Chapter 122: Big Brother

Kushina pushed Ren’s office door open with her shoulder, and Naruto slipped through the gap before she had properly crossed the threshold.

Sasuke followed beside Mikoto, carrying a small carved wooden horse under one arm. Whenever Naruto came too close, he pulled the toy tighter against himself.

“They’re staying with you until dinner,” Kushina said, dropping a cloth bag beside the cushions in the corner.

Ren looked from the boys to her. “I have work.”

“So do we.” Kushina pointed at the bag. “There’s fruit in there. And clean clothes.”

Naruto had already reached the desk. He caught the edge with both hands, pulled himself onto his toes, and peered across the scattered documents.

Sasuke ignored the papers and walked around to the side of the chair. He stared at the commercial stamp resting near Ren’s hand.

Ren moved the stamp farther out of reach.

Sasuke frowned but stayed where he was.

“Why are they here?” Ren asked.

“Because Sasuke keeps getting into everything we’re trying to prepare for his birthday,” Kushina said.

Sasuke looked up at the word. “Birthday.”

Mikoto reached down and smoothed his hair. “Yes. Yours.”

Sasuke thought about that for a moment, then pointed a small finger at his own chest. “Two.”

Ren leaned back in his chair.

“He already opened two of his presents,” Kushina said.

Mikoto glanced down at Sasuke. “They were his.”

“And Naruto ate part of the table decoration.”

Kushina looked toward her son. “It looked like food.”

“It was parsley,” Mikoto said.

Mikoto bent down and kissed the top of Sasuke’s head. “Stay with your brother.”

Sasuke nodded seriously. “Big Brother.”

Ren answered without thinking. “Yes.”

Naruto stopped reaching for the inkpot long enough to look from Sasuke to Ren, then went back to the desk.

Kushina and Mikoto turned and left together, pulling the door shut behind them.

Mikoto was still talking about Naruto when they left Ren’s estate.

“He knew he wasn’t supposed to touch it.”

Kushina adjusted the bags in her arms. “He’s not even two. Sasuke knew better than to open the presents too.”

“They were his,” Mikoto said.

Kushina laughed. “You’re really sticking with that?”

Mikoto kept walking.

They were almost back to the main house when Kushina caught Mikoto’s hand and pulled her toward one of the storage rooms along the side passage.

“Kushina,” Mikoto muttered, though she followed her inside.

Kushina slid the door shut.

Mikoto grabbed her shirt and kissed her before she could say anything else.

Kushina laughed into the kiss and pulled her closer. When Mikoto finally drew back, she was still smiling.

“You’re getting easier to distract,” Kushina said.

Mikoto kissed her again. “You have yourself to blame.”

Kushina laughed. “You still haven’t answered me.”

“Answered what?”

“Whether you missed my toy.” Kushina lowered her voice only after saying it.

Mikoto caught her chin. “Keep your voice down. We aren’t staying long.”

“Of course not,” Kushina said.

Mikoto kissed her again, and the bag of birthday supplies ended up on the nearest crate.

Kushina was still smiling when Mikoto crowded her back against the door.

“Still in a rush?”

Mikoto shoved Kushina’s skirt up and pushed her panties aside, her fingers finding wet heat immediately.

Kushina’s next laugh came out uneven. “Oh, fuck.”

Mikoto looked up at her, already sinking two fingers into her soaking cunt.

Kushina caught the look. “Don’t start looking pleased with yourself.”

Mikoto dropped to her knees, spreading Kushina’s thighs and pressing her mouth directly against the wet folds.

Kushina kept talking anyway.

“Five minutes ago you were complaining about dinner,” she managed, her voice already less steady than before. “Very responsible of you.”

Mikoto looked up at her.

Kushina smiled down at her. “What? I’m complimenting you.”

Mikoto let her keep talking while she pumped her fingers in and out of her pussy, her tongue working hard over Kushina’s clit.

Her next remark broke halfway out.

She pressed a hand over her mouth and glared down at her as Mikoto sucked the sensitive flesh directly into her mouth.

Kushina dragged in a breath, her thighs trembling. “Don’t.”

Mikoto only looked at her and kept going.

Kushina tried again and got no farther than the first word. Her hips bucked hard, her pussy clamping down on Mikoto’s fingers with a loud, ragged moan.

Kushina finally sagged back against the door, breathing hard. She opened her mouth once, seemed to think better of it, and shut it again.

Mikoto rose and wiped her mouth before reaching for the clothes they’d disturbed.

Kushina watched her for a moment. “You’re enjoying this far too much.”

“You were very loud,” Mikoto said, turning toward the dusty mirror to fix her hair.

Kushina rolled her eyes and started straightening her clothes behind her.

“Stop smiling.”

“I’m not.”

Mikoto caught the smile in the mirror. On her way past, she straightened Kushina’s crooked collar and pushed the birthday bag into her arms.

“Come on. We still have dinner to finish.”

Mikoto opened the door and headed back toward the house with Kushina behind her.

Back in the office, Ren had made it several pages farther through the factory reports while the boys played on the floor.

Sasuke watched Ren stamp several documents before pointing at the wooden stamp. “Mine.”

Ren put it out of reach. “No.”

Naruto abandoned his blocks and hurried over. “Mine.”

Ren moved it higher.

One of the division managers came in carrying a stack of invoices. Before putting them down, he moved the inkpot to the far corner of the desk.

Ren glanced at him.

The manager nodded toward Naruto and started explaining the invoice discrepancies.

While Ren dealt with the invoices, Sasuke pulled several blank sheets from the lower drawer and sat with them on the floor. He pressed his palm firmly into the middle of one page, inspected the result, then did it again.

Naruto took the sheet beside him and copied him.

Sasuke lost interest in his signature and began digging through the low shelf where Ren kept scrap paper. He found a harmless, unused practice tag.

Sasuke held the tag up toward Ren. “Itachi. Ninja.”

“It’s paper,” Ren said.

Sasuke shook his head. “Ninja.”

Naruto immediately reached for it and echoed, “Ninja.”

Ren traded the tag for two scraps of blank paper.

Later in the afternoon, Ren pulled a sliced apple from the cloth bag Kushina had left. He set the plate on his desk.

Naruto marched up to the side of the chair and reached for the fruit.

Ren moved the plate closer to his own elbow.

Naruto reached higher and still couldn’t get the apple. He frowned at the plate for a moment before looking up at Ren.

“Big Brother.”

Ren looked down.

Naruto pointed at the fruit. “Big Brother.”

Ren handed him a slice of apple. Naruto took it happily, chewed on it, and wandered back toward the cushions.

Ren eventually needed to retrieve a ledger from the adjoining workroom. He told both boys to stay and walked out into the corridor.

Little footsteps followed him into the corridor, Naruto first and Sasuke right behind.

Ren turned.

Sasuke pointed at him. “Big Brother.”

Naruto nodded. “Big Brother.”

Ren continued toward the workroom, and both boys followed.

Back in the office, Sasuke sat on the floor trying to copy one of Itachi’s hand signs, only to tangle his fingers together.

Naruto sat beside him and copied the same shape.

“Wrong,” Sasuke said.

“No,” Naruto replied.

Sasuke frowned at his hands. “Wrong.”

Naruto shook his head. “No.”

Ren went back to his paperwork.

Itachi appeared near dusk, still dressed from his ANBU duty.

Sasuke saw him and ran straight across the office.

Itachi caught him before he could crash into his knees.

Sasuke immediately grabbed his sleeve and started talking, showing him the crumpled paper before attempting the hand sign he’d been practicing. Most of it came out in fragments, but Itachi crouched and listened until Sasuke was done.

Naruto crowded in beside Sasuke while Itachi corrected the hand sign.

The moment Sasuke’s hands were right, Naruto held out his own.

Itachi corrected him too.

Naruto immediately held his hands up again. Sasuke turned toward Ren’s desk instead.

“Big Brother.”

He showed the corrected hand sign.

Ren formed the seal properly.

Sasuke’s dark eyes darted from Ren’s hands to Itachi’s and back again.

Naruto immediately held up his hands. “Again.”

Ren showed him once more. Naruto copied it, and Sasuke leaned over to fix what he’d gotten wrong.

They closed the office and walked toward the main house. Both boys insisted on walking.

Sasuke stayed beside Itachi. Naruto wandered toward a sleeping dog, stopped to watch a delivery cart, and nearly followed the smell from a food stall in the wrong direction.

Ren turned him around each time and kept walking.

Kushina and Mikoto were already back at the main house when they arrived. Dinner had been set in the main dining room for the family, with food covering most of the low table and Sasuke’s gifts stacked near Mikoto’s place.

She spotted Naruto’s ink-stained fingers. “What happened?”

Naruto pointed at Sasuke. “Sasuke.”

Sasuke pointed back. “Naruto.”

Mikoto looked toward Ren for an answer.

Ren took his seat at the table.

Halfway through the meal, Naruto decided he wanted a piece of the grilled fish sitting near Ren’s plate. He stretched his arm across the table.

“Big Brother.”

Ren reached over and handed it to him automatically.

Kushina paused with her chopsticks. “What did he call you?”

Naruto pointed at Ren again. “Big Brother.”

Ren gestured toward Sasuke. “He copied him.”

Kushina stared at Naruto, then looked at Ren and burst out laughing. Naruto reached for another piece of fish.

By the end of the meal, several gifts had piled up beside Sasuke. Ren’s oversized box sat beside Mikoto’s new clothes and a clan-crest training shirt from Fugaku that Sasuke wouldn’t fit for years.

Itachi’s gift was small enough to fit in one hand: a wooden practice kunai.

Sasuke’s eyes lit up. He refused to put the wooden kunai down.

Fugaku noticed and corrected his grip. “Here.”

Sasuke looked down at the kunai and carefully copied the position.

Naruto saw the wooden weapon and reached for it. Sasuke refused to hand it over. Naruto grabbed the handle. Sasuke yanked it back with both hands and shouted, and Itachi separated them before either boy could fall over.

Mikoto brought out a small sweet cake with two lit candles. She set it down in front of Sasuke.

Naruto leaned over and blew them out.

Sasuke’s mouth dropped open.

Mikoto sighed and relit the candles while Kushina caught Naruto by the waist and held him back. Sasuke leaned forward and blew them out himself. Naruto squirmed in Kushina’s lap and reached toward the smoke.

While Fugaku and Itachi were talking, Mikoto nudged Kushina’s ankle beneath the table.

Kushina glanced over.

Mikoto kept her attention on her tea.

By the time the table began to clear, Sasuke had carried his wooden kunai out to the veranda. Naruto followed him.

Sasuke sat on the floorboards in the dim light, trying to remember the hand sign Itachi had shown him earlier.

Naruto sat beside him and copied the gesture.

Sasuke looked at his hands and frowned.

“Wrong,” Sasuke told him.

Naruto shook his head. “No.”

Ren came out onto the veranda.

Sasuke looked up and held his hands toward him. “Big Brother. Right?”

Ren crouched beside them and corrected the seal. “Now it is.”

Naruto immediately held up his own hands.

By the time Ren finished with him, Sasuke was already attempting another seal from memory. Naruto started copying before Sasuke had even finished forming it.

The conversation inside carried on while Ren remained on the veranda with them.