rolled her eyes at her husband's weak excuse for an opportunity to spar with their son, "All I hear is you making up a weak excuse for an opportunity to spar with Naruto. Oh," she paused for a moment as she redirected her attention back to her son, "Naruto, why don't you go get cleaned up before breakfast?"

She watched as he nodded, "Hai, Kaa-san."

As soon as she and her husband heard their son make it upstairs and into his room, Kurenai turned to her husband, "He's getting stronger. We need to tell him soon, Kakashi."

Kurenai watched as her husband's face lost it's previous humor and settled into the mask he wore under his ANBU mask, "I know. I will talk with Hokage-sensei and Kushina-sama to get a time set up where we can have them come over so that we can all be there when we tell him."

Kurenai nodded her agreement at her husband's plan, "And I will get talk to Tsunade-sensei to see if she can come over."

She shared her husband's sorrow over what the news that he was the Jinchuuriki no Kyuubi no Kitsune could possibly do to the psyche of their son, but both of them knew that the sooner they told him about it, the sooner they could start teaching what that means and how to take care of himself while ensuring the village's safety. Kurenai knew what kind of person Naruto was and hoped that the news wouldn't change him...

Itachi

Uchiha Itachi groaned as he awoke as the sun was making it's presence known to the world. Itachi thought that the sun was being very rude by showing itself through the crack in his curtains after he had gotten home so late last night following his latest mission with team two. It had been a tough one, hunting down a missing-nin about Itachi's age named Mizuki and stopping him from selling the forbidden scroll that he had stolen out of the Hokage Tower. Needless to say, the mission was a success, his team leader/jōnin sensei had returned the scroll to the tower, and Mizuki's ashen remains would never be found. The fight had taken a little more out of the ten-year-old Itachi than he had expected, but in the end, his team along with their sensei had managed it, and to add to his exhaustion, Itachi had awoken his Sharingan during the fight. When he had arrived home, the Uchiha heir had barely had enough energy to shower and make it into bed before he fell asleep.

Now as he was brought to wakefulness by a very, very, very rude sun, Itachi just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. Did he mention that the sun was being incredibly rude? Just as Itachi was about to roll over and go back to sleep, he heard a small set of feet pounding on the wooden floor thundering down the hallway towards his room. Itachi groaned again as he knew what was coming, his little brother Sasuke. It seemed like the world was bound and determined to not let the newly-promoted chuunin any rest. A few seconds later, the sliding door to his room was thrown open to hit the stop with a loud crack and a small body leapt across the room towards him with a loud shout, "Nii-san!"

An instant before his little brother landed on him, Itachi used the replacement technique to replace himself with a wooden log and watched with some small measure of amusement as Sasuke's head connected with the log with a loud smack followed immediately by said younger boy's pain-filled voice, "Oww, that hurt. Why would you do that, Nii-san?"

Itachi gave his little brother a small smirk and said in a voice that held a small measure of the satisfaction an older brother has for tricking his younger brother, "Because, Sasuke-kun, barging into someone's room like that is not polite."

He paused as he crossed the room and flicked his little brother in the bright red spot in the middle of his forehead, earning another yelp of pain from his younger sibling, "Especially when said individual has been out of the village for the past three days and has only just returned late last night. Now, why don't you go find Kaa-san? I am sure she would love some help getting breakfast ready."

Itachi watched as his little brother looked up at him and asked, "Can you train with me after breakfast?"

Itachi sighed and nodded, "Sure."

He did well to hide his smile as he watched his brother's face light up at his agreeing to train with him just before he nodded and dashed from Itachi's room. Itachi let out another sigh at his little brother's antics before he gathered his things to go take a shower. Today was going to be a long day. It wasn't that he didn't love his little brother because he most certainly did, but after the kind of B-Ranked mission that he had his team had been on over the last few days his little brother's overabundance of energy was...in the words of Shikaku-sensei, "troublesome".

A half-hour later, Itachi had finished a small nap, gotten dressed, and was now walking through the house towards the family dining room. He was about half way to the dining room when he heard the sound of small feet rapidly approaching again. Itachi began his mental countdown: 3...

The sound was growing closer...

2...

and closer...

1...

Itachi saw his little brother skid around the corner ahead of him, running straight for him...

0...

Itachi again performed a perfect Kiwarmi no Jutsu (Replacement Technique) an instant before his brother reached him and watched with amusement as his little brother collided with the log so hard that his arms and legs almost wrapped around it. The boy and the log hung in the air for a heartbeat or two, just long enough for Itachi to snap a photo with the camera that he seemed to produce out of thin air, before they crashed to the ground with the log landing on top of Sasuke. Itachi had to hold back a laugh as he snapped another photo before he reached down and moved the log off of his little brother. He watched as his little brother propped himself up with his hands and frowned up at him. Itachi's little brother spoke, his voice full of his almost customary pout, "Nii-san, why would you do that?"

Itachi knelt down before the boy and flicked him in the forehead again, "Because it is an older brother's right to pick on his little brother, especially when said little brother knows better than to go running through the house like a madman. Why, you never know what may happen and we wouldn't want you to be hit by a flying log or anything, now would we?"

He watched as his little brother's frown deepened, "You're just saying that to get away with making me hit that damned log twice now."

Itachi flicked him in the forehead again, "Language, Sasuke. What would Kaa-san think hearing those words coming out of your mouth?"

Both boys heard a woman's voice from the end of the hall where Sasuke had just come from, "What is this about one of my boys saying foul language?"

Itachi looked up and said with a small smile, "Oh, nothing Kaa-san, just Sasuke said "damn"."

Itachi watched as their mother went from all smiles to being filled with a mother's wrath. Her shoulder-length hair started to float around her head, her eyes filled with white-hot flames, and everything around them went black as a massive inferno burst into existence behind her. Her voice took on an almost demonic tone as she spoke, "What was that, Sasuke-kun?"

Itachi had to do his best to hide a smile as Sasuke paled and stammered as he tried to explain, "B-b-but K-K-Kaa-san, I-I only s-s-s-said tha-"

Uchiha Mikoto would hear nothing of it, "I do not care what possessed you to say it. The fact is that you did say it."

Itachi watched as his mother stalked towards Sasuke, grabbed him by his left ankle, and dragged him away, "Now Sasuke-kun, we shall have another discussion about how a child your age should speak. After I wash your mouth out with soap...again."

Itachi did well to hide his smile as Sasuke dug his nails into the wooden floor, leaving long anime-style grooves in the dark stained wood while trying to save himself from a fate worse than death. After they had left, Itachi continued on his way to the dining room. A few seconds later, Itachi heard a blood-curdling scream that filled him with a small sense of satisfaction. Ah, it was good to be the big brother...

A Couple of Hours Later

Kurenai

After breakfast, Kurenai along with her husband and son, both of whom were reading books while all three of them were walking through Konoha on their way towards the shinobi market area of the village hidden in the leaves. Kurenai looked over at her husband and resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at his choice of reading material. Whereas the rest of the village saw a simple and completely innocent black book, the truth was that her Kakashi was reading the latest in Jiraiya-sama's Icha Icha series. Most women wouldn't approve of their husbands reading such smut, but since Kurenai also read it, mainly for ideas for the two of them to try in the bedroom, she didn't really mind his reading it, as long as it was hidden. Currently the book was hidden by a strong genjutsu that she cast on it before they left the house. The other requirement that she had for her husband to be able to read one of those books in public was that he keep his perverted giggling to a minimum, preferably none at all. So far her husband had been a good little boy.

Kurenai then shifted her attention to the figure walking between her and Kakashi, their son, Naruto. He was currently wearing a loose-fitting gray t-shirt featuring the Hatake clan emblem of a diamond with nine smaller diamonds inside of it on the left shoulder over a black sleeveless and form-fitting undershirt whose collar rose to form the half mask that covered the lower half of his face. Naruto was also wearing a pair of navy blue cargo pants and matching shinobi sandals. The book he was reading wasn't disguised like the one his father was reading a book on knife fighting.

Kurenai did what she could to resist rolling her eyes at her son's choice of reading material. When she had asked him about it, Naruto had shrugged his shoulders and said that he didn't want to be a carbon copy of his father and that he was very interested in seeing if he could incorporate knife fighting into the family's taijutsu style. When her husband had asked their son why he wanted to study knife fighting, Naruto had pointed out that Kakashi had only ever used the family blade, Hakkō Chakura Tō (White Light Chakra Sabre) as if it was a katana and not a tanto. Kurenai's musings about her son's interests were cut short by a loud shout, "Hatake Kakashi, my youthful and eternal rival!"

Kurenai watched as her boys came to a standstill off to one side of the road while a young man their age came running up to them. The man had shiny black hair cut in a bowl cut, strong features that included a large nose, a strong jaw line, black eyes, and eyebrows that seemed to be inhumanly thick. The man was none other than Maito Gai, the self-proclaimed Konoha no Kedakaki Aoi Mōjū (Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey), an expert in taijutsu and ridiculous training regimens. Currently he was wearing a vibrant green shirt that featured an oversized collar and was open to close to half way down his chest, skin-tight black pants, and a pair of black shoes. While this outfit was drastically better than the nightmare that was his green one-piece spandex jumpsuit with his hitai-ate attached to a pink piece of cloth acting as a belt, his chuunin vest over the top, bright orange leg warmers covering his legs from just below the knees down to the tops of the blue shinobi sandals he usually wore for missions, it was still something that would scar little children for life.

Before Kurenai could even say hello, Gai shouted for all to hear, "Kakashi! I challenge you to a youthful match of rock-paper-scissors and if I lose, I will run one thousand laps around Konoha backwards!"

Kurenai watched in horror as what seemed to be a miniature version of Gai appeared next to her husband's self-proclaimed rival, right down to the bowl cut hair, thick eyebrows, and horrible fashion sense. She watched as the boy looked between Gai, who was now in his "Nice Gai" pose with one arm outstretched giving a 'thumbs-up' and his far-too-bleached-white teeth sparkling, and her husband, who steadfastly ignoring Gai's appearance and proclamation, before looking at her son and speaking in a voice that was just as loud as Gai's, "Hatake Naruto, my name is Rock Lee, and I challenge you to a sparring match so that we may begin our own youthfully eternal rivalry that will surpass that of our predecessors! Accept my challenge and we shall have a rivalry that shall display our youthful spirits and shall allow us to grow to become even greater shinobi than your father and my sensei are due to their rivalry!"

Kurenai watched in abject horror as the mini-Gai now identified as Rock Lee adopted the same "Nice Gai" pose. She watched as a few seconds passed before both of the Hatake males looked up at the still-posing Gai and mini-Gai, blinked a couple of times, and said in unison while using the exact same lazy tone, "Who are you again?"

The reaction was a few more seconds in coming, but it was no less spectacular as both Gai and his mini clone fell to their knees and tried to rip their hair out as the cried to the heavens in unison, their voices full of pain and misery as waterfalls of anime tears streamed down their cheeks, a thunder storm suddenly crashing overhead, "Curse the cool Hatake Attitude!"

Kurenai shook her head and was about to hurry her boys along when she heard the mini-Gai speak, his voice full of anguish, "Gai-sensei, Hatake Naruto rejected my challenge! Now I shall never have an eternal rival!"

She watched as Gai turned to his mini-me and said, his voice full of that same over-the-top and a bit creepy passion, "Never fear Lee! We shall find you a person who is worthy of becoming your Eternal Rival!"

Kurenai had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she watched the anime tears threaten to start spilling from Lee's eyes again as he said in a voice that was full of hope, "Hai, Gai-sensei."

That sinking feeling was confirmed as she watched the two stare into each other's eyes as Gai said, "Lee!"

Absolute horror was what she felt as she watched the two inch closer to each other as Lee answered in the same tone from earlier, "Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Oh Kami above, don't let them embrace, thought Kurenai as she watched the two move closer with each name uttered by the pair with serious mental issues. Her motherly instincts kicked in as she shouted, "Naruto, Kakashi, turn your backs to Gai and Lee now!"

She turned as she saw her boys match her movements, never looking away from their books, leaving their backs to the two behind them just as their seemed to be a brilliant flash of sunlight accompanied by the sound of waves crashing on a beach, and the combined declaration of "Gai-sensei!/Lee!" came from behind her and her boys.

Kurenai heard screams from all around them as men and women seemed to be caught in whatever genjutsu Gai and his student cast. She absently wondered if Gai would be willing to teach it to her before she really thought about it and had to suppress a shudder at the plain wrongness of it.

Once the light and sound faded a few seconds later, Kurenai signaled her boys that it was okay to turn around. Kurenai gasped at the scene that greeted her as she turned back to face the market. All across the market, there were fully grown men and women on the ground twitching violently with their eyes rolled back in their heads, and in the epicenter of all the carnage was Gai and his mini-me hugging fiercely. She looked at her boys and thanked Kami above that her motherly instincts had kicked in when they did and she was able to protect herself and her boys from having to go see the Yamanaka Clan to get their memory of the event wiped.

Kurenai shook her head as she refocused on what was important at the moment, a.k.a. shopping. She looked at her boys and said as she began to pick her way through the square, "Kakashi, Naruto, let's go, we still need to finish our shopping."

The Same Time

Sasuke

Uchiha Sasuke was walking through the same market as the Hatake family, quietly muttering under his breath about the unfairness of his mother believing Itachi over him about what happened in the hallway. Of course, it didn't help that the log had magically vanished just before their mother came around the corner. He sent a small amount of spit into a potted bush near him as he walked, plotting his revenge on his older brother while still trying to get the taste of that horrid soap out of his mouth. Seriously, where did her mother get reaper pepper flavored soap? Wherever it was, Sasuke swore that he would have his revenge on them. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard an overly energetic shout, drawing his attention. He turned and watched as a young man with a glossy black bowl cut hair style addressed a man who was possibly the same age as him, Sasuke couldn't tell because of the mask covering the lower half of his face, with silver, gravity-defying hair and a black eye patch over his left eye. He continued to watch as the miniature version of bowl-cut guy made his own declaration, something about 'eternal rivals', his directed towards the miniature version of the silver-haired man with the exception of the boy's shaggy instead of gravity-defying hair and crimson eyes the same shade as Sasuke's Clan's Sharingan. He watched as both silver-haired males seemed to pause for a moment before they looked up and answered Bowl-cut Guy and his mini-me.

Sasuke watched as Bowl-cut Guy and his mini-me seemed to freeze for a moment before they collapsed to their knees and cried out to the heavens while seemingly trying to rip their hair out in the midst of a suddenly-appearing thunder storm, "Curse the cool Hatake Attitude!"

He thought that their performance was sub-par at best and was about to turn away when a woman's shout drew his attention back to the two groups just as Bowl-cut Guy and his mini-me embraced, causing the light of a setting sun shine upon them and a beach seemed to appear under their feet. Sasuke only said one thing before he was rendered unconscious by the sight, "So pretty."

A/N: I know, I know, this chapter's been so long in coming that many of you wanted to find me and run me down like Frankenstein's monster, but hey the chapter's here so you can put away your torches and pitchforks now... please? Pretty please? Don't make me get the hose!

No, I don't intend to bash Sasuke through this story, but I just felt like having a little bit of fun. I am planning on Sasuke being pretty close to cannon in the first part, but with my own twist. Which will lead to plenty of opportunities for me to leave him a little black and blue (*Author rubs his hands together eagerly as an evil grin spreads across his face*), but whether I redeem him or kill him is still up in the air.

I am planning on one more chapter before Naruto and his classmates go to the Academy. What will happen in the next chapter? Well, that's for me to know and you to find out. (*Author lets out an evil chuckle*)

As always, let me know what you think!