A Hundred Million Stars ||Naruto AU||

Chapter One

The blondes ran down the winding road, weaving between the bustling bodies of citizens going about their daily lives. Their now ANBU ranked older brother sped after them, mumbling beneath his breath about how they were too hyper. He could understand their excitement, however, as today would be their first day at the local Ninja Academy. Debating on whether or not to actually catch up to them, the eldest sibling smiled and watched them continuously increase the distance between themselves. As it was his parent given duty to escort them safely, Menma chuckled quite heartily and give it more effort.

"No fair, nii-San," the sister pouted.

To further tease them, he hefted them up under his arms and jogged with the twins.

"Naruto-nii, save me!" she wailed, despite him being in the same predicament.

Menma gave another laugh, slinging her over his shoulder and catching up to his companion. At times they were bitter rivals, but there's just something about dragging twins to school that unites elder brothers it seemed. Itachi was a mirror image, save for Sayaka riding rather gaily on his shoulders with her tiny feet dangling on either side of his muscular neck. She had his hair in her small fists, trying to steer like she were riding a horse. However, Itachi's youngest brother was in much the same position as Menma's... Sasuke even had his arms crossed in a similar manner.

"Why do I have to go to school?" Naruto grumbled, kicking his feet about as Menma now ignored his protests.

"Because you're an idiot!" Sasuke leered, sticking out his tiny pink tongue.

"Sasuke, you're going to be in the same class as them..." Itachi laughed.

The young boy paled, an astonishing feat given his already light complexion. He was no longer content to silently protest; opting to wail and thrash as he complained about this and that. Though it was comical to a certain degree, Itachi did not favour being kicked in the ribs. Quickly removing his admittedly favourite brother from his person, Itachi proceeded to carry Sasuke by his collar at an arm's distance. As one may expect, this did not sit well with the youngest of the male siblings.

"Having problems?"

Both ANBU members turned to face the feminine voice, eyes landing on the beautiful Natsuki Kuran. Behind her was her twin brother, Aoi, who clutched a tiny blonde child. Menma noticed a raven haired lass attached to Natsuki's sleeve, a pale hand extending to hold onto the much tanner hand of her own fraternal twin. Ichiki, that was the name of the one looking so bored as she strolled with her elder siblings and younger twin. Naoki, the youngest of the bunch, seemed rather amused on the other hand.

"A little," Itachi awkwardly scratched his chin.

Menma ran his fingers through his hair, somewhat embarrassed at being caught like that.

"Kids can be hard to handle sometimes. You just gotta know how to bribe them," Aoi smirked.

Itachi's eyebrow quirked, his disdain for the only male out of the four Kuran siblings immediately overshadowing his possible affection for the eldest Kuran sister. Bribing was below his morals, as it was simply low handed to even think about doing so. There was no honour to it, no dignity or respect. If anything, it belittled the one receiving the bribe. It lowered their character considerably and Itachi loved his family too much to willingly demean them. Not only that, but Aoi's apparent satisfaction over accomplishing it made Itachi's blood boil. He was proud about it? It made the Uchiha sick.

"He's joking," Natsuki gestured with her hand as if to wave away the snide comment.

Itachi and Menma weren't so sure about that.

"Naoki will go wherever Ichiki goes, and Ichiki will go wherever Sakura is. For some reason, she really looks up to that Haruno kid. It's kinda cute," Natsuki looked down, flashing her baby sister a wide grin.

"I respect Haruno-San," Ichiki simply stated.

Naruto flipped out of Menma's grasp, his heart pounding at the mere mention of the pinkette. His shirt slipped off in the ordeal, revealing his torso as he attempted to conceal his blush and excitement. All four of the Kurans' gazes locked onto the seal inked onto the tan lad's stomach as Menma hurriedly shoved the kid back into his clothes.

"Aoi, I can handle the girls. Why don't you go home and whip me up some of your special soup? I've got a hunkering for it something fierce and you're a better cook than I am," Natsuki kept an eye on Naruto.

Her brother nodded, sprinting towards the Kuran district.

"He smelled funny," Naoki noted, now holding Ichiki's hand.

"He always does. He's a boy," Natsuki chuckled, grabbing onto Naoki's hand.

They now formed some sort of circle, not the oddest formation but it really wasn't the best suited for walking so Ichiki dropped Naoki's hand. She promised to hold it during class, though.

"Nii-San, they're not in my class too.... right?" Sasuke was horrified.

"No, they're the class under you."

"Oh thank the gods," Sasuke put his hand over his heart.

Naoki stuck out her tongue, earning a giggle from Natsuki. She tugged on her sisters' hands and guided them towards the large school building, not giving the marks on the Namikaze boy a second thought. Though she knew what they meant, she understood that they did not define him. The eldest sister also knew that his twin sister had her own set of designs upon her tiny abdomen.

Her hold tightened on Ichiki's hand, afraid for what the future held for special shinobi like them.

I pray to you, Lord Buddha, that you bless these children with nothing but happiness.