At the Uchiha Clan Compound, the Clan Head's Residence was one of only two houses still occupied. Right now, though, the place was full of life.
A circle of people sat around the low table in the living room. The tea had been refilled three times, the plate was piled high with dango, and warm afternoon sunlight spilled in from the veranda, lighting up every smiling face.
"This is wonderful! Minato! We're going to be grandparents!"
Kushina Uzumaki threw her arms around her husband in excitement. Reaching around his back, she slapped his shoulder twice, hard enough that Minato nearly sprayed out his tea.
Minato Namikaze looked both delighted and nervous in her embrace. After becoming a father, he was about to become a grandfather.
It felt rather like the nerves he had felt when Kushina told him, "I'm pregnant." Not that either of them looked old enough to be grandparents.
Standing together, they could easily have passed for Naruto's older siblings. Still, when the word "grandparents" came out of Kushina's mouth, Minato felt as though his knees had aged on the spot.
The other couple reacted differently. Fugaku Uchiha wore a complicated expression, as though he had been turning something over in his mouth, waiting for the right moment to say it.
He considered speaking. Practical questions were already running through his head. What would the children's surnames be? Would both be Uchiha, or could one be an Uzumaki?
And since they were having a boy and a girl, should they be raised differently? Children of the Uchiha Clan began training with ninja tools early, but Mikoto would surely worry... He opened his mouth and got one syllable out before his wife, Mikoto Uchiha, stopped him.
Fugaku glanced at her. Mikoto did not look back. She smiled gently at