Chapter 7: A Great Start To A New Life

The first thing that met Caleb as he awoke from the void of sleep was the tantalizing scent of freshly cooked bacon straight from the frying pan. He strained his ears and could just barely make out the sound of the sizzling meat and hear the crackle and pop of the oil as breakfast was being prepared. 

He didn't waste too much time as he quickly and quietly made his way towards the bathroom making sure to wash his face and hands when he was finished. He had been told it was impolite to head to the breakfast table without first washing his hands and face and since he didn't want to be punished, he made sure to always remember his fathers words.

He stuck his head out into the hallway and could make out the sound of someone still messing around with a few pots the kitchen and since it was still so quiet in the rest of the house, that could only mean one thing. 

His brother was still sleeping.

Resigned to his fate he trudged up to his brothers room and gently knocked on the door before entering the room once he got to reply. The curtains where still pulled closed and the sound of soft snores could be heard from the noticeable lump that was hidden under the covers.

He tip toed over to the covers and puled them back to reveal his older brother, still sleeping, with his drool smeared all over his pillow.

Caleb took a moment to center himself as he didn't want his brother to wake up to the sight of him laughing at him, and patted his side to wake him up

No matter how much he poked and prodded at his brother nothing seemed to work and once more all Caleb could do was sigh in resignation as he knew his brother wasn't waking up anytime soon.

He had no other choice but to pull out the big guns. 

He didn't really enjoy doing what he was about to do, but there really wasn't any other options for him to choose from. He climbed up unto the bed frame and after making sure he was lined up perfectly, he bent his knees slightly before leaping into the air.

For a few seconds he floated in the air getting quite a bit of hang time, before plummeting down unto his unsuspecting brother.

"Wake up Oni-San!!" 

Caleb shouted into the sleeping boys ears just for good measure as his brother stirred awake. 

He immediately clenched unto his stomach in pain from Calebs attack and lay there in his confusion, as he was very clearly unsure as to why he was awoken with such a violent method, until his eyes zeroed in onto Caleb who was still sitting on him. He grunted and shook his head in exasperation before reaching out to lift Caleb into the air.

"Keitaro what's wrong, why are you attacking me in my sleep? Especially so early in the morning?" 

Caleb, no Keitaro, stifled his laughter at his brother confused face as he was gently placed unto the floor as his older brother rolled out of his bed and stretched.

"Dad's cooking breakfast right now, so you need to get up Oni-san."

"Oh, is that so? I guess I better hurry and get ready then right?"

Keitaro's brother smiled down at him before making his way towards the bathroom. Keitaro hung around in his brothers room patiently waiting for him to finish washing up so they could go to breakfast together. He didn't have to wait for long as his brother once more made an appearance and quickly got ready for breakfast.

 "Hurry up Oni-san, or I'll eat all the breakfast up!"

Once he was sure that he wasn't going to fall asleep again, Keitaro swiftly made his way out of his brothers room and bolted down the hallway before his brother could catch him. 

Knowing how his brother liked to pay him back, it wouldn't be long before he ended up curled up on the floor at his brother mercy as he tickled him in revenge for waking him up.

The two quickly made their way towards the kitchen laughing all the while as they ran through the house. As Keitaro rounded the corner to the kitchen he bumped into something and ended up falling to the floor. He rubbed his aching nose before looking up at the man looming over him. 

No mater how many times he saw him it still sent a cold shiver down his back when ever he had to look up at his new father. He was rather large man, resembling a massive wall of muscle that stood around 6'8". He was covered in hair from head to his toes and had a very stern looking dace that make babies cry and women clutch at their pearls from a block away. 

Keitaro wouldn't even question it if someone told him that his father was actually part bear since he it just be a possibility given the world he had been reborn into. He wasn't going to rule out anything since just about everything seemed to be possible. The fact that his actual name was Kuma only served to make it all the more ridiculous.

Keitaro froze as he looked into the eyes of his father and noticed the telltale signs of displeasure showing on his face. His memories of his old life flashed in mis mind and he tensed expecting a slap to come his way but it never came.

"I've told you two before a thousand times to stop running around in the house. One of these days you to are going to hurt yourselves."

Kuma knelt down and gently pulled Keitaro to his feet, making sure to check that his nose wasn't bleeding and bruised. Once he was content he turned to Kentaro and chided him.

"And you Kentaro, as the older brother you should be the responsible one. Why is it that you always seem to oversleep every morning? Your brother shouldn't have to keep waking you up especially when you keep staying up late every night. I expect you to do better, am I understood?" 

Both boys lowered their heads in defeat before apologizing to their father. Seeing that both of them were at least a little remorseful, Kuma couldn't help but to soften his tone.

"It's alright as long as you two understand. Anyway go ahead and start eating, I have to head off early for a mission today so I might be late getting home okay? I left some money on the counter for both of you. Kentaro you can get some lunch from one of the stalls near the academy and I left some rice balls in the fridge for you Keitaro and if you want you can use the money I left for you to get a snack before dinner."

Kuma patted both boys on the head, ruffling their hair quite a bit before turning to Kentaro.

"If I'm not back before supper then Kentaro, take your brother and head on over to the ramen place you two like and have your supper there. I should be back in time to tuck you both in at the latest alright." 

Kuma waited until both boys nodded their heads before pushing them to the table to get started on breakfast. He draped the frilly apron he had been wearing, over the kitchen counter and in its place, wore his chest protector and his Hidden Leaf headband protector. Now ready for work he smiled at his sons one final time before jumping through the kitchen window. There was a flicker and then he was gone.

Keitaro kept staring at the spot his father had just disappeared from in fascination. Even when his older brother had already begun to stuff his face, he kept glancing over at the spot in contemplation.

Three years had passed since Caleb, now Keitaro, had been reborn or reincarnated. Which one? He honestly wasn't sure, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter all that much. 

It had been a shock to realize that he was a baby again and it had been an even bigger shock when he finally realized where he had been reborn. Right smack-dab in the middle of the village hidden in the leaves.

Three years later and he still found it hard to accept that he was reborn into the world of Naruto, but it was his new reality and as was his norm he had simply decided to roll with it.

Yet even though very little time had actually passed, there had been a lot of things that he'd spent his time worrying over. 

In his past life, if there was one thing that had been branded into his bones, it was the knowledge and awareness that one should always prepare for the worst to happen. 

If something bad could go wrong then it probably would, and if things were actually going well for him, then he had to prepare and be weary for the time when things would eventually go to hell. 

That pattern had been the story of his life, and now it seemed that things hadn't changed all that much in this life either.

It had taken him only a few days to start questioning why he hadn't seen the beautiful lady that he had felt the all consuming warmth from at his birth. He had already come to the rather obvious conclusion that she could have only been his mother and he had been wanting to see her again. 

As a new born babe, it was only logical for the new mother to spend as much time as she possibly could with her new born child. Yet the fact that he hadn't seen her and had been bottle fed from day one could only mean that she was no longer in the picture. 

His assumptions had been confirmed a few days later when his father had collected him from the hospital and he had been taken home only to see the small memorial that had been erected for her.

It had saddened him greatly that he wasn't going to be able to see her again.

In his first life his mother had fled town after making it clear that she had wanting nothing to do with him and his father. He had hoped that in his new life things could have been different, but before he could even get a chance to appreciate his mothers love, she had already passed on.

He was greatly saddened at her passing, but he was also afraid.

If his last father had hated and abused him simply because his then mother had skipped town, what would his new father do to him knowing that his birth was most likely the reason for his mothers passing?

Many nights had been spent thinking about the various ways that his new family would employ to take out their frustrations on him. 

Those fears had been greatly a relived upon getting to know his older brother.

He had been laying in his cot being as quiet as possible. He made it a habit not to cry or make unnecessary noise since his old father had hated when he did so. The only time he was willing to cry out, was when he needed to be changed. 

He didn't even make noise when he was hungry, only eating when his father chose to give him a bottle to suckle from. The less of a hassle he presented himself to be, the less likely the chances of his father growing annoyed with him in the future.

That day he had been especially hungry and no matter how much he tried to ignore the hunger it simply wouldn't go away.

Thankfully his father had been out on a mission so he was free to cry all he wanted, and cry he did. 

He was frustrated at the fact that nothing really seemed to have changed for him. A brand new life had been given to him and yet here he was, still walking on egg shells around a man he was sure would turn hostile towards him the moment he managed to frustrate him enough.

Another 18 years of torture seemed to once more be in his future and now that he was alone he had just wanted to scream and vent all of his frustrations; and so he did.

He had been so preoccupied with his crying that he didn't even realize when the bottle had been shoved into his mouth for him to suckle form. In his confusion, he turned his head and locked eyes with his older brother. 

They simply stared at each other, until his older brother spoke to him.

"I promised mom that I would be a good big brother. I promised to make sure to love and take care of you no matter what. Mommy isn't here anymore and I know it hurts that she'd gone, so I'll make sure to care and love you enough for both me and mommy, so you don't have to cry anymore."

For some reason those simply words had struck a cord in Keitaro's mind. His instincts that had been frayed from being in overdrive for quite some time had let him know that no matter what happened, if there was one person he could rely on, it would be his big brother. 

Three years had passed since then and at no point in time had that thought waver in his mind in the slightest. He still always did his best to be quiet and reserved around his father but when it was just him and his brother he didn't hold himself back.

He'd already missed out on one childhood and he didn't plan on holding back from enjoying this one in the slightest.

***

Kuma watched from the tree branches outside the kitchen window as his two sons ate breakfast. The sight of them laughing and playing around as they ate brought a smile to his face. The fact that his two boys were so close as siblings made him happy as a father.

He had been afraid that his oldest son would hate his youngest for the death of his wife. She had spoken to him about the possibility of her not making it through childbirth and how she was worried about the two being at odds because of her passing. It had been a valid worry, but her fears had been unfounded. 

The two boys were as thick as thieves and he doubted if there was anything that would be able to come between the two of them.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of the fact that his youngest baby boy never smiled at him the way he smiled with his brother, but he'd already come to terms with the fact that his youngest just didn't seem to like him to much. 

At first he had been concerned at the fact that the boy hardly every cried, but he'd eventually put it down to his second sons uniqueness. 

The boy didn't change much in the following years and was always easy to deal with. He was well mannered and really only spoke when spoken too. The boy had even managed to potty train himself, both to his astonishment and delight. 

Kuma could still remember the nightmarish experiences he had to deal with while trying to potty train his eldest son and to this day he still wondered how something so putrid could come out of something so innocent. 

The only complaint he had about his second child, would be how distant he seemed to be towards him. As he had grown older, it became clear that his second child just seemed to be fearful of him no matter what he did. The fact that the boy called him Father when ever he addressed him and never 'dad' or 'daddy' was proof enough of how distant the two of them were, but Kuma simply couldn't understand why.

Sure he was a pretty big guy and could be quite intimidating from time to time, and maybe he'd been told on multiple occasions that his face could be quite scary at times, but he made sure never to play with his shuriken's or kunai's where the boys could see him just so that they wouldn't see him as violent!

Sure there was that one time that he'd accidently come home covered in blood from a mission and his youngest had seen him, but that had been one time!

There was simply no reason for his son to be afraid of him right?

Maybe he could shave his beard? though if he was honest with himself, he'd always liked how full it was. Plus he wasn't fond of having to shave every day to keep a clean shaven face anyway.

Regardless, he would do everything in his power to make his baby boy smile and laugh with him if it was the last thing he did.

He still remembered the promise he had made to his wife as she lay in the hospital bed in her final moments. She was so distraught, not because she was dying, nor because of the pain that she had been experiencing all that time.

No, she was distraught at the fact that she would be leaving him behind, with two young boys to raise all on his own, she was devastated at the fact that she wouldn't get a chance to see her two boys grow up into respectable men and competent shinobi. She was heartbroken at the fact that that there wasn't anything she could do to change that fact.

He still remembered her tear stained face as she handed him his youngest son. He had been such a tiny thing at the time and all the medical ninja had thought he wouldn't have had made it. Not only was he premature, but even his umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck during childbirth, It was like everything was stacked against him from the get go, but the little guy kept fighting to live. 

His first cry had been loud and strong as it echoed around the delivery room, yet as soon as he was placed into his mothers arms he'd quieted down and snuggled up to her and smiled. That sight had been one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen and he viewed the memory fondly.

The last promise he had made to the love of his life, was that he would ensure that both boys would be brought up with all the love and care and compassion that he could muster. That they would want for nothing and that he would support them in everything that they did.

A promise that he would ensure was never broken no matter if the Hokage himself stood in his way.