Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  He is eight when the dreams start. He doesn’t realize it at first, but this makes perfect sense. It is the first time this life, and his first life, have anything in common. The Academy. He didn’t believe it at first, when the old man came by and told him he was going to go to the ninja academy. Why would they want him to be a ninja? Even he knew shinobi had to trust each other in order to work together, and none of the other kids he would graduate with would even talk to him! But Hokage-jiji just smiles and ruffles his hair.

(That night he dreams of another old man, this one with gray hair and beard still streaked with red, telling him the same thing. His dream self isn’t surprised, he is an Uzumaki after all. And in the dream he calls the old man Grandpa and hugs him without reservation, a younger couple off to the side smiling at him. And they’re his parents he realizes. While his dream self basks in the warmth of his family, the real Naruto aches, right down into his very bones, because this is something he has always wanted and it isn’t real.)

  After that, the dreams come almost every night. They aren’t always in order. Some nights he’s an academy student, sitting through lessons or playing with friends. Other’s he’s a Gennin, meeting his Jounnin instructor, bonding with his teammates. Sometimes he’s a Jounnin himself, going out on missions, training a team of his own. The Naruto in his dreams lives the kind of life Naruto is desperate for. People acknowledge him, they talk with him, laugh with him, tease him, and he teases right back. Only….they don’t call him Naruto. In his dreams he is Kaito Uzumaki, a citizen of Uzushiogakure ( and Naruto has never heard of this place, so of course it can’t be real. Right?) a city made of white stone, awash in red and gold, grey and blue, and he has a family. A Mother and Father. Friends who actually care about him. Kaito is everything Naruto wants to be, and so he can’t be real. They’re just dreams after all. Aren’t they?

(Naruto keeps telling himself that, but sometimes Iruka-sensei will talk about something in class that Shoji-sensei already talked about in his dreams, and he wonders).

  The dreams make Iruka-sensei’s lessons difficult to pay attention to. This is their first year, so it’s all basics and theory. it would actually be interesting, if he didn’t already know it all. The bad thing about the dreams is that it’s like going to school twice, and it makes his classes really boring. But he can’t say anything. Can’t tell anyone he already knows all of this, because that would raise a bunch of questions he couldn’t answer. ( Doesn’t want to answer). So he suffers through it, and earns the nick-name Dead Last before he’s half-way through his first year. He keeps wanting to jump ahead. To use techniques and justus they haven’t even talked about yet, and it takes so much control to hold himself back that he ends up the worst student in class.

  He ignores the laughter at his expenses. Pushes the hurt down as far as he can, and looks forward to the night. He still doubts. Lives in denial that his dreams could be real. But that doesn’t stop him from getting attached. He survives through the days, so he can live through his nights. And for a while, that’s enough. Until….

  He was sitting in the dirt by the swings. The other kids, his classmates, ran around playing and laughing during recess, but he was alone. He had a stick, and was drawing in the dirt. He wasn’t paying attention, mind in the clouds thinking about his dream from the night before. He, or Kaito, and his best friend had been at a bar,

( “Why?!” Sora moaned with his head in his arms. “What does she see in that pug-faced bastard!?”

Kaito laughs at his friends misery. Sora is a nice guy, level-headed and logical in daily life (despite what his name suggests. What were his parents thinking, naming him sky?) but he had terrible luck with women. “Taichi isn’t that bad-looking. Besides, I thought you hated Akira?”

“I don’t hate her, we just disagree, a lot. And, and anyway, that’s not the point!”

“Oh?” Kaito asks with barely concealed amusement, though Sora is too drunk to notice, “Then what is the point, exactly?”

“The point” , Sora sways as he turns to face Kaito, his blue hair, normally tied back in a spike bun that defies gravity, hanging in his face, and if he wasn’t afraid of what Sora would do to him in revenge he would definitely use this to blackmail him, “ The point, is that everyone in our graduating class has found their special someone and I haven’t!”

“Graduation was six years ago, you shouldn’t base your life around our former classmates.” Kaito points out, for once the sensible one, and isn’t that a scary thought,” Besides, I haven’t found anyone.”

Sora snorts and waves him off. “ Yeah, but, you’re, like, Asexual or something so it doesn’t count.”

Kaito sputters in indignation. “I-I am NOT! Wh-Why would you think that!”

“Because you never date, and your first, and only, kiss was with Keiichi of all people.”

“Maybe I’m just waiting for the right person.” Kaito huffs, crossing his arms and glaring at his so-called best friend.

“Sure, sure.” Sora waves him off, signaling the bartender for another as Kaito sputters and flails.)

  and Naruto doesn’t understand most of the conversation, not really, not yet, but he misses Sora, misses the closeness they shared, misses the feeling of having a best friend. He sighs and looks down at what he’s been doodling, only to freeze. There, in the dirt in front of him, is a seal. It’s the same one he made in a dream last week. In the dream, the seal had created a barrier, blocking out all sight and sound so the person inside was invisible. The urge to use it hits him like a punch to the gut. Despite the parallels in his academy lessons and the dream ones, he’s never thought about using any of the justus on purpose. Why would he, they can’t be real. Glancing around, making sure no one is watching, he takes a deep breath and places his hand on the seal. A small surge of chakra, not enough to be noticed, and the seal crackles to life, just like it did in the dream. Nothing happens on his end, but then, it’s not supposed to. He won’t know if it worked until someone comes looking for him and can’t see him, but he knows, deep down, that it worked. Knows it the same way he knows the feel of a kunai in his hand, or the taste of ramen on his tongue. Intimately and undeniable.

It worked!

  It was real! Naruto sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn’t deny it anymore. The Justu, the lessons. If all of it was accurate and actually worked, did that mean the rest of it was to? Uzushio and Sora, his parents, his dreams. Was Kaito real? Swiping at the seal to cancel it, Naruto stole a chance at the Hokage’s tower.

There was only one way to find out.

  That night, Naruto snuck back after the academy was closed, heart threatening to burst out of his chest. It wasn’t that he had never snuck into the Hokage’s tower before. It was one of his favorite pranks to play on the old man, moving stuff around in his office, but this time he wouldn’t be going for the old man’s office. He wanted the restricted records room. He had heard Hokage-jiji mention the room once, and had thought to sneak in to find out about his parents, but this was more important. He snuck into the office, and down the hallway from there, keeping to the shadows, calling up everything Kaito knew about breaking into secure rooms, which was a lot actually. And praying to kami it would be enough. The restricted records room was in the basement of the building, only accessible from a hidden stairway at the opposite end of the hallway from the Hokage’s office. Finding the trigger latch was easy, the seal on it calling out to him like a beacon. From there he slipped down the stairs, moving soundlessly and with single-minded determination. The room itself is sealed, but they pose no problem for Naruto. The knowledge of the seals, ones he’s never seen before, and how to deactivate them without rousing suspicion comes to him as easily as breathing.

  Once inside he makes his ways through the rows, noting the organizational pattern of the room, and determines that everything is in order by age, with the newest at the front. Which means he needs to start in the middle. Their history lessons have covered all recent history until the Second War, which they’re supposed to start next week, and nothing up to that point has mentioned Uzushio, or other Uzumaki’s. So he needs to start with the records from the Second War. As he moves through the shelves he almost expects to feel Sora at his side, or hear the quiet chime of Ayame’s hair beads ( He remembers the day she first wore them to training, back when they were gennin. How she used them to tie her red hair up in a bun. They were a graduation gift from her Aunt). It leaves him hollow and aching, knowing they aren’t there with him.

  The records from the Second War are almost exactly in the center of the room. There are few of them, and of the handful he finds, only one bears the red spiral of Uzushio. Opening the scroll is even easier then opening the door to the room. When he reads it, he almost wishes it hadn’t been. Almost.

An Account of the Fall of Uzushiokagure and the Land of Whirlpools by Senju Aki,

On the eve of the Summer Solstice, the largest festival in Whirlpool country, Kirigakure and Iwagakure invaded. They feared the Fuuinjutsu skills of Uzushio’s shinobi. In Whirlpool, sealing was taught they way Konoha teaches shadow clones. And though they had no reason to fear, Uzushio was always a peaceful village, few beyond Konoha blame them, for it was Uzushio, specifically it’s largest clan, the villages founding clan, Uzumaki, which created the seals that allow the Bijuu to be sealed inside living hosts, called Jinchuriki.

Uzushio fought bravely, but even with the Sandaime Uzukage Uzumaki Kaito, known as the Sea God, leading the charge, they were vastly outnumbered. A team was sent to Konoha to seek help, but were caught by Suna shinobi and killed before they could reach their destination. Word of Uzushio’s plight did not reach Konohakagure, a long time ally of Uzushio, until two weeks later, by when the city had been destroyed and its people slaughtered or scattered. The team sent to verify the news found only one surviver among the wreckage. Uzumaki Kushina, the newest Kyuubi no Kitsune Jinchuriki, a child of only seven, was found sealed in a chamber beneath the Uzukage’s tower. it is believed that the chamber is where the transfer ceremony is performed, to pass on the role of Jinchuriki from one generation to the next.

Kushina-san spoke of a traitor in their midst. She claims the village was betrayed, and that the Uzukage fell at the hands of the traitor, Toga Takashiro, the villages own Jounnin Commander, and a member of the Uzumaki clan through his mother. The tragic loss of Uzushio is felt by all in Konoha, particularly our Sandaime Homage, who was a close friend of the Sandaime Uzukage, and my own clan, particularly Tsunade-hime, as her grandmother Mito-sama, wife of Senju Hashirama the First Hokage, was an Uzumaki by birth.

Our prayers are with the survivors wherever they may be. You will always have a home in Konoha.

  Naruto doesn’t realize he’s crying until the scroll begins to blur. Images flash through his mind almost to fast to register. The village at sunset, awash in red and gold, as its people prepared for the festival. Every inch of the market covered in bright and cheerful decorations. Yuki-chan with her market stall stocked with ribbons, ornaments, and jewelry in every color, her own Uzumaki-red hair done up in an elaborate oriental style. Raiden-kun with his weapons display, every blade shined to perfection, head thrown back in laughter as he towered above everybody. Little Momo-chan,only an academy student, long red hair pulled back from her face with a yellow ribbon, running through the markett with her basket of flowers. The noise, the people, the sights, the smells. In that moment he is overwhelmed, as the smell of fresh Ramen becomes the smell of smoke. Bright stalls and shops become bright flames. Laughter turns to screams and his people lay dead or dying all around him. he sees the battles. The siege laid on the city for nearly a month. Naruto feels Kaito’s despair as he realizes help isn’t coming. And Kaito’s horror as he realizes, right before the blade of a lightening sword pierces his flesh, just who betrayed them, and why.

  ( “Taka..shiro…. why?” He asks, blood spilling, from his mouth and his gut, as he stares up in horror at his Jounnin Commander and friend.

  Takashiro laughs, his eyes wild. “Why? WHY?! Because it should be MINE!” He roars the last word, face twisted in fury. “The power of Uzushio should belong to ME. Not to some BRAT whose father wasn’t even a shinobi! I should have been the next Clan Heir! I should have been Uzukage! Not YOU!”

  Kaito falls to the ground as he realizes Takashiro has gone mad. Power. He destroyed their village, their clan for power! “Kiri…Iwa..they…won’t give…you” what you want, he wants to say, but his blood is in his lungs and he can’t speak.

  Takashiro just smirks. “With you gone, Sea God, all of it will be mine.” he turns and leaves then, and Kaito closes his eyes in grief and exhaustion. As the darkness washes over him a voice, not human, whispers in his mind. Rest, it says, Rest and one day you Will come home. Uzushio will be reborn. Rest.

  Kaito smiles as he draws his last breath. He knows, in his bones, that the city has spoken to him. His clan raised the island from the ocean itself, built the city with their chakra and their blood. His Grandfather always spoke of the city as if it were alive and now he knows why.)

  Uzushio fell and its people scattered. But an oath was sworn, in blood and tears, that it would not be the end. Naruto wipes the tears from his face as the truth settles in his soul. Uzushiogakure's Sandaime Uzukage Uzumaki Kaito, The Sea God, has returned. Soon, Uzushio will call it’s people home.

Chapter Text

  After his revelation that night, Naruto begins to take the dreams more seriously. Now that he knows they are real, that Kaito was real, they seem all the more precious. He trains himself in secret, sneaking into the forest outside of Konoha's gates in the dead of night. He practices the justus in his dreams, the ones that come so easily to him now, after a lifetime of use. He rewrites all of his old lessons ( Sometimes he feels bad, because Iruka is a great teacher, but he just doesn't have that certain something that Shoji-sensei had that could make every lesson, no matter how boring, interesting.) and adapting his fighting style to fit his new body and age. It was a surprise, realizing he had a duel chakra type this time around. Naruto had wind-affiliated chakra, but he still had Kaito's water type. That made for some interesting combinations. Sneaking around was dangerous, and he knew it. He may have been an ANBU, and then a Kage, in a past life, but Naruto still expected to get caught….. He just wasn’t expecting to be caught by one of his classmates.

  It was a full moon that night, so Sasuke was out roaming the streets. He couldn’t stand being in the compound during the full moon, not after Itachi’s genjutsu that night had made a blood-red full moon glow in the sky. He was turning a corner, wondering if he should get some ramen (he hated the stuff, but Ichiraku’s was the only place that would be open this late that a kid his age would be allowed into and he didn’t want to go yet, so cooking was out of the question) when he saw Naruto jump down from a fifth-story apartment window, landing on his feet and slipping into the shadows. Where is that idiot going this late at night. If he’s gong to pull another prank….I’ll follow and see what he does. If I get proof, he won’t be able to lie his way out of this one. Sasuke slipped down the street in the direction he had seen Naruto headed.

  Naruto had sensed Sasuke when he had opened the window, but didn’t let it bother him. The Uchiha boy always walked the village on full moon nights, and Naruto didn’t blame him. If Sasuke tried to follow him, Naruto would just use a clone to mislead him. Sasuke may have been the top of his class, but he was still only nine, and not a genius they way his brother had been (thank Kami!) or the way Kakashi of the Sharingan was, so he wasn’t to worried. Maybe he should have been. Sasuke followed Naruto to the gates, where the blonde circled back, headed in the direction of Hokage Mountain.

  He was about to follow when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Maybe it was growing up in the Uchiha compound, or having Itachi for a brother, but Sasuke had developed something of a sixth sense for detecting situations that weren’t quite right. He turned to face the gate again, glaring into the shadows beyond. Something was off. It couldn’t be a clone or a genjutsu, Naruto wasn’t capable of either. Right? Still…

  Choosing to follow his instincts, rather than what his mind told him was logical, Sasuke slipped over the wall, thankful that the night watch at the gate was made of new Chunnin who were more focused on people getting into the village than getting out. He wandered through the trees, grateful for once for the light of the full moon. Though he could find no trace of the dobe something at the back of his mind insisted he keep moving forward.

For a moment, Sasuke panicked. What if it’s Itachi? What if this really is a genjutsu?

  Then he saw it. A flashof light through the trees. It was followed by a crash, and the sound jerked Sasuke out of his panicked thoughts. Hurrying forward, he stopped just shy of the edge of a clearing, for once glad to be small, as it allowed him to hide behind the bushes with relative ease.

What he saw that night shook the very foundation of his whole world.

  Naruto stood in the center of a small clearing. Dressed in black, blue, and grey, he blended into the shadows, he would have been all but invisible were it not for the moonlight. He was starting a jutsu, flowing through the hand signs as if they were second nature, none of the fumbling he showed in class.

  “Suiton: Water Dragon Jutsu”

  With a roar, water burst from a small stream on the other end of the clearing, forming into the shape of a dragon, and attacking the wooden post that had been set up for practice.

When did he learn how to do THAT!?

  Sasuke’s mouth dropped open in shock. A technique like the Water Dragon was at least Chunnin level when it came to ranking the power and difficulty of jutsu. Even he wasn’t capable of performing a just like that yet. How had Naruto learned a technique like that?

  Without pausing, Naruto released another justu, a wind-style, almost as soon as the water hit the post forming a small hurricane for a brief moment. He cursed to himself as the two failed to combine the way he had wanted. Developing new jutsu was more difficult than he remembered. Maybe it was dealing with an unfamiliar chakra type. After decades learning to move with the water, to bend it to his will, it came as naturally to him as breathing. But where water was calm and controlled, shifting and sliding like a dancer, wind was wild and unpredictable. It raged and roared, refused to be tamed. If it could not destroy what was in its path, it would move the path. To wield the wind took a different kind of focus and control than what he had needed to master water, and it was proving troublesome. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “If Sora could see me now, he’d laugh his ass off.” Naruto chuckled quietly to himself at the image of his best friend, imagining Sora’s amusement at his current trouble. Then he stiffened, cursing for a different reason.

  “Dobe, where did you learn that?” Sasuke demanded as he left his hiding spot, coming to stand before his blonde-haired classmate. He crossed his arms and glared, silently demanding Naruto answer his question. Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly ( A physical habit he and Kaito shared, one of the few) and chuckled nervously. “Would you believe me if I told you I learned it in my dreams?”

  Sasuke scoffed, “Baka, you can’t learn jutsu in yourdreams. Where did you really learn it. A dead-last like you shouldn’t be able to use jutsu like that. You can’t even do the basic stuff we learn in class.”

  Naruto hung his head, hiding his face as his mind raced to come up with an executable answer. Unfortunately he couldn’t. Sasuke may not be a genius, but he was still an Uchiha, and they had always been better than most at seeing underneath the underneath. Every since he had realized his dreams were actually memories, and that he really was Kaito Uzumaki reborn, Naruto had taken care to craft an image of failure. He had struggled so much when the dreams began that the kind of improvement he knew he was capable of would only have raised suspicion, something he wanted to avoid. So the past year he had taken the image of the worst student in the Academy, and he had run with it, people would never see Naruto Uzumaki as anything but a failure trying to overcome his shortcomings. Unfortunately, this ment he had no excuse for why he was able to perform the jutsus Sasuke had seen him use, unless he pretended to be an enemy shinobi who had taken the form of Naruto, but that would not only not make sense (Naruto was no one important. No Shinobi in their right mind would imitate an Academy student), it had the potential to cause problems later on down the road. Sasuke would never be able to keep quiet about this, would bring it up every time Naruto purposely failed at something. Eventually someone would over hear. They would mention it to someone else, and so on, until it would eventually reach a Jounnin wiling to investigate. It would spiral out of control and he would wind up in the basement of T&I, or worse, in Danzo's hands. Which meant he was going to have to tell the truth.

  Looking up, he met Sasuke’s eyes dead on. Seasick gulped. Naruto looked more serious than the raven-haired boy had ever seen him. His blue eyes looked darker, deeper and somehow, older. As if a grown man stared back at him through the eyes of his classmate. “Would you believe me if I told you I was the reincarnation of the Kage of a village that no longer exists?”

WHAT?!

Chapter Text

Sasuke’s mind was spinning.

  He and Naruto sat in the living room of his home in the nearly abandoned Uchiha complex. Dawn was slowly rising on the horizon, and Naruto had spent the last few hours turning Sasuke’s world upside down.

  After Naruto’s unbelievable statement in the forest, Sasuke had demanded a real explanation, and had threatened to beat one out of him if the blonde boy didn’t talk. Naruto had insisted they return to the village, and had lead the back through the woods, more comfortable in the forest than Sasuke had ever been. Naruto had taken them through side streets and back alleys, finding a hidden route through the village to the old complex that even Sasuke, who thought he knew every inch of Konoha’s streets, had not known existed.

  When they had reached the compound, Sasuke had taken the lead, as Naruto had not known which building the other boy was living in. They had sat in Sasuke’s living room in tense, uncomfortable silence, with Sasuke death-glaring the normally talkative blonde, until Naruto had sighed.

  “You’re grandfather was Iyashi, wasn’t he?” Naruto had asked, gazing distantly at a spot on the wall.

  “Hn.” Was Sasuke’s only answer, though he had been shocked. Few people mentioned the elderly man who had died before Sasuke had even learned to walk. Itachi had spoken of him once, when Sasuke had asked about the empty house near the compound gates. It was the only time someone had spoken to him directly about his Grandfather.

“I knew him.”

  Sasuke’s head had shot up and he had stared at the other boy as if he were insane. What the hell was this idiot talking about, there was no way he could have…

“The only Green-Eyed Uchiha.” Naruto had stared into Sasuke’s eyes, the look of a far older person on his face, and Sasuke had forgotten how to breathe.

  (“Nii-sama?”

  “Yes, otouto?”

  “Why is that house always empty?” Sasuke asked, pointing to a boarded-up building near the gates.

  “Because the man who used to live there died, and no one else wants it.” Itachi replied, hoping Sasuke would let the matter drop. He should have known better.

  “Oh.” Sasuke’s browed furrowed in thought, before he looked up at his older brother with a question in his eyes. “Who was he? The man who died?”

  Itachi sighed, “He was our grandfather.”

  Sasuke’s eyes widened. “Really?! How come no one talks about him then.”

  Itachi bent down to his little brother’s eye level. “Because many people don’t think of him as a real Uchiha. He was Mother’s father, but he did not have the Sharingan. His mother was from outside the clan, something the elders did not approve of. His name was Iyashi, and he had green eyes.”

  Sasuke’s jaw dropped open in shock. “Wow.”

  Itachi chuckled, “Yes, and that is why no one talks about him. Do not mention him, little brother. It will only make Father angry and Mother sad.”

  Sasuke nodded with all the seriousness of a five year old. “Yes Itachi nii-sama.” )

“Impossible!” Sasuke had spat at Naruto. “Stop playing games with me! Tell me how you..”

  “His mother was from Uzushio. Not a member of the Uzumaki clan. She was a daughter of the Higirashi family. They were the village’s foremost medical experts. He came with his mother when she returned to visit the family once. He was only a child. Four or five at the most, but very cheerful.” Naruto returned to staring at a particular spot on the wall. “The last time I was in Konoha, before the fall of Uzushiokagura and the start of the Second Shinobi War, I paid him a visit. Iyashi and his wife Hiori had just had a baby. Mikoto was the cutest little thing.”

Sasuke felt as if Naruto had taken all the air from the room.

“They had an altar over there,” Naruto pointed to the wall he had been staring at, “with a portrait of his mother. This is Iyashi’s house.”

“Y-you could have found that out from anyone! It doesn’t prove anything!” Sasuke accused.

“Do you want me to give away all that I know of the Uchiha? Should I speak of the marriage contract between Mikoto and Fugaku that was signed while I was visiting? Or would you believe me if I spoke of the Sharingan and it’s secrets? After all, I designed the seals that keeps the underground room beneath the Clan House hidden and inaccessible.”

  Sasuke shook his head. Terror filled him, crept through his veins like ice. No one knew about that room. He hadn’t known until Itachi had…It was impossible! The room wasn’t even on any records, public or classified! He knew, he had checked! Which meant…

“W-what are you?!”

  Naruto had smiled sadly. “I am exactly what I claimed to be.”

  Now they sat quietly, drinking tea in the pre-dawn light. Naruto had told Sasuke all that he remembered about being Kaito Uzumaki, and Sasuke was having a hard time wrapping his head around it all. He didn’t want to believe any of it, but Naruto had known things, things about his clan, about the village, that no one should. Most of the information Sasuke had known only because they had been in the sealed scrolls in the hidden room, which he had read through in the hopes that the knowledge those scrolls contained would help him get stronger. The only way someone like Naruto could know any of it, was if he had lived it.

  Naruto sighed, breaking Sasuke out of his thoughts. When he turned to face the blonde, it was to find Naruto staring at the sunrise with a wistful expression. "It’s the sun I miss the most, you know. The pinks and grays of the sunrise over the sea, coating the city in pastel light. The sun glinting off the water and reflecting off the stones, making the city glow. Sunset was my favorite, when the city would be washed in red and gold. It was beautiful.”

“Train me.”

  Naruto startled, turning to stare at Sasuke in shock. “What?!” Sasuke turned to fully face the blonde. “You were a Kage in this past life of yours right?” Naruto nodded. “And you remember everything?” Again the blonde nodded. “Then train me!”

“Why?”

“Because the knowledge of a Kage could give me what I need!”

“And what is it you need, Sasuke?”

“Power, obviously.”

  Naruto stared at the raven-haired boy for several long moments before returning to his tea.

“No.”

 Sasuke’s mouth dropped open. W-What! “Why not?” He demanded.

“You would only use what I would teach you to hunt down your brother. I will not help you with matters of revenge. That way lies only madness.”

  “B-But, don’t you want revenge?” Sasuke asked, nearly desperate and trying to hide it. “Revenge on the people who destroyed your village? I could help you. If you helped me kill Itachi, we could hunt down the people who..”

  “Stop!” Naruto ordered, glaring at Sasuke with fire in his eyes. For a moment, it was not a loud-mouthed nine year-old academy student who sat next to him, but a quietly seething, fully-grown man in a Kage’s robes. Then Sasuke blinked and the image was gone. He gulped. Then, glaring, he crossed his arms and turned away. “Fine. If you won’t teach me, I’ll find another way to get stronger.”

  Naruto sighed, running his hands through his hair. This had the potential to become a disaster. Left to his own devices, Sasuke would be lost to revenge, and who knew what dark forces would seek him out. On the other, If he agreed to train his classmate, Sasuke could still use that knowledge to go after Itachi, and they risked more people finding out about him. Still…

“I will train you on one condition.”

  Sasuke turned back to the other boy, searching for signs that he was serious. His mind began to race with plans for the future. All of the ways he could end his brother…

“You train with me for three years without acting on, or planning, for revenge. You will live and act as if you intend to stay in Konoha.”

“Why?”

“That is my condition. You will make friends. You will not spend every spare moment obsessing over your brother. You will attempt to build a life here. Do that, and I will train you, from now until we are assigned our gennin teams. Stop following my conditions, allow your revenge to consume you at any point in the next three years, and I will seal all of your memories about our training and you will lose any progress you have made up until that point.”

  Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration. The condition made no sense. If Naruto really thought forming attachments would stop him from killing Itachi, he was wrong. But if it was the only way to get the former Kage to train him (and Sasuke might still have doubts about the blonde’s story, but his skill was, from what he had seen, undeniable) he would have to endure it.

“Fine. I agree to your damned conditions.” Anything to get what I want.

  Naruto nodded, accepting the other’s reluctant agreement. Turning back towards the rising sun, he sent up a prayer. Oh Kami, please let me be able to save him from himself. The last Uchiha could prove to be a beneficial ally, and an even better friend, if only he could be persuaded away from his path of vengeance.

“You should get some rest.” Naruto said, stand and stretching.

“We start tonight.”

Chapter Text

The change is gradual, so much so that most would never notice it. Those that do write it off as growing up.

Despite his bright, and generally happy nature, Naruto is a harsh taskmaster when it comes to Sasuke’s training. And he’s even more demanding when it comes to Sasuke fulfilling the conditions Naruto laid down at the beginning. Sasuke’s nights are filled with combat training. Every night, from the end of the evening watch at eleven, until the start of the graveyard shift at four, The two boys leave the village for Naruto’s training grounds. He teaches Sasuke Taijutsu first, insist that at his age, Sasuke must learn to discipline his body, gain complete control over every movement, every muscle, before he will be allowed to learn anything else.

( “It isn’t so much about the techniques themselves Sasuke”, Naruto said one night, when his classmate complained that learning Taijutsu wasn’t going to help him against his brother, a long-range fighter, “ as it is about the control. If we were older, If you had come to me for training as an adult, I might not have bothered with it, because you would have had years of experience behind you. As you are now, your body isn’t mature enough, your control over it isn’t refined enough, to be capable of handling the physical aspects of what you want me to teach you.” )

Sasuke had grumbled for days, but eventually he had admitted defeat. He knew enough about the way chakra worked to know Naruto was right, even if he didn’t like it. They had practiced Taijutsu and refined his control to the point it became apparent in his daily life. More than one teacher at the academy had pointed out the fact that Sasuke walked more like a shinobi than a child, and that there was a grace to his movements rarely seen in someone so young. They had taken to assuming Sasuke was simply training himself, more than likely using training scrolls left to him by the clan. They all knew of his vendetta against his brother, though most believed he would grow out of it by the time he became a gennin and faced real combat. When Naruto deemed Sasuke proficient enough in Taijutsu to move on to other techniques, though he insisted Sasuke continue practicing them on his own, they moved on to meditation. This had caused a fight between the boys, as Sasuke believed the practice to be a waste of time, and Naruto insisted he would not move on with his instruction without it.

(“ I thought you were going to train me to fight! This won’t help me at all! If this is your idea of combat I’d be better off teaching myself”)

The fight had lasted about a week before Naruto was finally able to knock some sense into his student. ( “ One of the Sharingan’s main abilities allows the bearer to enter the minds of their opponents and trap them within their own subconscious. You should be familiar with this, as it is a technique only your family is capable of. Meditation allows one to gain complete control over their own mind, including the subconscious. This kind of control can often dull, or even nullify, certain aspects of the sharingan. Even you must be capable of realizing how useful that would be against Itachi.” Naruto pointed out, nodding to Sasuke, who sat tied to a wooden post in his own garden. The Uchiha could only glare in response, as Naruto had gagged him to prevent him from interrupting.)

Once Sasuke had been convinced of it’s usefulness, the lessons in meditation passed fairly quickly. As an Uchiha and a carrier of the Sharingan, Sasuke’s natural talents lay more within the mental field, such as Genjutsu, rather than the physical, making it easier for him to adapt to the strain of meditation and mental self awareness. As Sasuke gained more conscious control over his own mind, he was able to break some of the control his brother had had on him. Though he still hated Itachi, and was determined to kill him, He no longer feared his brother. As a consequence, he no longer saw any need to heed his brother’s warnings. Naruto’s conditions insisted Sasuke form attachments, the very opposite of what Itachi had insisted.

So, partially to spite his brother and partially to remain in Naruto’s good graces (and he could grudgingly admit now that Naruto was a far better teacher than he had expected, and the craziness of reincarnation aside, certainly knew what he was taking about), Sasuke had begun to branch out in his social life. He still avoided the fangirls ( a decision Naruto completely agreed with), but he attempted to make friends. His first attempt, was with Naruto himself.

( “Hn, here dobe.”

Naruto looked up from his cup ramen at his desk to find Sasuke holding out a bento box. When Naruto remained silent, Sasuke rolled his eyes and snatched away the ramen, replacing it with the bento. “You need to eat more than just ramen if you want to be a ninja.”

Naruto had smiled on the inside at the boy’s concern, but outwardly he glared. “What’s wrong with ramen teme?!” )

The gesture had, according to their classmates, been what started the unforeseen friendship between the genius student and the class’ dead last. In all actuality, Sasuke was continuing an argument about Naruto’s eating habits from the previous night’s training session, where Naruto had staunchly defended his favorite food as the signature food of the Uzumaki clan and a delicacy of his former village, and Sasuke had declared the blonde’s obsession unhealthy and unnatural. Thankfully, most of the students assumed Sasuke had finally reached the point were he could no longer stand Naruto’s terrible performance in class and had decided to help him so the hyperactive blonde didn’t embarrass them all. Most of the teachers assumed the two boys had finally realized how similar their circumstances were and had decided to put aside their differences in order to support each other. Though neither was close to true, they played along so no one would look too closely at the real reason for their seemingly new ability to tolerate each other.

A public friendship with Naruto, however, meant opening himself up to others. Naruto may have kept his true self hidden, but the persona he portrayed at the academy was open and friendly, meaning he had many “friends” though the term was used loosely. Because of this, Sasuke often found himself spending his free time with people like Kiba,Shikimaru, and Choji. For the most part, he found their presence annoying. Kiba was to loud and obnoxious, and coupled with Naruto’s school personality, practically unbearable. He found Choji’s obsession with food disturbing, though he understood it was part of his clans abilities. Shikimaru was bearable, the two shared similar levels of intelligence, and both preferred silence. He found he rather enjoyed his games of Shogi and Go with the Nara heir. Unfortunately Naruto’s training didn’t allow as much time for such activities as Sasuke might have liked.

Once Sasuke had gained enough control over his own mind that his actions in a fight were no longer controlled by his emotions, ( The day Sasuke had realized just how much his actions were ruled by fear, fear of his brother, fear of failure, had been an exceedingly difficult day for the young Uchiha) Naruto moved on to teaching him Chakra control and the basics of Ninjutsu. It had been a bit of a surprise, learning he had a Lightning chakra affinity. Not that they weren’t uncommon, especially in the Uchiha family, but like everyone else, Sasuke had assumed he had a fire affinity. The initial disappointment didn’t last for very long once Naruto pointed out all of the deadly lightning techniques he would be able to learn, and that he was still capable of using fire-style jutsu.

Unfortunately, all of the subtle changes to Sasuke’s routine and his treatment of others, while hardly worth the attention of the adults, lead to some concerns from his fangirls. Particularly Sakura and Ino. They were determined to find the real reason Sasuke had changed so drastically in the past year. They tried different tactics, like following him home from the academy or tricking him into confiding in them, but it never worked. He always found them when they tried to spy on him, and he wouldn’t speak to them no matter what they did. Until one night…

Sakura had spent the day helping Ino and her Dad at the flower shop, but it was getting late now. She had told them she was going home, but she went to the park instead. Her parents were still fighting, and she was to afraid to go home. Her Dad had almost hit her with the vase he had thrown at her Mom the night before, and it wasn’t the first time. It was still warm, so it wouldn’t hurt her to spend a night in the park. They wouldn’t even notice she wasn’t home anyway. They never did.

Just as she was settling down on the bench, she heard a familiar voice.

“She’s sleeping on the bench again. You’re sure she’s not homeless?”

Sasuke!?

“Yes. Her family has an apartment on the other end of the market.”

Naruto?!

“Hn.”

She heard them walk away, and over the pounding of her heart, all she could think was, They knew!?

How long had they known she was sleeping outside? How many times had they walked past her bench? And what were they doing out so late!? Steeling her nerves, Sakura got up to follow them. The two boys moved quickly, running across the rooftops, but Sakura tracked them easily. She had spent so much time watching Sasuke she could recognize his shadow anywhere. That’s kind of creepy, did I really just think that?

She followed them to the wall and over it. Why would they go into the forest this time of night?

( “She’s still following us.”

“I know.”

Sasuke glanced sideways at his companion. The past few months had taught him to trust Naruto, the other boy always seemed to know what he was doing, but still… “You’re just going to let her?” If Sakura followed them far enough, she would discover their training, and everything Naruto had told him said no one should know about it.

Naruto smirked, an expression the Uchiha had only seen a couple of times and always meant trouble, “Don’t worry about it. Focus on yourself.”

Sasuke sighed. It was never good when Naruto said not to worry about something.)

What she found was nothing she could have imagined.

The first thing Sakura noticed when she opened her eyes was the Uchiha crest on the tapestry hanging across from her on the wall.

“You’re awake.”

She jolted at the sound of his voice. Standing in the doorway was Naruto, still dressed in his training outfit.

“W-Where..?”

“The Uchiha compound. What do you remember?”

She blinked at him for a moment as he sat next to her. She knew that it was Naruto, that the boy in front of her was her classmate, but he seemed so different, so much more serious than normal. As she tried to reconcile the images in her mind, the memories from earlier came rushing back.

( Naruto and Sasuke stood in the center of a field. Naruto leading Sasuke through the hand signs and stances for a fire-style ninjutsu. A moment later, Sasuke released the Phoenix Flower Jutsu, spreading fire across the open area.

“Good. Your control is getting better. A bit more practice and you’ll be able to control each fireball individually.” Naruto commented.

Sasuke nodded, a rare smile gracing his face. In that moment, they did not look like the nine-year-old boys that they are. They looked older, stronger.)

“What WAS that?!” She shrieked, rounding on Naruto. The boy winced at the high pitch of her voice, but didn’t react otherwise. He waited for Sakura to get her breathing under control before he answered.

“What do you know about Medical Ninjutsu?”

“W-What?” Sakura stuttered, thrown off by the question.

Naruto smiled. “ You may not be a genius, but you’ve read more about shinobi than anyone else in the class. I’m sure you’ve read something.”

“Um, they have very refined chakra control, and they aren’t very strong front line fighters.”

“That’s true. Most of them also have an ability that isn’t talked about very much. they can sense chakra. I know,”Naruto holds up his hand to stop her protests, “most Jounnin can sense an enemy chakra. That’s not what I mean. It’s an innate ability to sense the size, strength, and natural affinity of any and all chakra around them. They can also sense the direction a person is in by their chakra, and can identify people by their chakra signature, the unique frequency of an individual’s chakra that acts as a fingerprint.”

Sakura nodded, unsure why he was telling her this, and how he even knew it, but showing that she understood. “You have that ability.” Naruto told her. Sakura began to deny it, but he stopped her. “I used a jutsu earlier that masked our physical presence. It would have been physically impossible to see us. You followed Sasuke’s “shadow” right? But you could never actually see him?” At her nod, he continued, “You were following his chakra signature. You didn’t know what it actually was, so your mind interpreted it as his shadow. The ability is rare, and not something that can be taught.”

Sakura was shaken,mind racing with what he had just told her. She may have been young, but there was a reason she was one of the best students in class, and a reason she had been able to keep the bruises hidden. She was smart enough to know something big was going on. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. “Who are you?”

Naruto chuckled. “ Tell me Sakura, do you believe in reincarnation?”

“Well.” Sasuke demanded the moment Naruto entered the hallway.

“Why Sasuke, I didn’t think you cared.” Naruto teased him.

“I don’t.” He replied shortly. “ I just want to know if she’s a risk to us. How much does she remember?”

“Enough that I had to tell her the truth.”

Sasuke glared at his friend (and they are friends now). “I don’t understand why you let her get that close to begin with.”

“I want to go home.”

The whispered reply froze Sasuke in place. “What?”

Naruto sighed, his shoulders dropping as if the weight of the world rested on them. “I want to go home Sasuke. I want to go back to Uzushio. But I have to rebuild it first, and to do that, I need people like Sakura.” He looked Sasuke in the eyes, the grief for his first home more than apparent and staggering in its depth. “It is your dream, your life’s mission to kill your brother, I know I haven’t been able to change that. But rebuilding Uzushio, gathering the remaining shreds of my clan and bringing them home, that Sasuke, is my dream. Sakura has the potential to be an even better Medical Shinobi than Tsunade of the Sannin, and everyone knows the Hospital and its Medical Shinobi are one of the cornerstones of a village. If I can get her on my side, show her the potential she has, and help her harness it, she could help me achieve my dream.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed as he processed what Naruto had told him. He snorted, “So you’re willing to manipulate her to get what you want.”

Naruto smiled sadly. “ I was a Kage Sasuke. If anyone knows anything about manipulating others to achieve their goals, it would be me.” Then he sighed. “But I won’t force her to help me. I will train her, open her to the possibilities, and see that she gains the medical training she was clearly built for, but the choice to help me is entirely her own. If she does, I will be forever grateful. If she doesn’t, then the leaf will gain an amazing Medical Kunoichi, and I am ok with that.”

All Sasuke did in response was raise an eyebrow.

“I am. The civilians may not have treated me kindly, but the shinobi have always treated me as a person. Konoha has become a second home to me. It shouldn’t be a surprise, we were allies before Uzushio fell. If Konoha were to benefit from Sakura’s skills, I would be more than happy.” Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment, as though judging the truth of his words before nodding. Naruto patted his shoulder and walked down the hall towards the kitchen. “I’ll make us some tea.” A moment later, Sasuke looked up in horror. “Wait, does that mean I have to work with her!? Naruto! Naruto, does that mean I have to actually talk to her!? Naruto!?” Naruto’s cackling echoed through the corridor.

“NARUTO!”

Chapter Text

Sakura’s transition into the “second life” that Naruto and Sasuke led went far more smoothly than either boy could have predicted.

Above all else, Sakura craved knowledge. She believed in the old saying that Knowledge is Power, and for a girl who had been powerless for her entire life, the opportunity Naruto provided her could not be turned down. This affected her interaction with Sasuke as well. In Sakura’s mind, Sasuke had represented Power and Safety. As the last son of one of the most physically powerful clans in the village, he meant safety from her family. As the Last Uchiha, he represented safety for her future. Naruto’s revelation, however, meant Sakura would be able to protect herself from her parents. And as a Medical Shinobi, Sakura’s future would always be secure, as it was a valuable position and difficult to fill. Which meant she no longer had to rely on securing a husband.

( “So you aren’t in love with me.”

“I’m nine. I don’t think it’s even physically possible.”

“Oh thank god.”

Naruto nearly fell out of his chair, trying not to laugh. His friends were hilarious.)

This lead to a change in her behavior. As the weeks passed, she spent more time buried in the books and scrolls Naruto gave her, than she did chasing after Sasuke and trying to compete with Ino. She began tying her hair in a braid, and spending her free time around the Hospital. Naruto had agreed to train her in combat, like he did Sasuke, and to help her develop her sensory abilities, but she would have to learn Medicine from an actual trained Medical Shinobi. This meant she spent more nights in the lobby, working on homework from the academy and the nurses, than she did at home. And her nights in the park were a thing of the past. A week after the encounter in the forest, Naruto and Sasuke had shown up at her apartment during one of the worst fights her parents had had in a while. They had snuck into her room, helped her pack, and moved her into the Uchiha compound. Her parents had yet to report it, probably because they didn’t want anyone looking to closely at them.

Several weeks as one of the three residents of the Uchiha Compound, and several nights of training, (Naruto had given her the same regiment he had started Sasuke out with, claiming he would personalize the lessons more once she had gotten through the basics) also changed her interactions with them in public. Though she still spent time with Ino, eating lunch together and helping out at the Yamanaka’s flower shop, more of her time was spent with the boys. The three sat together in class, and Sakura would join them when they spent time with Naruto’s other “friends”. This had initially caused problems between Sakura and the other girls in the class, as they all wanted Sasuke for themselves, and didn’t think she deserved to be spending so much time with him. Sakura tended to ignore them, getting her frustration about her classmates out in her sparing sessions at night, and this only made them angrier.

The only one who didn’t seem to be affected by Sakura’s new attitude was Ino. Though that wasn’t entirely true. Ino found the change in her best friend and rival disturbing, especially sense she seemed to be the only member of the Uchiha fan club who had realized Sakura no longer held any feelings towards Sasuke. It was as if the other girl had completely changed overnight. Sakura used to confide in Ino, would tell her everything.

Now, Ino could hardly get her to talk about anything that wasn’t school or her new-found medical hobby. She knew Naruto and Sasuke had something to do with the change in her friend, she just couldn’t figure out how. She spent the last few weeks of the school year attempting to wheedle the truth out of Sakura. No amount of bribery or begging had any effect on the other girl. By the time the academy let out for summer vacation, the tension between the two led to an all-out fight.

( “You never tell me anything anymore! You used to tell me EVERYTHING!”

“You don’t need to KNOW everything anymore!”

“I’m your best friend!”

“Not anymore!” Ino froze, tears welling up in her eyes as she took a step back from Sakura, who looked just as shocked at the words coming out of her own mouth. “I-I’m sorry, Ino, I didn’t..”

“I just want to know what changed.” Ino whispered brokenly, barely holding back a sob.

Sakura sighed, “It’s not my place to tell you.” She turned away and went to meet Sasuke and Naruto at the gate.

Ino broke down into sobs and ran to her Daddy. She clung to him as she cried, convinced she had lost her best friend forever.)

Since then, Sakura had been down. The others knew how much her friendship with Ino had meant to her, but not even she had realized just how much she depended on the other girl. As a result of the fight, she spent more time with Naruto’s “friends”, trading recipes with Choji (neither Sasuke or Naruto could cook if their lives depended on it), or watching the Shogi matches between Shikimaru and Sasuke. Which is probably why Shikimaru was the next person to figure out their secret. After all, they didn’t call the Nara heir a genius for nothing.

He was skeptical the first time Naruto told him the Uchiha would be joining them after school. It hadn’t fit with what he knew of the other boy’s personality. Sure, it was feasible that he had taken pity on Naruto, either because of their shared lack of family or because he was embarrassed by Naruto’s complete lack of skill, but branching out to interact with others went above and beyond the sort of behavior one could have expected from the young rage-filled avenger. Shikimaru had only just begun to think the change in behavior was the result of too much time with Naruto, the hyperactive blonde tended to have a positive affect on others once they allowed him in, when Sakura joined the strange group. Normally, this would not be a cause for alarm, as Shikimaru had long since discovered the truth of her home life, though his father had said they could not intervene unless Sakura herself came to them for help, and it did not seem like the kind of situation Naruto would have left alone once he had learned of it.

However, the drastic change in her behavior, and the dramatic end to her relationship with Ino, had captured his interest. He chose to spend a few weeks studying their behavior, trying to get a read on the reason for the drastic changes. His observations led to three major realizations:

1. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were living together and had developed a relationship akin to a Gennin team that had seen combat.

2. Someone was helping Sasuke and Sakura develop their Shinobi skills, encouraging Sakura’s interest in Medicine, and discouraging Sasuke’s revenge (though this objective was slow-going).

3. Naruto was more than he claimed to be.

He decided, about a week after the fight with Ino, that he could no longer be a casual observer. Normally he provider to remain a bystander, getting involved was too troublesome, but some instinct insisted he do more than watch. Which is why he decided to catch Naruto alone. Previous knowledge suggested that confronting Sasuke would gain him only silence and anger, the Uchiha’s impenetrable emotional defense, and that confronting Sakura would gain him nothing but anger and possible violence. Of the three, Naruto was the most approachable, and it was likely he was at the center of the issue anyway.

He waited until Sasuke had his monthly meeting with the Hokage, wherein they discussed how Sasuke was doing in terms of living alone and went over his financials, and Sakura was spending the afternoon shadowing nurses at the Hospital. It wasn’t difficult to get Naruto over to his house. There was nothing suspicious about having Naruto, Kiba, and Choji come over so he wouldn’t have to deal with his mother. Shikimaru waited until the other two were distracted by the lunch his mother had made for them o pull Naruto aside. Before Naruto could join the others at the picnic table, Shikimaru grabbed him by the sleeve and motioning towards the forest. The two boys snuck off before their absence could be noted.

As they walked, Naruto mulled over what his friend could have to say that he wouldn’t want the others to hear. As nothing more significant than Sakura joining their circle had happened recently, and that had occurred a few weeks ago, he couldn’t think of anything important. As it was, he would have to assume that his genius friend had worked out part of the truth about Naruto. Not everything, there was no feasible way Shikimaru could have figured out all aspects of the truth with what he would have had to work with. The blonde braced himself for a conversation full of half-truths and misdirection.

Stopping under a large oak well out of sight, Shikimaru turned to his friend, and because he hated dragging anything out, asked rather bluntly, “ What have you gotten Uchiha and Haruno into?” He referred to them by their last names as he was still wary about truly considering them to be friends. “Eh? I don’t know what you’re talking about Shikimaru.” Naruto rubbed the back of his head and squinted his eyes at the other boy as if in confusion. “Don’t play dumb. They’ve both changed a lot and the only common factor is you.”

Naruto glanced away. Despite his age, Shikimaru was a literal genius, the smartest Nara in more than three generations. The only reason he hadn’t skipped the academy and gone straight to ANBU was because his father had refused to accept Danzo’s invitation. Lying to him was extremely difficult, particularly if he had already discovered you had lied about something else.

I want to rebuild

The words he had spoken to Sasuke the night Sakura joined them flashed through his mind. He had told the Uchiha that the Head of the Hospital was the cornerstone of the village, and that was true, but it was only one of them. To be truly successful, a village needed the four pillars. A Kage, the Head of the Hospital, the Anbu Commander, and the Chief Strategist (who often doubled as the Jounnin Commander). With Sakura he had his Medic, and he was banking on convincing Sasuke to leave Konoha and run his Anbu for him, but he had never even considered filling the last position. He turned back to his friend and eyed the Nara heir critically. If he could persuade him….

“Before I answer you, I have a question of my own.” Naruto stated, giving up all pretenses. Shikimaru’s eyes widened slightly at the sudden change in the normally hyperactive boy, who now had an aura of seriousness and power around him. He nodded, gesturing for Naruto to continue. “How do you feel about Konohagakure?” 

Shikimaru blinked. That certainly wasn’t the question he was expecting. He took a minute to construct his answer. Something told him this was a turning point, and he needed to tread carefully.

“Troublesome”, he muttered under his breath. “I care for the village, and for what it stands for. But…If it weren’t for my family, I can honestly say I wouldn’t feel any sort of attachment. Why?” He asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

Naruto sighed, “In order to answer your question, I need you to do something involving the village.”

Shikimaru raised an eyebrow in surprise. So far, this conversation had not followed any pattern he had been expecting, and neither was Naruto. Something was off with the blonde, as though he had become a different person in the few moments they’d been talking. Curious as to where his friend could be going with it, he motioned for Naruto to continue.

“What do I need to do that involves Konoha?”

“Abandon it.”

Chapter Text

Shikimaru rubbed tiredly at his eyes in an attempt to clear his luring vision, and glanced at the clock across the small room. It was nearly three in the morning, he had another two hours at best before he truly risked getting caught. He returned to the scroll in front of him with a sigh, trying to rap his mind around the information he had uncovered.

The day before he had confronted one of his closest friends about his recent behavior, and Naruto in turn had asked him to abandon their village. Before Shikimaru had recovered enough from his shock to do more than gap, Naruto had suggested he search his family’s records on Konoha’s history for references to a place called Uzushio, and particularly, a man named Kaito Uzumaki.

Wary, but always interested in gaining new information, Shikimaru had decided to do just that. After he was certain his parents were asleep, he had snuck out of their house and into the records building hidden in the Nara forest. Finding the scrolls and books on Uzushio had been fairly easy, the Nara family’s filing system would have ben gibberish to an outsider, but he knew it by heart, and he had not been surprised by the extensive collection. His clan collected information the way the Aburame clan collected insects. 

Uzushiogakure had been a hidden village before the time of the Second Shinobi World War. According to the scrolls, it had been the second Hidden Village to be founded, with Konoha being the first. Uzushio had been founded by the Uzumaki Clan. According to an ancestor in the Nara family, the Uzumaki were a unique, powerful, and dangerous family capable of rivaling the Uchiha. The members of the Uzumaki clan were unique among shinobi for many reasons, most of them genetic. The Uzumaki were born with natural chakra reserves easily two or three times the size of a typical shinobi’s, and they were known for longer-than-average lifespans, often living three or four decades longer than other people and maintaining a youthful appearance while doing so.

They were also unique in that the clan specialized in Fuuinjutsu. Because of their natural chakra reserves, they were capable of designing and utilizing complex and powerful Seals, the likes of which no one could replicate. the uzumaki clan had, in fact, been the ones to create the Seals which had allowed the Hidden Villages to imprison the Bijuu (tailed beasts made purely of chakra) within living people, forming Jinchuriki. Though Shikimaru knew of the tailed beasts, the anniversary of the Kyuubi no Kitsune’s attack on the village was a nation-wide holiday in the Land of Fire, he had never heard of Jinchuriki before. One of the first Jinchuriki, an Uzumaki princess by the name of Mito, who had had the Kyuubi sealed in her, had married Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage, as part of a political alliance between the two villages. The alliance had lasted until Uzushio’s destruction during the Second War.

The village itself was unique. While the forest surrounding Konoha had been raised through the First Hokage’s Wood Style ninjutsu, the village itself had been built by hand. It was not the same for Uzushio. Using a combination of Ninjutsu and Fuuinjutsu, the Uzumaki clan had raised the island that was the Land of Whirlpools straight out of the ocean on the eastern coast. this had formed the six massive whirlpools that formed a barrier between the island and the mainland, and gave the nation its name. The same technique had pulled the village straight out of the island. According to the Nara family records, Uzushio was made entirely out of marble, granite, sandstone, and quartz. Everything from the kage’s tower to the civilians’ houses had been raised, fully carved from the stones. It was a city awash in color, the various stones ranging from shades of grey to hues of red, and every color in-between. It wasn’t unusual to find a shop made entirely of blue quartz, or a street of golden-yellow sandstone. Pinks, greens, grays, browns, a variable rainbow. And the people weren’t much better.

Unlike in konoha, where the dominate hair color was brown, the most common color of hair in Uzushio was red, largely because it was the signature color of the uzumaki, and they were the villages largest clan. Blonde, Gray, Blue, White, and Green were also colors common among Uzushio’s people. The scrolls described the city as full of life and laughter. The people were friendly and welcoming, the village itself bright and open. The pace of life was calm and unhurried, for all that the citizens were loud and boisterous. Honestly, to Shikimaru, it sounded like heaven.

So why had he never heard of it before? The answer was in the scroll that lay in front of him. At the time of the Second War, the leader of Uzushio had been the Third Uzukage, a man by the name of Kaito Uzumaki. A genius and a prodigy, according to his clan. Kaito had been the strongest shinobi Uzushio had seen, outside of the Jinchuriki, and had been nicknamed the Sea God for his talent with water style ninjutsu.

When he had learned of Kirigakure’s attack on the leaf, he had sent an envoy with an offer of aid, only for Iwakagure to attack, led by a traitor. As far as the Nara had been able to gather from the few survivors, a man by the name of Takashiro Toga. He had been the village’s Jounnin Commander and a cousin of the Uzukage’s through his mother, who had been an Uzumaki. From what they could tell, Takashiro had hated Kaito because Kaito’s father was a civilian. He was one of many people at the time who believed children of civilians should not be shinobi, and that those who were were merely imitators. He had also believed, for a reason no one had been able to deduce, that hidden somewhere within the village was an immense power, the location of which only the Uzukage knew.

He had betrayed his village to Kiri and Iwa in exchange for that power only to be executed when he was no longer of use to them.

“I’m missing something.” Shikimaru muttered to himself as he rubbed at his face. He understood why Naruto had wanted him to research Uzushio, the blonde probably wanted to rebuild his clan’s homeland,not that Shikimaru could blame him, the place sounded amazing, though he didn’t know what Uchiha and Haruno had to do with it, but the reason he had mentioned Kaito specifically remained just out of reach.

“Maybe if I get some sleep I’ll be able to see it.” he had often solved difficult problems in his dreams, his mind processing the information in ways it could not when he was awake. Putting the scrolls in their proper place, he blew out the candle and headed home. 

Shikimaru woke late for school that morning and was made to rush out of the house by his angry mother. He was no closer to figuring out the mystery of the Third Uzukage than he had been last night, though other things were clearer. Things such as Uchiha and Haruno’s involvement. With Sakura’s recent fascination with medicine, it was no stretch to see her as the Head Medic of this New Uzushio Naruto seemed to be imagining, and Sasuke was more than obviously in position to be Head ANBU, whether the sullen raven realized it or not ( Shikimaru firmly believed the Uchiha boy had no idea Naruto’s plans involved him). And it was no stretch of the imagination to see himself as Chief Strategist, his family had held that position in some capacity within Konoha since it’s founding. However, something told him that Naruto hadn’t actually thought his plan out.

He would have to fix that.

Naruto caught him alone at lunch and suggested Shikimaru come back to the Uchiha compound after school so they could talk. When Iruka-sensei let them out for the day, he said bye to Choji and headed off with what the Academy teachers were now referring to as the Golden Trio. The walk to the compound was silent, Sakura absorbed in a scroll from the hospital, Sasuke sulking, and Naruto reviewing their homework for the night. When they finally reached it, Shikimaru was led to a house close to the entrance. The building was clean and colorful, a stark contrast to its neighbors. Sakura left them in the entryway, stating she was going to herroom to study. Sasuke had given Shikimaru a suspicious glare, then grunted and wandered off, probably to sulk more. ( Shikimaru found the Uchiha’s brooding, depressing nature a real drag). Naruto motioned for Shikimaru to follow him, and led his guest into the kitchen.

“Would you like some tea Shikimaru?”

“Sure.” Shikimaru had to stifle a laugh as he watched Naruto use a stool to reach the cabinet where they kept the tea, and reach the stove to heat the kettle. The past couple of days had been so serious and filled with revelations that he had almost forgotten Naruto was just a kid like him, and a short one at that. His friend was a couple inches shorter than was normal for their age, something Sasuke still liked to tease him about. (At least that hadn’t changed.) Once the tea was done, the two headed to the porch that overlooked the central garden. They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the peace.

“Sasuke’s gonna take some work.” Shikimaru said after a time, breaking the silence.

“Hm?” Naruto turned a questioning look on the other boy.

“Sakura will jump at the chance to be your Head Medic, and I wouldn’t trust anyone but myself as your Chief Strategist.” He stated, “ Even if all the paperwork will be a drag.” Naruto’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he remained silent. After a beat, Shikimaru sighed. “But Sasuke…. He’s gonna take some extra effort before he’s ready to lead your Special Forces.”

“I have a plan to get him to stop chasing Itachi.” Naruto admitted, sipping his tea. Shikimaru regarded him for a moment before nodding.

“Rebuilding Uzushio, huh.”

“I hadn’t actually realized that was what I was planning until our talk yesterday.” Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Shikimaru laughed. “I didn’t think you had.”

“And Kaito? Did you look him up?”

“Yeah. Still haven’t figured out why he’s important, unless it has to do with how Uzushio fell, but everyone involved in that’s been dead for years.”

Naruto stared out into the garden for a moment, then took a deep breath, preparing himself for Shikimaru’s reaction to the very idea of reincarnation, only to bet met with Shikimaru’s palm, the other boy shaking his head. Naruto made a questioning noise.

“I don’t need to know yet.” He said, smiling at Naruto. “You looked like you were struggling just now. Whatever it is, if you’re not ready to talk about it, you don’t have to tell me yet.”

Naruto grinned, relieved. Telling Sasuke and Sakura had been easy, mention a few memories, perform a few tricks, and they had accepted it. But Shikimaru was smart enough to understand the basics of it at least, and could have argued it with him. Considering Naruto himself wasn’t sure how it had happened beyond Uzushio itself being involved, he hadn’t looked forward to that. If he could put it off long enough, Shikimaru could probably figure it out on his own, and they wouldn’t have to talk about it.

“But if this is gonna happen, you’re gonna need a better plan than just winging it and hoping for the best.”

Naruto furrowed his brow. “What do you have in mind?”

Shikimaru’s plan involved five more of their classmates, an intricate web of deceit, a complicated training regiment, and would take three years to complete. And that was just getting them out of Konoha.

It was GENIUS!

“When did you have time to put all this together?” Naruto asked incredulously, staring at the charts and diagrams Shikimaru had laid out before them.

"In class. I learned all about the different chakra types from my dad over the summer, so I wasn’t really paying attention.” Shikimaru shrugged, like it was no big deal.

Naruto snorted. “All right, o wise one, who should I approach first?” Shikimaru had pointed out the importance of involving certain other people, but had insisted Naruto be the one to approach them, since he would be the one leading them in the future as the Uzukage.

“Ino.” was the immediate response.

“Why?”

“The Yamanaka run the Torture&Interrogation Division of the village. Ino may be young, and emotional, but she was bred to be observant. It won’t be long before she figures something out on her own. Besides, the rift between her and Sakura could cause trouble. Get her on board, fix their friendship, and she would probably help you strong arm some of the others into keeping quiet.”

“Good point.”

Shikimaru smirked. “Plus, as the future Head of Uzushio’s T&I, she’ll be spending a lot of time working with Sasuke. Getting her involved now will give her time to get over her crush on him, and she could probably bully him into more human interaction. If she doesn’t strangle him for being an ass first.”

Naruto burst out laughing at the image. It took him a few minutes, but once he got his breathing under control he nodded. “Ok, ok, Ino first. Got it. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

They finished their tea and Shikimaru left, promising to join them for training the next night. Naruto went to find the others, asking them to meet him in the living room. He shared Shikimaru’s plan with them, explaining their involvement in slightly greater detail, than sat back and waited for their responses. Sasuke’s eyes were narrowed in their ever present glare, but Sakura’s were wide open in surprise.

He wants me to be Head Medic! Her mind raced through the information she had been given. It was no surprise Naruto wanted to rebuild his original village, he had once been its Kage after all, though she didn’t think Shikimaru knew that yet. And of course he would need people to fill imprtant positions.. But to ask her of all people! She couldn’t believe it!

“You don’t have to answer me right now, and you don’t have to say yes. I just wanted to put it out there.” Naruto stated, slightly uncomfortable with the silence.

“Yes.”

“What?” He blinked, staring at Sakura.

“Yes, I will be the Head Medic for the new Uzushio.” She stated firmly. Naruto, don’t you see, you saved me. How could I do anything but follow you. She wasn’t silly enough to think she had a crush on him. No, this was different. He had given her a piece of herself she hadn’t known was missing, had given her the ability to rescue herself from her family. She trusted him, admired him. He inspired her, made her want to be better, to be the best version of herself she possibly could. She would do anything, be anything, that he asked of her. She would follow him to the ends of the earth. Is this how people feel about the Third Hokage? Is this what it means to be loyal to one person, one ideal?

“Thank you Sakura.” Naruto gave her a grateful smile.

Next to her, Sasuke ground his teeth in frustration. He was being offered something huge. He could leave Konoha, leave the village where his parents had died, where his brother had gone mad. But, if he left, what would that mean for his revenge? Itachi. If I leave, what will I do about him. Would I have to give up on avenging the clan? He has to pay! Itachi has to suffer for what he did! But…but what if…what if I…

Sasuke stood up suddenly, startling the other two.

“Sasuke?” Sakura called out in confusion. He glared at them, turning to leave the room.

"I’ll think about it.” he said as he left.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and sighed.

“I guess I should get started on dinner.” Sakura stated, getting up and heading for the kitchen.

“I’m going to put the papers up, and then I’ll come help you.” Naruto called as he headed for the makeshift office where they kept all the important papers and scrolls.

“Alright. What do you feel like, Miso or Sushi?” Sakura asked, leaning out of the kitchen doorway so she could shout down the hall at him.

“Miso!” Naruto called back, laying the plans on the desk and locking the door behind him as he left.

“Then you can make the rice balls.” She told him as he entered the kitchen. making dinner together was something the three of them did often, and was one of her favorite parts about living with her friends. The two talked and joked around as they cooked, glad to be rid of the seriousness from earlier, even for a moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What if I don’t want to fight you anymore?

Chapter Text

Naruto shifted nervously from foot to foot. It was the day after his planning session with Shikimaru, and he was standing outside the Yamanaka flower shop waiting for Ino to come back from a delivery. He and Sakura had agreed that it was best not to wait to approach Ino, that the sooner they had her on their side the better, but he was still nervous. Honestly, the other blonde scared him. Naruto as Kaito had known a lot of strong-willed women, his clan alone was notorious for producing exceptionally stubborn, hot-headed Kunoichi, and Uzushio as a whole had been no stranger to them. Ino, daddy’s girl though she was, reminded him of them. She was a force of nature, even at their age, and he had always carried a healthy respect for women like her.

Spotting the girl herself, Naruto took a deep breath to steel his nerves. “Ino!” He called out, trying to catch her attention. Ino caught sight of him and her expression darkened. She stomped over to him and grabbed him by the front of his orange jumpsuit.

“You! What are you doing here!”

“I need to talk to you.”

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say! You’re the reason Sakura isn’t my friend anymore!” Ino pulled back to punch him, but Naruto was faster, ducking around her and leaning in from behind to whisper in her ear.

“The secret room in Hokage mountain, behind the Second Hokage’s ear. Tonight when the ANBU guard changes shift.” Ino froze and Naruto took that moment to escape, dipping into the alley.

“Ino?” Inoichi’s voice broke Ino out of her daze. She turn to see her father standing in the shop’s doorway. “Are you alright? Did that Uzumaki brat upset you? He said he had a question about an assignment, but if he did anything..”

“No!” Ino interrupted her father. “I’m fine daddy. Really. He asked about the homework. Sakura won’t help him with it because he just copies from her, so he asked me. That’s all.”

“Are you sure?” Inoichi asked,looking unconvinced.

“Yes daddy.” Ino reassured him with a smile. He nodded and headed back inside and Ino followed him, thoughts racing. How does he know about that room?! Daddy only showed it to ME last week!

~~~ Elsewhere in Konoha~~~

Whew, for a kid, she sure is scary! Naruto wiped a hand across his forehead. No wonder the Yamanaka Clan is Matriarchal, if Ino is anything like the rest of her family. She isn’t even that strong yet and her killing intent nearly flattened me. And she didn’t even know she was doing it!

When Ino had grabbed him to yell at him, she had released a wave of killing intent stronger than what most Jounnin could put out. He could tell it had been a subconscious reaction, Ino had no clue she had done it, and as most of the Shinobi in the area had not reacted, he figured it was probably a common occurrence. She and Sakura are going to be TERRIFYING when they’re older!

~~~~~~~Later that Night~~~~~~

Ino slipped quietly out of the shop and down the alley, sticking to the shadows as best as she could. It was a good thing her mother was still out of the village on a mission, or she never would have been able to leave. Inwardly she cringed at the thought of her mom, her stomach momentarily filling with dread as she remembered Hinagiku was due back the day after tomorrow. Shaking her head, she pushed all thoughts of her mother away, returning her attention to the maze of streets that was Konoha at night. It took her a bit longer than she had planned to reach the carving of the Second Hokage’s head without getting caught, she had never taken the route at night and had gotten turned around a couple times, but eventually she reached her destination.

Opening the room with the switch her father had showed her, she nearly fell over in shock. The room was warmly lit with torches on the wall and lined floor to ceiling with shelves full of scrolls, which she had expected. What she hadn’t expected was to see not only Naruto, but Sakura and Sasuke of all people sitting on the floor drinking tea.

“Come on in.” Naruto grinned, waving her into the room.

Ino stepped hesitantly into the room, closing the door behind her. She slowly sat across from him, accepting the cup of tea Sakura offered her. “What’s going on? How did you know about this place? Why did you want to talk to me?”

The other three shared a look before Naruto turned back to answer her.

“Your family specializes in mental techniques and jutsus which affect the mind, right?”

“Yeah, like the Mind Transfer technique. It’s why so may of us end up in the T&I.” An image of her mother flashed through her thoughts and she flinched, forcing away the memory of her mother invading her mind, spying on daddy through her.

“Do you think it’s possible for someone to keep their memories of a past life?”

Looking between the three, Ino thought about Naruto’s question. “I don’t know. Maybe. If they had a jutsu that saved their memories outside of their bodies or something. But I’ve never heard of anything like that. Why?”

Naruto smiled. Not his usual blinding grin but a small, warm smile. One that actually looked genuine. For just a moment, Ino could have sworn a grown man with rich red hair sat in Naruto’s place. “Let me tell you the story of Uzushio.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was almost dawn when Ino finally left the room in the mountain, walking side by side with Sakura. They were silent as they walked the path down the mountain, Ino lost in thought, Sakura unsure how to approach her once best friend. It wasn’t until they reached the end of the path that Ino spoke.

“I get it now.”

“What?”

“Why you couldn’t tell me what was going on.” Ino smiled reassuringly at the pinkette.

“Does that mean you don’t hate me anymore?”

“I never hated you!” Ino insisted, throwing her arms around the other girl. “I just didn’t want you to leave me behind.” She admitted.

Sakura returned the hug, smiling in relief. “Never. We’re best friends Ino. It’s you and me no matter what.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Elsewhere in Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you really think this is a good idea?”

Naruto stopped, crouching on a rooftop. He studied Sasuke for a moment, trying to piece together why Sasuke would have asked that. Oh…

“They’re not going to endanger our mission.” Sasuke’s eyes widened briefly in surprise that Naruto had managed to guess what he was thinking, then narrowed as he scowled.

“You don’t know that. Yamanaka is a gossip, she can’t keep a secret to save her life. And Nara’s family is politically influential here, why would he give that up? Not to mention…”

“You’re being awfully chatty tonight Sasuke.” Naruto grinned at his somewhat reluctant friend. Sasuke’s scowl only deepened further. “I didn’t realize you were that invested in Uzushio’s future.”

Sasuke crossed his arms in irritation, attempting to looked annoyed with Naruto. “I’m not.” he insisted, “I just don’t want anything to get in the way of you training me.”
Naruto tried unsuccessfully to stifle a smile. He knew Sasuke was being serious, but instead of looking irritated, he just looked like he was pouting, and honestly, it was kind of adorable.

“Hn. Quit grinning like that dobe, you look like an idiot. This could be a serious problem.”

“Hey! Don’t call me dobe, jerk!” Naruto glared. He sighed, attempting to reign in his temper. “I know it could cause problems for us if this gets out, but you don’t have all of the information either.”

Sasuke lowered his arms, the barest flash of confusion visible in his eyes, before he buried it. “Like what?” He scoffed.

Naruto smiled sadly, “Ino talks a lot but she rarely says anything important. She’s mastered the art of distraction and misdirection. I guarantee she’s keeping secrets, and not just her own either.”

Sasuke looked momentarily surprised again by Naruto’s insight. Dammit, I keep forgetting he’s not actually an idiotic loser.

“As for Shikimaru,” Naruto continued, purposefully using the lazy genius’ first name with a pointed look at Sasuke who scoffed, “political power has little to do with it. One of the reasons the Nara clan has remained an advisor for so long is their general lack of political ambition. The clan as a whole craves knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and enjoy tasks that challenge them. They are also notoriously lazy, and avoid responsibility whenever possible.

Shikimaru views the restoration and recreation of Uzushio as an intellectual challenge. It’s a problem and a puzzle for him to solve. He has no real attachment to Konoha. For him, and his family, bonds with people or ideals are far more important than ties to a place. He knows helping me will mean leaving Konoha, but he also knows it’s likely he’ll be back one day, probably as an ambassador. There is no logical reason he won’t be able to visit his parents once Uzushio is stable.”

Sasuke blinks, stunned by Naruto’s little speech. “How..?”

Naruto chuckled. “Unlike you Sasuke,” He says, ruffling Sasuke’s hair, “I’m not anti-social.” Sasuke smacks Naruto’s hand away, glaring. Naruto merely grins, eyes twinkling with mischief. “I know how to read people. I’ve had a lifetime of practice after all.”

“Hn.”

Naruto looks up at the sky, studying the moon for a moment. “It’s not as late as I thought it would be. Feel like getting in a couple extra hours of training?”

Sasuke grins, a true grin too, not the fake, condescending smirks he uses in public. On the rooftops of Konoha, under the light of the moon, two boys vanish into the shadows, as silent as the darkness itself.

Chapter Text

Ino woke the next morning to the sound of raised voices. Oh no, Mommy’s home. She dressed as silently as she could, and crept down the stairs, hoping to sneak past.

“How many women did you sleep with while I was gone!?” Her mother’s angry voice came from the kitchen.

“I haven’t slept with anyone Bitch!!” Daddy…

“I don’t believe you!”

“You never have!!”

Ino slipped out of the apartment, thought the shop and onto the street. No time for breakfast today I guess. Why did Mommy have to come home. Shaking her head, Ino hurried down the street. She was late anyway, if she didn’t hurry, she’d miss the first bell.

Ino made it with just enough time to slide into her seat and exchange a quick smile with Sakura before class began.

Sakura snuck worried glances at Ino the entire morning. The blonde girl was unusually quite, and she seemed distracted. The moment the bell rang for lunch, Sakura grabbed Ino by the wrist and pulled her aside. “Ino, is something wrong?”

Surprised by Sakura’s sudden action, it took her a moment to register the question. “Oh no! No, I’m fine” Ino insisted, smiling. “Really, I just overslept, and then I didn’t have time to eat breakfast, so I..”

“Is your mom home?”

Ino froze at the question from her best friend, raising her head to meet Sakura’s eyes, she swallowed back tears at the understanding in Sakura’s gaze. “She and Daddy were fighting in the kitchen when I woke up. She thinks he’s cheating on her again, she always does. I don’t understand why Daddy still loves her. He never does any of the things she says he does, but she never believes him.”

“Is she going to look through your memories again?”

“Probably. Daddy’s mental shields are to strong for her, and the last time he let her see his memories, she tried to change them, so he won’t do it again. I don’t understand why she does things like that. It’s like she wants him to cheat, but she would hate him if he actually did.”

Sakura nodded. She didn’t understand Ino’s mother either, but…

“Can you get out of going home tonight?”

Ino shook her head. “No, Mommy will be the one picking me up today, she always does right after missions, so Daddy can’t put blocks on my mind.”

“Then can I tell Naruto?”

“What?!” Ino’s head shot up and she stared at Sakura in surprise and confusion. ‘Why?!”

“Well, he can help. You agreed to help him reach his dream. That means your one of his people now, and Naruto protects his own. He got me away from my parents, I’m sure he can do the same for you.”

“But Mommy’s jutsu…”

“He may be our age, but he’s also a kage. I don’t think your mom has the power to mess with Naruto’s memories. But if it’ll make you feel better, he can always sneak in and get you once she’s done.”

Ino thought about it for a moment. She loved her Daddy and the flower shop more than anything, but she had agreed to help Naruto, and that meant she would have to leave the village someday anyway. Would it really be such a bad idea? I could learn how to live without Daddy so it won’t hurt as much when we leave.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Ok, you can tell him. But make sure he doesn’t come until Mommy’s done messing with my head.”

Sakura smiled, relieved Ino would let Naruto help. “I will. Don’t worry Ino, you’ll see. Naruto will make everything better.

~~~~~~~~~~Across the Playground~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto approached Kiba, asking if the could talk. He asked the Inuzuka to meet him after school, he had something really important to tell him. Kiba agreed, puzzled by Naruto’s behavior but always happy to spend time with a friend, even if the hyperactive blonde was an idiot. Anythin' to stay away from home as long as possible, He thought, If I stay out long enough, Ma might even be asleep when I get in.

After school, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Shikimaru, and Kiba gathered together to walk to the Uchiha Compound. Ino was met at the Academy gates by a severe looking woman with short blonde hair and cold blue eyes. Ino and Sakura shared one desperate look before Ino was dragged off by her mother.

The entire way home, Sakura prayed desperately that Ino’s mother wouldn’t actually hurt her, and that Naruto would be able to get Ino out without any problems.

When they reached the compound, Sasuke split off from the group, heading towards the family temple. The others went inside and Sakura made tea for everyone. They sat in the living room together, and Kiba cut right to the chase.

“So what did ya wanna tell me?”

“I’m sorry,” Sakura said before Naruto could answer, “But I have something really important I need to ask you Naruto.”

Naruto gestured for her to go ahead, looking curious.

“I want you to rescue Ino from her mother.”

“What do you mean?” Naruto asked, as Shikimaru and Kiba looked on in surprise.

“Ino’s mother uses her to spy on Ino’s dad. I think it’s because they had an arranged marriage or something, but she doesn’t trust Mr.Yamanaka, so she uses their clan techniques to read Ino’s mind to spy on her husband. It wouldn’t be that bad if thats all she was doing, but she also likes to mess with Ino’s memories. She’ll erase or changes Ino’s memories just for fun, and will use the mind transfer jutsu to take over Ino’s body and make Ino do things she doesn’t want to. Her mom hates her, and treats her mind like a toy.”

All three boys looked horrified. Naruto was saddened that any parent could violate their own child that way, Shikimaru was angry he hadn’t realized it sooner, after all, he and Ino were part of the future Ino-Shika-Cho, he should have known, and all Kiba could think was, at least my Ma only kicks me around, gettin' beats a lot better than havin' you're head played with.

“Of course I’ll help her, you should have said something earlier.” Naruto stated, rising from his seat.

Sakura shook her head. “She wanted you to wait until her mom finished messing with her head tonight. she doesn’t want to risk you getting caught in a mind-reading jutsu.”

Naruto opened her mouth to protest, but Shikimaru stepped in. “Thats actually a good idea.” When Naruto glared at him he sighed. “I don’t like it, but I have something I have to tell you later, alone, and if you got caught in a mind jutsu, the thing I have to tell you could cause a lot of problems.”
Reluctantly, Naruto agreed. He may not have known what Shikimaru was talking about, but he trusted the other boy, an respected his advice.

Sakura watched the brief exchange with a sad smile. While she hated the idea of what Ino was going through, it was funny to watch Shikimaru already playing the advisor.

“Alright, I’ll wait until tonight.”

“Hey, uh, anyone wanna fill me in on what’s going on around here?” Kiba spoke up, not having a clue what was going on.

Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Sorry Kiba. Shikimaru, I hate to ask you this, but would you mind filling Kiba in? I want to ask Sakura some questions about Ino’s mom.”

Shikimaru nodded. “Of course. C’mon Kiba, lets take a walk in the garden.”

Giving the group a confused look, Kiba followed Shikimaru outside.

Ino sat in the corner of her room, under the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, shaking with silent sobs. Her mother had been particularly vicious this time, rewarding Ino’s memories of her father’s innocent interactions with female customers, though only the pretty ones, with fake memories of her father molesting her. Those were the worst, because even though she knew they weren’t real, she couldn’t stop herself from flinching every time Daddy would get near here for weeks after, and she knew it hurt him. She couldn’t understand why Mommy kept hurting them like this. What was the point?

The nearly silent creak of her window opening showed Ino out of her thoughts. She froze, holding her breath, terror causing her heart to pound and her thoughts to race. Mommy’s back. Why is she back? I thought she left. I thought it was over. No more, please! No more! Make it stop! Please…

“Ino.”

The whisper of Naruto’s voice broke through the panic. Ino opened her eyes, not even realizing she had squeezed them shut, to see Naruto kneeling by her bed, a hand extended towards her.

“It’s alright Ino.” He whispered warmly with a reassuring smile. “You’re going to come with me now, and you won’t have to deal with your mother ever again.”

Ino shook her head. “No, you don’t understand! You can’t stop Mommy! Once she gets in your head you can’t..”

“Ino!” Naruto interrupted her ramblings, surprising her into silence. “Do you trust me?”

Ino stared into his eyes, memories of the past few days flashing through her mind. The image of a redheaded Kage overlaying the boy in front of her. Sakura’s newly found confidence, Sasuke’s begrudging respect. Sakura’s words from earlier that day echoed in her mind,

You’re one of his now, and Naruto takes care of his own.

She nodded. “Yes.” She whispered quietly, her voice hoarse from crying.

“Then come with me.”

Shakily she reached out and grabbed his hand, allowing him to pull her out from under the bed. The next thing she knew, he had picked her up and carried her out of the window, crossing rooftops as he headed back to the compound. Ino closed her eyes and held on tightly. Thank you, Uzukage-sama.

In the kitchen of the Yamanaka residence, Sasuke stood with his arms crossed, glaring coldly at the woman in front of him. Hinagiku Yamanaka, Ino’s mother, was tied to a chair, bound and gagged with Seals Naruto had made. The Last Uchiha smirked as he felt the fluttering touch of her mind on his.

“It’s not going to work.” he stated, voice devoid of emotion. The woman’s glare merely intensified at his words. She had tried more than once to tamper with his memories, even to posses him. But he was an Uchiha, and compared to the power of his brother’s Sharingan, her abilities were nothing. She was unable to breach his mental walls. Inwardly he thanked Naruto for his training in meditation, something he would never dare do out loud. The dobe’s ego is big enough as it is, he silently scoffed. Outwardly, he allowed his smirk to grow.

Her eyes widened in fear as she stared into his, trapped in swirling red and black, she felt herself sinking, drowning in darkness. In an instant, the world around her faded into nothingness. Then, she began to scream.

“A mother who would torment the mind of her own child, deserves to live her greatest fears.”

Chapter Text

Kiba had taken to referring to the house in the Uchiha compound that Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and now Ino shared, as the Safe House. He claimed it was because Sakura and Ino lived there to escape from their families, and Naruto lived there to escape the streets, so it was kinda like a hideout for them, but the real reason was, it was the only place he could go where he could forget.

He felt guilty, because learning about Sakura and Ino’s families mad him angry, but it also made him happy. He didn’t feel alone anymore, even though he still hadn’t said anything. He knew if he spoke up, Naruto would take care of it. That’s just the kinda guy he was. But speaking up was harder than Kiba thought it would be.

His talk with Shikimaru the night Naruto and Uchiha went to get Ino had been pretty crazy. Rebuilding a village that had been destroyed when most of their parents were still Academy students or Gennin?! If it had been anyone but Shikimaru, Kiba woulda thought they were nuts. What Naruto had added later, about reincarnation and rebuilding his clan, had been even crazier. Kiba had a feeling Shikimaru didn’t know about that part. He wondered if Shikimaru would still wanna help Naruto if he did know.

While he hadn’t actually agreed to their plan yet, Kiba still went over almost every day. He let Naruto train him, and he made an effort to get to know the girls and Uchiha more. He even had his own room now, and more often than not, he spent his nights there. So why couldn’t he say anything?

“When do you think he’s going to finally talk to us about his mom?” Shikimaru whispered to Naruto. The two were sitting on the porch facing the back garden, watching as Ino and Sakura strong-armed Sasuke and Kiba into helping them pull weeds and tend the flowers. It was always funny to see the normally aloof Uchiha get dragged around by his ear with an armful of flowers. Shikimaru and Naruto had been discussing the plan to approach Hinata, as Shikimaru insisted that the sooner they got the Hyuuga on board, the better. He’d been eyeing the new set of bruises on Kiba’s forearm, and finally broached the subject with his commander and friend.

“Not anytime soon.” Naruto replied with a sigh. “He’s almost as stubborn as Sasuke. As long as he can pretend nothing is wrong, that’s exactly what he’ll do.” Naruto shook his head gestured to the group out in the garden. “He hasn’t even realized that he’s already moved in here. Hell, he still hasn’t actually realized he’s already agreed to be part of the plan yet. Kiba lives in denial. It’s a defense mechanism that’s going to bite him in the ass sooner or later.”

Shikimaru sighed heavily and leaned back again the wall. “Have you figured out why she beats him yet?” It hadn’t been long after Kiba’s introduction to the group before the others had noticed the patchwork of bruises and scars that were obviously from more than just roughhousing. But Kiba hadn’t talked about it, so they pretended not to notice. The girls had taken to feeding him every chance they could, and dragging him around to participate in their newly determined project to make the Uchiha Compound warm and welcoming again. Sasuke had shown his support by actually taking Kiba seriously during training. While on the outside this just looked like Sasuke kicking his ass under Naruto’s supervision, secretly it was the Uchiha’s way of ensuring his new, oblivious, housemate could defend himself. Shikimaru and Naruto, on the other hand, had decided to look into the matter, rather than wait for Kiba to come to them.

“It has to do with the reason his parents aren’t together anymore.”Naruto informed him. “His mom is still holding a grudge against his dad. She takes it out on all the male Inuzuka clan members, but Kiba gets the brunt of it.”

“So she’s mad at her ex and taking it out on the whole gender?”

“Basically.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“That’s psychotic women.”

Originally, they had thought Kiba might have been getting picked on by other kids. It was no secret his parents were divorced, or that his dad had run off to another village with a younger woman. The entire village had fallen under Tsume Inuzuka’s wrath for weeks afterwards. A few pointed questions at the academy though, had revealed that wasn’t the case. At least not in regards to their classmates. Kiba was well liked at the school.

Then they had wondered if it was his clan members. His mother was head of the Inuzuka clan and she hadn’t been able to keep her husband. In a clan like Kiba’s, where instinct matters more than reason, and clan behavior is borderline animalistic, that would be a sign of weakness, and would make them, Tsume and her children, targets. But that hadn’t been the case either. Kiba talked freely of his extended family, often telling funny stories about this cousin or that, sharing jokes he’d learned from older clan members that no nine-year-old should know.

In fact, the only person he avoided mentioning was his mother. He bragged about his older sister Hana constantly, his hero worship of her nearly surpassing Sasuke’s former obsession with his own older brother. But he never talked about his mother.

When they had realized this, Naruto had followed Kiba home on one of the rare nights he’d gone back to the Inuzuka compound. He had hidden and watched as Tsume beat her son for this or that, most of the slights imagined, and Hana did her best to shield her brother. Unfortunately, skilled as she was, Hana was still physically weaker than her mother, and was unable to protect Kiba from all of the hits. What was worse were the verbal ones. There was nothing she could do to defend Kiba from their mother’s words, and Kiba did little to defend himself.

Tsume seemed to enjoy degrading her son, putting him down for being a boy, making him feel weak and insecure for how he had been born. Nothing she had said was actually true, particularly the nonsense she spouted off about Kiba’s father, Naruto had actually looked into that, but Kiba himself believed it, and that was all that really mattered.

“He can’t keep going back there.” Shikimaru insisted, pained at the idea of his friend spending another night in that house.

“I know.” Naruto stated simply.

“You have something in mind?” Shikimaru glanced at the other boy curiously. Naruto had used the tone that they were all coming to realize meant he had a plan. None of them liked that tone of voice.

“Kiba won’t leave on his own. He’s so far in denial he has no idea how bad it really is.”

Shikimaru nodded to show he was listening, though he didn’t know where the blonde was going.

Naruto smirked, raising his cup of tea. “That’s why I’m going to pay his sister a visit. Hana is much more reasonable, for an Inuzuka.” He took a sip as Shikimaru blinked in surprise. It had not crossed his mind to involve an outsider. And really? When had he begun to think of them as Outsiders?

He chuckled. “You continue to surprise me. I don’t know why, you’d think I would be used to the way you think by now.”

Naruto laughed. “I don’t understand the way my mind works half the time, why should you?”

Just then a flash of movement caught his eye and he turned to see Sasuke kneeling with his head in his hands, the girls hovering over him worriedly, Kiba off to the side looking awkward. Shikimaru followed Naruto’s gaze and worriedly studied the Uchiha.

“Is it the Sharingan?” Not long before Ino had come to live with them, Sasuke had activated his Sharingan during a training session. It had been an accident, one of Naruto’s new ideas failing to combine the way he wanted it to. The wind jutsu had caught Sasuke off guard and he had fallen over the edge of the cliff where they had been practicing chakra control. The unexpected fifty foot drop towards a rocky stream had been enough to call forth the first stage of his clans Kekkei Genkai. Naruto had managed to stop his fall using a water jutsu, but the reveal of his Sharingan had brought back memories bad enough they had ended the session then and there. The revelation of Ino’s home life had made Sasuke so angry it had actually strengthened his Sharingan. The night at Ino’s house, he had used his clans Ocular Genjutsu abilities for the first time, forcing Ino’s mother to live through her worst nightmares.

“Yeah. It’s acting up again.” Naruto rose from his seat and quickly made his way over. He hauled sasuke up from his kneeling position by the arm and half dragged him inside. Sakura suggested they make lunch while Naruto took Sasuke into his home office, the closest windowless room.

“I’m fine.” Sasuke grunted, still covering his eyes with one hand as he tried to shrug out of Naruto’s grip.

Naruto glared at him, pushing Sasuke into the chair. “No, you’re not. Have you thought about our conversation.?”

“Hn.”

Since the night they rescued Ino, Sasuke’s Sharingan had been acting up. It would flare up at random moments, activating without Sasuke actively attempting to use it. And more recently, he had started developing severe migraines at random. They knew the issue lay with his ability and how it had developed, that Sasuke’s chakra system wasn’t developed enough to maintain the physical tole the Sharingan normally takes on it’s wielder.

After one such migraine during a training session, Naruto had approached Sasuke and suggested having the Sharingan temporarily sealed away, at least until Sasuke’s chakra systems matured to the point he could handle his Kekkei Genkai. Sasuke had blown up at him initially, furious that Naruto could even suggest such a thing. It had taken a couple of days for them all to calm Sasuke down and convince him to think about it.

Naruto sighed, hopping up to sit on the edge of the desk. “I know you don’t like the idea. I don’t blame you either, it is pretty drastic, but Sasuke…. I had Sakura go over the scrolls your family had on the Sharingan. They talk about what’s happening to you, and it was a major problem they never managed to solve. If it keeps going on like this, you’ll be blind before we graduate the Academy.”

Sasuke’s head snapped up, despite the pain, eyes wide in shock. “What.” He hissed out.

Naruto opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a scroll. “Read it yourself. At this point, sealing it away is the only way to prevent it from robbing your sight in a couple of years. It’s taking too much chakra from you and you don’t have the control you need to use it yet.”

Sasuke shook his head. He didn’t want to believe it.

“I’m sorry.”

It was silent for a moment. Both boys lost in their own thoughts. Then Sasuke took a deep breath.

“You’ll make the seals? And you’ll remove them when my body can handle it?”

“Of course.” Naruto assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I know how important the Sharingan is to you, as a clan technique and a tie to your family. Believe me, if any of us could know, it would be me,” Sasuke flinched, I’d forgotten he was an orphan without a clan too, “ I would never do anything to endanger that.”

Sasuke took a moment to think about it, but what else could he do? Go blind? Not a chance in hell! Besides, Naruto had given his word. They may not always get along, but the past year, Sasuke had come to, grudgingly, respect the other boy. He knew just how much Naruto’s word was worth, what he would do to keep a promise.

“Alright.” he said. He looked up, meeting Naruto’s eyes. Naruto smiled sadly at the trust he could see in Sasuke’s eyes, glad that he had it, sad that it was under these circumstances. “Alright, I’ll let you do it.”

“I’ll let you seal away my Sharingan.”

Chapter Text

Naruto sent Sasuke to eat dinner, and to send Shikamaru in. Once the door had shut, Naruto occupied himself with designing the first rough ideas for the seal he would need to use on Sasuke. He didn’t get very far, jotting down some of the seals used on bloodlines that he remembered, before Shikamaru walked in, shutting the door behind him again. The Nara glanced at Naruto’s notes and cringed.

“So it’s gotten that bad?” He asked resignedly. they had all known it was a possibility, but had hopped it would never actually happen.

Naruto nodded balefully. “Unfortunately it has. Sasuke isn’t his brother. Itachi may have been younger than Sasuke when his Sharingan developed, but his chakra systems had stabilized even earlier, and his control was a lot better. By the time Sasuke would learn that type of control, the damage to his vision would be permanent.” He gestured for Shikamaru to sit down, and moved the paper he was writing on off the desk. “One day, Sasuke is going to be incredibly powerful, of that I have no doubt. But for now, this is necessary.”

Shikamaru nodded in understanding. It was rare for someone to develop a Kekkei Genki this young, especially one as powerfully and chakra consuming as the Sharingan, and there not be consequences. “How long will it take you to develop a seal for him?”

“Not long. A few days at most. There a records of Uchiha having their Sharingan sealed before. I can use those as a reference point. The hardest part will be tailoring the seal to Sasuke specifically.” Naruto shook his head, standing up and stepping away from the desk. “Right now I’m more concerned about Kiba. I’m going to try and catch Hana tonight, before she lives the Vet clinic. Hopefully she’ll be willing to help, though I doubt she’d turn down an opportunity to get her brother away from their mom.”

“Do you think she’ll take you seriously?”

Naruto smirked. “You know how Kiba calls this place the ‘Safe House’?”

“Yeah.”

“Well that’s also what he calls it when he talks to Hana. And I’ve heard others at the Academy call it that too. It’s become something of an open secret that a bunch of kids from bad homes are living together in the abandon Uchiha complex. Everyone knows mine and Sasuke’s stories, and Sakura’s was another open secret, but no one at the Academy could get involved because her parents are civilians, and she never reported anything. Ino’s parents are keeping up appearances, but its all anyone in the market talks about. Apparently, their rocky marriage was another open secret no one talked about.”

Shikamaru sighed, “I hadn’t heard anything.” He jerked his head up, eyes wide with concern as a thought crossed his mind. “Does anyone suspect..?”

Naruto cut him off with a shake of his head. “No. The most common theory so far, at least according to the gossip, is that Inoichi finally snapped and used a forbidden clan technique to fuck with his wife’s mind. I don’t know what the official explanation they put on record is, but no one has any reason to suspect the Sharingan. As far as the rest of the village is concerned, Sasuke hasn’t unlocked it yet, and Hinagiku hasn’t been in any shape to tell anyone.”

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. “How do you know that?”

Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Shikamaru crossed his arms and glared at the blonde. “I thought you agreed to stop spying on the ANBU?”

Naruto snorted, “It’s not my fault they’e the worst gossips in the village.” At Shikamaru’s continued glare, Naruto flinched and sighed. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop. I promise, I won’t spy on the ANBU anymore.”

“So troublesome.” Shikamaru relaxed, knowing Naruto would never break a promise.

“Already regretting the decision to help me?” Naruto asks as he and Shikamaru leave the office and head towards the dining room, where they can here the chatter of the others, voices rising and falling as they talk over one another, conversations interrupted by the occasional laugh.

Shikamaru shakes his head smiling. “Never.”

Naruto laughs, stepping into the chaotic mess that is his friends as they set the table for dinner. Shikimaru hangs back, watching, observing. After a moment he chuckles to himself. You really have no idea do you?

“Shikamaru! Get over here you lazy ass, or you’re not getting anything to eat!” Ino demands from across the room. Shikamaru sighs but complies. It’s easier just give in when it comes to Ino.

You really can’t see that we’d follow you to the ends of the earth for the rest of our lives.

Naruto left for the Vet’s office immediately after dinner. The girls were under orders to keep Kiba occupied long enough that he stayed the night at their place instead of going home. The clinic was on the edge of Inuzuka land and fairly easy to find. Upon arriving, Naruto took a moment to scout around and assure himself that no one besides Kiba’s sister was present, before entering the clinic.

“Excuse me?”

“Unless it’s an emergency, We’re closing.” Hana Inuzuka said as she came out of the back room, face buried in a file.

“I know.”

It as then that the voice registered as a child’s and Hana looked up in surprise to see her brother’s classmate, the Kyuubi brat, what was his name…

“Naruto, right? You’re in Kiba’s class.”

Naruto nodded. “Yeah. Actually, that’s why I’m here.” He took a deep breath and looked her dead in the eye. “ I think Kiba should come live with me and Sasuke.”

Hana froze. “W-what!? What the hell!?! You little brat!!” She reached out to grab the kid, but he duct out of reach. “I’m gonna gut you! Why the hell would Kiba move out to live with a punk like you in the first place you little -“

“We’ve seen the bruises. We know his Mom is hurting him.”

Hana stopped breathing for a moment, as the blonde brat’s words hit her. Fuck. If it were any other snot-nosed brat she could have played it off, but everyone knew what was going on at the Uchiha place. That the last Uchiha and the Kyuubi brat were living together and had rescued two of their classmates from abusive homes. It was all anyone had wanted to talk about for weeks. Naruto and Sasuke themselves might not have known what the bruises meant, but there was no way in hell the Haruno girl and the Yamanaka princess wouldn’t have recognized them for exactly what they were. Fuck.

She took a deep breath, about to tell the kid in front of her where to shove it and kick him out of her clinic when a voice popped up in the back of her mind. He’d be safe there. The voice whispered. It’s not like you can protect him at home anyways. Wouldn’t it be better if he wasn’t around Mom anymore.

She shook her head, wanting to deny it, but knowing she couldn’t. Every day the situation with their mom got worse and she couldn’t deny it anymore. Not if other people had noticed too, even if it was just a bunch of kids.

“You,” she sighed, “ You’ll take care of him? Make sure he keeps up with school? That he gets enough to eat?”

Naruto nodded, “Yeah. Sakura and Ino already bully us into doing homework and paying attention in class. And we all make sure everybody eats.”

Though she still had doubts, who wouldn’t, Hana was self-aware enough to realize this might be the best chance her little brother had of getting out and away from home. Shaking her head she headed towards the door. “Mom’s out tonight. She should be gone long enough to pack up some of Kiba’s stuff. You can take it to him. C’mon.”

A couple of hours later Naruto returned to the house, carrying some bags of Kiba’s stuff. Only the light in the living room was on, and when he walked in Sakura was the only one present. She was on the couch, going over one of her newer medical history scrolls. She looked up when he came in and stood up to help him.

“Shikimaru said you were going to talk to Kiba’s sister. I guess it went well?”

“Yeah, Kiba’s gonna be living with us from now on. All of this is his. Is Shikamaru still here?”

“No, he went home not long after you left. Said he didn’t want his mom nagging him for being out late again.”

“I don’t blame him. I’m gonna take this stuff to Kiba’s room. You should get to bed, it’s getting late. We’re not training tonight.”

Sakura nodded and turned to head to her room, on the opposite end of the house, she and Ino were separated from the boys. She stopped in the doorway, and turned back to Naruto. “Are you going to bring Hinata in on all of this?”

Naruto turned to her in mild surprise. “Yeah, she’s next on the list. Why?”

Sakura giggled. “Maybe you should have Shika talk to her. If you tried, she’d just faint.”

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. “Huh?”

“She has a crush on you!” Sakura explained with fond exasperation.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, just thought I would let you know. For a reincarnated Kage you can be pretty oblivious sometimes. Goodnight.” She turned and left.

“Huh.” Naruto shrugged and headed towards Kiba’s room. Now that Sakura pointed it out, Hinata’s tendency to faint every time he looked at her, or spoke to her, which hadn’t been very often, made a lot more sense. “Maybe I will have Shikamaru talk to her.” he muttered to himself.

“Girls are so complicated.”

Kiba’s transition into the household was seamless. He’d already spent so much time with them that the only thing that really changed, was that he didn’t have to go home at night. Of course, it was much more noticeable to the rest of the village, at least, to those who bothered to pay attention.

The designation of that house in the Uchiha compound as a safe place was something that was openly acknowledged by most of Konoha’s shinobi forces. The kids were doing what the law ensured the shinobi could not.

Most people had known about Sakura’s home life. She may have been talented at hiding it, but there was little an Academy student could hide from trained shinobi (If only they knew). But her parents were civilians. Village law forbade shinobi from interfering in civilian domestic disputes unless they were already present when someone’s life was immediately threatened, or they had been approached by the civilian council. When children were involved they were allowed to help if a child came to them directly, but Sakura had never admitted the truth to anyone.

Hinagiku’s treatment of her husband and daughter, and Tsume’s treatment of her son had both been open secrets within the shinobi community. Had they been regular shinobi, their comrades would have intervened immediately. But they were both from established clans. This meant the issues were classified as clan business. It would have been the duty of the Clan Head to handle the issue, and the Hokage as well as any shinobi from outside the clans were forbidden by law from interfering. Unfortunately, Hinagiku and Tsume were both the Heads of their respective clans. No one had been able to do anything.

It was for this reason that the Academy instructors turned a blind eye when Naruto and his friends focused their attention on Hinata Hyuuga, despite her father’s direct orders that Hinata not be aloud to interact with her classmates beyond what was necessary to fulfill coursework requirements. To socialize with anyone outside of the clan beyond what was necessary to perform one’s duties as a shinobi was heavily frowned upon in the Hyuuga clan.

Many people disagreed with the way the Hyuuga clan operated, but with the destruction of the Uchiha, they were now the village’s most prominent clan. There was little anyone could do about it. In the same way, all of the instructors knew, and disapproved, of the way Hiashi raised and treated his daughter, but he was Clan Head. There was nothing they could do.

The children didn’t operate under the same restrictions. They had no knowledge or respect for village laws. They weren’t bound by the sam constraints as their adult counterparts. So the instructors turned a blind eye, and another child found their way to the Uzumaki Home for Abused Children.

Chapter Text

Getting Hinata alone was easy. Convincing her of the plan was equally simple, the shy, quiet girl more than willing to help Naruto achieve his dream however she could. Getting her to move out of her house and away from her abusive father?

Impossible.

Unlike Ino and Kiba, who cared little for their duties as heirs and the clans as a whole, Hinata took her role very seriously. Particularly because her position affected her sister and her cousin. With the massacre of the Uchiha’s, the Hyuuga remained as Konohagakure’s oldest and most prestigious clan. Because of this, the Clan Head, and particularly the Elders, would not simply look the other way if the Heir was to suddenly disappear from the clan only to move in with a bunch of orphans. Said orphans, particularly Naruto and Sasuke, would be charged with kidnapping and possibly even treason, even if Hinata had left of her own violation. It would be seen as an act of war declared against the Hyuuga, and the last thing Hinata wanted was to put anyone she cared about in danger.

While the others wanted to argue with her logic, particularly Ino and Kiba who had escaped their own clans, Sasuke, who had been raised in a clan nearly as strict as the Hyuugas, Shikimaru, who understood the political situation within Konoha better than anyone else his age and was privy to information regarding Konoha’s council because of his father, and Naruto, who had once been a Kage and a Clan Head himself and was intimately familiar with the roles clan laws and traditions played in governing a village, had all been unable to argue against the points she raised.

It was far from an ideal situation. Her position among the Hyuugas made it impossible to separate her from her family. The increased guard on the compound after Cloud’s attempted abduction of Hinata coupled with the Byakugan’s ability to see even in the darkest conditions meant sneaking out of the compound for training was next to impossible, at least without inside help. And getting Hiashi to allow his daughter to spend time outside of the Academy with anyone who wasn’t a Hyuuga? Well you might as well have asked the sun not to set. It just wasn’t going to happen.

But they needed Hinata! Her Byakugan would be invaluable on the journey from Fire Country to Whirlpool, and her gentle, kind manner, even hindered by her shyness and her stutter, as well as her training in the manners and traditions of Nobility would be an even greater asset in creating alliances, and integrating the clans and families that would one day repopulate Uzushio.

The only solution that any of them had managed to come up with, was getting someone within the Hyuuga clan to help them sneak Hinata out of the compound every night for training, and keep an eye on her to insure she was not too badly injured, emotionally and mentally, by her father.

That was the issue they were currently discussing over tea.

Naruto, Shikimaru, Sasuke, and Sakura were seated in the living room. In a parody of their future roles, they had called a sort of council to discuss Hinata’s situation.

Ino and Kiba were absent, having gone shopping. Ino had taken one look at Kiba’s derelict wardrobe and demanded that Sasuke, who was acting as a sort of benefactor for their group using the immense fortune he had inherited as the ‘Last Loyal Uchiha’, hand over enough to purchase a new wardrobe for Kiba. (She had already done this once before for Naruto. Though they still didn’t know why, ‘they’ being everyone but Shikimaru and Naruto, they had realized the terrible treatment their leader received at the hands of the villagers, mostly civilians. Having only been able to buy whatever items the shopkeepers had been willing to sell him, Naruto’s wardrobe had consisted entirely of bright colors and horrifying patterns. Ino had been scandalized and had bullied Sasuke into funding a shopping trip to rectify what she had viewed as a horrible tragedy.)

In Kiba’s case, Sasuke had given in almost immediately, deciding a fight with Ino would not end in his favor.

Shikimaru spoke up, interrupting the contemplative silence they had fallen into.
“The only person I can see being willing to help us would be Hinata’s personal guard. I believe his name is Ko. He’s normally the one who escorts Hinata to and from the Academy and he has looked the other way more than once when Hinata wanted to spend a few extra moments with her classmates. He even looked the other way when Naruto spoke to Hinata. As far as I am aware, he’s the only Hyuuga, besides Hinata herself, who doesn’t see Naruto as the scum of the earth.”

Naruto shook his head. “Whatever his personal feelings, Ko must serve Hiashi directly, and be well trusted, to have been chosen as Hinata’s personal guard. We have no guarantee he won’t go straight to her father.”

“Why would he let her socialize with us then? It goes directly against Hiashi’s orders about Hinata socializing outside of the clan.” Sasuke interrupted, the first time he had spoken since the ‘council’ had started. “Is it at all possible his loyalty is to Hinata herself, and not Hiashi?”

Sakura sighed. “The only way to determine his true loyalties would be to test them, but it could make things even worse for Hinata if we do and it turns out his loyalties lay with her father.”

“It might be a risk we have to take.” Shikimaru interjected. “We need Hinata if our long-term plans are to succeed.”

“Say he is loyal to Hinata and agrees to help us. What happens if he is discovered? Not only would we end up in a full on conflict with the Hyuugas, who knows what would happen to Ko himself? They aren’t known for their kind treatment of branch members on a regular basis. I don’t want to know what they would do to a traitor, particularly one so close to the heir.” Sakura pointed out.

Sasuke spoke up in response. ‘He’s a shinobi. If he chooses to help us, he’ll accept the consequences.”

“You’re willing to put his life at risk when we don’t even know if it’ll work!?”

“Yes.” Sakura whipped around to stare at Naruto in disbelief. Naruto had his arms crossed, staring at his cup on the table but not really seeing it. It was a look they had all come to recognize. A look that meant they were in the presence of the Sandaime Uzukage, and not the boy they lived with. Normally it was impossible o tell the difference, Kaito’s memories integrated with Naruto’s almost seamlessly. But once in a while, in a serious moment like the one they were in now, Kaito would come to the forefront, memories, personality, experience and all.

“I know you don’t like to think about it Sakura, it’s part of what makes you such a promising medic, wanting to save everyone, but you can’t. Above all else, we are Shinobi, and the life of a Shinobi is a life of death. It’s entirely possible nothing bad will happen to Ko, if he even agrees to help us at all, which he hasn’t yet. But you have to accept the possibility that something will. Part of leading a village is accepting that loss is inevitable. No matter how much we may try to, we can’t save everyone.” He sighed, leaning backwards in his seat. “Anyway, this entire conversation is only speculation. We need to determine where exactly Ko’s loyalties lay before we can decide if we should approach him about helping us sneak Hinata out of the compound for training.”

Sakura sunk down in her seat, the fight leaving her at Naruto’s lecture. She didn't want to admit he was right. Sasuke and Shikimaru nodded, agreeing with Naruto’s point. Shikimaru offered to be the one to subtly test Ko’s loyalty. They decided to revisit the issue of removing Hinata from the Hyuuga Compound entirely once they had a way to sneak her out for nightly training sessions.

Shikimaru didn’t get the chance to approach Ko until later in the week. He took that time to observe Ko and his ointeractions with Hinata. Everything he witnessed suggested Ko cared for Hinata on a personal level, and worked for her father solely so he could remain in a position to protect Hinata. In fact, from what Shikimaru observed over the course of the week, Ko was more of a father figure to Hinata than Hiashi, her actual father, was.

He approached the man while Hinata was attending her Kunoichi only class, discussing common medicinal herbs. It meant they were outside, in the woods, a much easier place for Shikimaru to have the conversation that he wanted than it would have been in town.

He didn't even try and sneak up on the man. Ko watched him approach, his expression emotionless.

“You’re Hinata’s bodyguard, right?”

“That is no concern of yours.” Ko replied blandly.

“As her guard, you’re supposed to look out for her and her best interests, right? You obviously care about her, or you wouldn’t let her spend extra time with her friends when her dad gave orders against it.”

Ko stared at Shikimaru, eyes narrowed. “You’re the Nara boy.”

“ From my observations it would seem you care more for Hinata personally than for her position in the clan or for her father’s orders.”

“You’re clans intellect has not been exaggerated. What do you want child?”

“To help Hinata.” Shikimaru admitted honestly.

Ko shook his head. “I would like to see Lady Hinata happy, but there is no way to remove her from the compound. She cannot join you and the others at the Uchiha place.”

“I know.” Shikimaru’s blunt answer seemed to surprise Ko for a moment before he schooled his features.

“Then what exactly do you have in mind?”

Shikimaru sighed. “Troublesome. We train.”

Ko waited for the boy to continue, but when he didn’t, he raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean you train?”

“At night. The compound has private training grounds. We use them at night. If Hinata joined us, it would boost her confidence, as well as her physical performance. We might not be able to help her with any clan techniques but -“

“No.” Ko interrupted. For a split second, Shikimaru feared he had gone to far, that he had misjudged the situation. Ko’s next words relieved him of that fear. “The less I know, the less of a security risk I am. You honestly believe you can help Lady Hinata improve herself, gain back the confidence her father has driven out of her?”

“Yes.”

Ko nodded. “Then I will do what I can to ensure she attends these training sessions. It would be best if I remain unaware of the location of these training grounds. Is there a midway point where we may meet so I may pass Lady Hinata into your care?”

“My clans land is almost exactly halfway between the Hyuuga and Uchiha compounds. I can meet you at the entrance. We won’t be in view of my clan housing, and few people get close to the Nara woods, particularly at night. Meet me there at midnight.”

Ko nodded in agreement. “Very well. I shall speak with Lady Hinata this evening.”

Later that evening, Ko approached Hinata after dinner.

“Forgive me Lady Hinata. I have a matter I must discuss with you.”

Hinata, fearing he had another order form her father, stuttered out her timid reply. “Y-yes Ko-san.” He followed her into her room, using his Byakugan after closing the door to ensure no one was close enough to listen in.

“I spoke with your classmate this afternoon, the Nara boy. He asked for my help in sneaking you out of the compound.”

“Ko!”

“Not for good!” Ko insisted, attempting to calm her down. “He spoke of training sessions, ones that he and the residence of the Uchiha compound participate in at night. He wanted my help in sneaking you out so you may participate as well. He seemed to believe that these sessions could truly be of help to you. I know wished to spend more time with your classmates. Perhaps time away from your Father and Cousin, training with others outside of the clan, will be beneficial to you.”

Hinata covered her mouth with her hands, eyes widened by surprise and disbelief. When Ko finished speaking she shook her head, reaching out and touching his arm.
“Ko-san, I do not want you to endanger yourself for my sake.”

Ko simply smiled at her. “I appreciate your concern My Lady, but my greatest priority is your happiness and well-being. I truly believe these friends of yours have only your best interests at heart. We are to meet the Nara boy at midnight, so it would be wise for you to rest now.” He reached out and placed a hand on her head, his smile gentle and caring. “I may only be a branch member within the clan, but I am also a Shinobi of Konoha. I will not come to harm so easily. You must have faith in me, My Lady.”

Ko left the room, and Hinata was left with a warm feeling in her heart. She smiled to herself as she got ready for bed. It was nice to know that Ko, at least, loved her, even if he would never outright say so.

He came for her in the middle of the night, waking her gently and helping her dress, providing her with a bag of training equipment as they slipped quietly out of her room. He picked her up, caring her quickly and silently through the compound, only setting her down once they were off Hyuuga land. The walk to the Nara land was silent, filled with apprehension.

When they reached the meeting spot, Shikimaru slipped out from his hiding spot within the shadows of the trees. Ko acknowledged him with a nod before turning to Hinata. “I will meet you here in four hours My Lady. I apologize that that is the longest amount of time I can give you.”

Hinata smiled and nodded. “I understand. thank you Ko-san.”

Ko nodded once before disappearing, taking the rooftops back to the compound. Shikimaru gestured to Hinata, smiling wryly. “We should get going, since you’ve got a curfew.”

“Yes.” Hinata agreed softly, following him towards the Uchiha compound. When they reached it, Shikimaru led her towards the far end, where the Uchiha had built their private training grounds. The others were there already. Kiba, Ino and Sakura were stretching, while Naruto and Sasuke were speaking softly off to the side. Hinata barely managed to stifle a gasp at the sight of the seal on Sasuke temples, curling lines of black, red,and purple ink intertwining like chains to reach his eyes.

Naruto looked up at their approach, his smile widening when he saw her with Shikimaru.
“Hinata! You made it!”

“H-hello N-n-naruto-kun.” She managed to stutter out, feeling her whole face turn bright red.

“I’m glad you could make it.” He said. He gestured to the others. “I want to get an idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are so I have an idea on where to start you. Is that alright?”

Hinata took a deep breath to settle herself. You wanted this. She reminded herself. You wanted to help them. You wanted to get stronger. You can trust them. You can trust him.
“Yes.” She nodded, her voice unwavering. This was a choice she had made for herself. She was going to see it through to the end. No matter what.

“Great.” Naruto responded, his grin turning slightly more feral than it had been. “Lets get started then.”

Chapter Text

They weren’t able to remove Hinata from her family. She continued to join them at their late night training sessions, escorted by Ko, but those few hours every night were all she had with her friends.(She also learned on one of those nights why Sasuke had seals on his eyes, and that Naruto covered the with a nearly untraceable Genjutsu when they were in school, which is why she had never seen them before. She wondered if one day, Naruto might be able to undo the Caged Bird Seal). She cherished the time she had with them, as they, along with Ko, had become her solace. She found safety and courage in their friendship and their willingness to help her. It gave her the strength to face her Father and her Cousin Neji every day.

While the group continued to ponder on how they were going to get Hinata out of the Hyuuga compound, a feat they were beginning to suspect would be impossible, they also began creating a way to approach Choji and Shino, the last two members of the group.

They never got the chance to put any of their plans into action.

Not quite a week after Hinata began training with them, Choji’s mother arrived at the Uchiha compound, carrying her son, early in the morning, just after dawn.

( “Please!” She begged Naruto, standing in the doorway in her pajamas, looking panicked and harried, clutching her unconscious son to her chest. “ You’ve helped so many others. Inoichi told me you took in his daughter. Everyone knows you help children from bad homes. Please, take my son in like you have the others. Please!”)

Naruto brought her inside, calling the others into the living room. He instructed Sakura to show them to one of the empty rooms, and quietly instructed her to examine Choji as well as she was able. He’d seen some bruising on the other boy, Choji’s shirt had ridden up when his mother had shifted him as she walked in.

Once Choji was settled, still unconscious, Naruto escorted his mother back into the living room, sitting her down as Ino poured her a cup of tea.

( “Tell me what happened.” Naruto insisted, as the woman sipped her tea.

“I’m a civilian, you know.” She started, surprising them. “ Even as wife of the Clan Head, my civilian status means I don’t have a lot of pull in the Clan. Certainly not enough to go against my husband. His word is law, and I have to obey it. Even when it means my son is hurt.” She reached out then, grasping Naruto’s hand, a pleading look in her eyes. “You have to understand, I did whatever I could to keep my little boy safe.” Desperation in her voice, she begged them to understand. “ I know I couldn’t stop all of it, that no matter what I tried, Choji was still getting hurt. But this time,” her voice cracked on a sob, ‘this time Choza has gone too far.”

She broke down then, unable to contain the sobs that ripped from her throat.)

While Ino, along with a reluctant Sasuke and an awkward Kiba, consoled her, Naruto went to see Sakura, to find out how Choji was doing, and what exactly Choza had done to him.

Sakura was laying a blanket over the still unconscious Choji when he walked in.

( “How is he?” Naruto asked quietly, concerned lacing his voice.

Sakura shook her head, her eyes haunted and her face ashen. “It- I’m no expert, I’m still just a novice when it comes to medicine, but-“

“What?”

Sakura took a deep breath, steeling herself. “Choji was raped.”

Naruto froze, the air in his lungs felt as if it had turned to lead. “You’re sure?” He barely managed to choke out.

Sakura nodded, tears gathering in her eyes. “Yes. There’s blood on his thighs, and tearing-“ She stopped herself, realizing she had started to slip into the detached mindset all nurses and doctors possessed when discussing patients. “Anyway, there are also hand-shaped bruises on his hips. Judging from the size, I’d say he was raped by a grown man.”

“His father.” Naruto whispered. The words of Choji’s mother made so much more sense now.

“Oh god!” Sakura choked, hearing Naruto’s whispered words. Naruto wouldn’t make an accusation like that lightly, so she could only assume he knew something she didn’t, but-“It wasn’t the first time.”

Naruto looked up at her sharply, his gaze having fallen to the floor during his revelation. “What do you mean!?”

Sakura put a hand to her chest, fighting back tears. “The bruises, they were fresh ones, only a few hours old, but underneath them…underneath them were others. Some looked to be a few days old, others were almost healed, meaning they had to be at least a few weeks old if not more.” The idea that Choji’s father could have been raping him for weeks if not months, was enough to make her sick, and it took everything she had not to vomit.)

Naruto returned to the living room and informed the woman that she could go in to say goodbye to Choji, though he still had yet to wake up. When she left the room, he informed the others about what Sakura had discovered, and watched as they came to the same conclusions he had.

Ino was horrified. Sure her mother had made her believe her father had molested her before, but it had never actually happened and she had always known the memories were fake. How could anyone actually go so far as to do that to their own child!

Sasuke and Kiba were both repulsed and furious. Naruto had to actually restrain Sasuke from marching over to the Akimichi house and murdering Choza. He managed to calm them both down in time for Choji’s mother to come back in the room. She thanked them all profusely, and even hugged Naruto and Ino (Kiba and Sasuke dodging out of they way), before she left, insisting she had to get back before Choza woke up and found both her and Choji gone.

Choji didn’t wake up until late that afternoon. By then Shikamaru had joined them, and finding out the truth about what had been happening to his best friend had not only made him physically sick, it had sent him into a full on melt down. None of them had seen Shikamaru truly angry until that moment. They saw a glimpse of what he could be, of the cold-blooded calculating mindset that made all Nara such fantastic ANBU. There had been a bloodlust in his eyes that even Sasuke’s thirst for revenge had paled against. Only Choji waking up had prevented Shikamaru from giving in to his homicidal rage.

Choji woke up in a panic, which was only to be expected. Thankfully Sakura, who had been keeping an eye on him, was able to calm him down long enough to explain. Unfortunately, the realization that his friends now knew of his shame had sent him into another panic attack. Shikamaru was the one to talk him down, comforting him as best he could when Choji broke down into sobs.

It took several days for Choji to begin to feel comfortable around the house, and around them. He stuck to Shikamaru like glue and he still refused to go outside. The others had taken to bringing both of them their work from school, and Hinata had been bringing jars of a homemade bruise cream that she had learned how to make from some of the branch members. It was meant to be used on bruises gained from sparring, but she insisted it wold work on any bruises.

Choji’s appearance at their door wasn’t the only surprise they received that week. Less than 48 hours after Choji joined the house, Shino appeared on their doorstep with his cousin Torune.

( “Many shinobi in the village speak of the haven you and the Uchiha boy have created hear.” Torune said to Naruto in that odd, nearly monotone way of speaking that all the Aburame used. He and Naruto remained outside, while Shino had been escorted inside by Kiba to join the others for lunch.

“I didn’t think the Aburame would pay much attention to the gossip. You guys don’t socialize in the village much.” Naruto admitted, honestly surprised and confused by Torune’s purpose for bringing Shino to them.

“This is true.” Torune admitted. “Why? Because my clan prizes our connection to our hives over human interaction. But I have come to ask a favor of you and the Uchiha boy, and offer my services as an ANBU in exchange. Why? For the sake of my cousin of course.”

Naruto’s eyebrows raised in surprise, the only change in his expression. “I think you’re gonna have to explain what you mean by that. Let me get Sasuke and you can tell us what’s going on.”)

Naruto went inside and grabbed Sasuke from the dining room. The two of them brought Torune into the garden, and all three sat down to talk, Naruto and Sasuke beside one another, facing the Aburame.

( “I am my clan’s heir.” Torune told them. “I also posses a unique skill with poisons that has gained me a place in the ANBU. Danzo Shimura approached my father recently and offered me a place in his elite ANBU organization. I believe he calls it ROOT. My father has accepted on my behalf as I am still technically a minor, having graduated the Academy after only one year and moving straight into the ANBU ranks. I cannot refuse the position, the clan will not allow it.”

“Hn. I don’t see what this has to do with us, or Shino.” Sasuke interrupt, getting impatient. Naruto rolled his eyes and gestured for Torune to continue.

Torune nodded at the blonde. “As I am an only child, Shino, as the son of my Father’s Brother will become the heir in my place. I do not wish for this to occur. Why? Because the clan already treats him as if he were less than human. I do not wish to see what will become of my cousin were he to be given the duties of an heir as well.”

“What do you mean the clan treats him as less than human?” Naruto questioned.

Torune sighed deeply. “It is against clan laws for a member to marry outside of the clan. Shino’s father, my Uncle, broke this law when he married Shino’s mother, who was a civilian. Occasional the clan marriage law will be excused for the purpose of political alliances with other clans, or to widen the gene pool when defects begin to occur in the children from the amount of inbreeding, but even under such circumstances, a member of the clan is still forbidden from marrying a civilian. This is because of our Kikaichu.” Torune explained, gesturing to the handful of beetles that were crawling across his jacket. “Children with even one civilian parent have a much harder time accepting a colony into their bodies and adapting to the presence of the Kikaichu. For a full-blooded Aburame the process takes two to three months at the most. For a half-blood such as Shino, the process takes nearly a year, and the colonies are never as large or as powerful as the colonies of the full-blooded clan members.”

“So Shino took longer to accept the bugs in his skin and he doesn’t have as many of them?” Naruto tried to make sense of Torune’s explanation.

“Yes.” Torune nodded again. “My Uncle was almost disowned from the clan for his marriage. He would have had his colony removed and been banned from our lands. My Grandfather passed away before a decision could be reached and my Father became the Clan Head. He chose to ignore clan law and not only allow Uncle to remain an Aburame, but to accept his wife as one of our own as well. Uncle was stripped of his power within the clan as the Second Son of the previous Head, and Brother to the current, so that he has no say in clan politics or major decisions any longer, as he is no longer on the clan council. This was his only punishment.”

Torune took a deep breath, his entire body tensing, the only sign his emotions were getting the better of him. “Unfortunately the same can no be said for his son. Shino bears the shame of being a half-breed, in the eyes of the clan. He is forbidden from socializing with any of the clan members besides his parents and myself. I am only allowed to socialize with him because I have abused my power as heir in order to do so. I thought this was the only action being taken against him, and did my best to alleviate the alienation as best I could.” He stopped for a moment, hands curling into fists on his lap. When he spoke again, the anger was clear in his voice. “I learned only a few months ago that it is much worse. I cannot say what has been done to him, I do not know the whole of it, and what I do know is a clan matter that I shall deal with personally. But Shino is not safe with our clan. I do not believe he ever was.”

Torune bowed to them both suddenly, surprising them. “That is why I have come to beg of you to take in my cousin. I humbly ask that you accept him. In return I offer my services as an ANBU to you, should they be needed, as well as a warning that you have captured Danzo’s interest with your recent actions. I may not be able to do much against the man himself, particularly after I join ROOT, but I can provide information so you may avoid him for now.”

Naruto and Sasuke shared a single look before turning back to the Aburame.

“Of course we will look out for Shino.He’s a classmate and a friend.”)

Torune thanked them once more as they returned to the house, before saying his goodbyes to Shino and leaving the compound.

Shino, like Choji, took time to adjust to the new living situation. Originally they were afraid his arrival would cause a set back in Choji’s recovery, but the Akimichi was glad to have him there. Not only did it mean another child had been removed from a bad home, but some of the focus had been removed from Choji and he was no longer in the spotlight, so to speak. Something he was extremely grateful for.

As several weeks passed, Choji continued to improve and Shino slowly began to socialize more with the group, though they still had yet to figure out what had actually happened to him, which meant they were tiptoeing around him, afraid of upsetting him or causing an anxiety or panic attack (The only ones who didn’t have them were Sasuke and Naruto, but they suffered from terrible nightmares worse than anyone else in the group.).

Surprisingly, or perhaps not considering how observant the Hyuuga were, Hinata was the first to put the pieces together, though she only saw Shino during class and for a couple of hours every night. She saw it in the subtle ways he would tense if the room was just a little too crowded or just a little too small. It was in the way he never spoke unless prompted, and the slightest flinch beneath the glasses whenever he voiced an opinion. She saw it in the ways he avoided darkness at all costs, turning on lights in a room even if there was plenty of sunlight to see by already, or how he never strayed far from one of the street lights when they trained at night.

( “I think they kept him severely isolated.” She admitted to the group on night. Her eyes were on Shino, who was following the flight of a moth around one of the street lights, so she missed the looks of surprise on the faces of everyone else. “ He’s afraid of small spaces and large numbers of people. He probably had little to no human interaction and was kept in a small room. He’s terrified of the dark, so the room was more than likely windowless and insufficiently lighted. He doesn’t talk unless directly prompted to so they probably forced to stay quiet. The ‘Speak only when Spoken too’ rule.” She theorized, the others watching her in amazement. It was the most she had talked at once before, and she had yet to stutter. “ He flinches when he gives an opinion on anything too, so they probably beat him if he tried to voice his own thoughts on anything, even if he was answering a direct question. They were probably trying to make up for him not being a full-blooded Aburame by getting him to behave in what they saw as a perfect manner, but I doubt it was enough for them.”

“Who are ‘they’? His clan?” Ino asked, the first to break the silence of the group in the wake of Hinata’s little speech. She assumed it would be the clan at large, as extra punishment for Shino’s dad breaking the laws to marry a civilian.

Hinata shook her head, returning to the thermos of tea she had been drinking (They had taken a break in the middle of training). “His parents.”)

This declaration was met only with stunned silence. Before anyone could respond, Shino returned to the group, and the topic of conversation was quickly changed.

After that night, they didn’t tread quite so carefully around the bug-boy, though they were careful to give him enough space that he would be comfortable (but not so much he would feel unwelcome or unwanted). They were also careful to keep the house as bright and open as possible, and made sure the lights were always on in the hallways t night. They tried getting Shino to open up more, involving him in conversations, but the ones who had the most luck were Kiba and Hinata.

Kiba’s naturally affection nature meant he showed his care and love for his friends through physical expression. He thought nothing of slinging his arm over a shoulder or leaning into someone. His unconscious instinct to touch the people around him soothed Shino’s craving for human contact and the physical affection that had been missing from his live thus far.

Hinata’s gentle nature and quiet voice had a soothing affect on the people around her. She had a calming presence that easily soothed tempers and made people want to trust her. Her quiet understanding and her soft-hearted kindness encouraged Shino to open up to her, knowing she would never judge or berate him.

In just a few short weeks since his arrival, the three had formed a friendship as strong as the bond between Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who had taken to calling each other family.

Sitting at the table one morning for breakfast, Naruto saw it. The lines came together, the picture came into focus. He had heard the Academy instructors comment on how He , Sakura, and Sasuke acted like a Gennin team, but he hadn’t paid much mind to it. Not he could see it. Not just in the three of them either.

With their newfound closeness and their unique abilities, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino had the makings of a tracking squad. Between Hinata’s eyes, Kiba’s nose, and Shino’s bugs, no one would be able to hide from them for long.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji had already had the makings of the next InoShikaCho formation. They had been raised knowing they would end up on a team together. It had been that way since nearly the beginning of the village. The recent events that had brought Ino and Choji to the Uchiha compound had simply brought the three of them closer together. They had a bond that nothing could break.

We have a year and a half until graduation. Naruto thought to himself as he studied his friends, the people who had become his family. More than enough time to make sure they end up on teams together. I should start sussing out the Jounnin to see who would make the best team leaders. Sasuke should have a better grasp on his chakra by then, I’ll probably be able to remove the seals on his Sharingan. I wonder if I can convince the old man to put Kakashi of the Sharingan down as an instructor.

Chapter Text

The next two years passed quietly for the members of the newly dubbed Rookie Nine.

(The Academy instructors and those among the active Shinobi who bothered to pay any attention to the students who would one day join their ranks held high hopes for the group of Nine students who appeared the most promising out of their year.)

Everybody except Hinata and Shikamaru lived in the compound. Sasuke had offered them all their own houses, he was getting better at socializing but he was always going to hate people, but they had all refused to move. They all enjoyed living together, even if they didn’t always get along.

They trained at night, as individuals and in groups, and when they weren’t in school, they often split into smaller groups to study on their own during the day. While Hinata spent the least amount of time with them, unable to be away from the Hyuuga compound for long, she spent her free time in the Hyuuga library, studying diplomacy as well as political and commercial law. She had been told by Naruto that it would be her job, along with Shikamaru and Naruto himself, to develop treaties, alliances, and trade agreements between Uzushio and its neighbors as the village was being rebuilt, and perhaps even after it had been fully reestablished.

Sakura all but lived at the hospital, studying civilian and shinobi medicine under the doctors and nurses, even getting the chance to sit in on some of the minor surgeries and procedures. While she was sure there would be opportunities to learn different styles of medicine as they traveled to the Land of Whirlpool, she wanted to absorb as much as she could before they left, so she could handle any emergencies that occurred on the journey.

Sasuke, Ino, and Shikamaru had all taken to hanging out around T&I headquarters in the afternoons, trying to absorb as much information as they could without getting in the way, and Shikamaru had also taken to shadowing his dad on the days he didn’t have school, learning the ins and outs of being a Kage’s advisor.

(If his dad found it strange, he never said. Shikaku put it down to Naruto’s influence. He remembered well Minato’s innate ability to motivate the people around him, push them to be their best without ever saying a word. It was no stretch of the imagination to think his son could do the same.)

Shino, Kiba, and Choji had taken to haunting the Jounnin Standby Center and the Missions Desk, observing the jounnin and occasionally getting one of them to offer a piece of advice or a training technique. They spent the time learning the bureaucratic side of shinobi life, the routines, red tape, and paperwork that came with the job.

Naruto spent most of his time catching up. A lot had changed in the thirty-almost forty- years since Kaito died, legally, politically, and geographically. Countries and borders had changed, new political leaders had taken power, and laws had been removed, rewritten, or put in place. Most of his time was divided between catching up on all that had changed and keeping an eye on anyone who stood a chance at ruining their plans, like Danzo.

The time that wasn’t spent on either of those, or on training, was spent annoying the hell out of one Kakashi Hatake.

Now, Naruto knew all about Kakashi’s Tragic Past*, (Thanks to his frequent jaunts through Anbu headquarters, which Shikimaru absolutely did not need to know anything about ever. And he was in no way frightened by his own subordinates, at all, really.) He knew getting the Copycat Ninja to agree to teach a Gennin team was next to impossible without some serious groundwork. So he started following him around. Played up the hyperactive orphan looking for attention and played on the civilian villager’s fear of the Kyuubi.

         (Yeah, he knows about the Kyuubi. Fun conversation, that was not. Mostly for the others. Kaito had known Mito-sama, and had approved Kushina as her replacement. He knew the risks and responsibilities of a Jinchuuriki from an objective viewpoint. Trying to explain this to the others though, had not gone over well. The screeching from the girls had left him partially deaf for days. Thankfully their anger had been directed more towards the village than Naruto.)

Eventually, Naruto had managed to wear him down. Even the infamous Hatake cool was no match for the equally infamous Uzumaki stubbornness.

What Naruto hadn’t quite yet realized, despite knowing his dad this time around had been the Fourth Hokage, and knowing Kakashi had been his dad’s student, was that he had not, in fact, “worn through his defenses”. Kakashi, in his infinite cycle of self-loathing and self-imposed masochism, had deliberately allowed Naruto, in whom Kakashi had seen remnants of both Minato and Kushina, to see past the public persona of the Lazy Pervert he had intentionally adopted to prevent people from viewing him as anything more than an annoying colleague. Naruto was now one of only a handful of people who had access to the slightly less public, but no less intentional, persona of the Gifted But Damaged shinobi, which he used mostly to pass the psych evaluations mandatory for all Jounnin and ANBU, and around the view fellow Leaf shinobi he regarded as friends who had known him long enough that the could not be fooled by the public persona he had adopted after leaving ANBU.

          (This was done more out of a sense of guilt on Kakashi’s part, for not taking more of an interest in the son of his former sensei, than anything Naruto had actually done.)

What this meant was that Kakashi could often be seen with an orange shadow, at least when Naruto wasn’t off playing Catch Up with the current Political Theatre. He taught Naruto the basics and what Gennin skills he thought he could get away with teaching the boy without the Third yelling at him (of which Naruto made it a point to practice where Kakashi could see him, in the hopes that Kakashi would attribute Naruto’s “quick” mastery of the skills to being Minato’s son).

It also meant he ate more ramen than he was comfortable with, and learned more about Naruto’s unique living situation. Naruto ( as part of the public persona he had created) tended to brag and complain in equal measures. He made sure that, in the course of doing so, he mentioned Sasuke accessing “secret family scrolls”, and regularly straining himself trying to learn “advanced” techniques unique to the Uchiha, despite not having developed his Sharingan yet.

      ( And really, the fact that no one had noticed the seals around Sasuke’s eyes, or even the henge hiding them, just gave Naruto second-hand embarrassment on behalf of the entire village.)

After one such “session” landed Sasuke in the hospital with chakra exhaustion and severe eye strain, supposedly from trying to force the Sharingan into activation, (in reality it had all been carefully planned by Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura) Kakashi had gone to the Third and personally requested to be made a Jounnin-sensei for the upcoming Academy Graduation Exams and that he be allowed to teach whichever team Sasuke ended up on, as he was afraid the boy would seriously injure, if not outright kill himself trying to master his Kekkei Genkai, and as a recipient of, as well as the only other person in the village in possession of, a Sharingan, he would be the only one capable of training Sasuke.

Considering the seriousness of the consequences, the Third agreed rather quickly.

Knowing this,(seriously, the Hokage needed a major security upgrade, getting passed his ANBU was way too easy) and already having determined what the teams should look like based on their grades at the Academy, Naruto managed to purposefully pass the exam with the lowest grade possible. This secured his position as the classes Dead Last, and would ensure he ended up on the Same team as Sasuke (the class’ top student) and Sakura (tied with Ino for Top Kunoichi and the only graduating Kunoichi who wasn’t a clan heir) to create a balanced squad (at least on paper).

Though he hadn’t been certain who the others would end up with as their instructors, in all honesty, it hadn’t really mattered. The only reason Naruto had been so adamant about getting Kakashi to train Sasuke, was because of the lack of information surrounding the Sharingan. Oh sure, there was plenty of general information out there, it was an occular Kekkei Genkai, it was Genjutsu-based, it had various forms. And Naruto, thanks to his memories as Kaito, knew a bit more about it’s capabilities, but he didn’t actually know how to train someone in using it.

The Uchiha had been incredible tight-lipped about their clan’s special ability, even more so than the Hyuuga were about the Byakugan, which was saying something. Only someone who possessed, and was capable of using, a Sharingan, would be able to train someone else in it. Currently, Kakashi was the only person who fit that description (Itachi doesn’t count. Mass-murdering Traitors never count.) It was imperative that Sasuke receive as much training in his Kekkei Genkai as possible before the left Konoha or it would become a glaring weakness that would only put the group, the mission, and most importantly, Sasuke at risk.

However, what had mattered, in reference to the others, was who ended up on which squad. Naruto had hoped the village would continue the tradition of the InoShikaCho formation (which they had) and had also hoped they would recognize the potential for a spectacular Tracking Squad in the combination of Kiba, Hinata, and Shino (which they had). As far as he was concerned, team placements were the only thing the chain of command had done right, as far as his graduating class was concerned.

     (He didn’t blame Iruka in the slightest. The poor man had always strived to do his best by his students. Unfortunately, the Chunnin had little control over the rest of Konoha’s shinobi, particularly in regards to his superiors. There was little outside of his classroom that Iruka had actually been able to do for the sake of his students. Not that he hadn’t tried, it just hadn’t done a whole lot of good.)

Team introductions went quickly, with Kakashi volunteering nothing more than his name, and the three new Gennin revealing information he already knew. Everyone knew it was Naruto’s dream to be the next Hokage, and learning that his favorite color was orange, and that he preferred miso ramen was no real surprise. Learning that Sakura was interested in medicine was no real shock either, though it was surprising to hear the pink-haired girl declare it was her dream to surpass Tsunade of the Sannin. Sasuke, as usual, refused to say anything at all. Though the glare he directed at his new sensei made it very clear he thought the whole process to be a pointless waste of time.

The next morning, knowing Kakashi’s habit of being several hours late to just about everything, the trio ate a fairly standard breakfast before heading out to the bridge. Instead of simply waiting for Kakashi to appear, they took the initiative and chose to practice water walking and the Academy style taijutsu. When Kakashi did appear, three hours after the time he had told them to be at the bridge, he explained the nature of the bell test, as well as the consequences should they fail.

He was expecting some level of cooperation from the three, the did live together after all. He just wasn’t prepared for the level of cooperation that he got.

The three moved as one, like a seasoned team. Sakura punched the ground, causing the training ground to shake and a small crater to appear. (It was incredibly reminiscent of Tsunade. A few more years of training and building her reserves, and he wouldn’t at all be surprised if she surpassed the Slug Sannin as far as physical strength went.)

Sasuke used the distraction of Sakura’s unexpected strength to cast a subtle genjutsu, just strong enough to throw off Kakashi’s perception of their location (it would be too suspicious if three Gennin could complete mask their chakra signatures and physical presence from an accomplished Jounnin and former ANBU like Kakashi), but not strong enough to be detected unless kakashi decided to use his Sharingan. It wouldn’t do much, simply cause him to believe they were a few inches off their actual locations, but it would be enough to give them an edge.

Naruto signaled to the other two, using a mock version of the ANBU hand signals that they had developed for team and stealth training, directing them to either side of the Copycat Nin while he prepared a seal tag.

Sasuke launched a low-level fire jutsu at Kakashi, which the older man dodged by jumping backwards. Almost immediately he was lunging sideways to avoid the needles thrown by Sakura from his other side. A moment later three Naruto shadow clones, of much better quality than he had shown during the graduation test, attacked from the trees, driving him back towards Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura used kunai to spread a web of chakra-conducting wire around the area, which Sasuke then lit on fire with a modified version of the Fireball Jutsu, effectively trapping Kakashi in a web of fire.

Recognizing there was no way out of the web from above, Kakashi dove underground, using an earth jutsu to dig beneath the web, popping out on the other side. Unfortunately, this put him directly in front of Naruto, who abandoned his hiding spot in the brush to slap the seal tag onto the silver-haired Jounnin, activating it with a flick of his fingers and a flair of his chakra.

The seal was a fairly basic one, meant to heighten the senses of whomever it was used on. It was one of the base seals taught in the Uzushio Academy, and one of the few that could be found in the Konoha shinobi library, with a full description of how to create and use the seal. Considering how much time Naruto had spent in that building prior to graduation, the only thing about him knowing the seal that should surprise his Sensei is his ability to successfully activate it.

Kakashi, unprepared for the onslaught of information provided by his now heightened-to-the-tenth-degree senses, lost several seconds adjusting. Time Naruto used to swipe the bells and shunshin to his teammates on the other side of the clearing. Kakashi regained control of his senses in time to see Naruto hand a bell to each of the other two and share a high-five with Sakura while Sasuke smirked.

Kakashi shook his head as he removed the seal tag from his hip. “Well, at least your teamwork won’t be an issue.” He stated as he approached the Gennin. “I feel like I should be suspicious of how you pulled that off, especially you Naruto, given your Academy scores. However, I have the feeling your low scores were actually deliberate.” Though he said it as a statement, the lone raised eyebrow asked for an explanation.

Naruto shrugged sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, grinning. “By the time I actually learned how to do most of the Academy stuff, my grades were so bad it didn’t really matter anyway. That and I really wanted to be on the same squad as Sasuke, but since he was top of the class I figured that would only happen if I stayed dead last.”

“Hmm.” Kakashi appeared to take the explanation at face value, but they would have to be careful. Kakashi Hatake wasn’t considered a genius and a prodigy for nothing. If anyone could figure out even a fraction of what they were planning, it would be him. And they did genuinely need him to train them, particularly Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto might have once been a Kage, but that didn’t mean he knew everything. Kaito’s fighting style had relied heavily on Suiton ninjutsu and Fuuinjutsu. He had also been proficient in the standard Uzushio Taijutsu Style, but had by no means been a master, and had used a naginata as his weapon of choice. While he had been able to train the others in the basics of taijutsu, based on the Uzushio style, help them discover their chakra types, improve their stamina and endurance, as well as their situational awareness and ability to lie effectively, he really couldn’t train them much, as far as jutsu and weaponry were concerned anyway. He had to learn Futon himself from scratch, the only other Suiton affiliated member of the group was Hinata (That had been a surprise, as most, if not all, Hyuuga typically had Doton as their primary chakra type.), and no one else had expressed any interest or talent in learning to wield a naginata. The most he could do, in terms of individual, specialized training was encourage the others to pursue their interests.

So the specialized training the Gennin would receive was vital in terms of building and improving upon individual abilities.

“I suppose I’ll have to revise my original training schedule, seeing as I no longer need to account for getting the three of you to cooperate with each other on an acceptable level. Considering the practice you had earlier on the bridge I assume you’ve been sharing everything I showed you before the exam, so that cuts down on the first few weeks of my original schedule. Go home, relax for the rest of the day. I will try to get you started on D-ranks this week.” Kakashi waved them away, pulling his Icha Icha book out of the breast pocket of his vest. As the three Gennin turned to leave, kakashi tossed a third bell at Naruto, who caught it before it could hit him on the head. “And keep the bells. Proof you passed.”

 They kept the bells, placing them in a box in Naruto's office. He would take them when they left, a reminder of the village to which they had been born, and a tie to Naruto's family from this life. Besides, the test of teamwork was a good one. There was no reason they couldn't use it with future Uzushio Gennin.

The weeks passed quickly after that. They began D-rank missions three days after passing the bell test. Kakashi revised his training schedule, focusing more on improving each Gennin’s individual abilities, while ensuring the maintained the level of teamwork they had shown that first day.

Each of them had fallen naturally into established roles, something Kakashi had never seen in a Gennin team before. Naruto as quite clearly the squad leader, the other two responding almost instinctively to his commands. Naruto displayed a natural talent for planning on the fly, which was extremely useful in combat,though if you asked him to sit down and draw out a battle plan (which Kakashi had actually done) he was ridiculously hopeless at it. (To be fair, Naruto had never been the greatest strategist, and neither had Kaito. That’s what advisors were for, and why Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru did most of the groups planning.) He was also the team’s primary Ninjutsu user. Sakura fell naturally into the role of the team’s Taijutsu user and Medic, as well as the squad’s strategist (a role she was, by then, intimately familiar with). Sasuke took his place as the team’s primary Genjutsu user and information specialist (a role he was uniquely qualified for).

The roles typically only appeared during team training, as the D-rank missions rarely called for the use of the established roles. (Except for retrieving Tora. He was the only exception. Every Konoha shinobi swore up and down the cat was immortal and unnaturally intelligent, if not downright demonic, and after having had to track the beast down and return him to his owner, Team 7 was willing to admit the older shinobi might be right.)

The other six faced similar situations and training, though perhaps not as intensely as Team 7. Naruto had cancelled their nightly training sessions, insisting they all focus on improving their individual abilities and focus on their specialties. That wasn’t to say the didn’t still spend time together. Seven of the nine stilled lived in the same house. Hiashi had less control over Hinata’s actions during her free time, now that she was a Gennin, and therefore technically an adult in the eyes of Konoha’s laws. She still lived at home, her reasons for not leaving the compound hadn’t changed, but her father could no longer control what she did when she wasn’t on missions or training with her team, so she was actually able to spend more time with her friends than she had been before graduation.

Shikamaru still spent a lot of his time with the other Rookie Nine, but he had taken to spending more time with his parents. The plan was for them to slip out of the village during the Chunnin Exams, which Konoha would be hosting for the first time in several years. While that was still several months away, Shikamaru knew it would arrive sooner than he thought, with how quickly time passed now that he was so busy with missions and training. He didn’t regret his decision to help Naruto, and he knew he would see his parents again eventually, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t miss them. And of the Rookie Nine, he was the only one who actually had a normal, healthy relationship with his parents, so even though he would never admit to it, the idea of leaving them behind was more difficult for him than it was for the others. The only one who could claim the same was Hinata who, while she wouldn’t truly miss her father or most of the clan, dearly loved her younger sister, and truly worried about leaving Hanabi behind.

But for the others, little actually changed. At least, little changed until Team 7 received their first C-rank mission, about six weeks after making Gennin.

The bridge builder made Naruto’s metaphorical hackles rise almost immediately. He couldn’t put his finger on what, exactly, was wrong but he didn’t like it. He said as much to his teammates, who, having long since learned to trust their leader’s instincts, remained on high alert from the moment they walked through the village gates. Naruto knew the situation in Wave was bad, the country was incredible poor, the trade was almost nonexistent, and the government was beyond corrupt. But the small town Tazuna was from was right on the border, and was to small for any sort of official to bother with, so Naruto doubted the bridge builder could have any major enemies. Still, something was off, and whatever it was, it was causing a constant prickling up and down his spine that he didn’t like at all.

His concern was well founded when they were attacked by Zabuza.

Naruto was already pissed at Kakashi for faking his death when the Demon Brothers attacked them. Watching him get trapped by Zabuza just made it worse. He signaled for Sakura to defend Tazuna while he and Sasuke handled Zabuza. The kunai clone was a trick they had come up with a couple of weeks earlier but had never had the chance to use and Naruto thought it turned out rather well. Sasuke did not at all trust the hunter nin that collected Zabuza’s body. Sakura countered that he was a missing nin, so of course Kiri would send someone out to track him down and capture/kill him. Besides, Zabuza was in the Bingo Book and there was no record of him ever working with a partner or anything, so the chance of someone impersonating a hunter nin to rescue him was unlikely. Kakashi then stated that the hunter nin had used all of the correct codes, explaining that every Hidden Villages Hunter division each had a unique set of verbal codes which were used to identify them as actual hunter nin, and not imposters. Only shinobi who were or had been ANBU, like Kakashi, would recognize them, so it was unlikely the shinobi had been an imposter. Naruto had no real opinion either way, but something about the situation as a whole didn’t sit well with him. The feeling only got worse when Tazuna told them the truth about the bridge, and Gato. Was it possible Gato had hired someone to keep an eye on Zabuza? Most missing nin worked for money, but the higher ranked the missing nin, the less likely they were to be trusted by their employers, especially ones with the kind of reputation Zabuza possessed.

He put the dilemma aside for the moment, they didn’t have enough information to do much of anything anyway.

Inari was a brat, but Naruto could see where he was coming from. He offered what advice he could, though he wasn’t sure the kid would listen, and did his best to keep Sakura from beating the boy to a bloody pulp and Sasuke from lighting the boy on fire in his sleep. (Sasuke may have learned to tolerate the company of others more, but he still didn’t like people, particularly whiny little brats. And for all that his tolerance had grown, his temper and general since of annoyance with the world at large hadn’t changed a bit.)

A couple of days after arriving at Tazuna’s house, Sakura left early in the morning to collect some rare medicinal herbs that only grew in Water Country. The herbs boosted chakra production and were beneficial for people who suffered from Chakra Exhaustion, as Kakashi-sensei had. Sakura had used all of the, admittedly limited, supply she had managed to acquire from the hospital for the trip on Kakashi-sensei after his fight with Zabuza, so she decided to take advantage of their location and replace it.

It took her a bit to find a patch of the rare herb. She had left the house well before dawn, but the sun was rising by the time she began to gather the herb. She hadn’t been there long, no more than twenty minutes or so, when she sensed a presence approach the small clearing. Glancing up, she watched as a beautiful young woman walked into the clearing, carrying a basket.

“Oh!” the stranger’s eyes widened in surprise when they landed on Sakura. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here. Gathering herbs?”

Sakura nodded, offering a brief, but friendly smile. “Yes. And you?”

The stranger smiled, kneeling at a patch of wild flowers. “Flowers actually. But I know a lot of medicinal herbs grow in this part of the forest.”

“Aah.” Sakura acknowledge her words as she returned to her herb gathering. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something was making her uncomfortable. The two worked silently for several moments before the stranger spoke up.

“Are you a shinobi?”

“What?” Sakura glanced up in surprise. The stranger smiled gently, pointing to the hitai-ate Sakura was wearing. She had taken to plaiting her hair not long after moving into the compound, when Naruto pointed out to both her and Ino that an enemy could use the length of their hair against them. When she received her hitai-ate, she had taken to wearing it on top of her head, like a headband, rather than over her forehead.

“We don’t see many shinobi around here, but a few will occasionally pass through the area, and they always wear headbands like that.” The stranger added, still smiling.

“Yes, I’m a shinobi from Konohagakure.” Sakura replied, taking the time to further scrutinize her companion. Her instincts had gone wild the moment the other woman had asked her question, and if there was one thing Naruto had taught her, it was to trust her instincts. A moment of time and a quick mental catalogue of the stranger revealed that they were not, in fact, a woman, as Sakura had first assumed. Though the face was fairly feminine, the body structure beneath the kimono was undeniably male, if a bit effeminate.

Shifting to more easily face the man, and it was a man,she was sure of it, Sakura tensely asked if they were a local. The man replied with an affirmative, stating that he lived in the village. As he was speaking, he put more flowers into his basket. Had she not been on the lookout for suspicious behavior, Sakura would have missed the chakra herb he snuck into the basket, hidden among the flowers. Sakura forced herself not to tense, no civilian would have any use for that particular herb, and he had been hiding it with the flowers too deliberately for it to be an accident. As inconspicuously as possible, still gathering herbs herself, Sakura activated the “sixth sense” that allowed her to see the chakra signatures, or “shadows” of other shinobi, the innate ability that made her a natural medic. What she saw made it difficult not to react immediately.

Though faint and clearly being actively suppressed, the faint chakra signature coming from the effeminate man was unmistakably the same as that of the so-called “hunter nin” who had taken Zabuza away.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura forced herself to gather another handful of herb, before standing and smiling at the man. “Well, that’s enough for me. i should get back before my team starts to worry. Have a nice day.” She said, offering a friendly wave as she left the clearing.

“You as well.” The stranger called after her. Once she was a reasonable distance away from the clearing, Sakura took to the trees, racing back to Inari’s house. The others needed to know that Sasuke had been right, (oh how that grated), that the hunter nin had been a fake, and Zabuza was more than likely very much alive, if weakened.

Truthfully, the only one surprised by Sakura’s news was Kakashi. Sasuke had been suspicious from the start and Naruto had felt as if something was off. Still, he couldn’t dismiss her revelation. She had used the chakra signature sensing technique on him before, during training, and he knew from previous experience with medic shinobi that it was rarely wrong. There was always room for error, of course, but the odds of Sakura encountering a shinobi in the area whose signature was similar enough that she could mistake it for that of the Kiri hunter nin were next to impossible.

The all agreed there wasn’t much they could do except remain on guard. Kakashi wouldn’t risk his Gennin team tracking down an S-class criminal like Zabuza, even in his weakened state. Sakura and Sasuke, despite their training, lacked the experience necessary to face off against someone of Zabuza’s calibre and hope to win, because in a fight like that, experience really would matter. Naruto could possibly win against the man, he certainly had the knowledge and experience, thanks to his memories of his first life, but a Gennin, even one who hosted a Tailed-Beast, defeating an S-class criminal during their first C-rank mission would definitely draw too much attention, which is the last thing they needed. The general consensus was that they would wait. If Zabuza came after them, the would handle it, (Or rather, Kakashi would handle it), but they wouldn’t seek him out.

They managed to stick to that plan, and avoid Zabuza and his companion, for all of three days.

The bridge was almost finished, despite the fact that earlier that day, Gato had sent some of his men to Tazuna’s house, to threaten Inari and his mother, in the hopes of getting the Konoha shinobi to leave, but that had backfired spectacularly. (Sasuke was not, and never would be, a morning person. Particularly not before breakfast. He was even worse than “Not a morning person” when said breakfast was interrupted by annoying idiots who thought they could treat him as if he were just any other child. Let’s just say, none of those men escaped without getting some new burn scars, and it took Kakashi and Naruto both using Suiton to stop him from starting a forest fire. )

Team 7 had then accompanied Tazuna too the bridge. The morning was fairly uneventful, but they had all just finished lunch when the mist crept across the bridge. Sakura immediately took up her post at Tazuna’s side, kunai at the reading, senses heightened to sense the chakra signatures of everyone on the bridge, though the chakra infused in the mist made the normally clear “shadows” blurry and difficult to track.

It was no surprise when Zabuza went straight for Kakashi, though the team wasn’t too worried. Zabuza might have been an S-class missing nin and one of the Seven Swordsman of the Bloody Mist, but Kakashi of the Sharingan, Copycat Ninja, Master of a Thousand Jutsu was an S-ranked opponent in his own right. Kakashi was concerned for his Gennin, particularly when the dome of ice enclosed Sasuke and Naruto, as they had no intel on Zabuza’s partner. Unfortunately, facing off against Zabuza, he could do little for them but trust that they could handle themselves for the time being.

[I’m not going to describe the Kakashi/Zabuza fight, as I actually like the cannon fight, and don’t feel like rewriting it. Just imagine the actual fight, with Kakashi not worrying about his Gennin, and actually being the boss he should have been, and Zabuza not dying in the end.]

When the ice formed over them, Sasuke and Naruto immediately shifted to stand back to back, kunai at the ready.

From one of the mirrors, a masked shinobi appeared, whom they assumed was the man Sakura had met in the woods. “I do not wish to fight you. However, I cannot allow you to interfere in Zabuza-sama’s mission. Therefore, you shall remain here, within my Ice Mirrors, until Zabuza-sama has finished his work.” The man informed them.

“Hn.” Sasuke twitched, kunai flying towards the masked man, who simply sank into the mirror, reappearing in another a few feet away.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, having spent the past few seconds observing the Ice Mirrors. There weren’t very many shinobi capable of using Ice Jutsu. Most of the ones who could came from Snow and Mist. The number of shinobi who could use Ice Style to the same degree as the mirrors was even smaller. In fact, “You’re a survivor of the Yuki clan.” Naruto stated, visibly throwing the man off balance. “That explains why you’re traveling with Zabuza, and why you are familiar with Mist hunter nin and their identification codes. You must have escaped the Bloodline Purge a few years back.”

“You know a lot about Kirigakure, for a Gennin.”

Naruto shrugged, “I like to keep up with current events. What’s your name?”

“Dobe, why the hell are you asking for his name?” Sasuke glared at the blonde, who released a long-suffering sigh. “It’s the polite thing to do. Besides, it’s always better to avoid combat whenever possible.”

“Hn.”

“My name is Haku. I am indeed a survivor of the Yuki clan, the sole survivor. You are…strange for a Gennin.” The masked man stated, head tilted as he regarded the two children in front of him.

Sasuke flinched when Haku stated that he was the sole survivor of his clan, though it wasn’t visible to anyone but Naruto, who knew the Uchiha too well for him to hide it. Naruto knew the situation in Kiri had been bad. Even now, with the civil war over and the country’s shinobi united under the new Mizukage Terumi Mei, the situation was tenuous at best. The Bloodline Purge had occurred about ten years earlier, under the reign of the former Mizukage. Anyone who possessed a Kekkei Genkai, and hadn’t managed to flee the country, had been slaughtered. It was possible that the only reason Haku survived was because of Zabuza, which would explain his devotion to the swordsman. Naruto truly didn’t want to fight him, not when he could sympathize with him.

Naruto nudged Sasuke lightly, just enough to get his attention, but not enough for Haku to notice. He quickly signaled for Sasuke to follow his lead, knowing he wouldn’t have the chance to explain his plan.

Naruto sighed, “I’m sorry about this Haku.” He flashed through the hand signs, releasing the Water Dragon Jutsu, aiming at Haku, who dodged through his mirrors. Haku wasted no time in responding, needles of ice flying from multiple mirrors at the two boys, who did their best to dodge, though in such a small space, they could’t avoid all of them. Sasuke tried melting the ice with a succession of Katon jutsu, but was unable to affect the mirrors, though he was able to melt the needles. The cycle of attack and defend continued for several minutes, until Naruto saw his chance. He put himself between Sasuke and a rain of ice needles, his back to Haku, allowing the needles to pierce him. Sasuke’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief, catching the blonde as Naruto sagged into him.

“D-dobe what the hell!?”

Naruto chuckled weakly. “Don’t worry.” He whispered, reaching two fingers up to Sasuke’s temple. “He didn’t hit anything vital. Besides,” Naruto silently released the henge hiding the seals around Sasuke’s eyes before releasing the seals themselves, “this is the perfect excuse for you to ‘activate’ your Sharingan. Just trap him in a genjutsu that’ll make him pass out. Once he’s unconscious the mirrors should melt.”

Sasuke’s Sharingan flared to life, the two black tomoes swirling into place. He grunted in acknowledgement of Naruto’s plan, lowering his teammate to the ground before facing Haku.

Haku, unable to hear the blonde Gennin’s whispered words, could only watch in mild surprise at his actions. He had not anticipated the blonde using his own body to shield his teammate. The mild shock immediately turned to bone-chilling fear at the sight of the raven-haired boy’s red and black eyes. He knew of the Sharingan, there were few who didn’t, and for the boy to unlock it during a fight (Haku hadn’t seen the release of the seals), and in both eyes no less, had to mean the boy was an Uchiha. Haku immediately sank back into his mirrors, moving through them at a rapid pace, never lingering in one mirror for longer than it was absolutely necessary in order for him to reach the next one, in the hopes that he would be moving to quickly for the Sharingan to affect him. Unfortunately for him, the speed at which he moved was no where near fast enough to avoid Sasuke’s eyes. Sasuke caught him when he made the mistake of glancing at the two boys to check their position.

Naruto was correct in his assumption that the Ice Mirrors would vanish once Haku had been Knocked unconscious. Sasuke tied up the sleeping shinobi as Naruto shakily stood up. Haku truly hadn’t hit anything vital, and the fox would heal what wounds he did have, so he wasn’t worried about any potentially permanent damage, but it still hurt. A lot. After ensuring Haku was secured, Sasuke went to Naruto and helped the blonde as they walked (limped) over to Sakura. The pinkette took one look at the bleeding blonde and Sasuke, who rolled his eyes at her, and huffed in annoyance.

“Honestly, I don’t care how well you heal, do you have to get injured on purpose? I swear you enjoy making my life difficult.” Sakura ranted as she forced Naruto into a sitting position on a nearby crate, pulling out her medical supplies so she could begin healing him, as Sasuke took her place guarding Tazuna. "And you're no help either Sasuke! Do you have to encourage these ridiculus plans of his?"

"Hn. It's not like the idiot gave me much of a choice."Came the irritated reply, Sasuke shooting a quick glare at Naruto before returning his attention to the mist-covered bridge.

It was another few minutes before the mist dissipated and they could see their sensei. Kakashi was bruised and breathing a bit heavily, Sharingan uncovered, but was otherwise unharmed. Zabuza was bleeding, he sword embedded in the bridge, kneeling a few feet away from Kakashi, alive but clearly exhausted. He wouldn’t be fighting for a while.

Then Gato showed up and tried to kill Zabuza, which just resorted in the missing nin using the last of his energy to pull his sword out of the bridge and behead the corrupt business tycoon, before passing out from the blood loss.

Haku woke up from his Genjutsu-induced nap shortly after, and vanished with his unconscious master. Kakashi, upon noticing Sasuke’s new eyes, demanded to know what had happened while he was fighting Zabuza. Though he was proud of Naruto for defending his friend, he lectured him for recklessly endangering himself. He then instructed Sasuke to release his Sharingan and stated that Sasuke was only to activate it when training with him in learning to use it, and in a life or death situation concerning himself and/or his teammates.

They remained in Wave for two more days, as the bridge was finished. Despite much protest, Tazuna insisted on naming it The Great Naruto Bridge, something Sakura took great joy in teasing Naruto about, as it made him uncomfortable.

Upon returning to Konoha, Kakashi was promptly reprimanded by the Third Hokage for allowing his team to continue the mission, and without a request for backup, after discovering that the supposed C-rank was actually an A-rank mission. The Gennin were then congratulated on their performance, and Sarutobi insisted Naruto receive an exam at the hospital to insure he had properly healed. They were given their mission pay and released, Naruto suffered through a quick exam at the hospital, and all three returned to the compound. It was late when they returned home, so they didn’t get the chance to explain what had happened on the mission to the rest of the Rookie Nine until the next day. They were met with…mixed emotions.

Shikamaru recognized the opportunity to have Sasuke “discover” his Sharingan, and understood that the situation had been handled as well as possible. Hinata was concerned that Naruto had been injured, though she knew he was already fully healed. Shino and Choji were thankful the mission had been a success and that the three had made it back in one piece. Ino and Kiba on the other hand, proceeded to yell at them for not turning back or waiting for backup when the true nature of the mission had become clear.

( “I don’t care how strong you are, you’re still Gennin! I can not believe you would be so reckless and irresponsible!”)

Despite the mixed reactions, the nine friends spent the day together celebrating the successful mission. Team 7 had been given the day off, standard procedure after returning from a mission outside the village, and Teams 8 and 10 had been given the day off by their senseis after Kurenai and Asuma learned what had happened, knowing their teams would be worried about their friends.

Prominent conversation among the group revolved around the upcoming Chunnin Exams, which were only three months away. Teams 8 and 10 would be beginning C-rank missions soon in preparation. Team 7 had been restricted to the village (ostensibly so Kakashi could train Sasuke in his Sharingan, but really the Third wasn’t willing to push his luck that something else would go wrong the minute they stepped foot out of the gates) and having technically completed an A-rank, already qualified.

The Chunnin exams were a bit of a mystery but one thing was certain, the third and final portion of the exam was always a tournament,and there was always a four-week break between the second and third portions of the exams. The plan was for the nine of them to leave during the month long break, as they couldn’t be certain how much of an eye the village would be keeping on any Gennin participating in the exam during the first two portions, but were relatively certain security would be too focused on the foreign teams during the break to care much about what the Konoha Gennin were up too, particularly as Suna would be present for the exam, and the relationship between Konoha and Suna was rocky at best.

They hoped to use the Exams as a distraction in order to leave the village. They had no idea just how great of a distraction they were going to get.

Chapter Text

Teams 8 and 10 both completed their first C-rank missions with three weeks of Team 7’s mission to Wave. It was at this point that Kurenai and Asuma decided to focus on individual, specialized training for their Gennin, following Kakashi’s example.

After Team 7’s grounding following Wave, Kakashi decided to minimize team training to just two mornings a week and have his Gennin focus on their specialties. He spent most of his time training Sasuke, focusing on the boy’s Sharingan, Genjutsu, stealth, tracking, and information-gathering. He felt a bit guilty ignoring Sakura and Naruto, particularly Naruto, but Sasuke would benefit from his training the most and the other two had found other teachers to handle their individual training.

Sakura had gained an official apprenticeship at the hospital, something no Gennin had achieved before in all Konoha’s history. She spent all her time, save for Kakashi’s specified two mornings a week, training at the hospital. She worked every shift, never sticking to a particular schedule, which messed with her sleep cycle like crazy but was good practice for the future. She learned to diagnose patients, heal everything from chakra exhaustion to burns, she memorized the books on medicinal herbs, learned to make medicine, poisons, and antidotes. She worked in every ward, from Intensive Care to Maternity, trying to absorb as much as she could. The staff praised her, claiming her as a diligent student, fast learner, and a naturally gifted medic. By the time the Chunnin Exams rolled around, Sakura would have gained something of a reputation at the hospital as a medical prodigy, more than one staff member commenting that she might one day surpass even Tsunade of the Sannin.

Naruto had two people he trained with. Asuma, the Jounnin-sensei for Team 10, was one of the only other Futon users in Konoha, the wind-type chakra being a far more common occurrence in Suna. From Asuma, Naruto learned to master his Futon, and how to better combine it with his Suiton. He also learned how to use the chakra blades Asuma favored, which were particularly well-suited for Futon users. Naruto’s other teacher was none other than the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Asuma’s father. When he wasn’t learning Futon with Asuma, or team training with Kakashi, he was in the Hokage’s office with Hiruzen, learning (re-learning) the ins and outs of leading a village and the politics that went with it. The Third had been wary at first, when Naruto had approached him and asked to learn more about the position he often proclaimed he would one day achieve, but in the end, he had indulged the boy and been pleasantly surprised. For all that Naruto had shown no real interest in paperwork and academics while at the Academy, he was surprisingly diligent under Hiruzen’s instruction.

In truth, Naruto used the time with the Third to keep up to date on current politics, both within the village and outside of its’ borders. He needed a better idea of the alliances and conflicts within the Five Great Nations than what the library had been able to provide him with. It also allowed him to keep a closer eye on the biggest threat to their plan without seeming suspicious. Danzo Shimura had shown an increased interest in the Rookie Nine after the mission to Wave.

He had been showing a steady interest in them for the past couple of years, steadily getting bolder as time went on. Shino’s cousin Torune had warned them of Danzo’s interest when Shino had first come to live at the compound. Initially, Torune had kept them informed on Danzo’s actions, but slowly he had stopped contacting them. Shino had panicked when it became clear that something had happened, so Naruto had decided to investigate.

What he had learned had angered him so much, he had managed to frightened the other members of the Rookie Nine, even Sasuke.

A clever henge and access to the Hokage’s library told him that ROOT, the ANBU division Torune had told them he was joining, had been officially disbanded by the Third Hokage directly after the Second Shinobi World War. Hiruzen had not agreed with Danzo’s methods of training (and torturing) children into emotionless living weapons. If Torune had joined ROOT, it meant Danzo had reinstated the program without the Third’s approval. Nothing about that could be good.

A few days after that little revelation, Naruto had used a seal to complete wipe his chakra signature and physical presence, even from the eyes of a Hyuuga, and had followed one of the shinobi he knew Danzo was using to keep an eye on them. The masked shinobi had lead him to a bunker Naruto was almost certain wasn’t on any sort of village record. Watching the inhabitants of the bunker, it didn’t take him long to realize what was going on. The seals on their tongues flared out, shining like a beacon, obvious to any Fuuinjutsu master. A silence seal with compulsion and control sub-seals. Rendering them physically unable to speak about ROOT and forcing them to obey Danzo’s orders, while allowing Danzo to control them, much like the Caged-Bird Seal allowed the main Hyuuga to cause physically pain to the Side Branch members.

A few hours of observation shed light on the condition they were put through, brainwashed into blindly obedient servitude, their loyalty to Danzo himself eclipsing everything. The old war hawk claimed they existed for the good of the village, but Naruto knew they were little more than a personal army. He managed to find Torune, though it took longer than he would have liked.

He didn’t give the boy a chance to act, using a seal to paralyze him before altering the seal on Torune’s tongue. The alterations were minor, nothing Danzo, who might have known Fuuinjutsu but who was by no means a master of the lost art, would be able to detect. The alterations allowed Torune to speak freely in Naruto’s presences and rendered the compulsion element inactive.

From the Aburame, Naruto learned of Danzo’s plan to recruit them, particularly Naruto and Sasuke. He also learned that it was possible Danzo had had something to do with the Uchiha massacre. Torune had no definitive proof, but Danzo had mentioned more than once that the Uchiha had been planning a coup in response to their increasingly worsening exclusion from the village, and that Itachi slaughtering his family had been ‘for the good of Konoha’, though he had not admitted to having a hand in it, at least, not in Torune’s presence.

Revealing that piece of information to Sasuke had require them to temporarily take up residence in one of the other houses in the compound while they rebuilt the kitchen and living room.

Though Naruto couldn’t reveal ROOTs existence to the Hokage, he had no physical evidence and wouldn’t be able to explain how he had found ROOT headquarters or how he had managed to sneak in and gather intel without revealing more about himself than he was willing to risk. That didn’t mean he couldn’t do his part to sabotage Danzo and his agenda. Now that he knew what seal Danzo was using, he could sense it from anywhere in the village. Every time one of the signatures left the headquarters, Naruto sent a clone to disrupt the ROOT member’s activities in any way the clone could without being caught. This mostly meant using seals to put the ROOT operatives to sleep until the window for their mission had closed or their target could be moved. It pissed Danzo off to no end, but he was nowhere near close to figuring out who was interfering.

Training under the Third gave Naruto a front row seat to Danzo’s political movements and showed Hiruzen’s former teammate that he wouldn’t be swayed so easily. It was far more difficult for him to try and recruit Naruto when Naruto made it clear he was close to the Third, who wouldn’t approve of ROOT at all.

(Sasuke had made his opinion of the war hawk very clear when Danzo had approached him after a training session with Kakashi. Chakra-conducting wires lit with a Katon jutsu spelling out ‘Fuck You’ in ten-foot-tall letters and an attempted kunai to the face every time Danzo moved in any direction that wasn’t away from him, had let every shinobi in sight of the rather public training ground #27 (the one closest to the main gate) know that Sasuke Uchiha wanted absolutely nothing to do with Danzo Shimura)

Due to his position with the Third, Naruto also learned more about the Chunnin Exams ahead of time. While he didn’t know details, he did know the first part of the exam would be written and the second would be a survival test in the Forest of Death. With this in mind, whenever they were together and didn’t have team or specialized training, they prepared for the exam. They weren’t planning on being in Konoha long enough to actually pass, but they had to try and the Forest could be deadly if one wasn’t on their guard.

With such busy schedules, it was no real surprise that three months flew by. Before they knew it, they were filling out the forms given to them by their senseis and scouting out their opponents. Shinobi from Suna, Kumo, and Oto would be in attendance along with several minor hidden villages. It was on one of those scouting ‘missions’ that Naruto met Gaara.

Naruto had used playing a game of ninja with the Hokage’s grandson Konohamaru as an excuse to traverse the village and observe the competition. During the game Konohamaru ran, quite literally, into one of the visiting Gennin teams from Suna. Two of the three were slightly older, while the third looked to be about Naruto’s age. One of the older ones, a male in black with a puppet on his back, lifted Konohamaru into the air by the back of his shirt, yelling at him for being a reckless brat.

Naruto stepped out from behind the tree, hands in his pockets, and sauntered up to the puppeteer. “You really shouldn’t threaten Konohamaru.”

Kankuro looked up from the brat he was holding to see a blonde kid about Gaara’s age. “Yeah? Or what?” he sneered.

The blonde simply stared back at Kankuro, face impassive. Not quite expressionless, like Kankuro was used to seeing from Gaara, but bored, as if the whole situation was a waste of his time. “Since you’re from Suna I suppose it’s no real surprise you wouldn’t know.” He raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head, then nodded at the kid Kankuro was holding. “Konohamaru there, the kid you just threatened, is the grandson of the Third Hokage. I doubt it’s a big deal if you tell him off for running into you, but I’d be careful with what you say, or you’re likely to cause an incident.”

Kankuro flinched, dropping the brat, and taking a step back. “Hiding behind the old man, huh?” He tried to sound condescending but he was barely managing to hide his fear. If he screwed up the plan, Gaara would murder him.

Seeing that Konohamaru had been released, Naruto took quick stock of the other two. The puppeteer wasn’t much of a threat, his techniques would rely on chakra strings, no match for his Futon blades. The girl was more of a problem, the giant fan on her back an indicator that she was also a Futon user, but clones and Suiton should be able to handle her. It was the last member of the group that had Naruto’s instincts screaming danger. Naruto didn’t even have to look at the red-haired boy to see his seal, the chakra of it burning in his vision.

The boy before him was a Jinchuuriki.

Gaara watched the exchange in silence, his eyes never once leaving the blonde boy. Mother’s voice was loud in his head, demanding he kill the blonde, that the other boy was a threat. Gaara wasn’t sure how that could be true, the blonde was wearing an orange jumpsuit of all things, but Mother was never wrong.

Naruto glanced at the redhead and smiled, a fleeting hand-sign at his side, unrecognized by the Suna Gennin, alerted Sakura and Sasuke to the new information about the other boy. Despite the inherit danger, he knew he was relatively safe. “Hey. I’m Naruto Uzumaki, it’s nice to meet you.” He held out his hand, ignoring the wide-eyed looks of shock from the other two Suna Gennin and anger he could feeling rolling off of Sasuke and Sakura, who had remained in hiding.

Gaara stared at the blonde’s, Naruto’s, hand for a moment, unsure how to process what was happening. Just as the moment began to get awkward and Naruto started pulling his hand back, Gaara reached out and shook it, causing his teammates choke in shock.

“Sabaku no Gaara.” He said, nodding to his teammates, “And these are my brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari.”

Naruto’s eyes widened for a moment before he broke out into a bright grin. “You’re the Kazekage’s kids! Gramps said you would be coming for the exam, but I didn’t realize you were all on the same team.”

“Gramps?” Gaara questioned as he let go of Naruto’s hand, unused to such a friendly reaction.

“He means my grandpa, the Hokage.” Kankuro answered. “Naruto-niisan wants to be the next Hokage! Grandpa has been teaching him all sorts of stuff about running the village.”

Naruto shrugged sheepishly. “It’s not that big of a deal. Besides, if I ever want to be Hokage, I’ve gotta pass this exam first. Go find Udon and Moegi, kid. It’s about time for me to get going.” Konohamaru pouted but he listened, running off down the street. Naruto looked up at the sun for a second before turning back to Gaara.

“We’ve still got about an hour and a half before we have to be at the exam center. Tell me Gaara,” Naruto sauntered over and threw his arm over Gaara’s shoulder, who only barely managed to restrain himself from attacking the blonde, his sensei’s orders flashing through his mind, “have you ever had ramen before?”

At this point, Sakura and Sasuke walked over. Sakura headed straight for Naruto and Gaara, stopping in front of them with her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes. “Really Naruto? You had Ramen for breakfast, you don’t need more.”

Naruto immediately protested, arms flailing as he tried to defend his favorite food. Sasuke, who had stopped by Kankuro and Temari, giving the two a quick glance before dismissing them, grunted in agreement. “Not everyone is obsessed with that garbage they way you are dobe.”
“It isn’t garbage teme! Ramen is the food of the gods!”

“Besides,” Sakura stressed, interrupting the two boys before they could rehash that particular argument, “he’s the Kazekage’s son. Don’t you think, if you’re going to show him around, you should start with something classier?”

Gaara watched the exchange in silence. Never before had anyone been so comfortable in his presence, but here were three Gennin his own age who didn’t seem to fear him. Perhaps they were simply unaware of his reputation, of the monster he carried within him.

“You would do well not to associate with me.” Gaara stated in his usual monotone, interrupting the conversation going on in front of him.

“Huh?” Naruto stared at the redhead in confusion. “Why?”

“Gaara...” Temari began, only to fall silent at a sharp look from her younger brother.

“I am a Jinchuuriki. A demon.” He stated. He expected this revelation to be met with fear and disgust. He expected the three Gennin before him to attempt to politely escape his presence without offending him so as to escape with their lives. He was not prepared for their actual reactions.

“Dumbass.” Sasuke snorted, uncrossing his arms, and stuffing his hands in his pockets as he gave Gaara the most condescending look the Suna boy had ever received. “We already knew that.”

“What!?” Came the cry from Kankuro and Temari. Gaara simply blinked in confusion.

“I…Do not understand.”

Naruto laughed so hard he fell over. Sasuke huffed and firmly refused to look at any of them any longer. Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Technically I shouldn’t tell you this. Hell, I shouldn’t even know about it.” Sakura said, shaking her head. “The Third Hokage made it a law that no one alive at the time of the Kyuubi no Kitsune’s attack on the village almost thirteen years ago was supposed to talk about it, so no one in my generation should know.” Seeing that the looks of confusion had only grown, she nodded at Naruto, who was still rolling around on the ground. “Naruto is a Jinchuuriki too. He has the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside him. Which is how we knew you were a Jinchuuriki too. The Fox sensed it.”

Kankuro and Temari blanched, thoroughly terrified to be in the presence of another demon like their brother. Gaara stopped breathing for a moment, realizing he was finally meeting someone who was like him, someone who could understand his pain. Mother was screaming at him to kill the blonde, to eliminate the threat before the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki could eliminate him, but something in Gaara resisted. He remembered the feel of the blonde’s arm over his shoulders, the feel of a touch that wasn’t meant to hurt. He hadn’t felt anything like it since Yashimaru.
Before any of the Suna kids could get over their surprise enough to act, a voice called out from behind them.

“Yo. Why’s Naruto losing his shit?”

They turned to see six more Konoha Gennin walk up from behind the sand siblings.

“We just told them Naruto is a Jinchuuriki. That and Sasuke called Gaara here a dumbass. Sorry about that, by the way.” Sakura turned to Gaara and gave him an apologetic smile.

“Why would you tell them something like that?!” Ino demanded.

“Gaara is the Suna Jinchuuriki. He tried to stop Naruto from befriending him by warning us that he was a demon.”

Ino snorted. “Good luck with that! Once Naruto has decided to make you his friend, you no longer have a choice in the matter.”

“Cool. So, you’re Gaara, huh? I’m Kiba, nice to meet ya.” Kiba held out his hand and Gaara hesitated only for a second before shaking it. He had imagined this is what dreams were like, and so had decided to treat the entire experience as if it were a dream. When the handshake ended, Kiba threw his arm over Gaara’s shoulders in the same manner that Naruto had only moments before. “So, how ya likin’ Konoha so far?”

“It’s…different.” Gaara replied slowly. For once in a very long time he was worried about offending someone. Kiba simply laughed, Akamaru barking in amusement from atop Kiba’s head.

“Yeah, I guess that’s one word for it.”

“Kiba.” Hinata gave her teammate a warning glance, silently telling him to be polite. Turning her attention to the foreigners, she smiled warmly, bowing her head lightly in greeting. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Gaara-san. I am Hinata Hyuuga. I hope your stay in Konoha will be most enjoyable.”

Gaara nodded in acknowledgement but otherwise remained silent. It was at this point that Kankuro could no longer handle the strangeness of the situation and decided to speak up.

“Seriously?! What the hell is wrong with all of you?! How can you act like none of this is a big deal?! You’re in the presence of two demons who could kill you whenever they want just because they feel like it and none of you even seem to care!”

His exclamation was met with stony silence, nine Konoha Gennin staring at him with the same stony expression, one that promised him a slow and painful death.

Naruto snorted and shifted his attention back to Gaara. “Man, if this is what you have to put up with on a daily basis, I feel sorry for you. Is he always such an ass?”

Gaara hesitated for a moment before sighing. “To be fair, I do tend to kill people just because I feel like it.”

The admission seemed to surprise the Konoha Gennin, but only for a moment, before they all, save for Sasuke,busted out laughing. Gaara was once again frozen in shock. Were all Konoha shinobi so strange, or was it simply these nine?

Chapter Text

A little over an hour later found the group at a barbecue restaurant,(the compromise between Naruto’s insistence on getting ramen and the girls’ insistence on something fancier), relaxing after their meal. The Konoha Gennin had spent the entire time trying to get Gaara to relax, dragging him into their conversations, including him in their jokes. They recognized that Naruto had taken the Suna Jinchuuriki under his wing, and while they would have to have a talk with their leader about it later, for now, they did their best to make the redhead feel welcome. Particularly Kiba and Naruto himself, who had all but forced Gaara to sit between them, and who spent the entire meal including Gaara in the kind of casual display of physical affection they showed everyone they considered a friend. A hand on a shoulder; a pat on the back; an elbow to the side at a particular funny joke; knocking knees and shoulders together when one or the other would get a little too invested in the topic of conversation. The others thought nothing of it, out of all of them Naruto and Kiba were the most tactile and their behavior was entirely normal.

Gaara’s entire world had shifted on it’s axis.

No one had shown him such genuine attention and interest, let alone such casual and relaxed physical contact. Even Yashimaru had only touched him on occasion, which, until this moment, had been more than anyone had bothered since he had been an infant and dependent on the care of others. Mother’s voice roared in the back of his head, demanding blood, screaming for him to kill them all. The voice only got louder whenever Naruto would touch him, but it was in those moments that he would sense fear in Mother;s voice, something he had never heard before. For the first time, he began to question his Mother. The small, damaged part of him that he thought had died with Yashimaru rebelling at the thought of losing the blatant acceptance he had found in this village so far from home. So he sat, and he ate, and though he showed no sign of it, a part of him, deep inside, smiled for the first time in years.

Kankuro and Temari spent the entire time sitting in stoney silence.

Kankuro watched nervously for any sign that Gaara was going to snap. Though she showed no outward sign of it, Temari spent the entire time watching for some sign that their treatment of him was only a ploy to lure her younger brother in and hurt him. She didn't think they could kill him, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki perhaps, but no one else stood a chance. Still, she couldn't risk the chance of Gaara being emotionally injured again. She would not allow what had happened with their uncle to happen a second time. She would keep an eye on the Konoha brats, but she wouldn’t interfere, for now.

Shikamaru glanced at the clock the wall of the restaurant and sighed, leaning back in his chair. “We should start heading to the testing center.”

The others grumbled, but began standing. Sausage tossed a handful of bills on the table, enough to cover the meal. “Does everyone have their sealing scrolls?” Sakura asked, staring at Kiba and Choji in particular. Kiba rolled his eyes at her and Choji ducked his head in embarrassment, remembering the last time he had forgotten his gear, but her question was met with a chorus of affirmations.

The group left the restaurant, Gaara in tow, his siblings following behind, and headed for the testing center. When they got there, it took all of Naruto’s self-control not to burst out laughing.

A significant amount of participants had arrived before them, and had been fooled by the henge on the door and the disguised Chuunin claiming that the room labeled 203 on the first floor was the exam room. The rookie nine exchanged a glance, rolled their eyes and headed bast the group and up the stairs. Temari couldn't resist a soft snort of laughter as she followed her brother and his new friends. Some people were such idiots.

While they waited outside the correct door, a Gennin named Kabuto approached them, offering them cards which used chakra to show information on the exam’s participants. A few seconds of dead staring from nine Gennin (and Gaara) had him scurrying off rather quickly.

Ibiki, the head of Konoha’s Torture & Interrogation unit, introduced himself as the proctor of the first exam and explained the rules. The test was designed so that the participates had to cheat, despite it being against the rules. The goal was to not get caught.

Unfortunately for Ibiki, the first exam was the only one Naruto had been able to get any definite information about from the Hokage’s office (not the Hokage himself, Hiruzen was a little to smart for that), so the rookie nine knew the test itself wouldn’t matter, and that the questions were all but impossible. So, instead of wasting their time, they decided to entertain themselves instead.

Shikamaru, Choji,and Kiba fell asleep. Hinata practiced her calligraphy, Sasuke and Shino meditated, Sakura mentally reviewed her last training session at the hospital. Ino filed and painted her nails (if the nail polish was infused with poison, no one had to know), and Naruto proceeded to poke Gaara repeatedly in the shoulder with his pencil, nearly forcing Kankuro into a panic attack.

Gaara raised an eyebrow at Naruto when he first started poking him, but all Naruto did was shrug, so Gaara ignored him, choosing instead to focus on finding a way to continue his village’s objective of attacking Konoha during the exams without loosing his new-found friends. It was not going very well. (He had never realized just how difficult it was to strategize when ‘kill everything that doesn't have a Suna hitai-ate’ was no longer an option.)

Temari was watching all of them,struggling between anger at their blatant disregard for the exam and laughing at their antics. It was a loosing battle. She had to bury her head in her arms to muffle her laughter. Her father would be so disappointed, but she couldn't bring herself to care, they were ridiculous.

Eventually, Ibiki posed his Tenth Question and the rookie nine passed the first exam without doing any actual work. (The twitching vein in Ibiki’s forehead when he realized that made all of them feel strangely vindicated.)

They were immediately led by a Jounnin named Anko to the Forest of Death, Konoha’s most difficult (and insane, let’s be real) training ground. She gave them the rules, and hit on Sasuke,whose disgust was so blatant it had the Konoha Jounnin watching from a distance all struggling not to laugh, including Kakashi.

They were split up, each team sent to a different gate. Shino had offered, before Anko could separate them, to attach one of his kikaichu to each team, so they could meet up once inside, but Naruto had declined it. He claimed, in hurried whispers, that the Forest would be a good test of their survival and combat skills, a preview to how they would handle the initial journey from Konoha to the Land of Whirlpool. Each team would have to survive the forest, and gain the scrolls Anko had stated they needed in order to proceed to the next round, on their own.

With a wave and a cheerful “See you later!” to Gaara, the Gennin were split, and Anko began the countdown.

Let the second round of the Chunnin exams BEGIN!

Chapter Text

Hinata, Kiba, and Shino entered the forest from the West. Hinata led, her Byakugan active and searching for enemies as they moved in direction of the tower. Kiba was the rear guard , his and Akamaru’s senses on high alert for any signs of danger. Shino was firmly in the center. As the team’s long-range fighter, he had been chosen to hold their Heaven scroll. His Kikaichu had spread out around them, aiding Hinata and Kiba in keeping a look out for opponents.

Their first day in the Forest was relatively tame. They encountered a giant snake, several large poisonous spiders, and a rather irate tiger. Overall, a rather sedate first day in the forest. They made camp in a tree that night. Shino scouted out a tree that was uninhabited, Hinata wove vines and leaves together in a sort of hammock, allowing them to sleep off of the ground, and Kiba hunted down a few rabbits for dinner. Kiba and Akamaru took first watch, with Shino’s kikaichu spreading out to cover the first few hundred yards beyond Kiba’s range.

It wasn’t quite midnight, judging by the position of the moon, when Shino was woken up by his kikaichu. “Kiba.” he called softly, so as not to startle his teammate.

“Hm? Yeah?” Kiba asked just as softly, continuing to scan the now frighteningly dark forest.

“Three, from the southwest.”

Kiba nodded to signal that he understood and moved to a higher vantage point, southwest of their current location, without jostling the makeshift hammock. The buzz of a kikaichu in Hinata’s ear woke her instantly. A quick hand sign from Shino, and both were moving. Hinata laced chakra wire through the trees, not enough to be noticed, but enough to slow down the approaching team. (She hadn’t yet mastered the full potential of the wires, was working on passing her chakra through them as an extension of the Gentle Fist, but she was more than capable of manipulating the wires themselves, to trip, cut, and bind opponents.)

Shino moved higher up the tree, removing the hammock as he did so. He would use his kikaichu from a distance to confuse and bait enemies, but as the one possessing the team’s scroll, the three of them had agreed it would be best if he avoided combat as much as possible.

A few minutes later, a three-man team of Gennin from Takigakure appeared below them. Two boys and a girl. One of the boys, unaware, had chakra wires loosely wrapped around him. The wires weren’t impeding his movements, but if Hinata constricted them, he would be bound.

Shino recalled his kikaichu, sending them to swarm the enemy. In the occurring confusion Hinata pulled on the wires, binding one boy and forcing him to the ground, leaving her hiding place in order to incapacitate him. Kiba and Akamaru leapt from their spot in the trees, attacking the girl.

After knocking out the first boy, Hinata turned her attention to the other, throwing a kunai to distract him as she got close. He dodged her initial attack, disappearing into the ground with a Doton jutsu. She sought him out with her Byakugan, pulling more wires from the pouch on her hip. When he surfaced she let the wires fly. He tried dodging, running into the trees, but she was faster, catching him like a spider in a web a few yards from the others. She left him unconscious and bound, suspended between two trees.

Kiba and the girl from Taki rolled with the impact of Kiba’s landing. She pulled out a kunai and slashed at him, grazing Kiba’s cheek. He jerked back instinctively and she took the opportunity to put distance between them, releasing a low level Doton jutsu that sent a volley of rocks in Kiba’s direction. He dodged them, taking to the trees, while Akamaru came at the girl from the side. He got the girl in the shoulder, and she cried out in surprise, swinging the kunai still in her hand at him. She caught Akamaru with a glancing blow, knocking the dog off of her shoulder, only for Kiba to drop down on her other side, catching her with a blow to the back of the head that caught her unaware, dropping her instantly.

Kiba took the opportunity to search the girl for her scroll, but came up empty. He had just begun to search the first boy Hinata had tied up and knocked out, when she returned.

“There was no scroll on the second male.” She stated, glancing calmly at Shino as he dropped from his place in the tree.

“Nothing on the girl either.” Kiba grunted, shifting the Taki boy over. “Which means..Ah Ha!” He pulled the scroll from the boy’s equipment pouch. “An earth scroll. Just what we needed.”

“Then we should head for the tower. Why? it is still early and possessing both scrolls puts us at risk.” Shino stated quietly. A cloud of kikaichu flew from his sleeves and spread out to the East, towards the tower.

Hinata and Kiba shared a look and a nod, Hinata reactivating her byakugan. The three of them let into the trees, slipping into the formation they had been in earlier that day, and headed further into the Forest of Death.

A few minutes after they left, the Taki girl woke with a groan, just as her one teammate returned from where Hinata had left him tied up in the trees. “You alright Hikari?”

“Yeah.” She winced as she sat up.

“Toshi’s still out. Wanna bet they got the scroll?”

“No bet. Hey Toshi, you okay? We up.” He shook Toshi, even as he cut the wires off of him.

“Hm? Takashi? What happened?”

“A Konoha team got the drop on us. Took the scroll right off you. You ok?”

Toshi stood, stretching and wincing. “Yeah, I’m alright. We’re getting the scroll back., right?”

“Obviously.” Hiker snorted. “They would have headed for the tower, right? We can catch up to them.”

“The girl is a Hyuuga. Her eyes can see chakra, so our initial attack will have to be from a distance.” Takashi advised as they took off in the direction of the tower and their stolen scroll.

“Just avoid the wires this time, eh boys.”

“Shut up Hikari!”

They had been traveling for about an hour, going more slowly than they would have liked, (but it was pitch black, no moonlight or starlight penetrating the canopy, and on unfamiliar terrain, even with Hinata’s byakugan, it was dangerous to move any faster), when they reached a river. They were trying to determine how best to cross the water when a large boulder crashed into the tree they had been standing on. Hinata was able to warn the others in time for all three of them to get out of the way, but it left them split up.

Shino immediately took to the trees, kikaichu spreading out around and below him as a warning system. A few of the bugs sought out the enemy shinobi, latching on and slowly siphoning their chakra.

Hikari launched herself at Kiba, determined to get a rematch, while Takashi and Toshi chased after Shino.

Hinata loosed a web of chakra wire, preventing the boys from ascending any higher into the canopy, forcing them back onto the ground and moved towards them, swiping at Toshi, who barely managed to dodge. “How much of that shit does she have?!”

“It doesn’t matter, just don’t let her touch you!” Takashi instructed. “Doton: Ishi Supaiku Hogeki!” The ground beneath Hinata erupted in stone spikes, forcing her up and away from them.

Hinata took to the trees, traveling up and around, attempting to get behind her opponents. Takashi and Toshi stood back to back, eyeing the trees. A brief flash from his left had Toshi forming a wall out of earth, just in time to block a barrage of shuriken.

Collecting her wires from before, Hinata moved higher, using the darkness and the thickness of the canopy to get above the two Taki Gennin. Taking a brief second, Hinata decided to change her approach. Incapacitation had not worked the last time, so she would have to actively injure her opponents enough that they would not follow her and her team again.

With that decided, she dropped from her hiding spot, catching them by surprise. They dodged, but her Gentle Fist caught Toshi on the shoulder, rendering his right arm useless. He pulled out a kunai and swung at her with his left, but the movement was slow and clumsy, easily dodged. Takashi took the moment of distraction to perform another Doton jutsu. Hinata sank to her knees in the ground, unable to move them, but she distracted Takashi enough with one of her wires that she was able to avoid being trapped any further.

Knowing they would not come any closer to her while her arms were still,but they would most likely take advantage of her current disadvantage, she took a deep breath and focused her chakra. Just as one of the Taki Gennin used a Doton jutsu, raining a barrage of rocks on her current position, she pulled on the water from the river.

“Suiton: Idaina Mizu No Ryu!” A dragon made of water roared forth from the river, stopping the Doton attack in its tracks and blasting the enemy Gennin into a tree. A sickening crunch echoed around them, freezing the other Taki Gennin, who had been about to retaliate, in his tracks. He leapt over to his comrade, who had landed, and was no laying, awkwardly against a tree. Hinata’s blood ran cold at the unnatural angle of his neck. ‘Oh No’

“Toshi? Toshi are you ok? Toshi wake up!” Takashi knelt next to his teammate, tears gathering in his eyes, even as he shook his head in denial. “No, no, you’re okay. You’ve gotta be okay. Toshi!” When there was no response, Takashi screamed.

As the Taki Gennin raged over the fate of his teammate, Hinata, putting her Hyuuga training to use at suppressing her own emotions, managed to free herself. Her movement caught Takashi’s attention, and face twisted with rage, he launched himself at her. “YOU KILLED HIM!”

Hinata dodged, her face impassive even as her stomach roiled. She did not waste time attempting to apologize. His teammates death had been an accident, a simple case of impacting against the tree at just the wrong angle, but there was no reasoning with grief. Taking advantage of his emotional state, Hinata was able to once again trap him in her chakra wires, tying him to a tree.

With one last glance at the fallen Taki shinobi, Hinata turned towards the direction in which she had last seen Kiba. She had only managed a couple of steps before the sound of her wires cutting flesh reached her ears. Turning back, she saw that Takashi had managed to free himself from the wires, but doing so had sliced open his wrists and calves. The wounds weren’t deep enough to kill him quickly, but he would bleed to death soon if not treated.

Screaming in rage, Takashi launched himself at Hinata, kunai swinging wildly, seemingly unaware of the blood he was loosing. “You killed him! You killed my brother!”

Hinata continued to dodge his attacks, face impassive, but on the inside she wept for him. He would not stop,not until she was dead or he had bled out. His grief would not allow it. Dodging another wild swing, she stepped in close to him, catching the arm holding the kunai by the wrist, his blood pouring over her hand. Locking his legs in place with her own, the blood on his calves dripping into her shoes, she trapped him in place.

She brought her free hand up to his chest. “I’m sorry.” She whispered into his ear as she pressed her palm to his chest, sending a pulse of chakra straight to his heart. His body jolted, then went still and slumped in her hold. She lowered him softly to the ground, laying him on his back. Taking a moment of silence for the two who had fallen at her hand tonight, intentionally or not, Hinata stood up as she heard Shino moving from his place in the canopy.

“Stay there Shino. I’m going to find Kiba, he shouldn’t be far.”

“I’m right here.”

Hinata turned at Kiba’s voice, only to bite back a gasp. He held the body of the Taki girl in his arms, her throat ripped out and her body, as well as Kiba’s, covered in blood. there was a haunted look in his eyes, one Hinata knew she would mirror, if she hadn’t learned early in life how to hide all outward signs of emotion.

Earlier

Hikari’s attack forced Kiba back further into the trees. Catching a glimpse of Hinata delaying the other two, he turned his full focus on the girl before him.

“Back for more already?” He taunted her, crouching and pulling a kunai out of the pouch on his leg.

“Back to kick your ass dog breath.” She responded with a smirk, throwing shuriken at him, even as she moved towards him.

He dodged the shuriken and moved to meet her attack, swiping at her with the kunai and dodging her punches. She twisted around and grabbed at his wrist, forcing him to release the kunai. The fight devolved into a flurry of Taijutsu, the two of them punching and kick at one another as they moved further and further away from the others. Akamaru caught up to them, latching on to Hikari’s ankle, causing her to stumble. Kiba took advantage of her distraction, forcing her to the ground.

“Damnit.” she launched another barrage of shuriken, even as she moved back, trying to get back into the trees.

Akamaru bounded up to Kiba, landing on his head. “You ready boy?”

Akamaru barked and Kiba smirked. “Alright! Here we go. Fang over Fang!”

They launched themselves at her, spinning in the air. Hikari dodged, slamming into a tree and winding herself. Not giving herself time to catch her breath, she launched back into the trees, hoping to confuse him. Unfortunately, she underestimated his sense of smell.

Another attack broke the branch she had been standing on. She managed to catch another branch and slow her descent, but it wasn't enough to stop him from slamming into her from behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. She managed to stand, breathing hard and holding her left arm, which she was pretty certain was broken. Small cuts on her face, arms, and hands from the wood chips were bleeding steadily, making it difficult for her to keep her grip on her kunai. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear out the blood that was obscuring her vision in her right eye.

Kiba landed a few feet in front of her, posture still alert, but on longer actively trying to attack her. “You ready to back down?”

When all she did was glare and tighten her hold on her weapon, he sighed. “Look, I’m pretty sure your arm is broken,some of those cuts are pretty deep, and you’re eye’s starting to swell. You’re in no position to keep fighting.” He shrugged. “Besides, even if you did beat me, and your teammates somehow managed to get through Hinata, you’d never get to our other teammate. I can guarantee it.”

Hikari was swaying on her feet, but she gritted her teeth and straightened. “ Look you little…” Her sentence was broken off by a scream of rage from the direction of the others.

“YOU KILLED HIM!”

A bolt of fear raced down her spine. “Takashi..” She whispered under her breath. ‘Toshi..is..dead?’

“Hinata..ah!” Kiba turned to head back but was stopped by a kunai to the shoulder. “What the hell!?”

“That was Takashi, Toshi’s dead! You’re bitch of a teammate killed him! Now it’s your turn!” Hikari launched herself at him, eyes burning with rage and grief.

Kiba dodged, even as his mind whirled with the implications of what she had said. ‘No. Hinata would never…Something must have happened.’

Hikari ignored the pain in her arm, pulling out a second kunai and slicing at Kiba. he dodged one, and grabbed her broken arm when she swung it at him. She screamed in pain but continued to try and hit him, so he grabbed her other arm. They fell and rolled, Kiba trying to still her movements, even as she wildly slashed at him. When they stopped rolling, Hikari had him pinned to the ground. He tried to flip her without hurting her more, but she reared back with one arm and slammed the kunai down, stabbing it down through his hand and into the ground.

“Aah!” He cried out in pain and surprise, even as she did the same to his other hand. He struggled, but she was sitting on his legs, preventing him from getting any traction to lift or flip her with his hips and he couldn't pull out the kunai.

Akamaru jumped on her, biting into the juncture between his neck and his shoulder, but Hikari ripped the dog off of her and threw him. He slammed into a tree and slumped down, unconscious. She turned back to Kiba, smiling maniacally as she pulled out another kunai. She held it to his neck and licked her lips, hand shaking even as she growled at him, leaning down to whisper in his ear, Kiba leaning his head away from her.

“Now it’s your turn dog breath. Your bitch of a teammate killed Toshi, so i’m gonna kill you. A life for a life.” She pressed down with the tip of the kunai, drawing blood.

Kiba's eyes locked onto her throat as she spoke, and he wanted to vomit as he realized what he was gonna have to do. As she pressed down, taunting him with his impending death, he leaned upwards into the kunai, not enough to really hurt him, but enough to give him he leverage he needed to reach her. Pushing down the guilt roiling in his gut, he struck.

Kiba ripped her throat out with his teeth.

Her eyes went wide and she dropped the kunai she was holding, hand going to her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a gurgling sound as her mouth filled with blood. Kiba shut his eyes as she slumped forward, her full wait landing on him, blood pouring from her mouth and throat. It took a few moments for her to stop twitching.

Taking a deep breath, trying not to choke on the smell of blood and death, Kiba fought through the pain and forced his right hand upwards, pulling the kunai out of the ground, though it remained in his hand. Another moment, another breath, then he was rolling her body off of him. He pulled the other kunai completely out of his left hand, then used his teeth to pull the kunai out of his right.

Another moment, another breath.

He used the small first-aid kit in his pack to bandage his hands. Then he stood and made his way over to Akamaru, who was beginning to shake himself awake.

“Hey boy.” Kiba whispered, lifting Akamaru up to him. Akamaru whined, licking Kiba’s cheek. He smiled, then nudged Akamaru towards the hood of his jacket. “C’mon.”

He turned back and, fighting against the pain, lifted the Taki girl into his arms, beginning the walk back to Hinata and Shino.

Now

Shino stepped back and wiped a hand across his forehead. He had never quite realized how difficult would be to bury three bodies without the proper equipment.

Stepping away from the makeshift graves, he turned back to the others. Kiba and Hinata sat by the riverbed, a small fire providing enough light for her to treat Kiba’s wounds. Silently Hinata and Shino both thanked Sakura’s forethought in providing full medalist in the sealing scrolls they used to carry their supplies.

Hinata was securing the last bandage to Kiba’s hand when Shino approached. He didn’t say anything, simply played a hand on each of their shoulders. Kiba leaned into Shino’s touch, letting the Aburame’s silent acceptance quite the raging guilt in his mind and his gut. Hinata smiled slightly, acknowledging Shino’s support, even as she sighed and packed away the medicine and bandages. there would be time to process and to greave once the exam was over. For now…

“We need to keep moving. This place is even more dangerous at night and I wouldn’t be surprised if the fighting drew out some the predators.” She stood and slipped the suspiciously small sealing scroll back into her jacket, stamping out the fire. Shino nodded and helped Kiba stand.

Another moment, another breath, another second of silence.

Then they were gone, leaping into the trees and racing for the tower at the center of the forest.

A light breeze blew through the trees and three Takigakure hitai-ate mounted on wooden stakes fluttered in the wind.