Archive of Our Own

I've found a reason for me,
To change who I used to be,
A reason to start over new,
And the reason is you.

- The Reason, Hoobastank

Naruto meets her on a warm summer day. He’s standing outside of the grocery store he’d just been evicted from, and is still shouting insults at the owner several minutes later. The man in question blocks the entrance to his shop, eyes narrowed and arms folded across his chest, glaring down at the five year old boy. “I don’t let monsters shop here,” the man says frigidly and Naruto sucks in a deep breath, ignoring the pain at the words, and is about to blow up when someone snorts behind him.

“Then you’re in the wrong village, friend.” A woman says blandly, and Naruto pauses in his flailing. He looks over his shoulder to see a tall woman there, with pink hair to her shoulders, and one eyebrow raised in a distinctly unimpressed manner. “You do know what shinobi do for a living, right?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” The shop owner blusters. “And who even are you? Get away from my shop, you’re no more welcome than the monster is.”

“Shinobi slaughter infants in their cribs, you realize.” The woman points out in a mild tone of voice. Naruto blinks up at her and then frowns.

“Hey, shinobi are heroes,” Naruto argues, even though she seems to be defending him.

“They are that. But it doesn’t stop them from being monsters, too.” The woman says reasonably, then flicks her green eyes to lock on the shopkeep again. “As for who I am, I’m Kaeri Senju, daughter of the Lady Tsunade.” She smiles as she says this, and it’s not a nice smile. It’s a very mean one, and even though Naruto doesn’t understand who she’s talking about, it makes the shop keeper go pale white. “You just got yourself shunned by the entire shinobi community,” she says sweetly. “Was it worth it? Just to be an ass to a five year old kid?”

Her head cocks as the man splutters. “Wa- wait, don’t- don’t be hasty. I’ll- I’ll give you a discount. Two for one on your whole order!” The man promises.

The woman ignores him, instead smiling down at Naruto, who stares up at her in awe. “Would you like some food? I’ll buy,” the woman promises.

“Wait, please-”

“What kind of food?” Naruto asks curiously, heart lifting at the very idea - but also a bit of fear, because he half expects her to take the offer right back.

“What do you like?” The woman blatantly ignores the pleading shopkeep.

“I like ramen?” Naruto offers hesitantly. The woman holds a hand out to him and her smile softens.

“Ramen it is, then. Do you have a favorite place? I’m new to Konoha - I’m not sure where to go.”

“I’ll show you!” Naruto says eagerly, taking her hand and already rushing off. The woman follows easily.

“Wait!” The shopkeep cries after them.

It’s not until they’re already seated at Ichiraku, their orders placed and being cooked, that he realizes. “Who even are you, lady?” He asks curiously, peering at her across the table. 

“Kaeri Senju,” she reminds him and he nods.

“Right but… who are you?” Naruto asks slowly. “I- I’m Naruto. No one… no one likes me, here. Why do you…”

“It’s nice to meet you, Naruto-chan. I’m not from here,” the woman says simply. “And people are stupid. I don’t care what they think of you, I’ll form my own opinions.” Teuchi approaches with their bowls and Kaeri takes hers with a quiet ‘thank you’ and a smile. Teuchi looks a bit like he’s blushing when he passes Naruto his, then hustles back to the stove. 

Naruto watches him go with wide eyes, blinking a few times. He looks back at the woman, eyeing her. “You’re really pretty,” he informs her and she looks startled before she smiles brightly.

“Thank you. You’re pretty cute yourself,” she says.

“I’m a boy, ” Naruto protests. “I ’m not supposed to be cute.”

“And yet,” Kaeri gestures at him. “Where are you parents, kid?”

Naruto deflates a bit, looking down at his ramen. He frowns before he takes in the delicious smell and brightens again, taking a hearty slurp of noodles. Some of the broth splashes Kaeri’s hands as she eats her own food, but she doesn’t seem to notice, much less mind, so Naruto relaxes a bit. “I dunno. They’re gone, I think. I live alone.”

“At your age?” Kaeri asks incredulously.

“I’m five,” Naruto huffs.

“Oh, five. Then that’s okay, I guess.” Kaeri says dryly, but she smiles a bit so he knows she’s not mad or something. “Can you even reach your stovetop?”

“I use a microwave,” Naruto corrects absently, gathering more noodles with his chopsticks. “I can reach that.”

“Gotcha.” Kaeri taps her chopsticks against her bowl. “So you’re alone?”

“Yeah. But I get to do whatever I want,” Naruto says cheerily and she smiles at him.

“I had a bedtime at your age.” Kaeri confides. “It was terrible.”

“Ew,” Naruto’s nose wrinkles. 

“I bet making food is no fun, though,” Kaeri points out.

Naruto nods, frowning down at his ramen. “‘S hard, sometimes. People don’t like to sell me stuff. I ‘unno why. They…” Naruto winces and falls silent, sullenly stirring his noodles.

They call me a monster, he thinks but doesn’t say, because even though she defended him, he’s worried she’ll think the same. That she does think it, and is just playing a joke on him right now.

“People are terrible,” Kaeri says softly and Naruto flicks blue eyes up to meet green. “I don’t much like people, you know. I spend my time with my friends, instead.”

“I… don’t have friends,” Naruto admits, slowly and hesitantly, but Kaeri beams brightly at him.

“Don’t be silly. We’re friends, aren’t we?” She asks lightly, and Naruto’s heart pounds.

“Wh-” he blinks at her, but she just smiles back. “R-really?” Naruto asks softly.

“Sure we are. You showed me the best ramen place in the village. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you,” Kaeri says warmly. “I was thinking, I need to explore the village today, since I’m so new here. Do you know where the training grounds are, for shinobi?”

“You’re a shinobi?” Naruto asks, instantly distracted, even as he nods furiously. “Yeah, I know the best places! They never let me in, but I see them from outside,” Naruto says eagerly and Kaeri grins.

“Great. Then you can show me the coolest places. I bet they’ll even let you inside them if you stay with me the whole time. They’re dangerous to go to alone, you know.” 

“Right! Let’s go!” Naruto moves to jump from his seat but Kaeri’s laughter and her hand on his stops him. He startles at the contact, staring with wide eyes.

“We need to eat, first, and then walk around a bit. Never go to a training ground right after eating, you’ll get sick,” she tells him and he stares at her wide eyed.

It takes her a second to notice he isn’t moving, and then she looks at him almost sadly and pulls her hand back. Naruto swallows thickly and tries not to miss the contact too much.

“Eat, Naruto-chan. And if you want seconds, just ask.” Kaeri says gently.

He grins wildly at that, and tries not to feel too hopeful.

Who knows how long it’ll last?

Naruto does as he promised and shows her the way to many training grounds, and anytime he’s particularly interested, she opens the gates and escorts him inside to explore. They waste most of the afternoon doing this, and only as the sun starts to go down does Naruto ask her what he’s been thinking the whole time. “Can you show me a jutsu?” he asks a bit nervously, and Kaeri grins.

“I was waiting for you to ask. Here, jump on my back,” Kaeri tells him and he freezes, looking at her with wide eyes.

“R-really?”

Kaeri blinks at his hesitation, then smiles softly, a hint sad again. “Really. Jump on,” she urges, kneeling down. “You don’t want to be on the ground for this.”

Immediately more curious than nervously hopeful, Naruto practically flings himself onto her. He scrambles up her back and one hand reaches back to stabilize him, his arms wrapping around her neck.

“Alright, ready? It’ll be loud,” she warns, and Naruto immediately covers his ears. Kaeri draws back her free hand and makes a fist, and the next thing Naruto knows, there’s a loud rush of sound and the earth below them shatters.

Rocks and dirt fly into the air as the ground cracks a hundred different ways, and Naruto stares with wide eyes and an open mouth, absolutely stunned. “Whoa… whoa, that’s so cool,” Naruto breathes in awe. “Can I do that? I want to do that!” Naruto exclaims and Kaeri stands up with him still on her back. He hastily wraps his arms around her neck again, heart racing, because he’s always, always wanted someone to carry him like this, but never could even ask.

“Mm. Maybe one day, but it’s hard to learn.” Kaeri warns. “There are a lot of other super cool jutsu’s you’d be really good at.” 

“Really?” Naruto half whispers. She starts to walk back out of the training grounds, and Naruto has no idea where they’re going, but he’s afraid to ask, in case it made her change her mind about bringing him along. 

“Where are you living, Naruto-chan?” Kaeri asks lightly, and Naruto’s heart sinks. He knew it wouldn’t last forever, but he really liked today, and he doesn’t want it to end.

Still, he gives her directions, and she starts walking. 

He doesn’t expect her to stop a few streets from his apartment and carry him inside another grocery store. The shopkeep looks outraged the second they walk in, but Kaeri does something, something Naruto doesn’t see, because the man pales and abruptly looks away from them. “What do you need?” Kaeri asks as she starts down the closest aisle. She still doesn’t set him down, so Naruto points over her shoulder and stuff and Kaeri collects it for him. When they’re done, she strides right up the counter, the shopkeep watching almost fearfully.

“We’ll be taking these,” Kaeri says with a smile in her voice, and Naruto peers over her shoulder as she drops everything onto the counter. The man takes the items with shaky hands and rings them up, and before Naruto can say anything, she pays for it all. She carries him right back out, three bags in one hand and the other still supporting Naruto, and heads straight for his apartment. Only when they’ve arrived at his door does she finally set him down, so he can unlock it, and he nervously leads her inside. 

It’s offensively empty, though Naruto doesn’t understand that. He has a mattress on the floor, a microwave on the counter, and the necessary appliances - and next to nothing else. There’s a small, ancient television not far from the mattress.

Kaeri just smiles though, and hums to herself as she helps Naruto unload the groceries. 

When they’re done, Naruto looks up at her and hesitantly says, “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Kaeri pats him on the head and he tries not to get too hopeful, again. The day is over now, and she’s about to leave, and he’ll be alone again, he just knows it. 

Kaeri grins down at him and claps her hands together.

“So! What shall we cook first, hm?” 

Naruto stares up at her in shocked awe.

She doesn’t leave that night. She sleeps on the floor in his kitchen, while he sleeps in the living room (because there’s no actual bedroom, just the two rooms and a connected bathroom) and in the morning, she makes him ramen for breakfast, with extra egg. 

Naruto falls just a little bit in love, and he hugs her tight around the legs when they’re done eating. “Please don’t leave,” Naruto begs, his heart already breaking in his chest, and little does he know, so is Kaeri’s. His because he’s terrified she’ll leave, and hers because he’s terrified she’ll leave.

“Oh, Naruto,” Kaeri sighs softly, crouching down to pull him into a proper hug.

“I’ll be the best, you’ll see! You won’t hate me,” Naruto tries to promise, and she shushes him quietly.

“You are the best, Naruto-chan. And I would never hate you. But things are…” Kaeri trails off, biting her lip as Naruto’s eyes start to sting with tears. “But…” Kaeri tries again, her voice soft, and Naruto sniffles.

Kaeri takes a breath.

She lets it out harshly, rolling her eyes as she growls, “God damn it,” and pulls him into another hug. “We’re gonna go find a bigger apartment, you got it? You’re living with me from now on, and we’ll have home cooked meals every day, and if anyone tries to stop me, I’ll break their fucking femurs,” Kaeri swears firmly.

They move in together.

Kaeri finds a place almost on the other side of the village, in a much nicer neighborhood, so nice that Naruto’s pretty sure he never would’ve been allowed in the vicinity on his own. But Kaeri smiles at anyone who tries to so much as look at Naruto funny, and they quickly find themselves needing to be elsewhere instead of saying whatever’s on their minds.

They move in immediately, and Kaeri refuses to bring anything over from his old apartment. Instead, they go shopping, and Naruto starts to cry when she buys him a real bed and a super cool set of training clothes in black and orange, his favorite color. 

They make it three days before Sarutobi himself appears on their doorstep, and Naruto flings himself into his arms with a gleeful cry. Sarutobi chuckles as he holds the much smaller form to his chest. “Please, come in,” Kaeri says much more politely.

She’s still smiling politely when Sarutobi tries to caution her.  “You must understand how this looks.” Sarutobi implores gently. Kaeri sits on one sofa, Sarutobi on the other, with a coffee table between them. Naruto nestles himself against Kaeri’s side, because he’s addicted to the love he missed out on for five years. “A year ago, no one even knew you existed.”

“I assure you, plenty of people knew I existed.” Kaeri says, perfectly level and calm. 

“I know you’re Tsunade-chan’s daughter, and for that reason alone, I trust you more than most. But the reality is, you’re very new to Konoha. On your first day in the village proper, you… well.” Sarutobi glances at Naruto, then back at her, his expression a bit sad. “I cannot thank you enough, but I also worry.”

“I know what you’re avoiding saying, Hokage-sama,” Kaeri assures him. “I understand how many very important people disapprove of my decisions.” Here, she smiles, warm and cheery. “So feel free to send them to discuss this with me myself, hm? I should like a word with anyone who would try to keep me away.”

Sarutobi blinks rapidly, one hand frozen on the pipe he has halfway to his lips. He frowns a bit, then completes the motion and inhales some of the smoke. 

He exhales it slowly, and Kaeri still smiles.

“I believe I will pass that along, Kaeri-chan.” He says, his voice warm. “Does this mean you’ll be staying in the village?”

“For at least the next ten years,” Kaeri confirms with confident surety. “Tell the… naysayers, shall we put it around delicate ears, that if they back off, I’ll teach a class at the Academy.” 

Sarutobi startles so badly he nearly drops his pipe. “You would be willing?”

“I would. Everyone should know at least basic first aid, and anyone with the skill for more? I’ll happily teach them.”

“And the hospital?”

“I doubt I’ll have time to work shifts myself,” Kaeri admits, “but I’ll rethink it in a few years, when I’m used to the workload I’m already agreeing to.”

“I understand.”

“You’re gonna work at the Academy?” Naruto pipes up and Kaeri nods, smiling down at him.

“I will. I have special skills, you know. Remember your skinned knee?” Kaeri pokes said knee, perfectly healed now, and Naruto giggles. “Remember how I fixed it really quickly? I’m going to teach people to do that, too.”

“Whoa,” Naruto says, eyes wide. “That’s so cool. Do I get to learn?”

“I don’t know, do you go to the Academy?” Kaeri asks in mock confusion and he furiously nods. “Then I’ll teach you,” she promises.

Naruto burrows into her side and muffles an exclaimed, “Yay!” into her shoulder. He practically vibrates with excitement, and Sarutobi chuckles warmly around his pipe.

It’s always hurt him, not being able to give the boy the family he deserved - and if Kaeri wanted to face down the people who would stop her from providing it, well, Sarutobi wouldn’t say no to the assistance.

Kaeri really does take up a post at the Academy, which means she takes Naruto in an hour early every morning, and takes him home an hour after all the classes let out. She spends most of that extra hour getting ready for classes, which means Naruto gets to spend it alternating between playing with toys in her classroom, or bothering Iruka-sensei.

He mostly bothers Iruka-sensei.

“I’m glad to see him so happy,” he hears Iruka say one afternoon, when he’s in Kaeri’s room after classes. She’s marking work and he’s practicing sticking leaves to his own face with just his chakra, because Kaeri said it was really important that he learn to do it. “I wish I didn’t get the brunt of his enthusiasm about it, but I’m still happy.”

“He deserves it,” is Kaeri’s firm and confident response.

“...You’re a good woman, Senju-hime,” Iruka says quietly, and Kaeri smiles warmly at him.

“And all it took was me not being an asshole to a five year old,” she says wryly and Iruka gives a soft, sad chuckle. She softens a moment later, looking over Naruto, who pretends he definitely can’t hear all this as he closes one eye and tries to stick a leaf to his eyelid. “He makes it easy,” she says softly.

“Easy?” Iruka repeats a bit incredulously. “That’s the last term I’d use, but, then. I guess that just means you’re the better person.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Umino-san. You were there for him before I was.”

“Yeah,” Iruka says a bit quietly. “I wish I’d been able to do more.”

“Then make up for it now.” Kaeri advises and he looks at her in question. “You’ve noticed how hard it is for Naruto to learn in a class setting. He’s smart, Umino-san,” Naruto almost faceplants in shock, and covers by catching the leaf fluttering to the ground, “he just doesn’t learn the same way most kids do. One on one, he does amazing.”

“Hm.” Iruka glances over at Naruto, then back at her. “How busy are your afternoons?”

“Not too busy,” Kaeri says knowingly, and Iruka nods.

“Then I’ll start coming by after classes,” he vows firmly, and Kaeri smiles warmly at him.

“Then it sounds like you’re a pretty good man yourself, Umino-san.”

“Once upon a time, there was a boy made of sunshine,” Kaeri tells him as he lays in bed, not quite ready to sleep yet. “He was the happiest boy there ever was, but everyone hated him, because something bad happened the day he was born. They blamed him for it, but the boy - he was so happy, all the time, and eventually, they just couldn’t hate him anymore. He smiled and the sun shone through him, and it warmed the cold hearts of everyone around him. They hated him at first, but he never hated them, and one day, he glowed so bright that they couldn’t help but adore him…”

He learns to eat more than just ramen. He loves the food Kaeri makes him, and he helps whenever he can, until the day he’s tall enough to cook himself.

He learns from Iruka-sensei how to be a ninja, but Kaeri teaches him how to be a child. She takes him to the river on hot days and they play in the water. On cold days, she makes him hot chocolate and they sit out on their balcony, bundled in blankets, and just talk.

It’s everything he’s ever wanted, and more than he’d ever hoped to have. 

Which is why, when he brings home his end of year report card, seven whole months after they met, he feels so nervous. 

He’s still afraid that the wrong thing will make it all come crashing down, and she’s always been so proud of him learning.

Kaeri takes one look at his grades and frowns. “Well, that can’t be right,” she says consideringly, and Naruto tries to stop his sinking heart.

“I’m sorry. I’ll do better,” he promises. “I’ll- I’ll work twice as long with Iruka-sensei after school,” he vows, but she’s already shaking her head.

“You don’t have to, Naruto-chan, something’s…” she trails off, eyes narrowing. She looks at his grades with anger for a split second before she controls it and smiles warmly at him. “I know how hard you’re trying, and that’s all that matters. Grades don’t mean anything but book smarts, and you’re more than just that. Don’t doubt yourself for a second, Naruto-chan, because I never will.” Kaeri promises firmly, and Naruto starts crying, so she pulls him into a tight hug.

They have ramen for dinner, and when Naruto goes to school the next day, it’s to an announcement from a pale-faced Iruka that, unfortunately, Mizuki-sensei will no longer be working with them.

He never notices the blood under Kaeri’s nails that night.

When he’s six, he meets Sakura-chan for the first time when she joins their classes. “She looks just like you,” Naruto tells Kaeri, who smiles indulgently.

“Surely she’s younger,” Kaeri jokes.

“Mom,” Naruto huffs dramatically. “She’s got really nice pink hair and green eyes and she’s so pretty,” Naruto sighs and Kaeri pats him on the head.

“I’ll make you an extra bento tomorrow so you can give it to her, alright?”

Sakura-chan blushes at the gift, and Naruto makes his first tentative friend.

When they’re eight, Sakura-chan becomes Kaeri’s one and only apprentice. She’s taught dozens of students to do the Mystical Palm jutsu, and even more in just basic first aid, but Sakura-chan’s the only one good enough to become an actual apprentice.

Which means she spends a lot of time at their home.

The first time it happens is when Iruka’s already there helping Naruto practice his kawarimi , and Sakura looks absolutely shocked to see him actually studying. Sure, Naruto’s still not the best in class, not even close because it’s hard to pay attention in class, but he’s better than dead last now. Kiba gets to have that honor.

Kaeri takes Sakura into the kitchen, presents her with a fish, and starts teaching her different healing and first aid jutsus outside of just the Mystical Palm. It quickly becomes their pattern - Kaeri’s trains Sakura in the kitchen, and Iruka trains Naruto in the living room.

It’s months in that Sakura comes to their house fifteen minutes late for her lessons, already in tears. “What happened?” Naruto asks in alarm, while Kaeri is quick to grab a towel and blot at Sakura’s face. The girl sniffles loudly.

“Mom and Dad said they’re glad I’m becoming a medic, because then I won’t be in danger!” Sakura cries out.

Iruka, for his part, looks as entirely confused as Naruto feels, but Kaeri just ‘ah’s softly.

“Oh, Sakura, they don’t understand,” Kaeri says gently, using her thumb this time to swipe away another tear. 

“Neither do I,” Iruka murmurs to Naruto, who nods firmly.

“I don’t want to not be in danger! What about everyone else!?”

“I know,” Kaeri promises. “And I’m not teaching you to stay out of danger, am I?” she reminds, and Sakura nods quickly as she sniffles again.

“An’ I told them that, and they told me I didn’t have it right, because medics are supposed to stay off the front lines.”

“Bullshit.” Kaeri huffs. “I’m a medic and I spent my life on the field. Maybe not usually on what you’d call ‘front lines’, but I never let my teammates go into a fight without me.”

“Exactly!” Sakura exclaims, and Iruka gives a soft ‘oh’ of realization.

Naruto mostly just still feels confused. “Isn’t avoiding combat good?” he asks tentatively. Sakura whips around furiously and he braces himself for shouting, but Kaeri intervenes. 

“Naruto. If you saw Sakura here going into a fight, wouldn’t you go with her?”

“Of course!” Naruto blurts instantly. “I’d never let her fight alone!”

“And neither would she let you.” Kaeri says firmly and Naruto blinks.

“Oh,” he realizes.

“Now, listen to me, Sakura-chan,” Kaeri redirects the girl’s attention. “If I didn’t think you’d be going into battle right alongside your teammates, would I be teaching you how to use your strength like me?” She points out, arching a brow.

“No, but they said there are rules,” Sakura says uncertainly.

“The rules have exceptions.” Kaeri promises. “The very best medic nin are always, always on the front lines. That’ll include you one day, because you’re my apprentice, and I am definitely one of the very best - which means you will be too, one day.”

Sakura sniffles again, but her tears are gone as she nods at Kaeri, looking determined. “I will be,” she says firmly, and Iruka chuckles softly.

When Naruto’s still eight and he’s deep asleep, someone tries to break into his room. Kaeri is there in an instant, burying a kunai in the masked man’s throat, killing him so quickly and quietly that Naruto never even stirs.

He never sees the body, and goes to school the next day without realizing anything has happened.

When he comes home, it’s to the sight of Kaeri happily washing her hands, loudly humming a cheery song, and he never notices the blood draining down the sink.

Danzo’s declared dead within the hour, but Naruto never really learns about that, either.

Though he never learns about Danzo - because why would an academy student care about some old dude dying randomly - he does notice the sudden presence of Uchiha in and around his apartment.

“Mom, did you make friends?” Naruto asks as he squints out the window, watching two Uchiha teenagers racing through the streets. One of them keeps violently pointing at their apartment, while the other seems to be just laughing at the first. 

“Hm?” Kaeri steps up beside him, takes one look, and snorts. “Oh, them. That’s Itachi and Shisui - I saved their lives a few nights ago.”

“Huh?” Naruto blinks up at her. “What happened to them?”

“I can’t really say,” she reminds him of the whole doctor-patient thingy. “But someone tried to hurt them very badly, and I put a stop to it and fixed them up. They’re coming over for dinner tomorrow, with Itachi’s parents. Oh, Itachi’s Sasuke’s brother, so he’ll be there too.”

“No!” Naruto protests, horrified. “Don’t bring him here, he’s awful!”

“He is not,” Kaeri says, laughing. “You’re just a little brat.”

“No, he is. He’s always talking about his brother and how they do all this stuff, and he’s the best in class and I hate him, Mom, don’t bring him here,” Naruto whines.

The dinner, in the end, goes over swimmingly. 

Actually, it goes weird. Sasuke and Naruto spend most of the time glaring at each other, while Itachi mostly just looks amused and at ease. Mikoto, their mother, seems the same, smiling warmly at Kaeri and being impeccably polite.

Fugaku, however, glares viciously at Kaeri, who smiles brightly back at him. They speak in low, painfully polite tones with one another, but Fugaku can’t help his glower.

When the night ends, Kaeri starts to walk them to the door, and Naruto lurks in the nearest hallway and listens. “My clan owes you a great debt,” Fugaku rumbles at Kaeri.

“No, they really don’t.” Kaeri says in a gentler voice. “Yet again, I find myself being praised just for being a decent person. Your people deserved better than what they were getting, Uchiha-sama, and I’ll do my best to remedy that.”

“What you’ve done for us,” Mikoto starts to say,

“Please,” Kaeri interjects, softly. “I don’t want gratitude for being human. But if you really feel you owe me a debt, there’s one way you can repay me.”

Whatever she says next is quiet enough that even Naruto doesn’t hear, and after a few minutes of muffled murmurs, the Uchihas leave.

Kaeri’s quiet the rest of the night, deep in thought.

They see more of the Uchiha after that. Mikoto visits at least once every weekend, and she and Kaeri laugh together while doing girl stuff and watching boring television. Naruto mostly avoids them these days, instead going to the training grounds to practice with Sakura.

After a while, Sasuke starts to join them, very reluctantly at first. Probably because Mikoto keeps trying to bring him with her to their boring weekend visits, and inflict him on Naruto. Which makes it ironic that he then goes to Naruto to avoid them, but the point is, they train together, and it’s not always awful.

Oh, it usually is, for sure - Sasuke says mean things that make Sakura cry or get really angry, and Naruto often has to get between them, except then he and Sasuke start going at it and it’s Sakura’s turn to get in between-

Well.

Most days, at least, it happens without injuries.

It gets better when Itachi starts to join them too, even though Naruto’s sickeningly jealous of the siblings dynamic and refuses to go along at first. His desire to become a great shinobi wins over, though, and he reluctantly starts joining Sasuke (and Sakura) on the days Itachi trains them.

His reluctance vanishes pretty quickly. By the time he’s nine, he’s all but adopted Itachi as his own older brother, because he’s the actual best.

He’s just like Kaeri when it comes to teaching them things. Itachi never seems to find them slow or annoying - he’s eternally patient, and when Naruto and Sasuke get sidetracked with a fight, Itachi doesn’t get frustrated, he just laughs and redirects them.

They’re ten when Kaeri watches them training together one day. She watches for a few hours, then leaves without saying a word, and Naruto would be hurt if it weren’t for the thoughtful look on her face.

The very next day, Iruka-sensei gives all three of them their graduation tests.

All three of them pass.

The very next day, they meet Kakashi.

“I never expected to share my students,” Kakashi says mildly one day as they’re in Training Ground Three, Kaeri watching Sakura practice her medical ninjutsu.

“I imagine you never expected to have students,” is Kaeri’s bored, distracted response.

“It’s true, I never thought they’d pass,” Kakashi sighs heavily. “I’m already too old to be a teacher,” he mourns.

“Aw, don’t worry. If your old joints start to ache, I’ll fix them right up for you,” Kaeri promises with a sweet smile.

Naruto and Sasuke look at each other, and then go back to staring at the two adults. 

“Maa, such a kind soul,” Kakashi muses.

Kakashi and Kaeri are weird together, is Naruto’s opinion.

Kakashi apparently took her offer to heart, because anytime he gets so much as a bruise on a mission, he insists on going home with Naruto to entreat Kaeri for assistance.

“Maa, what soft hands you have,” Kakashi hums as she heals his very lightly skinned elbow, the only injury from the mission.

“All the better to treat you with,” is Kaeri’s overly condescending response. 

Kakashi just beams at her from under his mask, eye crinkling.

He’s eleven when he sees them fight for the first time. Actually, it’s the first time he’s ever seen Kaeri yell before, and he watches with wide eyes alongside Sasuke and Sakura as they go at it in the middle of their usual training ground.

“Have you lost your bleach-addled mind?” Kaeri roars, and Kakashi sends her a wounded look.

“My hair is naturally this color,” he pouts.

“You’re not sending them to goddamn Kumo!” Kaeri snarls. “You know how that damned country is with our genin, and you want them- no!” Kaeri bites out. “It’s too soon, anyways!”

“Isn’t that my job to determine?” Kakashi asks wonderingly, like it’s a real question that’s been eluding him.

“They aren’t ready for that!”

“They can handle the exams-”

“What about the other genin? Can they handle them?” Kaeri hisses and Sasuke bristles a bit at Naruto’s side. “What about afterwards? Maybe, maybe they’re ready for the exams, but they aren’t ready to be Chūnin!”

“Hey,” Naruto protests. Kaeri waves a hand at him.

“I’m not doubting you, Naruto - none of you - but you don’t understand what being a Chūnin actually means. Everyone thinks, ‘oh, it’s just the next step to being a great shinobi’. No! It’s elevating yourself to a completely different level, taking on missions far more dangerous than the ones you take as Genin, facing enemies far more skilled - they aren’t ready,” Kaeri snaps as she looks back at Kakashi, who’s frowning more seriously now.

“They’re skilled, yes, but they aren’t practiced yet. They need more time before you throw them out into the world just because you hate being a teacher!”

“That’s not what this is,” Kakashi says seriously enough that Kaeri falters a bit, listening. “They need to go through the exams. They’re ready for the challenge. But no, they won’t be promoted at the end.”

“What?” Sasuke blurts out sharply.

“Hey, why not?” Sakura chimes in.

“She’s right,” Kakashi admits, looking back at them. “You’re skilled enough to be Chūnin, but you’re not practiced enough. You have the jutsu to make you a Chūnin, but not the tactics to use them as efficiently as you can. My idea,” he says sideways at Kaeri, who folds her arms across her chest silently, “was for you to take this opportunity to learn more about combat specifically with other shinobi. Specifically, with strangers, whom you have no knowledge of their skills.”

Kaeri closes her eyes at this, looking a bit pained.

“But I would strongly advise the Hokage at the end of this event to keep you at Genin rank for at least another year so that you can continue to practice.” Kakashi concludes firmly.

Kaeri bows her head a bit.

The children exchange displeased looks, but none of them outright argue. Naruto won’t because Kaeri’s right there. Sakura won’t because she’s too polite.

Sasuke won’t because he frankly doesn’t want to deal with his mother’s fussing the day he does become a Chūnin.

“...I’m sorry,” Kaeri says quietly, breaking the silence, and Kakashi looks sideways at her. “I assumed… well. I proved the saying. Ass out of you and me, hm?” Kaeri smiles a bit wryly, mostly apologetically, and Kakashi sighs.

After a second, he smiles back. “You’re a protective mother,” he says simply. 

“I still don’t like the idea of them going to Kumo,” Kaeri admits, sighing. “But they’re shinobi now.”

“Precisely. We leave in a week,” Kakashi announces, clapping his hands together, and the children scurry off to celebrate.

When Naruto looks back several minutes later, Kakashi has a hand on Kaeri’s shoulder, and they’re speaking in low tones.

One day, when he’s twelve and a soon-to-be Chūnin, he walks into Kaeri’s room and scrambles back out with a shout.

When Kaeri comes out of the room, she’s blushing to the tips of her ears, Naruto is wailing about his traumatized eyes, and a shirtless Kakashi chuckles.

They become Chūnin, but they mostly stay together. Kakashi stays their sensei on most missions, and they’re the same ol’ Team Seven, just taking higher risk, more dangerous missions. 

It’s on their first C-Rank as a team of Chūnin - a practice run, really, though Chūnin often do C-Ranks - that they meet Zabuza and Haku, and they realize how much farther they still have to go.

When they head home, tired and depressed, Naruto walks into his apartment to find Kaeri talking to Itachi. They don’t notice him at first, standing at the kitchen counter and nursing hot chocolates, which means it’s a Big Deal Talk of some sort.

Naruto, being curious, lurks in the hallway to listen with his more sensitive ears.

“-didn’t know where else to go. I don’t even know how he got into the compound to begin with,” Itachi’s admitting in a quiet voice.

“You did the right thing, coming to me,” Kaeri assures him. “Do your parents know?”

“Not yet. Mom would keep it secret, but Dad would confront the Hokage. He still hates the man, even after everything you’ve done.”

“I understand entirely, even if I don’t share the sentiment.” Kaeri promises, tapping her fingers against her mug. “I’m not sure what I can do on my own. I’ve heard rumors of a group of people led by a man in a mask like you’ve described, but I don’t know much. I just know what they’re after.”

“And what’s that?”

“Naruto,” Kaeri admits, and the boy in question freezes, eyes wide. “And people like him. They aren’t meant to be making moves towards Konoha just yet, though.”

“Aren’t meant to?”

“I expected their first move to be in Suna,” Kaeri explains and Itachi makes a soft ‘aa’ sound.

“Because of the Kazekage’s son,” he deduces, though Naruto doesn’t follow that at all, and Kaeri hums agreement.

“I’ll talk to my mother,” Kaeri decides suddenly. “She has greater connections out there in the real world than Sarutobi does.”

“Particularly given her teammate,” Itachi agrees.

“Precisely. I needed to contact Jiraiya-sama anyways, it’s about time for him to step up already… I’ll make contact immediately.”

Naruto doesn’t know if the conversation would continue from there, but he’s not about to risk Itachi running into him on the way out, so he jolts into movement and loudly clambers down the hall. “Mom! I’m back!” he calls out, and when he sweeps into the kitchen, Kaeri has a beaming smile and Itachi looks far more relaxed than he’d sounded at the start.

“Hello, Naruto,” Itachi greets warmly and Naruto launches into a description of their latest mission.

He’s thirteen when they first run into the Akatsuki. They fight, all of Team Seven, and they’re horribly out of their depth. Sasuke gets hit by the blue fish man’s chakra draining sword enough times that he passes out, skinned up and bloody, and Sakura’s out of the fight to heal him. Kakashi goes down next, but he does it by doing something with his eye that takes the two Akatsuki away, so Naruto hauls him over his shoulder. Sakura picks up Sasuke, and together they beat a hard, frantic retreat to Konoha.

It’s the day that Naruto learns what he carries in the seal in his stomach, and Kaeri holds him as he cries.

Something changes with the revelation of the Akatsuki’s existence and goals, and though Naruto doesn’t understand why, the biggest change is in the Uchiha.

They leave their compound with haste, spreading out across all of Konoha instead of living in just one spot. Naruto doesn’t understand it, doesn’t understand the tension every Uchiha seems to carry, the way they watch the shadows like they might leap out of them. He doesn’t understand it, but he knows they’re trying to somehow make themselves less of a target.

It’s a handful of months later that he meets his grandmother for the first time.

Tsunade barges into their life with extreme violence, kicking their front door straight off the hinges and leaping in to tackle Kaeri, who shrieks in surprise but does nothing to avoid contact. She’s slammed into the couch and hits it already laughing, hugging Tsunade tightly back, while a much more polite, younger woman hovers in the ruined doorway.

Naruto meets her gaze with wide eyes, and she looks terribly apologetic. “I’m so sorry about your door, we’ll pay for it,” she’s already promising, before she even introduces herself. “I’m Shizune. You must be Naruto-kun,” 

“Y-yeah! You’re my aunt!” Naruto says in realization, gaping at the pretty woman Kaeri had told him about over the years.

“My favorite daughter, you’ve grown so much!” Tsunade exclaims, holding Kaeri’s face in both hands and mushing it a bit. Naruto giggles a little, and Kaeri rolls her eyes.

“I’m your only daughter,” Kaeri mumbles around her compressed lips. 

“And my favorite grandchild!” Tsunade cries, releasing Kaeri to grab Naruto in much the same manner. He tries his best to frown at the woman holding his face. “Already a Chūnin, as well! I brought a gift for you - Shizune, the special sake-”

“He’s thirteen!” Kaeri protests.

That night, when they’ve all finished dinner and are sitting in the living room, Tsunade turns to Kaeri. “Jiraiya will be here tomorrow with more information on the Akatsuki.”

“That’s great, but I wasn’t expecting either of you to come in person,” Kaeri says with some concern and Tsunade huffs, sending some of her hair flying up in front of her.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have, but when I contacted Jiraiya, he took the opportunity to warn me. Apparently, our wayward teammate intends on attacking Konoha within the month.”

“Damn it.” Kaeri exhales softly. “The Exams?” She guesses, because they’ve been going on for about a week now. “Have you told Hokage-sama?”

“Oh, I’ll tell him,” Tsunade promises with a wide smile. “Right after I take the hat from him.”

Kaeri’s eyes widen, and so do Naruto’s. “I thought… I thought you didn’t believe me?”

“Not at first,” Tsunade admits, smile fading, “but then I remember I’m a badass and can do anything, why not this? I can’t do a worse job,” she huffs and Kaeri offers a fond smile.

“He’s a good Hokage, mom. But you’ll be a great one.”

“You’re going to be Hokage?” Naruto blurts out.

“Yeah, and I’ll do all the damned paperwork that comes with it,” Tsunade sighs heavily, like this is a huge sacrifice on her part. “I should probably go warn sensei that he’ll be retiring tomorrow morning, though.”

“So soon?” Kaeri blinks at her. “What’s got you moving so fast?”

“I’m not about to let Orochimaru fuck up my village, that’s what. If that means seizing control and making changes right this second, I’ll do it. Besides, I have a family to defend,” she adds brightly, smiling at Kaeri, who smiles warmly back. 

They fall silent for a moment, Kaeri sipping at her sake - Tsunade chugging hers - and Naruto looks between them, wondering what to say next.

He looks at Tsunade slyly, tilting his head a bit. “Has mom told you about Kakashi-sensei?” he asks deviously, and Tsunade arches a brow in interest, while Kaeri chokes on her drink.

“Oh-ho-ho,” Tsunade chortles. “Tell me more about you and Kakashi,” she says wickedly.

For a moment, Naruto feels like he’s the one missing something.

The thing is, to get Tsunade to back up her claims about her new identity, Kaeri - then Sakura - had had to tell the woman everything.

Up to, and including, exactly who her sensei was growing up.

They don’t manage to prevent the Konoha Crush.

It’s the first time Naruto’s ever seen Kaeri fight, and she kicks ass. She’s in the crowd when the feathers start falling, and when the fighting breaks out, she fights at Kakashi’s side. She’s quick, deadly, and ruthless in her attacks, and by the time the fighting is over and Naruto returns from his impromptu befriending of Gaara, Kaeri and Kakashi are covered in blood and she’s laughing at something he’s said. 

Apparently, they - working with Sarutobi - also managed to kill Orochimaru - something that Tsunade keeps cackling about, though Jiraiya seems saddened.

“Are you hurt?” Naruto blurts out on arrival, and Kaeri’s immediately looking over him in the same concern, already healing his cuts and bruises.

“No. How’d you do?” Kaeri asks and Naruto grins up at her.

“Sasuke, Sakura and I kicked the Ichibi’s butt. Gaara’s my friend, now.” He adds and Kaeri nods, like that’s perfectly understandable and was to be expected.

“Then we’ll have him over for dinner the next time he’s in town,” she says simply and brushes the blood from his face.

Naruto goes away for a while, after that. He meets Jiraiya, who Kaeri won’t stop glaring at for some reason, and is promptly taken away to become a Toad Sage. 

Sakura stays behind to learn even more from Kaeri - they’re working on the Yin Seal now, since Sakura blazed through all the other lessons - and Sasuke stays to train with his clan. 

He stays away for almost two years, only managing to visit every few months, and Jiraiya tries his best to teach Naruto about the bijū as well. 

It’s Kaeri, on one of their visits, who gives them the breakthrough in that regard. “Have you tried just asking the Kyūbi to give you chakra?” she points out blandly, while Naruto complains about how hard it is to control.

That stops him short, and after a long moment of processing, he flings himself at Kaeri with a beaming smile. “Thanks, mom! I got this now!” he swears, and it’s true.

It takes another month of training to learn to talk to the bijū, and he’s totally a jerk, and it takes another month after that to get through to him…

And then he makes his newest, oldest friend yet. He and Jiraiya call it a success and they return to Konoha, only for Naruto to immediately have to leave again, this time with Team Seven.

Because the Akatsuki are back, and they’ve taken Gaara.

“The interesting thing is,” Jiraiya says over dinner, not long after Naruto’s returned from Suna, “is at least two Akatsuki died while we were on our training mission.”

“Really?” Kaeri says in an appropriately mystified tone as she chews on some homemade teriyaki salmon. “How interesting. What did them in?”

“No one knows. One just vanished, the other…” Jiraiya grimaces. “Well, it sounded like something Tsunade-hime might’ve done.”

“I was here the whole time.” Tsunade denies immediately, not even looking up from her meal. 

“Apparently, that one had no less than five hearts, too. He’s very dead now.” Jiraiya muses.

No one notices the odd look Kakashi sends Kaeri, or the bland smile that doesn’t so much as twitch on her face.

Several miles away, under several meters of dirt, the decapitated head of Hidan still screams obscenities.

Naruto’s fifteen and Kaeri’s been his mom for ten years when he nearly cries himself to sleep in her arms. They’re in the living room, and it’s been two days since he returned from rescuing Gaara, and that day will go down in history as one of his worst. “He was dead,” he says quietly, when the tears have stopped and Kaeri has passed him a fresh mug of hot chocolate. “I didn’t get to him in time, and Sakura couldn’t help him.”

“Chiyo-sama was a brave woman,” Kaeri murmurs to him, running fingers through his hair. She’s curled up on the sofa next to him, their shoulders pressed hard together. “She saved his life.”

“I called her a bitter old woman,” Naruto admits, not expecting Kaeri to snort at that.

“I’ve met her - she very much was, Naruto. If it helps, you telling her that probably helped her make that decision.”

“Is that a good thing?” Naruto wonders quietly. “She ended up dying instead.”

“She would have, anyways. You told me Sakura got hurt, and Chiyo-sama saved her?”

“Yeah, using the same jutsu, I think.”

“Then she was already a dead woman walking. Using even a small amount of life force to heal a wound, even if you aren’t bringing someone back entirely - it’s a death sentence. You don’t come back from that, you never recover - it’s a permanent wound that will forever bleed, and one day, you’ll have simply bled too much.” 

“So she died for Sakura-chan, too.” Naruto realizes quietly and Kaeri hums.

“No, Naruto. Chiyo-sama died for her faith. Her faith in Gaara, and her faith in Sakura, and even her faith in you. She died by her own choices, because she knew it was the right thing to do. I won’t tell you not to mourn her,” Kaeri murmurs, “but don’t take away the meaning in what she did. She didn’t do it for you - she did it for her.”

Naruto says nothing at this, his head bowed as he considers this angle. 

“There’s more to it than just Chiyo-sama, isn’t there?” Kaeri says quietly and Naruto exhales a breath through his nose.

“They’re going to kill me.” Naruto says softly and Kaeri’s arm wraps around his shoulders, holding him tightly.

“They’ll never get the chance,” she promises.

“But why do they want to?” Naruto asks, lost. “I never- I didn’t… I’m not evil, mom.”

“No. And neither is Kurama, is he?” Kaeri points out and Naruto nods. “They don’t want you to punish you, they want you because they want your power. They want to enslave Kurama, like humanity has been trying to for a hundred years.”

“Why, though? What do they want to do?” Naruto wonders.

Kaeri exhales softly. “I don’t know, Naruto. But we can’t let them succeed.”

Naruto falls silent for several minutes, clearly working up to something, and Kaeri watches him in some concern, but waits. It takes some time, and then Naruto looks sideways at her, nervous and sad. “We’re leaving again,” he says apologetically, and Kaeri sighs.

“I know,” she admits, holding him close. “You and Jiraiya-sama against the world, hm?”

“Well, against the Kage, at least,” Naruto says a bit jokingly. “We’re going to find the other Jinchūriki. Teach them to talk to them, like I do with Kurama.”

“It’ll take time. Most of them won’t even be with their villages - they wander not unlike your sensei.”

“Jiraiya says two other Jinchūriki have already been taken,” Naruto says grimly. “We’ve got to warn the rest, since the Kage won’t listen.”

“I’m very proud of you, you know,” Kaeri says suddenly and Naruto blinks at her, then smiles.

“I’ll bring you back a nice gift,” Naruto offers lightly and Kaeri rolls her eyes.

“You are the gift you’ll be bringing back,” she says firmly before she pulls her arm from his shoulders, taking his emptied mug and heading for the kitchen. She rinses them out and sets them aside to wash later, then heads back into the living room. “Are you going to take the Jōnin exams before you leave?”

“Huh? Oh.” Naruto blinks hard for a second. “Maybe we should.”

“‘We’?” Kaeri arches a brow and Naruto grins a bit.

“I was gonna ask Sasuke and Sakura to join us.”

“Not Kakashi?” She says in some surprise and Naruto’s smile widens.

“I wouldn’t take him away from you,” he says jokingly and Kaeri sends him a scowl.

“You think you’re cute, don’t you?” She squints at him.

“I am cute,” Naruto huffs, then rolls his eyes at himself, unable to keep up the act. “When are you two going to get serious, anyways?”

“Is my son trying to lecture me on relationships?” Kaeri wonders aloud, appalled at the idea. “My son, who has never held a girl’s hand? That son?”

“Mooom,” ’ Naruto whines.

So Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura set off as Jōnin with Jiraiya into the wild unknowns, off on their own quest to find the Jinchūriki. 

They find Fū of Takigakure first, and spend a month helping her learn to converse with her Bijū. It takes them another two months to find Yugito, and they end up finding B first, who it turns out doesn’t need their help at all. Even Yugito, when they find her, doesn’t need much - she doesn’t talk to the Nibi like B talks to the Hachibi, but they’re on good enough terms that the Nibi lets Yugito use her powers already. 

Still, they advise her to actually befriend the unusually benevolent Bijū, and then…

Well, then they’re interrupted, in the form of Kisame and a weird little masked guy named Tobi.

It takes almost a full day of fighting to kill Kisame, and Tobi makes an escape so thoroughly that they don’t even know what direction he went in, even with Sasuke’s Sharingan watching the whole time. 

They’re on month five of their adventure, closing in on Han’s location, when Fū sends out a distress call. It reaches Naruto via the white world they share in their minds, and they go after her with all due haste.

They don’t make it in time. Fū puts up a hell of a fight, and the area of destruction is more than just impressive, it’s actually terrifying. “Who the hell could do this?” Jiraiya wonders as they survey the damage. They stand at the edge of a massive crater, almost the size of the entirety of Takigakure, and Fū is very much gone

It’s a week later that Naruto feels her presence vanish from their minds, and it’s the same day a slug appears in front of Jiraiya with a grim warning.

“Stay away from Konoha. We’re under attack. Do not come here,” the slug warns, a message from Tsunade and not Kaeri, and Naruto nearly kills his teammates trying to get back home.

“We can’t let them die! Look what they did to Fū! They could do that to Konoha!” Naruto screams as Sasuke holds him back, and Sakura shares anxious, grim looks with Jiraiya.

“Can we really stay here? Can we really do that?” Sakura asks imploringly, stressed at the very idea, and Jiraiya closes his eyes and takes several breaths.

When he opens them again, they’re orange and slitted sideways. “Everyone put a hand on me. We’re going back now.” He says firmly, and the next thing they know, they’re in the forest where his toad summons live. It takes another hour for one of the ancient toads to reach Konoha on her own, and then she reverse summons them onto the wall surrounding the village-

The village, which is entirely, completely, inconceivably gone.

There’s nothing left but the debris that’d slammed into the wall, a massive crater sitting where thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of homes had sat. 

“Kurama,” Naruto says hoarsely, and chakra flares through his body.

I’m here, kit, Kurama promises as Naruto’s eyes change, his senses adjusting. He can feel the enemy fighting Tsunade in the middle of the crater, but it’s the rest of the village he tries to sense, until he finds what he’s looking for.

And the absence thereof.

Kakashi is gone - gone, entirely gone - and he can feel Kaeri fighting alongside Itachi and Iruka-sensei, a bundle of grief and rage unlike he’s ever sensed in her.

Naruto swallows thickly around his painfully aching heart and darts into the crater, Sasuke and Sakura at his sides, Jiraiya already ahead and nearing Tsunade’s side-

They land in front of the Hokage in a line, weapons already drawn, and Naruto pulls the Kyūbi’s chakra to the surface so densely it forms seven of the nine tails. 

The fight is brutal, and Naruto almost loses control when the enemy - Pein - drives one of his chakra sticks through Sakura’s chest.

But it’s Sakura, and she’s back on her feet in seconds, her forehead flaring with purple chakra, so dense it almost rivals his own. The Yin Seal, he realizes when she flies back into battle, her wounds already healed.

They defeat Pein, though it comes at great cost. Over half of Konoha is dead, probably a decent percentage more, and there are hundreds that are dying. Tsunade herself isn’t doing well, even with Jiraiya funneling her his chakra to support her own, rapidly decreasing store. Naruto takes one of Pein’s chakra transmitters and stabs it into his own hand, following the flow of chakra to the source, and he takes off without a word. Sakura, busy healing, doesn’t come with - but Sasuke does. He stands guard, sword at his side, as Naruto talks to the enemy and his comrade, a blue haired woman.

He convinces Pein to undo what he’s done, to bring back the lives he’s stolen away, and the man dies with a regretful smile on his face.

They return to the village, Naruto still glowing bright gold with the Kyūbi’s chakra, and they’re greeted by hundreds of thousands who should be dead, all of them cheering.

Cheering for Naruto.

Kaeri breaks free from the crowd, her Yin seal missing and limping with her left leg, and drags Naruto into a tight hug. Over the roaring of the crowd, she murmurs to him, “I told you they’d adore you one day.” 

He hugs her back as tight as he can and cries the happiest tears of his life.

Kaeri glues herself to Kakashi’s side.

The entire time they rest, she leans against him, her hand wrapped around his wrist, fingertips loosely touching his pulse point. Kakashi, for his part, lets her, and doesn’t seem to mind at all.

Naruto’s glad to see them actually being open about their care, but he wishes it hadn’t come at quite a big cost.

Kaeri had been at Kakashi’s side when he died facing down Pein, and she’d never forget it for the rest of her life.

There’s a Kage summit, and Tsunade insists on Kaeri being her right hand woman in it. Naruto goes too, because it’s about him and the other Jinchūriki, and that means all of Team Seven goes, because Sasuke and Sakura don’t leave Naruto and Kakashi pretends he doesn’t, but he worries about Kaeri when she leaves the village.

It’s there that they find out about the mad, insane plan of their enemy - to merge all the Bijū into one being, so terrifyingly strong that they might not be able to stop it, even with all of them working together.

They decide to try anyways, and the Kage summit develops a whole new goal. It takes them a week to work it all out, and then they’ve agreed to merge all their forces into one, massive group of just Shinobi.

Kakashi is somehow the one put in charge of it all, though he vehemently protests and looks at them like they’ve lost their minds. “You do remember Shikaku’s alive, right?”

Kaeri was supposed to lead the healing forces, but she flatly refused to accept the orders. Ōnoki had tried to argue with her, but Tsunade just laughed and said she’d fight by her side, then, and that was the end of that.

Kaeri ends up on the front lines, fighting alongside the rest of the Kage. 

There are no undead, this time. Orochimaru had died and Kabuto never happened to join the Akatsuki, and, well.

That means there’s no Madara, but also no Hokage. The fight, ultimately, goes much the same. Naruto doesn’t lose the Kyūbi, but when Sasuke goes down with a hole in his chest, he panics and doesn’t manage to avoid a similar attack from Tobi - who had revealed himself to be Obito.

Sakura goes to Sasuke’s side to frantically try and save him, and no one’s there when Obito stabs Naruto in the heart.

He dies on the battlefield - but it’s surprisingly brief.

He meets the Sage of Six Paths, he takes on the man’s chakra, and then he opens his eyes to see Kaeri hovering over him with a pale, tense expression, while Kakashi and Gai go nuts on Obito in the distance.

“Are you all there?” Kaeri asks, glancing down at his hand, and he lifts it to stare at the small mark on the center of his palm.

“Yeah,” he croaks hoarsely, and she helps him up to see Sakura doing the same to Sasuke. The two exchange long looks, then push to their feet. “We can stop them. We have to get close,” Naruto says and Kaeri nods sharply.

The Jūbi isn’t even fully awake, yet. Half of them are missing. B had never had a chunk taken off him, and Naruto never lost the Kyūbi, so while it’s there enough to fight back, it’s not mobile. It’s not alive.

Naruto and Sasuke slam their palms onto either side of the massive monster, and the earth breaks apart underneath them.

Obito’s enraged scream is cut off by the hand Kaeri punches through his chest, and she lowers him to the shaking ground with a heavy heart. Kakashi is at her side in an instant, holding Obito in his lap, and Kaeri hovers over them, hand still buried in him.

“I’m sorry,” she says to the dying man. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers, mourning something Naruto doesn’t understand. He reaches their side, the Jūbi rising in the air, an earthen prison forming around it - and the Bijū it had absorbed are abruptly released into the world around them. The Ichibi towers over them almost protectively as they crowd Obito, who coughs blood that splatters across Kaeri’s face.

Kakashi looks stricken, heartbroken. “I tried to show you the future,” he says sadly, and Obito smiles up at him.

“It was… the best I’ve seen,” Obito breathes.

It’s his last, and he dies with the faint smile still on his pale, scarred lips.

The war comes to an end, the death toll less than half of what it might’ve once been - but for many of them, it’s a cold victory. 

“I should’ve saved him.” Kaeri whispers to Kakashi weeks later, curled up on her sofa. Naruto hides in the hallway, sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees, and wonders what he could’ve done better.

“He had no life left to live. Not after what he did,” Kakashi says heavily.

“Still, I… I wish…” Kaeri trails off, her voice wet, and Kakashi’s exhale is harsh, on the verge of being a sob.

“I do, too.”

He’s not sure how long they stay there. Kakashi holds Kaeri and together they cry, though she’s the only one who makes a sound. Naruto stays huddled in the hallway, smelling their tears, hearing their grief, and wishing he could do more.

“I know who you are, you know,” Kakashi murmurs suddenly, breaking the silence. “You don’t have to tell me anything, but… I know who you are, and I know you did what you could for Obito. Thank you, S-” he cuts off and Naruto frowns a bit, wondering what he was going to say.

“I am who I am, now,” Kaeri interrupts gently, lowering a hand from his lips. “No one else.” There’s a short pause, and then she sighs. “...I made it painless,” Kaeri says quietly. “He was in shock the whole time. He didn’t feel any of it. I… it was the least I could do, for him. It was more than he got last time.”

“...Thank you, Kaeri.” Kakashi says softly.

They rebuild.

It’s slow going, but they rebuild, and after two years have passed, you could hardly know Konoha was ever destroyed. 

Kakashi and Kaeri get married on a spring morning underneath a sakura tree, and it’s a nice, quiet ceremony. Only the family show up - and Kakashi’s dogs. Pakkun carries the rings down the aisle with a pillow on his back, and Tsunade provides a fountain of sake, and for a night, it’s easy to forget everything they’ve gone through.

The after party, though, is much larger.

They dance and drink, and as the night winds to an end, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura end up huddled under the sakura tree with a gallon of sake to share between them. 

“I can’t believe your mom married sensei,” Sakura says with a touch of disbelief.

“Why not?”

“It’s just weird.” Sakura’s nose wrinkles. 

“Kakashi marrying anyone is weird,” Sasuke grunts as he drinks from his cup. They’re eighteen, now, and the world is at peace. “Do you think he kisses her through the mask?” Sasuke wonders and Sakura snorts, while Naruto almost chokes on his sake.

“Sasuke, gross. That’s my mom,” Naruto says, wounded, and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

“Naruto, they’re married. I think they’ve done more than kiss.” Sakura points out reasonably.

Naruto, equally reasonably, covers his ears and glares at them until they stop laughing.

The sun sets on the wedding party and Kakashi and Kaeri end up leaving, but the party doesn’t stop. Even Tsunade stays on most of the night, drinking shots with an absolutely sloshed Jiraiya.

Sakura gets distracted from her teasing when Ino wanders over, and she blushes brightly when she’s asked to dance. Sakura happily goes with her, merging with the still prominent crowd of dancers, even though it’s past midnight. Naruto snickers as they watch her go.

“I hear the Hokage wants you to be her successor,” Sasuke says mildly once they’ve settled back down, and Naruto looks at him in surprise.

“Who told you that? She just asked yesterday.”

“Your mom bragged to my mom and now everyone knows,” Sasuke explains dryly and Naruto snorts.

“I hear the Uchiha were the ones pushing for it,” Naruto admits after a second. “I don’t even really know you guys. I mean, I like your mom. Your dad’s kind of a dick.”

“Yeah.” Sasuke frowns a bit, looking out at the crowd. He leans against the bark of the sakura tree, swirling a cup of sake in his hand. “I don’t know what she did, but my Dad’s always talking about some debt to Kaeri. She apparently asked them for a favor, and then they were voicing support for you to become the successor, so I guess we know what the favor was.”

“Huh.” Naruto blinks a few times, mulling that over. “I don’t know how to feel about that,” he admits after a second. “I wanted to earn it myself, y’know?” he looks down at his sake, feeling weirdly disappointed.

“Don’t be an idiot, dobe. Tsunade was already asking around about making you the successor. My family just decided to support it, they didn't encourage it.”

“Oh.” Naruto frowns deeper, then sighs and sips his drink. “What do you think about it?”

“I think we’re all going to die,” Sasuke says blandly. “You’ll lead us to nothing but ruin.”

“Gee, thanks,” Naruto huffs and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

“Don’t fish for compliments from me. You know I’m not against you,” he says simply, and Naruto stares at him for a second, a smile pulling at his lips.

It’s irritating that that less than stellar opinion was the most meaningful to him. It’s not much, but it means everything, because it means Sasuke supports him.

Naruto leans over and bumps his shoulder against his, earning him a glare when Sasuke barely manages to avoid splashing himself. “What was that for?”

“Thanks, teme,” Naruto says with a bright smile. “I knew you liked me.”

Sasuke blinks hard, his cheeks reddening the slightest bit, before he puts on a scowl. “I never said I liked you, I just said you probably wouldn’t kill all of us.”

“Which means the world,” Naruto sighs happily. “We’re gonna be great, Sasuke.”

“We?” Sasuke demands sharply.

“You’ll be my Jōnin Commander.” Naruto declares firmly, flopping to the side. Sasuke hastily moves his arms as Naruto’s head lands in his lap, and glares furiously down at the blonde, his cheeks even redder.

Naruto notices, and beams brightly up at his friend. “Get off me,” Sasuke hisses.

“Never,” Naruto announces proudly, reaching up with both hands. He wraps one around Sasuke’s shoulder, the other around the back of his neck, and gently pulls.

Sasuke’s still glaring heatedly when their lips meet.

After a moment, he rolls his eyes and kisses back.

A few miles away, Kaeri rests her head on Kakashi’s bare chest, and exhales a quiet breath. 

It’s been a long thirteen years, but she accomplished what she set out for, and more. 

She couldn’t save Obito, but she saved countless others, and the world… well. Finally, she has hopes of actual peace.

She wishes she hadn’t had to do any of this. She wishes she hadn’t had to time travel to fix the world, and she wishes it hadn’t been the only way for Naruto to be loved.

She wishes the world had been well off without this, but she has no regrets. She did what she had to, she stopped the worst of the damage, the heaviest loss of lives - and in the process, she took the opportunity to change Naruto, too. To give him the childhood he deserved.

Once, a lifetime ago, he’d been her best friend. Now, he was her son, and she cherished him all the more for it. 

“I never hoped to find this,” Kaeri says quietly and Kakashi’s hand rubs soft circles against her lower back. “I never hoped… but I’m happy for it. Everything’s so much better than I dreamed.”

“I’m glad,” Kakashi hums, voice rough with tiredness. “I wish it hadn’t been necessary.” he admits after a second, and Kaeri sighs against his chest.

“It was worth it. All of it… was so very worth it.”

She closes her eyes tiredly, and for the first time she can remember, she gets to look forward to just living.

She’d had a reason to do this all. She’d wanted to save the world, but more than that, she’d wanted to save one specific person. To save him from a childhood of neglect and pain and hatred, to be a better person than she had been as a child herself. To make up for the poor way she’d treated him, and try to make his life a little easier.

She hadn’t planned on becoming his mother, but it was the absolute last thing she’d ever regret.

No… she’d had a reason, and she accomplished her goal.

The world was a much better place for it.