I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

*Two-year time skip; they were four last chapter, they are currently six.

This is a very long chapter - the longest I have ever written. I hope you enjoy because I put a lot of effort and time into this.

Nah, don't worry - I won't force you to enjoy it. Just comment and tell me what you thought about it! :)

Mikoto had decided to take both her boys shopping as she still didn't trust the villagers enough to let them go on their own, despite two years having passed since the last attack on the young jinchuuriki. Naruto barely made a sound at it while Sasuke whined and griped, complaining that they were "big boys now and we can keep ourselves safe".

Mikoto paid no heed to that and took Naruto to one of her favourite ninja supply stores to find something he would like. The owner was not a Kyuubi-hater, thankfully, or else he would find himself without a certain body part.

Naruto wandered around for a while as Sasuke checked out the weaponry section. A particular colour caught his eye and Naruto found himself walking over to it.

Mikoto saw her new son disappearing into the section that had the particular design that his father had always liked, and couldn't help but smile.

'Like father, like son.'

When Naruto stepped out of the changing rooms, her eyes widened. Naruto looked like the perfect image of Minato Namikaze when he was a very young child, and had even picked the same design that was on his father's Hokage cloak, only the colours were swapped around.

When Sasuke came out of the weaponry section with a katana in his hands, he had to stop and focus so intently he almost activated his Sharingan. Naruto was navy blue shinobi sandals, beige shorts, a short-sleeved navy blue shirt and a sleeveless red vest sporting white flame patterns on the bottom and some black wristbands.

All in all, Naruto looked rather mature and Sasuke couldn't help but smile that Naruto was wearing the pattern of his father.

"Does this look okay?" Naruto asked shyly.

Mikoto blinked and smiled kindly. "They look very good on you, Naru-chan. You remind me of your father with that vest. . ."

Just then, the owner came by and he had to stop and stare. "Namikaze-san?" he muttered to himself.

Naruto tilted his head to the side and Mikoto chuckled as she shook her head. A few minutes later, Mikoto had paid for two sets of Naruto's two outfit as well as the katana she reluctantly bought for Sasuke.

"Arigato, Ukimara-san," Mikoto thanked as they left the store.

"No problem, Mikoto-san," the owner called. "And feel free to drop by any time, boys," he said kindly.

Mikoto smiled at that. Looks like not every civilian in this village was a complete imbecile.

As they walked by the park on their way home, a flash of pink caught his eye and Sasuke's head jerked to the side, his obsidian eyes wide as his breathing quickened.

Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka were playing in the park, laughing freely and talking with endless energy.

Sasuke's heart clenched at the sight of his sister, alive and healthy without a care in the world. He missed that sight. He missed the sight of Sakura laughing. Her joy had been overtaken by stress, sorrow and grief throughout the war, despite Sasuke's and Naruto's best efforts.

Sasuke clenched his jaw. He would accomplish what he had come back for.

He would bring back Team 7, and he would never let them go again.

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That night, Sasuke lay awake in his bed, his mind gears turning as he devised a plan to bring Sakura back to "Team 7". Coming up blank, Sasuke sighed and rolled onto his left and started staring at the door that was across the room.

Thunder started clapping and rain started pounding, and Sasuke's mind gears whirred faster than before and a small smirk shaped the Uchiha's lips. Thunderstorms like this had always helped Sasuke think better.

What if Sakura could be a Medic nin like before? What would've changed for her in this new timeline? Was her life be the same as it was before? Would she be a silly fangirl like she was before, or would she be the sweeter and stronger woman he loved as a sister?

His train of thought was abruptly cut off when he felt something burrowing into his back, accompanied by a soft whimper. The older Uchiha twisted his head back to see Naruto curling up into his back, his fingers clutching Sasuke's pyjama shirt.

Sasuke's eyes softened at his frightened brother's tense body and rolled over to put his arm around Naruto in a one-armed hug. The younger boy stopped whimpering and relaxed his tenseness, slowly inching out of his protective ball he had curled into until he was only half curled up.

Sasuke smiled at how relaxed Naruto was now, and decided to get some sleep before he slept all day tomorrow. With that clearing his mind, Sasuke squeezed Naruto lightly as he had started to clutch his shirt tighter before closing his eyes and finally giving into the sweet oblivion.

The next morning, Sasuke's eyes fluttered open and he found himself alone in the bed. He shook his head to clear the grogginess away and then looked around, confused. Normally, it took ten minutes for his brother to wake up, and that was normally after he woke up.

Taking a glance at the alarm clock, Sasuke noted it was only 5:00 am, and Naruto isn't usually up at this time. Throwing the duvet off, Sasuke hopped out and went into his half of the walk-in wardrobe to pick his normal outfit. He went down the stairs and halted as the smell of cooking wafted by his nose and he immediately followed it to the kitchen.

"Mornin' Sasuke," his brother's cheery voice greeted.

Sasuke rubbed his eyes at the sudden light. "Mornin' Ruto, what are you doing up this early? And more importantly. . ." The Uchiha suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto and poked his head over the blonde's shoulder, looking curiously at the stove. "What are you making?"

"Why are you so surprised at this time? You're normally up already," Naruto retorted as he swatted Sasuke's nose away from the stove. "And I'm making us rice omelettes for breakfast."

"Breakfast? " Sasuke repeated. "Rice omelettes for breakfast? Not that I'm complaining, but isn't that a bit odd?"

Naruto shrugged. "You want some or would you rather resort to toast?"

The black-haired Uchiha immediately dashed to his seat and whistled innocently. The blonde laughed at his brother and quickly finished up their breakfast, dishing them onto plates and drizzling ketchup on them.

Sasuke merely stared as he stared at the drawing on the rice omelette in front of him.

"Kawaii ~" he finally whispered.

Naruto started laughing. "Just eat, Sasuke," he said as he started digging into his own omurice, which had the normal ketchup drizzle instead of a cute drawing.

Sasuke picked up his spoon and slowly broke the omelette and started eating. His eyes lit up when he tasted beautiful tomatoes inside the omurice, and he nearly started drooling at the perfect combination and the expertly cooked meal.

"When did you learn how to cook, Ruto?" he asked as he stuffed his mouth.

Naruto swallowed his spoonful. "I saw Mikoto's - I mean, Mom's cook book and wanted to make us a better breakfast than toast. You know, since we train so early and Mom isn't up yet. And I've cooked a bit before, you know. At Jiji's when I didn't have anywhere to stay and he decided to work at home, which isn't very often."

Sasuke rolled the omelette around in his mouth with his tongue thoughtfully. Naruto was a terrible cook in the original timeline - for one thing, he had no patience and was always turning the heat up so much it burnt, and his attention span was terrible which resulted in the same product as the impatience. Burnt food. Luckily, this Naruto was a much better cook and Sasuke was wondering if his brother's cooking was better than his mother's. . .

"So what do you want to do this morning?" Naruto asked randomly, and Sasuke nearly choked on his omelette.

"How about we spar," Sasuke got an evil glint in his eye, "with jutsu? "

Naruto frowned, but his eyes were twinkling. "You know we aren't supposed to. Heck, we aren't even supposed to know the jutsu we do know and use so easily."

Sasuke scoffed. "And do you think we care?"

Naruto pretended to think about it before grinning wickedly. "Nope."

And the two flashed out of their seats, out the door and to their favourite training ground.

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"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke called as he flipped up high into the sky and started falling head first. A giant funnel of fire was blown from his mouth, and Naruto immediately cast the Shadow Clone Jutsu to flip him away from the fireball's aim.

Naruto winced as his clone was obliterated, and his hands flew into hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Just as Sasuke was about to land, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and ducked his head down underneath it as the full impact of the Wind jutsu hit him dead-on.

Naruto didn't stop there, and rushed to attack Sasuke with taijutsu. Sasuke, still trying to recover from the earlier jutsu, couldn't dodge in time and was kicked up.

'Front Lotus,' Sasuke thought as he quickly twisted around to turn Naruto's move against him. He started to fight back against Naruto and when they started falling again, Sasuke ended their airborne battle with a kick to the stomach, Naruto crashing into the ground.

A few minutes later, Naruto stood up and wiped some blood from his mouth, grinning. "Lion's Barrage, eh? Not a bad turn around."

Sasuke grinned and decided to try out the new jutsu he had been working on. "Chidori Senbon!"

Naruto uttered a quick curse. "Wind Style: Wind Bullets!"

Sasuke smirked as his attack was countered. Just as he expected of his brother. Lightning and Wind cancelled each other out, and they were having fun experimenting with jutsu. Although, their mother, father and brother would completely flip out if they knew what they were doing.

Sasuke had tried to recreate the Chidori, except differently so he could still "learn" the original from Kakashi. He and Naruto had also been sneaking into their father's office and stealing scrolls which had topics of Wind and Water jutsu for Naruto and Fire and Lightning jutsu for Sasuke was well as some Earth jutsu scrolls. Both had a lesser affinity for Earth, but nevertheless they did not neglect practising that.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"

"Lightning Style: Lightning Balls!" Sasuke cried as multiple crackling balls of electricity rose up in the air around him and started flying towards Naruto.

Naruto jumped back and brought a hand up to his mouth. "Wind Style: Spiralling Wind Ball!" He fired them in rapid succession, countering every ball of lightning.

Sasuke's lips formed a thin line as he flew through hand signs. "Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"

"Water Style: Water Bullet!" Naruto cried barely a second after Sasuke.

A blast of fire and a blast of water, both coming from the mouths of their casters, met in the middle of the training ground. Steam started rising rapidly, yet both boys didn't cease their jutsu. It was only after the steam got so thick they couldn't see each other anymore that they stopped and heaved for breath.

Sasuke, out of instinct, activated his Sharingan to see clearly, and the image of Naruto rushing to him with shuriken between his fingers registered in his mind. It all came rushing back to him, the adrenaline and the feeling of being free with no restraints as he sparred with someone who kept up with him and was the only individual capable of beating him.

Sasuke knew the technique even before he saw it or heard it, and was already preparing for the counterattack.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

The jutsu clashed, and Sasuke felt a wave of nostalgia as his eyes connected with those bright blue orbs that were so familiar yet so different.

The aftermath of the clash was not pretty, and it left both boys panting for air as they lay in a smallish crater.

"When did you learn the Rasengan?" Sasuke huffed, cursing his chakra exhaustion as he quickly deactivated his Sharingan after noticing he had activated it sometime during the spar.

"I just kind of rotated my chakra in different directions at once while increasing the volume and density of my chakra. Then I combined them into a sphere," Naruto explained. "And what about you? When did you learn the Chidori?"

"I just saw Kakashi doing it once and since I have the Lightning affinity I wanted to try it out. I mastered it quicker than I expected, since I unknowingly based the Chidori Senbon off that jutsu," Sasuke explained.

Naruto laughed. "We both counter each other so perfectly it's like we were never meant to defeat each other."

Sasuke thought wistfully of the many spars he and Naruto took part in, and their final battle as enemies in the Valley of the End flashed into his mind. If only Naruto remembered, but this wasn't the annoying, obnoxious deadlast he grew up with, not matter how he wished it to be. This new Naruto was a more mature version, and he was his adopted brother now. Even if Naruto was here with him, the one Sasuke knew and loved as a brother had died, and now he was to make amends with the younger and different version of the same person.

It hurt, but Sasuke had come to terms with the truth.

And to be honest, Sasuke wondered if the Bijuu remembered. And if Naruto would ever get his memory back.

"Hey, what do you think we could do better?" Naruto suddenly asked.

Sasuke hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe instead of reflexively countering every attack, we should try dodging them. It would take up less of our chakra reserves."

"True," Naruto nodded. "And speaking of chakra reserves, maybe at every chance we get we should initiate taijutsu. We should work on that more."

Sasuke agreed with him and the two stayed peacefully silent as they stared at the bright blue sky, the wind ruffling through their hair and cooling them down.

There was a light rustling and the Sasuke shifted his head to see a girl coming out of the bushes. His breath hitched in his throat when he saw pink hair and emerald green eyes.

Sakura.

"Hey, are you okay? What happened?" Sakura asked, going over to them with her brow creased in concern. "You were making a big racket, you know. And there was a big fluctuation of chakra just then, coming from you two. I'm surprised no one else has come to check it out."

For a moment, the older Sakura's face overlapped with the younger one's, and another wave of nostalgia washed over Sasuke and flashbacks of his sister appeared in his mind. Times when she was laughing, crying, healing. . . times when she teased him or got aggravated at Naruto and playfully hit him on the head. Times when she scolded them for being so reckless during their spars and injuring themselves severely.

"We're okay, we were just sparring," Naruto's cheerful voice chirped.

Sakura's eyes went wide as she fully assessed the damage. "Oh my Kami! Are you two okay?" she fretted. "Come up here and I'll get you patched up. Hurry!"

The two brothers exchanged looks and shrugged before slowly and painfully crawling out of the shallow crater.

"Ow," Naruto winced as he finally made it out.

Sakura immediately set to work on him, dropping her satchel onto the ground and taking out a tube to smear some paste onto his burns from the few fire jutsu he didn't dodge. After that, she placed her hands on his other wounds and started to heal them with Medical Ninjutsu while Sasuke looked on in interest. Sakura was a medic already?

The pinkette then patted Naruto's head, smiling and moved onto Sasuke. She cleaned the small blood wounds that was from when the wind scraped his skin, and healed his burnt hand which he had from using the Chidori.

"Now, how hard were you two sparring?" Sakura asked as she wound a bandage around the raven Uchiha's burnt hand.

"Pretty hard," Naruto admitted. "We're training so we can get into the Shinobi Academy. Are you going? You seem to have pretty neat chakra control."

"Thank you, uh. . .?" Sakura looked at him expectantly.

"Naruto. Naruto Uchiha. This is my brother, Sasuke."

Sasuke almost smiled when Naruto used the "Uchiha". It had taken some time for the blonde to get used to introducing himself as an Uchiha, but now he used the name comfortably and with pride.

"Nice to meet you Naruto, Sasuke. And thank you, Naruto. To answer your question, I'm going to try out for it next year," Sakura answered.

"How did you learn Medical Ninjutsu?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Oh, well I read up on it when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I'm older," Sakura explained in a soft tone. "You see, I'm from a small, not well-known shinobi clan, the Haruno clan. My parents went missing on a mission two years ago and I've been living with the Yamanaka ever since."

Sasuke was fairly shocked at the change in Sakura's life in this timeline, but managed to cover it up. He glanced at his brother and saw that he was looking sympathetically at Sakura. It did make sense, since he knew exactly what she was going through.

Just then, Sasuke's keen hearing caught up on light footsteps jumping from bough to bough and his face grew alarmed. Naruto saw this at once and Sakura, seeing their expressions, hurried up the process of bandaging the wounds that were too big to fully heal.

"I'll see you boys soon, maybe?" she said hopefully as she packed her things back into her satchel and stood up.

"Yeah, hope so," Naruto smiled.

Sakura waved goodbye and hurried off to finish the errands she had been sent to do.

Naruto and Sasuke then exchanged looks and internally winced when three pairs of footsteps landed on the ground and rushed over to them.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Mikoto cried, dropping to her knees in front of them.

"What happened to you?" Itachi exclaimed.

"Eh, nothing much, just a little spar," Sasuke said nonchalantly as Naruto stifled laughter at the act they were putting on to throw their family off their trail. Thank goodness Sakura stopped by when she did, or else they would have a hard time explaining all the major wounds.

"Sparring? You wouldn't get burns and so many shallow cuts from merely sparring," Fugaku stated as he bent down to get a closer look at Naruto.

Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes darted around as Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"Don't tell me. . . you two used jutsu in your sparring again, didn't you?" Itachi said accusingly.

Mikoto gasped. "What did we tell you about using jutsu?" she scolded. "You two fully know that you use jutsu you go all out and injure each other severely!"

"Sorry Mom," the two mumbled reluctantly.

Mikoto huffed in annoyance and stood up, picking Naruto up in her arms and striding away. Fugaku sighed as well and picked up Sasuke.

"You two better not do anything like this for at least a week. Mikoto's going to be in a very bad mood now," he muttered to his son who smiled.

"Sorry Dad," Sasuke smiled. "We'll try to be good boys."

Fugaku sighed again. "That's what you always say."

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The next day, Naruto and Sasuke went home with Inoichi after their father had to stay late at the Uchiha Police Force Station because something unexpected had popped up and he had to lead the investigation. Fugaku asked Inoichi to take the boys home with him as Naruto and Sasuke had been in the T&I, which was building that was next to the Police Force Station, all day since they were bored and wanted some "entertainment".

"Make yourselves at home, boys," Inoichi said as he opened the door and took off his shoes before taking off to the kitchen to get something to eat. "My daughter it out with my mother, but I think my other daughter is home."

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks. Other daughter? As far as they knew, Inoichi Yamanaka had only one daughter, and that was Ino Yamanaka.

"Father? Are you home?" a familiar voice called as footsteps pattered down the corridor.

Naruto facepalmed as Sasuke nearly groaned out loud. How could they have forgotten that their new friend was living with the Yamanaka now? It was only yesterday that she'd told them too!

"N-Naruto? Sasuke?" Sakura exclaimed, a little flustered.

Naruto attempted a casual smile awkwardly waved while Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, smiling at his brother's awkwardness. He was hardly one to talk though, since he was such an isolated boy in the original timeline and didn't exactly know how to interact with people.

Sakura blinked as her adoptive father poked his head out from the kitchen.

"Ah, Sakura-chan. I take it you know these boys?"

"Yes, Father. I met them yesterday after they sparred a little too hard."

Inoichi laughed. "You healed them, didn't you?"

Sakura shifted on the spot and smiled nervously. "They were completely beaten up and burnt," she informed as Inoichi laughed again.

"My my, Sasuke what did your mother tell you after your first jutsu spar with Naruto?" Inoichi asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Sasuke pouted and looked away. "Don't use jutsu in your sparring sessions unless under the strict supervision of an adult or Itachi," he mumbled.

Inoichi grinned and then turned to the pinkette girl. "Sakura-chan, why don't you take these two to your room? They're staying here until their father can come to pick them up. I'm sure you'll all become very good friends."

Sakura obediently obeyed Inoichi and the boys followed her to her room.

Sakura sat herself on her pink bed while Sasuke took the chair and straddled it and Naruto sat cross-legged on the ground.

Sasuke noted that she had a lot of books on Medical Ninjutsu filed neatly on her desk, and she had barely any cuddly toys like he expected most little girls to have.

"So, shall we introduce ourselves?" Sakura asked as a way to break the awkward atmosphere.

The two boys looked at her, question marks literally floating off their heads.

Sakura giggled at their matching expressions. "I'll start. I'm Sakura Haruno Yamanaka, and I'm six-years-old. I like Medical Ninjutsu, dango, reading and my adoptive sister Ino. I dislike bullies and people who think girls are weak. My hobbies are reading and practicing Medical Ninjutsu, taking care of flowers with Ino and spending time with my sister. My dream for the future is to become a strong Medic nin like Tsunade Senju."

Sasuke smiled at the introduction. Sakura had unknowingly did everything their past sensei had asked of her, with better responses and a more mature way of thinking. By the way these two were thinking and acting, he wouldn't be surprised if they also retained their memory of the past. But of course, the Sage of Six Paths had made it explicitly clear that he was alone on this.

"I'll go next," Naruto spoke up. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki-Uchiha and I'm six-years-old too. I like ramen, my adoptive family and sparring with Ke. I dislike people who cannot tell the difference between a scroll and the kunai sealed within it-"

At this, Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"-and people who judge others based on look or rumour. My hobbies are training, spending time with my family and playing pranks. My dream for the future is to become the village's greatest Hokage."

Sasuke smiled. Naruto had kept two of the things he liked about him - his ridiculous pranks and his dream to become Hokage and gain the village's acceptance. Maybe not the last one so much since the village was accepting him better after realizing that the Uchiha saw him as just a little innocent boy.

Sakura pursed her lips slightly. "Naruto Uzumaki? I thought you said your name was Naruto Uchiha."

"I got adopted by the Uchiha clan head's family," Naruto explained. "So I use the Uchiha name, but I kind of like introducing myself with both names. It kind of makes me feel like I'm betraying my original family, even though I never knew them, by taking on another clan's name."

Sakura nodded understandingly, and withheld the tidbit of information she knew about the blonde. If she asked about it and found out he didn't know, as it was most likely kept a secret, it would most likely shatter the innocence she found herself wanting to protect.

Sasuke, however, saw the familiar, knowing look in her green orbs and narrowed his eyes slightly. Did she know about Naruto's jinchuuriki status? The first night Naruto had moved in, Sasuke had checked and a saw the seal imprinted upon Naruto's stomach, and never was he gladder that Naruto was still a jinchuuriki.

"Well, I'm Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto's adoptive brother and I'm also six," Sasuke began. "I like tomatoes, training and hanging out with Ruto. I dislike arrogant people and those who sell out or betray their friends or family for power-"

'Oh, the irony,' he though to himself as he mentally rolled his eyes. 'I basically just said I disliked my past self, which isn't that untrue. . .'

"-and my hobbies are training with Ruto, working on new jutsu and assisting in playing pranks. My dream for the future is to. . . hmm, I guess become the ANBU Captain so I can protect my Hokage," Sasuke said thoughtfully, throwing a wink at Naruto who grinned at him.

Sakura smiled. "Wow, you two are so close."

'Ironic, since we were bitter enemies before,' Sasuke thought smilingly. 'I'm so glad I can patch things up with Naruto now. And I'll make things right with you too, Sakura. I know I was a horrible person in the past who let you both down so many times, but I swear that I will do everything in my power to make you both happy, and to truly earn your friendship.'

For at least thirty minutes, the three of them talked, joked and teased. Sakura was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable she felt around them, and how easily they got along with each other. It was like their personalities were accommodated for each other, or maybe they had met in another life. But that was just silly thinking.

Sakura voiced her thought aloud, and didn't miss the brief flash of grief in the onyx eyes that belonged to Sasuke, and curiosity bloomed within her.

Naruto smiled at Sakura's statement. "You know, if we did meet in another lifetime, I wonder how that might've worked out. I mean, hypothetically speaking, would I be an Uchiha? Would you be a Yamanaka?"

Sasuke couldn't help but blurt out, "Let me tell you what I see."

The two turned to him, and Sasuke noticed the curious, almost suspicious look in Sakura's eyes and knew she had probably caught him in his brief flashback.

Gulping lightly, Sasuke began to speak. "I see a darker life than the one we live in now. Sakura as a civilian with her parents with her, Naruto is alone because the Uchiha clan. . . isn't alive to take him in. I am no idiot, and I see the growing tension between the Uchiha and the village. Maybe, just maybe, Itachi might've killed the clan to keep the village safe and then went rogue, leaving me alone and seeking revenge. We would all meet as a Genin team, although we might have our many differences we would be able to work together. I would go rogue to search for Itachi, but you would never give up on me, and you would bring me back."

There was silence, and Sasuke started regretting that he opened his mouth. But then Naruto spoke and broke the silence.

"That was deep, Ke. What would make you think that?"

"The tension between the Uchiha and the village is lessening, but it's still there, and I have to wonder if it will ever go away," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura bit her lip. The way Sasuke spoke of the "hypothetically darker future" made it seem like he had lived in that future, that everything he spoke of actually happened. That couldn't be true, could it?

Trying to to lessen the tension, Naruto suddenly piped up, "Is that why you have a weird hairstyle?"

Sasuke jumped. "What?!"

"Tension between the Uchiha and the village. Tension of some sort that makes your hair look like a duckbutt. Or is that just a lot of hair gel?" Naruto said bluntly.

"It does not look like a duckbutt!" Sasuke spluttered indignantly. "It's a very traditional hairstyle of the Uchiha! Izuna Uchiha, the younger brother of Madara Uchiha, had this hairstyle when he was younger! I will not let you insult it!"

"Give me a history lesson if you want, but I still stand my ground when I say it looks like a duckbutt. Or do you prefer chicken ass? Say, Sakura-chan, what do you think?"

Sakura started laughing. "I think you're both silly. Sasuke, what kind of "traditional hairstyle" looks like a - sorry but I have to say this - duckbutt? And Naruto, stop teasing him!"

Naruto started guffawing as Sakura giggled uncontrollably, Sasuke resembling a fish out of water. After a while of Sasuke spluttering and defending his hairstyle, Naruto and Sakura started teasing each other in an attempt to drown the Uchiha's historic lecture out with their laughter. After a particular comment Sakura jumped off her bed and onto Naruto's back, digging her knuckles into his skull while laughing.

Naruto staggered around the room, mockingly crying as he and shouted, "Violent woman alert! I repeat, violent woman alert! Sasuke, code pink! CODE PINK!"

Sasuke was laughing too hard to do anything, and he wasn't all that surprised to find that he felt just as secure and happy as he did when he was with the old Team 7.

Naruto then started whining to his brother as to why he didn't help him, and Sasuke took a big, shuddering breath in an effort to stop laughing, which failed miserably and he fell backwards as he clutched his hurting stomach, tears of laughter leaking from his eyes and Naruto ran around the room with Sakura still attached to his back.

Through his blurry eyesight, Sasuke watched them and a single sentence passed through his mind.

'Now, all we need is Kakashi-sensei and the team is complete.'

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When Fugaku came up to take his boys home, he was feeling rather tired and discouraged. The investigation had come to a dead end and add to that, he had lots of paperwork to do. At this rate, he might end up having to pull all-nighters and spend less time with his family.

When Naruto had come into his family, Fugaku decided to try and be a better father and to try spend more time with his family. Up until now, he had kept to that promise.

Fugaku greeted Inoichi and headed to the room Inoichi directed him to, and when he got there he heard lots of yelling, pounding feet and hysterical laughter.

Opening the door, he was surprised to find a pinkette girl on his blonde son's back, digging her knuckles into his skull and laughing as he ran around the room, screaming, "Violent woman alert! I repeat, violent woman alert! Sasuke, code pink! CODE PINK!"

Sasuke was lying on his back and on the floor, his arms wrapped around his stomach as he laughed so hard he was actually crying.

This carefree scene brought a smile to Fugaku's face, and he felt as if the weight that was on his shoulders disappeared, if only momentarily, thanks to his children.

"Oh, Fugaku-san," the girl finally noticed him and quickly scrambled off Naruto's back.

Said blonde looked up to see his adoptive father smiling tiredly at them, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Hey Dad! Is it time to go home?"

Fugaku nodded and Naruto squatted by Sasuke's head and started poking him in an effort to bring him back to his senses. The latter's laughter finally died down until he was just heaving for breath, still letting out the occasional huff of laughter.

"H-Hey D-Dad. . ." Sasuke gasped, "h-hang on a s-sec. . ."

And he started laughing again. Naruto let out a yell of frustration and fell backwards, screaming something about "stupid hysterical Uchihas" while the girl bent over double, laughing as well.

"Naruto you were literally screaming "code pink"!" Sasuke laughed.

"You didn't freaking help me! C'mon, I had five knuckles embedded in my skull and you didn't lift a finger to help me!" Naruto whined.

"I was laughing too hard, thanks to you," Sasuke retorted.

"Boys, enough with the hysterics," Fugaku sighed, smiling. "It's time to go home. Do you realize how late it is?"

Three heads simultaneously turned to the clock that was ticking in the girl's room.

8:45 pm.

"WHAT?!?!" they screamed in perfect unison.

Fugaku winced and rubbed his temples and bent down to pick up his pouting son and deposit him on his shoulders. "Come on, Naruto, stop pouting."

Naruto puffed out his cheeks and crossed his arms, turning his head to the right with an annoyed expression on his face. Fugaku merely sighed and reached up to ruffle his hair.

"Sasuke, let's go."

Sasuke pouted up at his father but stood up anyways. The three Uchihas then left the Yamanaka household, the pinkette waving them off as the children kept giggling uncontrollably, even when two of them was out of the third's sight.

"What is so funny?" Fugaku asked at last, which resulted in a more giggles. Fugaku rolled his eyes and continued on home, finding the boys' hyperness endearing despite the annoyance.

Around five minutes later, Fugaku lifted Naruto off his shoulders and sent the boys to wash their hands before dinner. On the way, Naruto commented on something that piqued Sasuke's planning schemes.

"You know, life is so awesome right now," Naruto commented as he jumped up the stairs in great bounds.

Sasuke grinned. "And you remember what made us brothers in the first place?"

"Oh yeah, you saved me from some villagers and then Ita-nii and Kaka-nii came before you and Ita-nii took me home," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Um. . . "Kaka-nii"?" Sasuke asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Kaka-nii is Kakashi Hatake, or ANBU Dog," Naruto explained. "He protected me a lot before I became an Uchiha, and I think he was my father's student as well."

Sasuke choked on air. "Your father's student?"

Naruto shrugged. "I know a lot more than what I let on, you know. I'm not an idiot. The villagers wouldn't hate me for nothing. And besides, if they could see past the hate that blinds them, they would see I am the perfect replica of their beloved Fourth Hokage."

Sasuke nodded. "That's logical. . ."

"And they would also see that I'm not the fox they hate so much. I mean, Kurama's just a lazy-ass furball. He's not scary at all, even though he pretends to be, and he was controlled to attack the village. Although, everyone paints him as the villain instead."

Sasuke's jaw dropped. "Y-You know that you're a - I mean, you're a jinchuuriki?" Sasuke spluttered, trying to stop himself from sounding incredulous of the fact that Naruto knew.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You're a horrible liar, Ke," he stated bluntly.

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry 'Ruto. You've been acting kind of strange lately and I kind of overheard my parents talking about your. . . status as a jinchuuriki."

Naruto pursed his lips and nodded. "Eto. . . Ke. . ."

"Hn?"

"W-What do you think I could do to repay Itachi for saving me and bringing me into the family?" Naruto stuttered shyly, looking to the side with a faint flush dusting his cheeks.

Sasuke looked quite surprised and then a sly look crept into his eyes. It was time to do something that he had not gotten the chance to do in the past, and it was his chance to do a little bit of payback.

"Well you see 'Ruto, there's this girl Itachi likes. . ."

"Whoa, hold it hold it!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his hands in Sasuke's face.

Sasuke blinked. "Huh. . .?"

Naruto's left lip quirked up into a smirk. "If you want to play matchmaker, we've got to get Sakura."

Sasuke grinned in agreement, and the two stared into each other's eyes as they said in unison,

"The race. . . is ON!"

Naruto dashed to the sink with Sasuke only a mere inch behind him. The blonde slapped the tap up and water gushed out, splattering onto tan hands. A pale pair of hands squeezed in and shoved the first pair out of the water. Naruto took no notice and squeezed some soap onto his hand and then shoved Sasuke to rinse his soapy hands. Sasuke skidded backwards a bit and grabbed the bottle of soap, squirting it over Naruto and on his hands. Naruto gave a shout and threw the water that was gathered in his cupped hands at Sasuke's face. Sasuke yelled in shock and stuck his hand into the sink to throw some water back at Naruto.

This, of course, ensued a water fight and only ended when Naruto finished rinsing his soapy hands and rushed out of the bathroom. Sasuke quickly rinsed his hands and dashed out after Naruto, who was slipping around on the second floor because of all the soapy water they had dropped onto the floor.

Sasuke tackled Naruto who was on the edge of the staircase and the two slipped and rolled down the staircase, yelling at the top of their lungs. When they crashed onto the floor, Naruto and Sasuke had a short wrestling match before Sasuke broke away and ran for it. Naruto got up immediately and threw himself at Sasuke, managing to wrap his arms around the other boy's ankles and forcing him to fall.

Sasuke shouted a curse and slapped Naruto's face in an effort to get the blonde off him. Naruto barely responded to it and crawled on top of Sasuke and kicked the raven's face during his take off to the table. Sasuke shot up, shaking his face and ran after Naruto, who had just slid into his seat. Luckily or unluckily for them, Naruto and Sasuke both pounced on the food and started having an eating race with both of them wolfing down their dinner.

Mikoto, Fugaku and Itachi were staring at them, too stunned to reprimand the boys for cursing and eating so quickly, wondering what the hell had happened.

In ten minutes flat the boys had finished their dinner, screamed a quick, "Thanks for dinner Mom we'll be back soon!" and, while pushing and shoving each other with curses thrown in each other's faces, tumbled outside and slammed the door.

"Well, I do not want to be whoever those boys are going to get," Fugaku said at last, picking up his chopsticks to begin eating.

Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose as Mikoto sighed, both of their actions being the result of Fugaku's nonchalantness.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke were both using chakra to race each other through the village, not giving a damn what other people thought of their "race". Naruto was surrounded by a orb made of wind chakra, and Sasuke was surrounded by lightning.

The two boys within the elemental spheres ran and ran, fuelled by their competitive spirit and wish to beat the other. The Yamanaka clan compound was within their sights, and the two barely stopped when the door opened and a pink-haired girl stepped out, surprise written across her face as the two elemental spheres careened right past her and crashed into the hedge.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura jumped, eyes wide as she looked at where the sphere made of light blue chakra and crashed. Naruto popped out of the hedge, grinning widely.

"Don't scare me like that, Naruto!" she exclaimed, a hand to her chest.

"Sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto said sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "We need your help with-"

"Something and it involves you-"

Sasuke was immediately tackled by Naruto as the blonde blob shouted loudly, "Helping us get two certain-"

"Being together!-"

"And of course we have to be effective yet subtle-"

"Because if they find out that we schemed this-"

"They'll kill us!"

Sakura blinked and then marched over to pull the two wrestling boys apart. "Enough with the patchy explanation. So let me get this straight. You want me to help you get Itachi together with her? " she asked with a raised eyebrow, hands on her cocked hips.

Sasuke grinned gleefully as Naruto shifted uncomfortably.

"Um. . . yes?"

Sakura's eyes gleamed and Naruto unconsciously took a step back. Sasuke chuckled - it had always been like this. Whenever he and Naruto called Sakura up to play matchmaker, she'd always get this scary gleam in her eyes and Naruto would get a little scared.

The pinkette grabbed their wrists and whisked them both up to her room where they started to plan and scheme. Well, Sakura did. The boys just listened.

《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》

The next day, Naruto somehow guilt-tripped the Hokage into putting Itachi and the certain someone on a mission with the leader being none other than he infamously late Kakashi Hatake.

"This plan is ridiculous! " Sasuke spat into his earpiece from where he was crouched in a cluster of bushes, watching the two young adults sitting silently beside each other.

"Patience!" Sakura snapped quietly. "And remember, this is for your brother as much as it is for Naruto. Now, do you want my help or not?"

Sasuke grumbled something not-so-nice under his breath but watched the two anyway. "I made sure Kakashi was still asleep before coming over here," he muttered into the earpiece. "Man that guy is seriously lazy."

Naruto chuckled. "Maybe to repay him, I'll buy him an alarm clock."

"Nah, he'll probably kill it with a kunai the first morning," Sasuke said bluntly making the two stifle their laughter.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! They're talking! They're talking! " Sakura hissed excitedly, flapping her hands at the two hidden boys in an effort to quieten them.

"So uh. . ." Itachi began awkwardly.

Sakura shook her head in disappointment as Sasuke choked during his effort to stop laughing at his brother's awkwardness. Naruto nearly fell off his tree branch while hissing in the earpiece,

"I told you! I told you I told you I told you Itachi was an awkward human being! "

"Yes, Itachi-kun?" the woman beside him asked with as somewhat hopeful tone.

'Dammit, Naruto was right. I am an awkward human being and I am emotionally stunted,' Itachi groaned. 'I blame it on my ANBU training. . .'

"So why do you think we're doing this mission together?" he asked at last. "I mean, it's kind of weird for a Chuunin to join to ANBU on a mission."

It was only after that statement slipped out of his mouth that he realized how hurtful that sounded, like it was an insult to her rank.

"A-Ah I didn't mean it to be insulting your rank!" Itachi said hastily, hands flying up in surrender.

The woman beside him stared at him for a moment before starting to giggle. "Oh Itachi-kun, it never crossed my mind it might be an insult. Yes, it is kind of weird, isn't it?"

Itachi sighed in relief and lowered his hands. "Yeah."

"Hmm. . . dango?"

Itachi's eyes widened as he caught sight of the delicious, sweet, tri-coloured dumplings. The woman beside him giggled again as she offered him a stick. As he reached out to accept the stick, he allowed a soft smile as he thought about how he loved her cute, shy little giggle. . . wait what?!

Itachi shook his head to try and clean it of such thoughts. There was no way he was falling for her. Right. . .?

It would be a stupid notion anyway. Shinobi were supposed to think with their heads and not their hearts. As a shinobi, you have to do what is right, and not what is easy. You had to let go of your attachments and not form new bonds, and to simply follow your instincts to survive. At least, that was what Itachi had decided.

After letting Sasuke crawl into his heart, Itachi decided he would no longer have any precious people, lest they be used as leverage against him. He decided it would be easier to become a shinobi if he could let go of his attachments and close himself off to any new bonds.

But he didn't realize how hard that would be when the heart does not listen to the head.

Itachi's eyes widened slightly when onyx connected to onyx, both of them frozen as their hands reached for the same dango stick. It was like time stopped, and all that mattered was the endless abyss of obsidian that matched his.

"Sasuke, Naruto, execute the plan now! " Sakura hissed, seeing the opportune moment as the two shinobi both reached for a new dango stick at the same time.

Naruto jumped off the branch and twisted mid-air. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

The force of the jutsu broke the tree he had previously been crouching on and then twisted to face front, landing lightly on his feet before sprinting close to Itachi and the woman he was sitting next to.

Sasuke came racing after him and began to execute his signature taijutsu move, Lion's Barrage. As he did so, he knocked Naruto right into the woman he was racing behind, said woman jerking forward at the unexpected push.

Itachi instinctively raised his arms to catch the woman but he wasn't accounting for Sasuke to barrel right into Naruto, causing the three of them to fall onto Itachi. Said Uchiha toppled off the log with the woman on top of him as Naruto and Sasuke rolled off in opposite directions, cackling madly.

Itachi stared at the wide onyx eyes that were under his, and he slowly lifted himself up. The young woman beneath him lifted a hand to her lips, still somewhat stunned.

The three children watched them in anticipation, waiting for the dramatic confessions of love. Sadly, that did not happen as Itachi merely stood up and backed away slowly, then he turned and ran away faster than Sasuke had ever seen him run.

"Let's. . . go talk to him," Naruto suggested after a moment of disappointment and surprise. "Sakura-chan, watch her and report back to us if anything drastic happens."

Sakura nodded and pulled some hair over her earpiece and then went out of their hiding place to head to the village, as if she was merely running another errand. The Uchiha brothers looked at each other knowingly and, using chakra to lift off, jumped to the trees to the one place where Itachi always went when he was confused about his feelings.

Training Ground 44.

A short while later, the boys landed soundlessly to see Itachi furiously attacking a tree that was already severely damaged and had several holes in it and a whole heap of charred patches.

"Ita-nii," Naruto called softly. "What's wrong?"

Itachi didn't pause in his flurry of attacks as he responded. "Love is such a stupid thing in the world that should not exist. You know how shinobi aren't supposed to show emotion, right? Well tell me then, how on earth is that possible when your heart does not listen to your head? Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Sasuke and Naruto yelped and jumped backwards as a absolutely ginormous ball of fire was blown out of Itachi's mouth, consuming the poor tree. Naruto winced at the charred remains and turned to find Itachi viciously attacking another innocent form of nature.

"Itachi, love comes in all shapes and sizes. It can come in the form of a parent, a sibling, a friend or maybe even a lover," Naruto said quietly. "You're clearly trying to forcibly remove love from your heart. And let me tell you, it doesn't work that way."

"Then how do you close it off?" Itachi grunted as he kicked the tree harshly.

"Some obstacles cannot be removed by sheer force."

Itachi finally stopped to look at his little brother, who at that moment, seemed far too wise to be a mere child.

"What?"

"Some obstacles cannot be removed by sheer force," Naruto repeated. "Itachi, you can close your eyes to something you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to something you don't want to feel."

Itachi scoffed. "I'm sure I can close love off eventually. To be a shinobi is to endure."

Naruto shook his head sighed. "I didn't want to do this, you know. But if it's the only way to make you see reason. . ." And Naruto pulled off his shirt to expose all his scars for the two Uchiha brothers to see.

Sasuke winced, biting his lip as he looked away. Itachi gritted his teeth but forced himself to keep looking at Naruto to see what message he was trying to convey.

"Some wounds fade over time, but some wounds just don't heal. Everyone bears scars of some sort. Mine are just more visible than most. Yes, to be a shinobi is to endure, but." Naruto's eyes gained a glimmer of wisdom that no child his age should have yet.

"Endure too much, and it'll be your loss."

"In the shinobi world, you keep yourself alive by keeping your heart harder than your head," Itachi retorted.

"Yes, but you hold onto your friends and loved ones by keeping your heart a little softer than your head. Haven't you ever heard of the saying, "Together we stand, but divided we fall"? Itachi, here's something I learned - you become your strongest when you protect your precious people. To be brave is to love unconditionally, not matter what the consequences are."

Itachi mulled over the blonde's words and bit his lip. And at that movement, Sasuke smiled mentally. Leave it up to Naruto and his infamous "Talk no jutsu" that had the amazing capability to talk literally anyone out of literally anything.

Naruto decided to give it one more push.

"Love isn't always there when you want it, nor is it going to disappear when you don't want it. It's not always going to be convenient, or easy, or practical. But when you find it, you have to fight for it. Because if you don't. . . you risk losing everything. Maybe it's true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, bu it's also true that we on't know what we're missing until we find it."

Itachi sighed. "Fine, Naruto. You've convinced me. I'll go talk to her."

Naruto grinned and threw his shirt over his head, only just realizing he was still half-naked. "Great, you two make a cute couple."

Itachi opened his mouth to protest, but Sasuke decided it was his time to play, so he threw Itachi a wink while grabbing Naruto's hand, the blonde pulling something out of his pocket.

"Go suck Izumi-nee's face off, Itachi! I know you want to," he shouted teasingly as Naruto rolled his eyes while throwing the smoke bomb on the floor as their "dramatic exit" that Sasuke absolutely did not insist they perform.

《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》

After accomplishing their "mission", Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were lounging outside a snack shop that sold the snacks that they all liked. Sakura was eating dango, Naruto was eating spring onion pancake slices and Sasuke had tomato tamagoyaki.

"Hey, Ke?"

"Hn?"

"W-Would you. . . help me repay Kaka-nii as well?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke rolled his eyes at the shy, uncertain tone of his blonde brother.

"Idiot, you don't need to sound so shy. Of course I'll help you, you're my brother."

Naruto's eyes lit up and Sasuke chuckled.

"Hey, Sakura. Help us out too?" Sasuke turned to the pinkette, hoping she'd say yes. If she did, then hopefully they would all start being closer, and he could finally reunite Team 7, if only for a moment.

Sakura's eyes twinkled and she reached over to pat the blonde mop. "Anything for my baby brother," she giggled as red dusted Naruto's cheeks.

After finishing off their snacks, the three children wandered off to find Kakashi's apartment. Upon arrival, they found the door unlocked and the owner not home. Of course, this led to another ridiculous plan that would, surprisingly, work out pretty well.

Spotting something on the mantelpiece, Naruto went over to check it out. Sasuke knew it was something good because when the blonde turned around, he had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Sakura groaned fondly and Sasuke smirked at his brother.

And so, when Kakashi walked in through the door at 9:30 pm and smelt dinner cooking, he nearly had a heart attack when he saw his former sensei, Minato Namikaze and a grown-up version of his deceased teammate Obito Uchiha lounging on his couch. He nearly had a second one when a painfully familiar face popped out from the kitchen, smiling as she said in her usual happy tone,

"Kakashi-kun, dinner's almost ready."

"R-Rin. . ." Kakashi stuttered as he gazed at his deceased lover who had chosen to die by his hand. "Obito, Minato-sensei. . ."

The three of them blinked at Kakashi's stunned expression before Obito's cheeks puffed out and he seemed to be choking. Minato looked at him sharply and wacked his head. Obito let out an indignant yell and Rin burst into laughter. The two males looked at Kakashi and, at the exact same moment, slapped a hand on their mouths. Obviously their admittedly pathetic effort to stop something failed as they joined Rin in a fit of laughter quite quickly.

As they laughed, the Henge was undone to reveal "Rin" to be a pinkette, green-eyed girl. "Obito" disappeared and was replaced by Sasuke, and "Minato" was revealed to only be Naruto.

Kakashi's eye widened and he felt a wave of different emotions crashing onto him, with the two main ones being sadness and confusion. He was confused as to how they found out, and why they did this. He felt sadness because he had, for a brief moment even if it couldn't possibly be true, hoped that his team was alive.

"H-How did you find out?" he finally asked.

"Hm?"

"Hn?"

Kakashi sweatdropped at the very similar responses of the Uchiha brothers and clarified, "How did you find out about my team?"

The three children facepalmed and pointed to the mantelpiece at the same time, and Kakashi nearly facepalmed himself when he saw the team photograph standing there.

"Boys, go set the table please!" the girl called, trotting back into the kitchen and breaking Kakashi from his trance.

"Hai~!" the two boys responded immediately, scrambling off the couch and scuttling around to grab the dishes and utensils and set them on the table, setting it for four people.

Kakashi watched the three children move around, so perfectly coordinated while having fun doing every day things. He started to wonder if this was what having a family felt like, to have someone already cooking dinner for when he came home, to have other people welcome him home after a long, hard day.

Around fifteen minutes later, Kakashi sat down to have a warm, home-cooked meal for the first time in a while, the three children sitting around the table as they talked, joked, teased and laughed carelessly.

"So what are you three here for?" Kakashi asked as he lifted the miso soup bowl to his masked lips.

Naruto set down his chopsticks and turned to the grey-haired, one-eyed ninja. "I'm here to thank you for saving me that one time. . . as well as many other incidents."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck as he gave the young boy his infamous eye-smile. "While I appreciate the warm home-welcoming, you didn't have to do this, you know. It's my duty to protect you. As for why I feel it is my duty, you will understand when you are older."

Naruto sighed. "Kaka-nii, I know about my heritage, and I know that you were my father's student. That's why you feel it's your duty to protect me when my parents cannot."

Kakashi was shocked. "H-How?"

Naruto's eyes started twinkling. "The ANBU guarding the Hokage Tower should really level up their sensory skills, or at least make the Hokage Tower harder to infiltrate."

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, but he was smiling at the boy's advanced skills. But to infiltrate the Hokage Tower while looking like a miniature Minato Namikaze and being only six-years-old? The ANBU really did need to up their sensory training. He would be having a talk to the Hokage about that later. . .

"Kaka-nii."

The one-eyed shinobi looked across at Naruto, who was looking at him sternly. The blonde got up and walked over to Kakashi's seat, standing next to him as he seemed to pierce holes into Kakashi with his startling blue eyes.

"Now you've heard why I want to repay you, I want you to tell me how I can repay you. In something that is within someone in this village's power and can be achieved some time this week," the blonde added quickly.

Kakashi shook his head, smiling softly. What he really wanted was something he knew to be impossible. He wanted to see Rin, Obito and Minato just one more time, even if it was to say goodbye. And in a way, these three had already granted it by Henging themselves as his team. But even now, Kakashi could see Rin, Obito and himself in the three children, and he couldn't help but think to himself that maybe, just maybe they could be the type of team his team never was.

"Kaka-nii, you've saved me more times than I can count. Unlike the other ANBU who show up at the last minute, you come before they even get a chance to get their fun. And besides, you and Ita-nii were the two ANBU who saved me that day."

"What day?" Kakashi asked, trying to think of what special day he and Itachi had saved Naruto. There were too many.

Naruto smiled. "The day Itachi took me into the Uchiha family."

Ah, that's right. Well, there went that plan of him adopting Naruto. But if he was honest with himself, Mikoto and Fugaku would've raised Naruto better than a teenager like Kakashi ever could. Besides, they could threaten the Civilian Council and get away with it. He could not. Not without being charged with some ludicrous accusation, anyway.

Kakashi sighed, deciding to give in. He slid off his chair knelt down to Naruto's height, his onyx eye meeting determined blue ones.

"Are you sure you want to repay me?"

If it was possible, Naruto's blue eyes was blazing with even more determination as he nodded his head.

'I see so much of his father in him. . .' Kakashi thought as his heart clenched. The grey-haired shinobi then merely eye-smiled at the blonde, whiskered child as he ruffled Naruto's blonde spikes. As he observed the blue eyes that were so similar to his sensei's, he dropped his hand onto Naruto's shoulder.

"Then if you really insist, I only have one request of you. While you're young and able to, have fun and don't worry about anything, because I'll protect you."

Naruto looked surprised. "Are you sure?"

Kakashi nodded, still eye-smiling. "Have the childhood I never had."

Naruto grinned, not thinking too deeply on the words Kakashi spoke and happily agreed. "Thanks Kaka-nii!"

Kakashi smiled and ruffled his hair again. 'Seeing you happy is more than enough. . . otouto.'

Sasuke observed the moment between Naruto and Kakashi, and a soft smile stole across his face. He felt nostalgic of the first night he had come back to the village, when Sakura and Naruto had dragged him to their sensei's apartment to celebrate.

Team 7 was reunited, but of course it wouldn't last. Not until they officially became Genin anyway.

But for now, he would enjoy the peace he felt at having his team together and whole.

Argh! How did this chapter come to 10213 words?! What am I doing with my life? XD