I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

The sky started clearing away to cloudless blue, the sun shining mercilessly on a trio who was lazying about in a training field.

Well, to a normal observer they would be.

Sakura was kicking wooden poles harshly, aiming to improve her chakra control so she could punch and kick just as well as she used to back in their time.

Naruto had summoned at least 50 shadow clones and had them work on making a Rasengan without the help of another shadow clone. He was meditating so he could talk to Kurama and train with his tenant in his mindscape.

Sasuke had just come back from getting breakfast for the three of them since none of them ate decently, what with all the early morning drama. He didn't want to disrupt them so he started on his own chakra control of walking up a tree. Even if he did know how to do it, it still took him a good hour to master it which was really frustrating.

"Wait, why are we practicing chakra control now?" Sasuke suddenly asked. "Why not earlier?"

Sakura took a break from kicking the "darn stubborn pole" and swiped a sandwich from the tray. "Well, with all the hullabaloo, I guess we kinda prioritized training our body to be in shape and forgot to train our chakra."

"But chakra is equally important. . ."

Sakura sighed and was about to reply when Naruto gave a shriek.

"Ow!" the Uchiha fell down the tree and landed on his head as Sakura ran over to the screaming blonde.

"Sh-t Naruto, what happened?!" Sakura shook the still-meditating boy. "Hey, Naruto open your eyes!"

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he gave a heaving gasp. "Got. . . to get. . . to Amegakure. . . now!"

"Slow down Naruto and tell us what happened!" Sasuke ordered.

Naruto inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Akatsuki. Yahiko, Konan and Nagato. Kurama just showed me an image of what is going to happen later in the week."

"Jiraiya would've left them around two to three weeks ago, right?" Sakura frowned before realization dawned on her. "So Hanzō would be forcing Nagato to make the choice soon!"

"Exactly," Naruto nodded with a grim look in his eyes. 

"While we're doing that, why don't we offer them places as Konoha shinobi?" Sasuke suggested. "Maybe they would agree to that."

"On the highly unlikely chance they would agree to that, we could reveal who I am, an Uzumaki, and then let them go on as the Akatsuki. You know, before Yahiko died. And when Hanzō strikes, we wait until the right moment and prevent Yahiko's death!" Naruto grinned.

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged looks before shrugging. "Yeah that could work."

"Oh but Naruto," Sakura gave him a deathly glare. "No jumping in front of Yahiko like you jumped in front of Rin, got that?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Eh. . ."

"Well there goes that plan," Sasuke retorted sarcastically in Naruto's mind, making the blonde glare at him.

"Promise me, Naruto!" Sakura demanded, slightly shaking him.

"Alright, alright! I promise I'll try not to do anything life-threatening," Naruto said in surrender. "I can't make a full promise, you know how impulsive I am. But I will try to not get myself killed."

"I guess that's good enough," she said reluctantly before letting him go.

"Yo, kids."

"Hey Bakashi," Sasuke said dismissively.

"Hey, we never did give him his memories back, did we?" Naruto suddenly asked as Sasuke and Sakura facepalmed.

"Damnit, hold still Kakashi!" Sasuke cried as he leapt onto the mildly surprised Jonin. 

A few minutes later, Kakashi's eyes took on the half-lidded look they used to have when they were in the former past, and he sat up as he plucked Sasuke off him.

"So, it took you long enough to realize."

"Kakashi-sensei's back!" Team 7 grinned from ear to ear.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "You guys are a lot more tied together now, aren't you?"

"Don't you still have your memories in this present?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"I may have forgotten a few things," Kakashi shrugged. 

"So Obito and Rin are still alive, and you're Rin's boyfriend. Itachi and Gaara have their memories back and Obito and Rin know about our "personal mission" but they don't have their memories yet," Naruto said quickly in one breath.

"It's okay Naruto, my memory is coming back," Kakashi said lazily as he ruffled his blonde locks.

"So Bakashi, what were you doing here anyway?" Sakura inquired.

"Oi! That's MY name for him! Pick your own!" Obito yelled as he jumped down beside the silver-haired Jonin.

"Alright then. What do you want, Kakabaka?" Sasuke emphasized as Kakashi glared at Obito for the even-more-degrading nickname.

"Mission."

"Where?"

"Amegakure, where else?"

"Hey, you were eavesdropping!" Sakura accused, but she was smiling. "What's the mission?"

"Introduce the blonde Uzumaki to the redheaded Uzumaki," Obito grinned.

Naruto deadpanned, "What's the real deal?"

Kakashi gave them his famous eye-smile as he rubbed his neck sheepishly. "We're planning on just going out for a little "Team 7 training trip"."

"You really think Granny would buy that?" Naruto said flatly.

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"YOU WHAT?!" Naruto screamed in shock.

Tsunade looked at him strangely. "Why are you so opposed to a training trip with your team?"

"Because," he crossed his arms with a slight pout, "we've been training our asses off already. Do we need to get out of the village to do that?"

Sasuke elbowed him. "Do you want to go to Amegakure and save YaKoNa or not? "

"Damn Kakabaka," Naruto scowled, resulting in his sensei bopping him on the head.

"You realize I have been added to your telepathy link, right? "

"Wha. . . KURAMA! "

"Don't look at me Kit, look at the Uchiha."

"SASUKE! "

"OTHER Uchiha! "

"Obito? "

"Hey mini-sensei! What's up? "

"HOW THE FRICK DID YOU GET INTO OUR TELEPATHY LINK?! "

"Nothing a little Mangekyō can't break into."

"You little piece of sh-"

"NARUTO! Don't you even THINK about finishing that sentence! "

"R-Rin?! "

"That's right Naru~! You better watch what you say from now on~! "

"Okay, who ELSE is in our telepathy link?! "

"Naruto sounds pissed," Sasuke whispered to Sakura, quickly cutting themselves from the link before there was an all-out argument between Kakashi, Naruto, Obito and Rin. You did NOT want to get caught up between those four.

Tsunade watched in amusement and curiosity as her grandson's face turned from annoyance to shock, then to anger, then uncertainty, then his face turned to an expression of freaking out before angry annoyance once again returned to his face. 

Then he threw his hands up in exasperation and stormed out the door.

Sasuke and Sakura immediately looked accusingly at Obito, Rin and Kakashi who were trying, and failing miserably, to hold in their giggles.

"What?" Obito cried defensively.

Two glares kept. . . glaring at him. And Rin and Kakashi.

"We *giggle* didn't do anything. . . *giggle*." Rin covered her mouth with her hand.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "Oh really now," he said flatly. Obviously they had forgotten Sasuke and Sakura had been listening the whole time they were teasing Naruto.

Kakashi gave them his infamous eye-smile. "We did nothing to make him have that temper tantrum. Only Obito hacked into your telepathic link and joined us three."

"And you think that wouldn't set him off?" Sakura raised her eyebrow, mimicking Sasuke's action.

"It's not like he's going to destroy a training ground," Obito snickered.

Just as the words left his mouth, there was a giant explosion accompanied with a very angry, frustrated "UGH! MOTHERF*****!"

Obito cringed as he paled.

"You were saying?" Sasuke and Sakura said as they both crossed their arms at the same time, the same challenging tone in their voices.

Obito gulped audibly. "I-I stand corrected. . ."

"Yes, you do. You really really do," the two said, once again in unison.

  《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》 

{Amegakure}

"Man, this place is. . ." Sasuke sweatdropped.

"Wet," Naruto finished as both he and Sakura sweatdropped as well. 

"Well it is the Hidden Village of the Rain," Kakashi reminded them as he scanned the dreary place for the perverted toad and three kids. According to the brats, an orange-head, redhead and bluenette shouldn't be that hard to find. 

"How are we gonna -"

Kakashi was cut off by two of the brats' dramatic, perfectly synchronized threat.

"NAGATO UZUMAKI SHOW YOURSELF OR YOUR LAST LIVING RELATIVE GETS KILLED!" Sasuke and Sakura screamed as Naruto fell over laughing his head off.

There was silence before three young adults clothed in black high-collared jackets came running up to them, anger burning in their eyes.

Naruto and Sakura were laughing so hard they couldn't breathe, and Sasuke was grinning from ear to ear as Kakashi facepalmed.

"Who uses a kid as a hostage?" the orange-haired teen glared at Kakashi who facepalmed again. 

"It wasn't me who yelled that threat, it was the two devil spawns!" 

The redhead crossed his arms as the bluenette went over to the laughing duo to see if they were okay. They were laughing so hard they were wheezing and gasping for air.

"Here we go again," Kakashi groaned as he rolled his eyes. 

"How did you know my name?" the redheaded boy asked with suspicious eyes. "And how do you know one of them might be my last living relative?"

"Because," Sakura grinned as she sat up. "The name "Uzumaki" ain't exactly common."  

"But how did you -" the bluenette began before Naruto shot up.

"WE'VE BEEN STALKING YOU!" he screamed, waving his arms around as if he was insane.

"Idiot!" Sakura groan-yelled as Sasuke hit him on the head, making him whine.

"What was that for?" Naruto pouted as he held his head.

"Dumbass, don't go around screaming that we were stalking them, because we weren't! We just knew them from since we were practically toddlers!" Sakura yelled.

The Rain trio sweatdropped.

"So. . . which one of you is my "last living relative"?" the redhead asked tentatively.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other before they sat in a circle in a meditative position, their eyes not blinking once as they contemplated on what to tell them.

"What do we tell them? " Naruto asked worriedly.

"In what way was your mother related to Nagato? " Sakura asked him.

Naruto frowned. "Uh. . . brother and sister? No wait. . . it was aunt and nephew! No it wasn't, it was cousins! Actually - UGH THIS IS TOO CONFUSING! " He yelled mentally as he gripped his hair.

"HOW THE ACTUAL HELL AM I RELATED TO NAGATO?!" he screamed before realizing he hadn't said it mentally. He said it aloud.

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke facepalmed. What an idiot.

"You're my relative?" the redhead, now known as Nagato, asked quietly.

"No I'm not! I mean, yes I am! I mean. . . UGH! I don't know anymore!" Naruto whined as he fell backwards into a puddle.

Nagato sweatdropped. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"It's just," Naruto sighed as he sat back up, cerulean eyes meeting purple ringed ones. "We might be from the same clan, but are we really related? I can't remember. . ." Naruto looked down before whispering almost sadly, "What was my mother to you?" 

Images flashed in Nagato's mind of a girl the blonde was really reminding him of. "Kushina," he whispered.

"Yeah that's. . . hey how did you know?" Naruto looked surprised.

Nagato smiled softly. "She was my sister. She left Amegakure so she could travel the world, and train to be a better ninja."

"Well sh-t," Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura said flatly.

A look of mild surprise crossed the older Uzumaki's face. Why were they cursing?

"And here I thought we were cousins," Naruto sighed depressingly as he rested is head heavily on Sakura's shoulder. She just patted his head, smiling in slight sympathy.

Ah, maybe that's why.

"Well. . . you're uncle and nephew?" Sasuke tried.

"Bite me," Naruto snapped before stretching out fully with his head in Sakura's lap. 

"That is a very immature response!" Sasuke frowned.

The pinkette giggled as she ran her fingers through the longer blonde locks. It was like Naruto was following his father's hairstyle and growing it longer. She liked it that way.

"One of these days, I'll actually care," Naruto said lazily.

"One of these days, I'll actually kill you."

"One of these days, I'll have a soul for once."

". . ."

"What?" Naruto snorted. "Already run out of insults?"

Sasuke gave him the infamous Uchiha glare. "You better tighten all those screws loose in your head, Uzuchiha."

Nagato raised his eyebrow at that. Wasn't the blonde an Uzumaki?

"Tch," Naruto scoffed. "I bet your ass is jealous of the amount of crap coming out of your mouth."

"Well I think it's better to let people THINK you're an idiot than opening up your mouth and PROVING it!"

Naruto jerked up and the two boys clashed foreheads, sparks flying between their furious gazes.

"Keep talking and maybe you might be able to say something intelligent for once!"

"What language are you speaking, because it sounds like b*******!"

"Oh yeah? Well I will NEVER have enough middle fingers to show how I feel about you!" Naruto yelled as the taunts escalated to a raging verbal war.

"CALLING YOU AN IDIOT WOULD BE A TERRIBLE INSULT TO STUPID PEOPLE!"

"BRAINS AREN'T EVERYTHING, AND YOUR CASE IT'S CLEARLY NOTHING!"

"LOOKS LIKE YOUR EDUCATION ISN'T GETTING IN THE WAY OF YOUR IGNORANCE!"

"IF IGNORANCE IS BLISS THEN YOU MUST BE THE HAPPIEST PERSON ON EARTH!"

"ARE YOU ALWAYS THIS STUPID OR IS IT A SPECIAL OCCASION?"

"WELL WHERE DID YOU BUY YOUR STUPIDITY? DID YOU GET IT FOR FREE AND THEN TAKE AN OVERDOSE?"

"I'M ALREADY VISUALIZING DUCT TAPE ACROSS YOUR MOUTH!"

"YOU KNOW, I'D VERY MUCH LIKE TO SEE FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW BUT I CAN'T SEEM TO GET A STICK THAT FAR UP MY ASS!"

That hit a nerve. Every Konoha shinobi knew how stuck-up the Uchiha's used to act before a certain blonde entered their lives.

The orange-haired boy let out a short burst of laughter as the bluenette giggled. Some of those insults, although pointless, were actually pretty good. Nagato smirked to himself. His nephew was actually pretty good at hurling insults.

"IF YOU WANT TO BE A SMARTASS THEN FIRST OF ALL YOU HAVE TO BE SMART! OTHERWISE YOU'RE JUST AN ASS!" Sasuke shouted.

"IF WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN'T HURT YOU THEN YOU MUST BE INVULNERABLE!" Naruto yelled back.

"IF YOU EVER GET LOST IN THOUGHT THEN YOU ARE TRESPASSING UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY!"

"SUCH A LITTLE GUY BUT SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN!" Naruto rolled his eyes.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE, IDIOT?!" Sasuke fumed.

"JERK!" 

"MORON!"

"BASTARD!"

"Alright! We get it boys!" Kakashi broke them apart. If he didn't, there would be a full-out physical war between the two of them. Meaning, sparring that got out of control and often ended up with a "Rasengan vs. Chidori". Oh, the major déjà vu. . .

"So what were you here for? I'm Yahiko," the orange-head introduced, stifling his chuckles. "That's Konan," he pointed to the bluenette, "and you already know Nagato."

"I'm Naruto," Naruto grinned. "That's Sasuke, and that's Sakura."

"So, back to the question?"

The three kids looked at each other before all traces of fun and laughter faded from their faces, serious expressions replacing them.

Instinctively, Yahiko, Nagato and Konan straightened. 

"You may not believe us, but we know more than you do about the Akatsuki."

Yahiko narrowed his eyes. "How do you know about the Akatsuki?"

"I'll tell you later," Naruto said. "But all I can say is, in a few weeks' time, Nagato will need to make a choice. And that choice to save one of his friends. That choice will ultimately have the same outcome. Kill one, and save the other. Or save the first one, and kill the other."

"What's the choice?" Nagato asked quietly.

Cerulean met purple. "Kill Yahiko by your hand and save Konan, or let Konan be killed by Hanzō and let Yahiko live."

The redhead's hands formed into fists. "What did I choose?"

Yahiko and Konan looked at him in surprise. He was talking as if he had already made this choice. Well, the blonde was talking like that too. . .

"You never got the chance to. Yahiko ran onto the blade, killing himself and saving Konan."

Konan stiffened as Yahiko frowned. That did sound like something he would do, especially when it concerned Konan's safety.

Nagato smiled softly before moving forward. He knelt before Naruto, as he was the same height as the blonde when he was kneeling, and moved his mouth right next to Naruto's ear. 

"I couldn't believe in what Jiraiya believed in, or in the man himself, but you chose a different path. In you I can see a different future. I believe in you, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto's eyes widened. How did he. . . but Sasuke. .  .

Nagato pulled back with a slight smirk on his face, and it was then that Naruto understood. 

His Rinnegan helped him maintain his memories of the former past.