The mist, the snow and their friend the fox

by FeelingsHour

Summary:

Naruto’s new friend Haku was awesome and very nice, and the Zabuza guy was pretty cool too before he left.
Naruto wasn’t to sure what he thought about the other guy though. He was a bit… odd.

Notes:

• Inspired by What Once Was Will Never Be by PrincessofWhiteSnow

I would like to warn everyone that may read this that it is my first fanfic ever. If you see I’ve missed something or that I’ve made a mistake somewhere please do tell me so I can try and fix it. I will probably be changing the tags as I go as I’m still figuring out how they work and it would probably be best if you checked either the notes or tags before reading just in case I add something your not comfortable with.
Other than that I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1: A storm and a feeling

Naruto was bored.
He’s been stuck inside listening to his teacher drone on and on with a lecture about some boring topic nobody was interested in, a glance around the classroom told him that everyone else agreed with him, Sakura looked bored out of her mind, Kiba looked about 5 seconds away from just jumping out of his seat and Shikamaru was asleep, granted he was always asleep so it wasn’t that strange, but still.

A clap of thunder drew Naruto’s attention to outside the window, it had been raining all morning but it seems to have been getting even worse as the day goes on, he’s gonna be stuck inside all day at this rate!

Naruto let out a quiet groan as he looked up at the clock, school would be over soon and he’d have to walk all the way home in the pouring rain, he just hoped it stopped raining before then.

Today sucks.
The rain did not stop before school ended, in fact it only got worse and it was still raining!

Naruto had finally managed to drop his soggy jacket onto the floor after what felt like a half hour of fighting to get it off.
Chucking it and the rest of his wet clothes in a pile on his bathroom floor, Naruto got changed into his comfiest and warmest clothes. Deciding that he deserved a prize after such an intense fight Naruto was going to treat himself to a nice and delicious meal, he was gonna have ramen.

Walking into his small kitchen and searching through the cupboards for his reward, after finding and preparing his ramen Naruto sat down to enjoy his meal. Happy to finally be eating his prize, but just as he was about to dig in a feeling like nothing he’d ever experienced washed over him, something had happened, he felt it like a buzzing in the back of his head. A feeling deep in his gut told him something truly incredible had just happened.

Something had changed about the world around him.
It felt as if the world had shifted to the right just a little bit, like that time he pranked his teacher by moving their desk just a touch, not enough to change anything or cause any problems, not even big enough to really notice, but enough that it threw them off just that little bit.

Another clap of thunder broke him from his trance, shaking his head to clear the rest of the feeling Naruto turned back to his Ramen, couldn’t let it get cold after all. Whatever that feeling was probably wasn’t important anyway.

———

Kinoe was shaken from his sleep by the sound of thunder going off, but the storm wasn’t what concerned him, instead he was more curious as to what the feeling of buzzing under his skin was.
It felt as if something unexplainable had just happened, a change had occurred somewhere in the world, a change so dramatic that it had shaken the very trees themselves.

Kinoe felt as if, somehow, the world had
suddenly gained a mass of new-old life, what that meant he couldn’t really describe. He felt it swirling under his skin and in the trees that surrounded the village he was staying in, it felt as if the trees had all stood up in attention, as if they too had felt and been infatuated by the feeling in the air. He also felt as they seemed to dampen back down as the feeling faded away, returning to their previous state. It was as if he had imagined it completely.

The feeling had come about quickly and was only present for a brief moment before it blinked out of existence again. The world stilled once more, and Kinoe was left wondering if he had imagined it all. Doubt began to creep into his mind and Kinoe was left lying in the dark trying to work out wether or not the feeling had been a figment of his imagination or a reality.

A sudden bout of exhaustion caused Kinoe’s thoughts to come to a sudden stop, sleep slowly consuming him once more. Tomorrow Kinoe would wake up and forget all about the feeling, writing it off as nothing but simple a dream.

———

Sasuke doesn’t know what to think.
He had just settled down to eat when he felt it, it was like a sudden change had taken place, and where there once was nothing there was now a mass of warmth reaching towards him, as if to pull him into its embrace.

The feeling was jarring to say the least.

It was a fleeting one as well, lasting only a moment before it faded away, one in which Sasuke felt, for the first time in a long time a bone deep kind of warmth, one that seemed to sink into his very soul. For the brief second it was there Sasuke could even convince himself that his house wasn’t as cold and lonely as it was, as if the ghosts that haunt within the compound walls had been chased away by the all encompassing warmth.

The loss of the warmth had Sasuke nearly in tears for what had to be the first time in years. The warmth that had oh so quickly made its home in the hollows of his bones had left behind nothing but a gaping hole, a hole that was quickly being filled in once again by the cold that lives in the hallways.
He missed it.

Sasuke stared downwards at his food, suddenly he had lost his appetite. Feeling that warmth only to loose it reminded him of how he felt when he first entered the compound that night. Reminded him of how the moment he stepped through the gates it was like all colour had drained out of the world, only leaving behind a harsh grey reality and the cold, cold bodies lying in pools of crimson and scarlet.

Sasuke’s stomach was turning.
He doesn’t think he can find it in himself to eat today.
He does so anyway. It tastes like ash.
He doesn’t know what caused the fleeting warmth, but he does know that for a second, just one second, he felt whole again, and, terrifyingly enough that he didn’t hate his br- Itachi. For just a second, Sasuke had even missed him, him and his warm hands under his knees as he carried him, him and his fingers pressed to his forehead in that way he always did.

Sasuke hated him, but oh how he had missed him for that brief second of time.

He put the rest of the food away, he’ll have to finish it at another time.

Right now, Sasuke going to sleep. He had already completely forgotten about the warmth the change had caused, his mind swirling in a mix of guilt and rage, rage at Itachi and all he had done, and guilt, guilt at himself for missing him, for missing his small smiles and kind eyes. God, does he feel guilty for still loving him.

———

Gaara was staring at the wall of his room when he felt it, a flash of something in the distance, a change, a phenomenon of something new appearing. It faded away as quick as it came, and Gaara was left feeling heavier than he ever had before, the voice that had long since plagued his thoughts was suddenly so quiet it was almost too loud for him to bear.

For a moment Gaara stood with nothing but his own thoughts to echo in his head, a single being for the time in what had to have been his entire existence.
It didn’t last ofcourse, few good things ever did for him.

Gaara’s mind was once again thrown into chaos a minute or two after the feeling had erupted and faded away completely.
As if the pause in chaos had never occurred at all, Gaara was consumed in thoughts of bloodshed and murder once more.
The small break completely forgotten.

———

Jiraiya was on Mount Myōboku talking with Fukasaku and Shima when he felt it, a change that rippled throughout even the land of the summons.
The change, whatever it was, had altered the reality of this world and the shinobi world alike.

“Think maybe we imagined that?”
The way Fukasaku looked at him as if he was just as senile as Gamamaru told Jiraiya exactly what he thought of that,
“Yeah, didn’t think so”

By now the feeling had already faded away, and the toads didn’t seem to know what had transpired either, but Jiraiya still thought he aught to try asking, just in case.
“Any ideas what that was?”

Fukusaku was the one who answered him, though his response was exactly what Jiraiya thought it’d be,
“I’m afraid not Jiraiya-boy, but whatever it was shouldn’t be to much of a problem”

Jiraiya looked curiously down at the toad,
“Why’s that boss?”
Fukasaku only shrugged,
“Simply the feeling of it, I can’t quite figure out what it was but it felt familiar, and safe”
Which was, confusing, and a little bit strange, Jiraiya didn’t want to say anything but Shima had no such problem with that it would seem,
“Perhaps your just going senile Pa, I didn’t feel anything like that”

Fukasaku looked resigned to his fate as he answered her,
“Please Ma, I’m hardly old enough to be considered senile just yet”
Clearly this, was the wrong answer as Shima only seemed encouraged by his words,
“And yet you’re old enough to not be able to help me clean?”
And, they had officially gone completely off topic
“My back was hurting is all,”
“Honestly Pa.”

In the face of the bickering old toads, all Jiraiya could do was sigh, the questions he had about the feeling already fading from his memory entirely.

———

The storm seems to be at an all time bad, Kakashi notes, the wind that had started out as a small breeze was now tearing its way through the streets and the rain was pummelling against any surface it could reach.
The only thing drowning out the rain was the thunder, which had begun around early afternoon as a small rumble and had now reached a near deafening bang.
Kakashi looked back towards his book and resigned himself to an early night, it didn’t look like there would be much to do today.

It’s when a particularly violent bout of thunder shakes the windows that Kakashi feels it, like a shift in the corner of his peripheral.
The change caused his instincts to flair and the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end, out of the corner of his eye he saw Pakkun lifting his head up from where he was sleeping, noting how the rest of his ninken all did the same, they had begun peering up and around at the feeling in the air. Only to blink a moment later when the feeling died out.

“Maa, You don’t suppose that it was just the storm perhaps?”
The looks Kakashi got were telling.

Sighing, Kakashi resigned himself to not having his questions answered and settled back into his seated position. If it turned out to be something important he’s sure someone else would have noticed it as well, for all he knows the storm could just be messing with his instincts and senses, it’ll be fine, he’ll just keep reading his Icha Icha in the mean time.

Besides, it’s not like he could exactly go out to tell him now, the storm was a bad one and not even Gai in all his insane antics would be caught out in a storm as wild as this one was.

———

Naruto was stuck in the storm.
In his defence, he hadn’t expected it, which also means he didn’t prepare for it and instead of landing on the ground like he meant to he instead lost his footing and was thrown against a tree.

Not a fun start.

If that wasn’t enough, Naruto had no idea where he was, which Naruto would like to say is also not his fault, a trip through time would throw anyone off and so it’s not his fault he’s a little turned around.

He will admit that he was kind of glad that nobody was around to see him get flung into the tree though. That would have been mortifying. So he guesses he can be thankful that the storm is so bad that nobody’s out taking a stroll in the forest or something, he doesn’t think he’d be able to look at himself in the mirror ever again if someone had seen that.

His gratefulness doesn’t last long as the wind starts assaulting his face and keeps throwing his hair in his mouth and eyes.
He absolutely does not almost rip his hair out trying to tie his hair up, he also doesn’t almost get thrown into a tree again, absolutely not.

Now that his hair is secure and he is safe from being rudely thrown into another tree, Naruto is faced with his first problem once again, he’s still lost.

Now, usually he would just use his sensing ability to find his way to the nearest town, but the storm seems to be interfering with it. Figures.

He was hours into his mindless walk, and after so long being battered around by the wind and rain Naruto can say one thing for sure, he really, really, really hates this storm.
His clothes were drenched, his hair was soaked, there was rain being flung into his eyes making it hard to see and the wind and thunder were so loud he was half convinced he was going to go deaf. Needless to say that when the storm finally started to clear up, somewhere around what he can only assume is midnight, Naruto was incredibly relieved.

He was not so relieved when he finally managed to use his sensing ability only to realise that the nearest town was a good 4 hours away, in the opposite direction.
Naruto would like to state that he did not press his forehead against the nearest tree for a not insignificant amount of time, He did not, But by the time he reached the village the sun had risen and he had a pretty good idea of where he was.

He was somewhere in the land of fire, just over a day away from Konoha as far as he can tell.

He almost had a heart attack when he felt all the signatures of his fallen comrades within the village, it hadn’t fully hit him until then but, he had done it, he had travelled through time! He was in the past! And that means, that means he gets a second chance!, that they all get a second chance and he’d be damned if he didn’t make use of it.

God, Naruto needs to stop thinking about this before he starts crying in the middle of the street.

His first stop is a newspaper stand near the entrance of the village, and learning that he’s gone back to when he would have been about 9 years old, though given the date little him would be 10 soon. He wonders if he’ll have to change his birthday, it’s not like he’d be unable to say him and tiny just happen to have matching birthdays, but it would probably be a bit weird. He guesses he could just make today his birthday instead, that makes sense right? Cause it’s like his first day in the new timeline and all, yeah! Today can be his birthday instead.

Damn it, he’s gonna have to find a new name aswell! And probably a cover story too! This is gonna take him forever! Naruto looked at the sky defeatedly while sighing, he really hates having to make up lies, he’s terrible at it. Resigned to his fate, Naruto decided to start planning, this is gonna take him a while.

Alright, he’s got it, it may have taken him almost 7 whole hours of non stop brainstorming to get everything, but he’s finally done! In light of his recent victory he has decided that the only reward for all of his hard work is to now find somewhere to quiet and dry to rest, and take a nap. He deserves one.

A really, really long one.

Chapter 2: Team 7 and the terrible no-good C-rank

Notes:

This is mostly just a recap of the wave arc with a couple changes here and there, it’s not all that interesting but the real changes should start next chapter. Hope you can enjoy this anyway.

Sakura hadn’t thought becoming a shinobi would be so ridiculously hard or terrifying and she really didn’t think that being one would lead to situations like this. If she had thought graduating from the academy would leave her stranded and unprepared on what was apparently a B-rank or higher mission, without any preparation and only her teammates and sensei as backup, she would have dropped out in her first year, hell she wouldn’t have signed up at all!

As it stands, Sakura is about one really bad instance away from quitting the moment she steps foot back onto Konoha soil, assuming she lives that long, that is. Now, she knows her sensei wouldn’t just let them get hurt or anything, but she’s not naive enough to believe that injuries and near death misses couldn’t happen anyway. It’s a scary thought, and she doesn’t mean to sound pessimistic or anything, but in the past day or so they have been attacked by two kiri missing-nin, and then they had been attacked again yesterday by a man nicknamed “the demon of the mist”.

Either shinobi lives are always this chaotic and insane, or she’s cursed, Sakura isn’t really sure which one it is.

Regardless of how dangerous the mission had become they had stupidly not returned home to Konoha, instead they were now learning how to walk up trees. Well she says ‘they’ but she had already figured out how to do it, Naruto and Sasuke were the ones still learning how to. Sakura herself had been assigned to watching over their client, the bridge builder Tazuna, instead, Kakashi-sensei said it would be too boring for her to just watch the boys train all day.

She thinks that both options are equally as boring but she went to the bridge anyway, fighting with Kakashi-sensei is way to annoying, no matter when or where they are.
Another thing Sakura didn’t think being a shinobi would entail is the amount of waiting. Not that she’s complaining! she’d rather be bored out of her mind than have to deal with another Zabuza any time soon.
That had been terrifying, for a moment there, Sakura thought they were actually going to die, thankfully they pulled through, but it was a bit too close for her liking.

Besides, she guesses Tazuna isn’t that bad of a person so she doesn’t mind watching him all that much.

“Hey, girl!”
She spoke to soon, Tazuna sucks, that is the seventh time he has called her ‘girl’ in the past hour, it’s really annoying, she does have a name after all, he doesn’t have to keep calling her over like that. She almost doesn’t want to acknowledge him and instead just keep sitting there, but she realises how petty that would be so she, reluctantly, walks over to where the old bridge owner was standing.

“Yes?” She made sure she was talking in her sweetest tone.
“It’s almost night so we should probably start heading back” for emphasis Tazuna nodded his head towards the sky which had already begun turning a pale orange, Sakura was relieved, she couldn’t take much more sitting down and doing nothing, voicing her understanding she and Tazuna both began the walk back to his house.

———

Naruto was getting really frustrated. Why was this so hard! He had been trying all day and he could barely make it halfway up the tree! The sun had almost set and he still couldn’t do this dumb tree walking exercise!
His only comfort was that Sasuke hadn’t managed to get it either, seems the bastard wasn’t perfect at everything after all!

Naruto shakes the thoughts out of his head, he can’t let himself get distracted, this time for sure, he’ll get it this time!
Naruto began to run forward and-
“Hey! Naruto!”
-And he fell on his face. Great.
What could Sasuke possibly want that was so important?

“What was that for! Don’t interrupt my concentration!”
Naruto would have yelled a bit more, that fall had been embarrassing, but Sasuke looked really uncomfortable, so he figured he could be merciful just this once.
“Well… um”
Naruto wasn’t used to Sasuke starting a conversation and with how much difficulty the boy seemed to be having he’s not to sure Sasuke has much experience starting one either.

“You asked Sakura for tips earlier…. What did she say?”

Oh, oh. He was asking him for help? Sasuke was asking Naruto for help. Naruto couldn’t help his grin.
“I’m not telling.”

Sasuke’s face twisted into a grimace at his denial.
Naruto thought it was priceless.

———

Sasuke didn’t like the fact that they were stuck here, but he had to admit that the food was pretty decent. Either that or he was hungrier than he had originally thought.
Dinner was a pretty rowdy affair, much louder than he thinks he’s ever experienced, even before- … it’s just really loud.

Sasuke is glad when dinner ends and the sound goes with it, he really is. No matter how nice it was to eat dinner with people again. He’s glad it’s over.

“Excuse me but, why is this picture torn?”
Sasuke looked over to where Sakura was standing, the picture she was referring too had been torn at the top, cutting of the face of the one standing and only leaving the bottom three.

Sakuras question was harmless enough, even so he couldn’t help but notice the way the three residents of the house froze for a second. Tsunami, Tazuna’s daughter, spoke from her spot washing dishes.
“That’s my husband”

Before anyone else could Tazuna spoke,
“He’s the man this town once called a hero”
A hero, huh?
Sasuke saw the boy, Inari, move out from his seat before moving to and out of the door without saying anything to either his mother or his grandfather.

Sasuke was almost startled by Tsunami stomping over to the door after her son, “dad, what did I say about mentioning him around Inari!”
Her words were laced with frustration as she turned and closed the door behind her.

Sasuke was confused, did this man do something? Is that why they weren’t supposed to talk about him?
“What was that?”
For what was probably the first time, Sasuke shared Sakura’s curiosity, he too wished to know what had just happened.

When he spoke, Sasuke couldn’t help but notice how old Tazuna suddenly seemed to be. Though after hearing the man’s recount of Kaiza’s story he felt he understood why. Loosing family is.., well it’s not easy, but to loose them in such a way? Its.. horrible, absolutely horrible.

———

 

Naruto was woken up from his sleep by being shaken and the words of an unfamiliar person,
“Who’re you?”
He asked, voice still a bit groggy from sleep.
Looking at the person next to him, Naruto couldn’t help but notice how pretty they were, and they were really pretty.
“Did you wake me up? Why are you here?”
Naruto was just asking every question he thought of wasn’t he?

The person didn’t seem to mind the excessive questions however, they merely answered.
“I’m gathering medicinal herbs”
“Herbs?”
“Yes, for healing injuries, sicknesses and the like”
“Oh,” Naruto was left feeling embarrassed over his question, ‘medicinal herbs’ is pretty sell explained when he really thought about it.

Feeling just that little bit dumb for wasting the persons time, he figured he should at least offer to help them, right?
“would you like some help looking?”
“If you wouldn’t mind, company would be appreciated”
The person had responded kindly, their smile was pretty too.

5 minutes later Naruto had helped the stranger collect enough herbs for around three people, according to them at least, he wasn’t familiar with herb portions.

Naruto made sure to speak in order to break up the silence of the clearing, he never liked when it was quiet.
“Hey, hey, why are you doing all of this so early anyway?”

“I merely felt it would be best to do it now rather than later is all,” the strangers voice hasn’t lost any of it’s kindness at all throughout their entire conversation.
“What about you, why are you out so early?”

Naruto was a bit startled, he hadn’t expected to be asked anything, though his surprise didn’t stop him from answering the question happily.
“I’m out her training! I’m a shinobi, ya know!”

“I had assumed when I saw the hitai-ate, but I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, you’re from Konoha, right?”
The strangers seemed nothing but relaxed as they spoke.

“Yeah I am! How could you tell? Have you been?”
Naruto really liked talking to them, it was really nice.

“I have this friend, he travels quite a bit and sometimes he’ll tell me stories about the places he visits, one of them just so happened to be Konoha is all.”
The persons face took on a warm smile as they spoke and Naruto couldn’t help but smile back.

“He sounds awesome, ya know!”
Naruto was being honest, he wonders just how many places this friend has been, like, how many different villages had they been to? How far had they gone?

“He is, he’s someone incredibly precious to me”
Precious to them? What did they mean by that?

“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Naruto was genuinely confused, precious? Like special? He doesn’t think he’s ever heard someone be called that before, important maybe, but not precious.

“Do you not have anyone precious to you?”
There wasn’t any mocking in their tone so Naruto figured he could probably answer honestly.

“I don’t think so, no.
Am I, supposed to?”
Was this one of those things someone was supposed to tell him about? Or is it one of those things he was supposed to just know?

They looked thoughtful as they answered.
“Not so much supposed to, it just means that you have someone really important to you. Someone you want to protect”

Someone he wants to protect…? He doenst think he has anyone like that.

Naruto looked back up when the person continued speaking.
“When a person has something or someone precious to protect, that’s when they truly become strong”

Naruto.. doesn’t know what to say to that.
Seemingly done talking now, the person gathered their things and stood.
“It’s been very nice talking to you, buts I should be going”

“Oh, bye! It was nice talking to you too, ya know!”
He cringed a little, he sounded so awkward just then.

The stranger didn’t make any comment however, they simply smiled and walked away.

Lost in thought, Naruto didn’t notice Sasuke’s approach until the raven haired boy hit him on the head.

“Oi, usuratonkachi, you missed breakfast.”
Sasuke’s voice was as dry as ever.

“I know that! But I was busy training, ya know!”
Geez, how dumb did Sasuke think he was anyway?

“I figured, but I’d you were gonna take a break you could have at least come back for food”
Hmph, why is he being so annoying about this?

“I’ll eat later or something!”
He can get food later, right now he had to keep training!

“You shouldn’t skip meals idiot”
Ugh! Why won’t he stop!

“Just drop it already! I said I’d eat later! Geez.”
Naruto glared at Sasuke, who only looked slightly annoyed for the most part.

“Fine then.”
Sasuke finally relented.

After he was done arguing, Sasuke seemed to grow nervous, kind of like he did last night. Naruto couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow towards his teammates behaviour.

“Do you.. do you want to train.. together?”
Wow, somehow Sasuke had managed to look like he was in physical pain just by speaking, it’s kind of funny.

Naruto thought about it, does he? Sasuke’s can be a jerk and he’s rude a lot, but he never really bothered Naruto at all, and they are teammates sooo….

“Sure!”
Sasuke seemed surprised by this, Naruto doesn’t know why he would be, He’s the one who asked after all.

“Bet you I can get it before you can!”
Sasuke seemed to jolt out of his surprise, he didn’t say anything before he was running at a nearby tree to start practicing, his usual quiet confidence back in full. Good, Sasuke looked weird all nervous and surprised, he’s glad his teammates back to normal.

Naruto’s grin spread wide across his face, he wasn’t gonna let Sasuke win just because he was acting funny, believe it!

———

These kids were going to give him a heart attack one of these days.
Between Sakuras lack of self confidence and latent anger issues, Sasuke’s obsession with grief and revenge, and Naruto’s Narutoness, Kakashi really had his work cut out for him. Honestly, who put these guys on a team together? And why does he have to teach them. It’s horrible.

Well, maybe horrible’s a bit much, after all, watching them all, Kakashi can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, they’ll be worth it, that they’ll succeed where his team couldn’t. He hopes so at least.

Kakashi doesn’t think he’s let himself be this hopeful about something in years.

•••

One thing they really should work on however, is that stubbornness of theirs. Honestly, training is all well and good but these boys take it almost as seriously as Gai and if he has to deal with anymore people like the green clad man he might not survive. He already lives in constant fear of Gai and his mini-me of a student, he doesn’t need his own students added to that number.

Kakashi looked up at the opened door to see Sasuke half carrying Naruto through the entrance, honestly they wear themselves out training more than they do in a fight.

“What have you two been doing?”
Kakashi noted the trace amusement in Tazuna’s voice, the man seems to find their antics amusing.

“We climbed to the top.”
Sasuke’s announcement doesn’t surprise Kakashi, the two had been out training for almost the entire day after all.

“Oh? Well in that case you can move on to watching over Tazuna with Sakura”
Kakashi couldn’t help but laugh at Naruto’s reaction to his words, the boy had been so excited he had toppled over and brought Sasuke down with him.

It was times like this that he couldn’t stop himself from enjoying. He was happy, and god did he feel just that little bit guilty for it every time.

———

They weren’t prepared. They went to the bridge believing that they would just stand around on guard all day, instead they found the builders unconscious on the floor and the entire bridge covered in mist.

They really weren’t prepared for this.

Sakura tried to look around the bridge but the mist was severely limiting the range of her vision, her only real comfort being the feel of Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun’s backs against hers.

Honestly, why do these things keep happening to her! Maybe she was right, maybe they really are cursed, because she knows for a fact that Ino-pig hasn’t had to deal with things like this.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting, Kakashi.
I see you have the brats with you aswell”
The familiar voice of Zabuza seemed to echo within the mist, it was just her luck that it would be him. Sakura hated her luck.

Out of seemingly nowhere they were surrounded by what looked like 7 or so clones, she could feel Sasuke tense behind her and Kakashi shift in his position just a bit. A dawning sense of dread seemed to crawl up her spine, she isn’t going to like this, is she?

•••

Once again, she was right, she doesn’t like any of this.

The fight started out promising at first, but then that boy with the mask pulled some funny move with some ice mirrors and everything went down hill from there. She thinks she heard Naruto at some point but the most had gotten so thick she couldn’t even make out that ridiculously orange jacket of his. She was getting worried.

Before all she could hear was the sound of fighting, then what sounded like a bunch or birds which was followed by a feeling of what she can only describe as a burning hot hatred. Now, standing in the silence of the mist, she almost misses the sounds of them fighting, at least then she knew they were still alive.

It was only because she was trying so hard to see that she noticed when the mist began to thin, slowly at first but it soon became faster, until all the mist had vanished.

Without the mist to black her view Sakura was left staring as Zabuza and Kakashi.. shook hands? What? Rubbing her eyes to make sure revealed that, yup, they were shaking hands alright.

What happened? She could have sworn they were at each others throats not 6 minutes ago and was that the masked boy next to Naruto and Sasuke? Though by the looks of it he seems to have lost his mask at some point during the fight. Seriously, what was happening! We’re they friends now?

“What’s happening right now?!”
Sakura immediately clamped her mouth shut, she didn’t mean to yell that, but in her defence everyone was being very weird.

Kakashi seemed to take pity on her and began to explain.
“It’s not so big a deal Sakura, we merely came to an understanding is all”

An understanding? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Sakura would have kept asking questions, if it weren’t for the large group of people that had shown up on the bridge that is.

Sakura saw Zabuza take a step forward before yelling at the man infront of the group.
“Gato! What is this?”

The short man in front, Gato apparently, merely laughed out an answer.
“There’s been a change in plans I’m afraid, I’m sorry Mr Zabuza, but you were just too expensive, it’s much cheaper to higher civilians than shinobi you see”

Sakura looked back at Zabuza, she expected anger and outrage but instead all she found was… amusement? Even through the bandages covering his face it was obvious that Zabuza had started to smile, why? Wasn’t he mad at Gato for betraying him?

The Kiri-nin’s voice held amusement when he spoke aswell.
“It would seem that I am no longer employed.”

Sakura was surprised to hear her sensei’s voice reply to the man’s words.
“It would seem so. What will you do about that, hmm?”

Somehow, the swordsman’s grin widened, and without saying a word he was off.

Gato didn’t have any time to react before there was a sword going through his chest.

———

Well, Kakashi thought dryly, that didn’t go as expected.

Had one told him before he left for this mission that he would find himself returning to Konoha with the demon of the mist and his ward as company, he would have smiled and shunshined to the other side of the village. But, here he was.

He doesn’t really know how he’s going to explain this to the Hokage, or anyone for that matter.

He sighs internally, this is gonna be such a pain.

Chapter 3: Waiting, tag and a nap

They had gotten back to Konoha at around 6 a.m. The first thing they did upon entering the village was head straight to the Hokage’s office in order to give their reports, which is standard procedure for any shinobi after a mission.

After that, it was a quick stop at the hospital for a checkup before they were dumped at Training Ground 3 and told to stay put.

That was seven hours ago.

Kakashi-sensei had told them that he and the Zabuza guy needed to discuss some things with the Hokage and that they needed to stay in the training grounds until then, which left her, Sasuke, and Naruto alone with the now-unmasked boy.

It was really awkward, to say the least.

Neither she nor Sasuke had really made any attempts to break the awkward atmosphere either; Sasuke had been glaring at the boy, whose name she learned was Haku, since they got here, and she couldn’t bring herself to start a conversation with the boy who had almost killed them.

Naruto didn’t seem to have the same reservations though, as he had been happily chatting with Haku since they were dumped here.

Sakura sort of figured that Haku would eventually get mad at Naruto for talking so much, but so far he’s just smiled and answered any questions the blonde had asked him.

"Hey Haku, you’ve travelled around a lot, right? So if you had to pick, what’s the prettiest place you’ve ever been?"

"Hmm, if I had to pick, perhaps waterfall? It was very stunning when I was last there; though there is a unique beauty to be found in the land of fire, your country’s forests are truly incredible."

"Huh"
And with a single slip-up, all eyes were on her. Fun.

"Is there something wrong, Sakura?"
Haku sounded genuinely concerned for her well-being; it made her feel kind of bad for being so nervous.

"Oh no, it’s just, well, I just figured you’d say your own country is all..."
Sakura truly hoped she didn’t look as embarrassed as she felt.

Haku blinked before he answered.
"I suppose one might think that, but in truth, I haven’t been back in the land of water in many years now. I have very few memories of it outside of the area I was raised in."

Oh, that’s, oh, she didn’t mean to bring up anything sad for the boy.

"I’m so sorry, Haku, I didn’t mean to..."

"No, it’s quite alright, there’s no need to apologise."

He says that, but still.

Hoping to change the subject, she decided to ask a question of her own.

"Sooo, Do you... have a favourite animal..?"

What kind of basic question is that!
Geez, she couldn’t have come up with something better?

Haku, just like with all the other questions, merely answered it without blinking an eye.

"My favourite animal..? I’ve never really thought about it before. If I really had to choose, maybe a fox or a rabbit?"

"A fox or a rabbit?"
That's a pretty odd combination, in her opinion; they aren't very similar animals.

"Yes, a friend of mine is fond of foxes, you see; it seems he’s rubbed off on me. As for the rabbits, we often use them as distractions, and therefore I spend a lot of time in their presence; I've grown to quite like them."

"Oh, that makes sense."

The conversation moved on after that, she wonders though. When Haku mentioned liking foxes, for just a second, she could have sworn she saw Naruto's face scrunch up into something. But when she looked again, it was back to normal.

Maybe it was just her imagination.

"How’d you do that mirror thing?"

Well, that's a surprise.
Did Sasuke-kun just ask a question? She doesn’t think he’s ever shown interest like that.

Haku only blinked at the sudden question.
"You mean my crystal ice mirrors?"

Sasuke leant forward from his sitting position.
"Is that what you call them?"

"Yes, and to answer your question, they are a manifestation of my kekkei genkai."

Oh, well, that’s interesting.
"You have a kekkei genkai, Haku?"

Haku looked over at her when she spoke.
"Yes, I do."

Naruto practically jumped up and down, something she didn’t think a normal person could do while sitting, but then again, Naruto was never really normal to begin with. He's always been way too hyper for that.
"That’s so cool! ya know!"

Haku smiled softly at the excited blonde.
"Thank you, Naruto, that’s very kind of you."

Today must be just full of surprises because Sasuke-kun asked yet another question.

Seriously, since when was Sasuke-kun this talkative?

"So your kekkei genkai lets you create ice? Or is it just the mirrors?"

"No, I can use it in different ways; the ice mirrors are just the easiest ones to use effectively during a battle."

Looking satisfied with Haku’s answers, Sasuke-kun leans back into his previous sitting position, though this time he wasn’t glaring at Haku, so she guesses he’s gotten over what happened on the bridge.

Sakura honestly thought it would take more than seven hours and a small conversation to get over what happened in Wave, but Haku has proven to be too nice to truly hate.

It's not like the guy was trying to kill them anyway; according to Kakashi-sensei, he had been aiming for non-lethal damage or whatever. Kakashi said Zabuza was doing that as well, though she’s not convinced about that just yet. He did almost take her head off with a giant sword, so she thinks she’s pretty justified in thinking he was going to kill them.

The conversation continued like that for awhile, with her and her teammates, mostly Naruto, asking Haku various questions about his travels, the people he’s met, and sometimes about what skills he has; that last one was all Sasuke. Haku, for his part, answered all of the questions the best he could. By the end of the conversation, she had learned a lot about the boy, things ranging from his favourite colour being blue, to that autumn is his favourite season.

Sakura’s glad Haku turned out to be a friend after all; he’s a pretty cool guy, if you ask her.

Their little conversation only ended when Naruto suggested they play a game or something to "have fun instead of sitting down doing nothing, ya know!".

She was a bit reluctant at first, and she saw that reluctance reflected on her other two companions faces, but Naruto had insisted, so they ended up agreeing in the end.

Which is how they’ve found themselves playing a very aggressive game of tag, which was more fun than she had expected; even Sasuke-kun was putting in effort.

Sakura didn’t think running around in a game of free-for-all tag could be so fun, but here she was, and there, Naruto was. Just a little bit closer, aaand, got him!

"Aww Sakura-chan!"

"That’s another point for me! Yeah!"

In the face of her cheering, Naruto's face took on an oddly good fake-hurt look.

But not even Naruto’s surprisingly effective pout could dampen her mood right now; she was on a roll!

"Hmph! Sakura-chan is so mean!"

"Aww, come on! Don’t be like that, Naruto!"

Naruto’s feigned hurt quickly dissolved into laughter shortly after; she couldn’t help but join in. Man, when was the last time she had this much fun anyway??

Too busy laughing, neither she nor Naruto heard the footsteps approaching until it was too late, and Sasuke had already slapped both of them on the back and booked it to the left.

It took her a few moments to fully realise what had just happened, but when she did, she blinked. She turned to look over at the blonde next to her and seeing her own emotions reflected in his blue eyes, she grinned. Sasuke was going down.

Her and Naruto both ran directly after Sasuke; the Uchiha may have had a head start, but between the two of them, they were sure to get him eventually!

There haste ended up being unnecessary, though, because not too long after they had started their pursuit, Sasuke was chased back into the open by Haku.

She looked at Naruto, at Haku, and then at Sasuke.

Sharing a nod with the blonde and the long-haired boy, her grin widened along with Sasuke's eyes.

Sure, maybe three against one wasn’t exactly fair, but she was winning, dammit!

They all jumped forward at the same time.

Needless to say, Sasuke lost that round. By a lot.

Sasuke-kun was practically pouting when they all returned to the main training ground; she thought it was adorable.

Sakura’s grin was wide in triumph as she walked to the centre of the clearing. God, did she feel alive right now! Sure, she was sweaty, out of breath, and about to keel over in exhaustion, but man did she have fun.

When she did collapse, it was only in order to lie down next to both Naruto and Sasuke; they were all sprawled with their heads in the middle of a sort of circle. She was lying next to Sasuke and Naruto, while Haku was lying opposite her. She and the blonde were still laughing, and although she couldn’t see their faces, she was sure Haku and Sasuke were smiling too.

It was like this, sprawled next to each other on the grass, red-faced and sweaty, that they each fell asleep, smiles never leaving their faces.

———

Kakashi deserves an award for the way he resisted the urge to immediately jump headfirst out of the window when the meeting with the Hokage ended.

Honestly, how anyone could like the torture that is politics, he will never know.

Watching Sandaime-sama all but slump in his chair out of exhaustion as he and Zabuza slipped out of the office made Kakashi incredibly glad he didn’t have to deal with the man’s troubles. He couldn’t even imagine dealing with that. Could you blame him? The man had looked dead at his desk.

And really, could you imagine, him, as the Hokage?

Kakashi almost gagged at the very thought. He's glad no sane person would ever think he was Hokage material; it would be a nightmare.

Looking towards the direction of the training grounds and then at his companion. A deep sense of tiredness seeing over him.

He couldn’t help himself, for what had to be the hundredth time that day, Kakashi let out a heavy sigh as he questioned his decisions in life.

Kakashi didn’t know what to think about everything that had happened recently.

First, he and his team had been sent on a mission that turned out to be well above the genin‘s current level. Then they had somehow come to an understanding with the attackers who had threatened them up until that point.

Already, it’s enough that Kakashi should have earned a month-long vacation. At the least.

After all of that, however, they had for some reason decided to bring the missing-nin back to Konoha, where the "demon of the mist" then argued with the Hokage for almost nine hours straight. And, okay, he might be exaggerating just a tad. Zabuza didn’t argue per se, but he was very obviously toeing the line between a polite debate and straight-up demands throughout the entire meeting.

Though, truthfully, he hadn't expected much else, Kakashi has found the man is nothing if not stubborn after all, and he had already made up his mind before even reaching the village.

Zabuza had come to Konoha in the hopes that he would be able to leave Haku in our care while he left to join the revolution in Kiri.

He said he couldn’t bring the boy into a would-be war zone and that he would just be a liability. Which he's sure is just an excuse for him to not endanger the boy further. The man isn't very subtle.

What Kakashi hadn’t known was that Zabuza also wanted to leave a friend of his behind in order to watch over the boy; he only found that out when the swordsman told the Hokage about this condition of his.

It’s not that it’s surprising; shinobi are known for their paranoia after all; it was more so that it took him off guard how openly he was willing to demand it. Kakashi hadn’t pegged him as the type to worry so much about his student so openly, though he supposes that first impressions are oftentimes misleading.

Regardless of whether or not the request made sense, it was not one the Hokage was just going to let happen without any background information. All things considered, one couldn't just let random shinobi into the village; that would only be asking for tragedy.

Eventually, though, after hours of needling, the Hokage relented and added his own restraints to the deal. These included, but were not limited to, Zabuza’s utter secrecy about any and all contact with Konoha as well as the promise of a new treaty should the rebellion prove successful.

Lastly, the Hokage ensured that Zabuza agreed to the terms concerning this babysitter of his, like the man having an escort watch him until he was deemed safe and that he would need to follow Konoha rules while on its soil. Left unspoken was that Anbu would be tailing the man for however long he was deemed a threat, though he doubts Zabuza doesn’t already know that.

There were more terms and conditions discussed, but those were the main ones.
Honestly, why did he have to put up with such things?

Though, now that they have some time to talk, he does have a few questions of his own for the swordsman.

"Maa, Zabuza, was all of that really necessary?"

"I don’t know what you could possibly mean, Kakashi."

He's playing dumb now, is he?

"Oh, it’s just, was it truly necessary to call Haku a babysitter? After seeing what he’s capable of, I’d hardly call him weak—maybe not Jonin-level yet, but definitely close. High Chunin, perhaps?"

"It’s not about his strength."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that.
"Oh? Then what could it possibly be? I understand not trusting us, but Haku is a smart boy; I’m sure he could see through any attempts at deception."

"It’s not that either."

"Then, please, do enlighten me; what could you possibly be so worried about?"

Zabuza was silent for a few moments. Had Kakashi angered him? That could prove disastrous for his planned information gathering.

"He is naive."

Oh?
Kakashi thinks about that for a second. The boy is young after all; it’s understandable that he wouldn’t have been exposed to much in terms of underhanded tactics, so he supposes naivety is a valid worry for the man. That still leaves some questions unanswered, though.

"Ah, I see, but tell me, if you're so worried about the boy, why leave him here?"

"I told you, I won’t be bringing a liability like him into a civil war."

"Yes, yes, but why not just leave him with this friend of yours? Why have him here instead of away from any potential hostilities within the village?"

"That’s none of your concern."

So there’s a reason, but not one he’ll share, hmm? Very well, Kakashi won’t push.

Though even if he did, he has a feeling Zabuza wouldn’t answer him.

Zabuza didn’t break the silence between them until they were nearing the training grounds.

"We’re almost there."

This was the only warning he got before the swordsman increased his speed towards the clearing. Honestly, the man was being dramatic; he wasn’t even asking questions anymore.

Though it’s probably a good idea to hurry back to the clearing, the genin can be quite impatient after all, and he’s left them waiting for almost nine hours now.

Though he thinks they should cut him some slack.

Kakashi deserves some; his workload has doubled over the past couple of months, and he fears it’ll only get worse from here. His genin are a very cute trio of nightmares, and his luck had really shown through yet again as the Hokage made him in charge of watching Haku and his babysitter. Which means he’d go from three students to four plus one extra.

Wonderful.
Kakashi could practically already feel the headache forming.

To think he now needs to look after both a new student and a random shinobi on top of everything else.
This can only end badly for him; he's sure of it.

Honestly, his own team could barely get along as is; how was he supposed to handle keeping track of five people?
They needed to stop expecting the impossible; he's not a miracle worker, no matter how skilled he is.

Kakashi made sure to press pause on his mental anguish when the clearing came into view. Slowing down a little in order to land properly near the clearing's centre, he looked up and saw—huh.

He did not expect this.

Kakashi was genuinely lost for words. Seriously, what could he say to this? He was so thrown off that he had even resorted to pinching himself in order to check, and, nope, he’s awake alright.

Which means… he’s really seeing this.

Looking down at the kids from where he was standing, he couldn’t help the way he was staring, in what had to be complete and utter confusion.

Because what he saw made no sense to him.

The kids were sleeping, cuddling up together with smiles on all of their faces. How had this happened? Kakashi could have sworn that the kids, at least the ones on his team, could barely stand each other just this morning, and now they were cuddling?!

Kakashi almost uncovered his sharingan in order to check for a henge or genjutsu before releasing how stupid that would look. He was tempted to do it anyway. Just to be completely sure.

 

He looks over at Zabuza, trying to figure out if the man was feeling the same as he was. What he saw nearly made him stumble backwards. Zabuza looked absolutely soft.

The world needed to stop throwing these surprises at him before he really does have a heart attack; he's not kidding.

Soft isn't, well, it's just not a word he thought he’d ever use to describe the man, but it’s the only one he can think of at the moment. Because Zabuza truly did look soft, his face had dropped from its usual scowl, and his eyes seemed to have fallen out of their usual glare. His face had taken shape into something almost fond.

It was off-putting to say the least.

Kakashi followed the man's gaze downward. Where the gaze ended lessened the shock a bit; after all, if the man was going to look at anyone like that, of course it would be Haku. The boy was practically his son, and it showed in the way the man looked at him in the same way a father would look at his son.

How Zabuza thought he was fooling anyone with his 'I don't care' act was beyond him.

It was this look that left Kakashi realising a few things.

The first was that Zabuza cared more about Haku than he let on, which he had already figured out in part, but he was suddenly aware of just how much he cared. This was the least surprising one in hindsight.

The second was that Zabuza had called in the babysitter, not because he thought Haku was naive, though that’s definitely a factor, but because he wants the boy to be as safe as he can be.

Which brings him to his final conclusion.

Admittedly, the third was only a theory so far, but if Kakashi had to guess, the reason Zabuza had decided to leave Haku in Konoha instead of elsewhere was because he didn’t want the boy to be alone.

Now, this is all purely speculation, of course; there is no definitive proof of this theory, but the way Zabuza looks at Haku while he's surrounded by kids close to his age, such tenderness is hard to hide and near impossible to fake.

Zabuza wanted Haku to have friends.

That's why he was going through the trouble of leaving him here of all places. That’s why he would rather go through the trouble of calling his friend and making him look after Haku than another, easier alternative.

It has to be one of the most interesting thoughts to have. To think that a man as terrifying and strong as this one would put aside his own reservations solely because he wants his kid to have friends. What a truly mundane thing that is.

He supposes even the most terrifying of men have to love something.

Kakashi looks away after a while; he suddenly feels like he’s intruding on something.

His eyes instead strayed down to the pile of children at his feet. They had somehow managed to tangle themselves up into an impressive-looking knot. Sakura was lying on top of Sasuke and Naruto, while Naruto’s head was propped up against Haku’s stomach. Sasuke was lying on the ground with his arms reaching out around him.

Like this, you would never guess that Sasuke and Naruto didn’t get along all that well, not with how Sasuke’s hand had reached out to grip Naruto’s wrist or how Naruto’s hand had curled into Sasuke’s shirt. You wouldn’t be able to tell that Sakura held any idolisation for Sasuke or annoyance with Naruto either, not when she had basically made Sasuke’s legs a foot rest and buried her face in Naruto’s elbow, using the blonde's arm as a makeshift pillow.

They looked so peaceful and happy together, like this.

Honestly, these kids fight like cats and dogs when they’re awake, but the minute they’re asleep, they become all sweet and cuddly.

It’s mind-boggling.

Oh well, thinking about it won’t do any good. Besides, Kakashi should probably put an end to all of this before it gets too mushy.

Giving the man and sleeping children a few extra seconds of tranquillity, he prepared his most sing-songy voice, and then,

"Good afternoon, you four! did you enjoy your nap?"

The kids all woke with a jolt, disoriented and confused, groggily pulling their limbs back to their bodies and looking around dazedly in efforts to re-focus their eyes.

Unsurprisingly, the moment they were aware enough, Naruto and Sakura jumped up and immediately began a joint tirade about how late it was and how dare he keep them waiting for so long. This wasn’t surprising; what was surprising was that Sasuke was also contributing to the tirade. It seems there was a limit to how much the brooding Uchiha could deal with after all. Who knew?

To be honest, the only one who didn’t seem upset with the late arrival was Haku, though that could just be because Zabuza had taken the boy away to talk to him, most likely about what’s happening. He’ll still count it as a win.

Tuning back into the outside world once he was sure the cute little genin had finished yelling, Kakashi pulled out his best eye-smile.

"Maa, don’t you three seem to be quite lively today!"

"Kakashi-sensei, you should apologise for being so late! We had to wait for hours!"

Ah, Sakura, for someone who’s usually very even-tempered, she could give out demands with the best of them. She would make quite the leader if ever given the chance; he’s sure of it.

"Now, now, Sakura, I have big news to share with you three, so why don’t we all just listen to sensei, yeah?"

This drew grumbles and curious glances from each of the genin. Since when were they so in sync anyway?

"Now that I have all of your attention, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen over the next few days, so listen up, alright?"

He received varying degrees of head nods in answer.

"Okay, so as you all know, Zabuza and I had a meeting with the Hokage to discuss some things. As a result of what was discussed, there will be a few changes.
The most important one for now is that Zabuza will be leaving for the land of water in a few days, and due to certain circumstances, Haku will be remaining here as an honorary member of Team 7."

It was silent for a moment or two, but this was quickly fixed by a sudden cacophony of talking genin.

Well, at least they seem excited about this. That’s definitely a bonus.

And it's good to know they're still as chaotic as usual. He was almost scared they had changed completely in the hours he was in that office. How terrifying that would have been!

Now he only needs to worry about everything else...

Hopefully, this will turn out better than he expects it to. He doubts it, though.

Chapter 4: Goodbye and Hello

Summary:

Haruto finally makes it to Konoha!

It’s been six or so days since they got back from their mission, and it was also the day that Zabuza left for that civil war thing happening in Water.

Naruto still doesn’t know how he feels about the guy, but so far, he’s been pretty decent. Naruto thinks he might even grow to like the guy if he gets to know him enough. Besides, Haku likes him, so he can’t be that bad of a person.

Maybe it doesn’t make much sense to like Haku so much already, but the boy's been really nice to him so far; he hasn’t looked at him weirdly even once. Haku’s the only one who’s ever done that before. No matter who it was, they've always done a double take when looking at him; some are just better at hiding it. It made Naruto feel happy and warm that Haku didn't, which is ironic considering Haku fights with ice.

That's why he feels bad about Zabuza leaving, because it makes Haku sad.

Naruto doesn’t like his new friend being sad.
He’s worried Haku will feel sad without the man, especially in a new place with strange people all around. Zabuza must have been worried too, and that’s probably why he called that other guy to protect Haku and keep him company.

That’s just another reason Naruto thinks he might like this guy.
He’s kind. Even if he doesn’t show it. He wouldn't be so worried otherwise.

If the man wasn’t, Naruto wouldn’t be out on this road at eight in the morning for him.

He and the rest of Team 7 had woken up early in order to see the swordsman off; they might not know him very well, but they had spent almost two whole weeks together now. They wouldn’t feel right not saying goodbye.

Kakashi sensei said they could leave whenever they wanted to; lessons were apparently cancelled because there was another meeting that needed to happen, so they could take the day off instead.

He’s just glad they don’t have to stay in the training grounds again. As fun as it was playing with the others, that didn’t mean they got along all the time.

That being said, they had gotten a bit better recently, just a bit. He thinks it might be because Haku’s around now, Sasuke wasn’t as cold as he usually was, and Sakura didn’t hit him as much either—she had even gotten angry at Sasuke once! But she got over it pretty quickly. He thinks they might even actually like each other eventually.

That doesn’t mean he wants to do it again, though. No way. He’d rather sit through another lecture from Iruka-sensei than do that again; at least then it’ll end after only half an hour or something.

“I’ll be going then.” Zabuza said.

Naruto’s eyes snapped up when he spoke, then they drifted towards Haku. The boy was trying to hide it, but he still looked upset with everything. His face was just barely different from its neutral, mouth drawn down just a little, nose a bit crinkled, and eyes partially glaring at the air. It wasn’t much, really, but it was a lot for Haku to show, he's sure.

It hurt to look at it.

It hurts to watch his friend hurt, especially because he can’t help him. He really hopes that friend of theirs gets here soon; that way, Haku won’t have to be lonely or upset for too long.

“Maa, I thought you’d want to stay until your friend got here; aren’t you worried he won’t make it in time?” Kakashi questioned.

That’s true. If the guy was supposed to be here to look after Haku and everything, why is Zabuza leaving before he even gets here? Like, what if the guy doesn’t get here at all?

“He’ll be here; he hasn’t been late for as long as I’ve known him. If I’ve timed this right, he should get here a couple minutes after I  leave.

“If he’s that close already, why not wait the extra minutes?” Kakashi asked.

Is Zabuza dodging the guy or something? Aren’t they friends?

“Eh, I’d rather not explain everything to him; I’ll leave that to you lot.” Was the only reply.

Kakashi looked at the swordsman oddly at that.

“Does he not know why he’s coming here..?” Kakashi trailed off near the end.

“I told him to be here today and that Haku would tell him why; that’s enough.”

And with that, Zabuza turned and walked off.

“I thought they were friends or something; do they not like each other or something?”
Sakura asked after the man had left earshot.

“They actually get along surprisingly well, but Zabuza appears to be upset about what happened last time Haruto was around.” Haku replied

“Oh? And what happened last time then, hmm?” Kakashi asked, and he could almost hear the teasing the man was preparing for. Kakashi wasn't big on talking, but he could mock with the best of them.

“I’m not sure Zabuza would like me answering that; he was quite embarrassed by what happened.”

“Zabuza? Embarrassed? Well, now you have to tell us!” Sakura said cheerfully.

“Yeah! It has to be really funny if the grumpy guy gets embarrassed by it!” He added.

"No, I’m sorry, I can't; Zabuza would-"

“What’s going on?”

Naruto did not jump; he didn't. He was a shinobi, and shinobi didn’t jump at surprises. He did turn around really fast in order to face the sudden voice, but that was only so he was prepared to fight them. Not because he got scared.

Besides, everyone else did the same thing, so nobody could prove it if he was scared. Which he wasn’t!

A kunai, thrown by Kakashi, impaled itself in a tree near the stranger's head.

The man merely held his hands up, a goofy-looking smile already making its way onto his face. He was a little shorter than Kakashi-sensei was; his long brown hair was tied back into a ponytail; and his green eyes practically glowed with amusement. The man’s outfit wasn’t all that interesting—plain clothes that were just a bit too practical to be a civilian; the only thing that really screamed shinobi was the hitai-ate tied around his neck.

No one really moved for a bit; the man hadn’t lost any of the mirth, but he had seemingly tried to hide it more, not that it really worked.

Just as the man went to speak, Haku interrupted him.

“Haruto?”

The man’s gaze fell towards Haku, his eyes lighting up in recognition.

“Hey! Haku, how’ve you been?”

The man’s grin showed off his canine-like teeth; they reminded him of Kiba's in a way.

“Is this that Haruto guy we were waiting for, Haku?” He heard Sakura ask.

“Yes, I think so.” Haku replied

“You think? Does he look like the guy or not?” Sasuke said incredulously.

“Maa, don’t get upset now; according to Haku and Zabuza, this Haruto person is a frequent user of henges; therefore, nobody knows what he looks like,” Kakashi broke in.

“Seriously?? So how do we know if it’s him?” Sakura asked

“That’s where Haku comes in; apparently there’s a trick to figuring out if it’s him or not.” Kakashi answered

Attention was split between Haku and the maybe-Haruto.

“Well Haku? Is it him?” He asked

Haku stared at the brunette for a moment before relaxing with a smile.

“Yes, it’s him.”

The tension from the man’s, Haruto’s, entrance dissolved from his body, and he could see it leave his teammates as well.

“Soooo, I’m good to move now, right?”
The brunette spoke, his hands still raised in front of him.

“Of course, apologies for the harsh welcome, Haruto-san.” As he spoke, Kakashi’s face morphed into his usual eye smile.

“Oh no, it’s fine! Its my fault for scaring you; you think I would have learned not to sneak up on jumpy shinobi by now," Haruto laughed.

“Still, it’s quite rude to welcome a guest that way."

“If you say so.”

The man’s grin returned in full force, not that it had really left.

“Hey! Haku, why don’t you introduce me to your friends here?”

“Oh, of course, Haruto, this is Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto." Haku gestured to each one of us as he said our names.

“And this is-“

“Hatake Kakashi” Kakashi interrupted,
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Haruto-san.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Hatake-san." Haruto extended his hand to Kakashi.

“Just Kakashi is fine,” Kakashi said.

“Then you can call me Haruto,” he said.

Kakashi turned towards us when he spoke next.

“Well, there’s a meeting that us adults should be having, so why don’t you four kids run along now, hmm?”

“Already?” Sakura murmured

He heard Sasuke grumble, but that was all he did before he walked away.

Sakura perked up as he did so.
“Sasuke-kun! Wait, I’ll come with you!”
And then she ran off too.

Naruto looked over at Haku; the boy looked torn, but a few comforting words from Haruto were all it took for him to slowly move and walk away. Naruto followed right behind him, vaguely turning back to look at the brunette as he once again showed off a large grin, arms tucked behind his head as he motioned for Kakashi to lead him.

Naruto thought he looked kind of stupid.

———

 

On their way to the Hokage Tower, Kakashi explained what was happening; he kind of wished he hadn’t.

Haruto was stressed. He thinks he might get a headache from it.

Even with all the plans he had made since getting here and the ones he made before his little trip through time, he hadn’t expected this.

Don’t get him wrong, he’s glad he didn’t need to step in at all for the wave fight; he had made sure to be in the area just in case, but this feels almost worse than revealing himself there. At least then he would have had some stable footing to stand on; here he’s just been thrown into the fray without any warning.

He should have known Zabuza would do something like this; the man’s been angry with him ever since what happened in Ame, which wasn’t even his fault, mind you.

Never mind that—it's not important right now. What is important is that now he has to figure out what he's going to do now that he’s stuck in Konoha. This is going to be, to quote Shikamaru, a total drag.

It’s not like he had no plans to return to the village; it’s just that he hadn’t wanted to do it so soon. There’s still so much he needs to do, and he can’t pull that off if he’s stuck in a village that doesn’t trust him, filled with familiar people that don’t know him.
How is he supposed to get things done when he's plagued by the faces of long-dead friends? Just seeing Kakashi and Team 7 nearly brought him down, and now he's supposed to see everyone else too-
Great, now he’s getting emotional; he thought he had gotten over that by now, but it looks like he’s not there just yet.

Haruto should have known he couldn’t get over everything that easily; he just hopes it gets better soon. It would be super embarrassing and weird if he started having breakdowns mid-introduction.

Not like he can do much about it now, when he’s following Kakashi as he takes him to a meeting with the Hokage. This is really going to suck for him.

He’s definitely getting Zabuza back for this.

He brought his mind back to the present when they reached the Hokage’s office; it wouldn’t look good if he was spacing out in front of the man who didn’t know him. Back when he was a kid, when he was Naruto, he could have gotten away with it; he hadn’t respected anyone back then, and the man wasn’t an exception. They knew Naruto; they do not know him.

He hopes this meeting doesn’t take too long. The room's too bittersweet, filled with memories of the Sandaime and Tsunade mixing together. Though, more with Tsunade than Sarutobi. He and the man hadn’t been particularly close at all; they were friendly, sure, but it always felt reserved, too impersonal to truly mean anything. But just because they weren’t close doesn’t mean he didn’t like the man; he had given him his apartment, tried to protect him, and had done the best he could with what he knew and believed. The man was blinded by love, and that just made Haruto appreciate him even more because this man really had tried. Futile and blinded as he may have been, he tried.

And there’s nothing he respects more than trying. It’s all he’s ever done, all he’s ever known, and all he’ll ever do.

Trying is who he is. He could never fault someone for it.

And an attempt that goes nowhere is still an attempt, and maybe it was all out of guilt; maybe it was just because they couldn’t risk losing a jinchuriki. No matter the reason, he is forever grateful, even if he never showed it.

He stepped into the familiar office and did a quick glance around the room, mindful not to look towards the shadows he knew the anbu were lurking in, before he faced the Hokage with the expected bow of respect.

"Hokage-sama,” he said, keeping his voice neutral.

Standing upright again, he faced the Hokage, waiting for him to start what would probably be the worst meeting he’s had in years. Hopefully this wouldn't be the first of many, but he didn't have much faith in that.

“You must be Haruto-san, then." Sarutobi's smile was soft, but fake. He was suspicious or weary; both would be warranted for the situation.

“Yes, I am.” Geez, he really hopes he doesn’t mess up this formal talk thing, he’s always been bad at it, and he hasn’t gotten better. No use doing so when the only authority left is an insane rabbit goddess.

He must be doing decent enough so far because he couldn’t feel any negativity, apart from the obvious suspicion from the people in the room. Here’s to hoping he can keep it up.

•••

The meeting could have gone worse, if he’s being honest. It went pretty much as he expected it to go—questions about what he could do, his intentions, etc. He answered the questions as honestly as he could without accidentally revealing something that would have him carted off to T&I. He doesn’t want to have to break out the day he arrives. It wouldn't look good.

After the questions, he was given a list of rules and things to follow, along with any extra information he hadn’t already been told. The rules were pretty straightforward: follow Konoha laws, don’t ditch your babysitter, stuff like that. The extra information wasn’t all that surprising either, the main points being that he and Haku would be tagging along with Team 7, Kakashi would be his babysitter, and he would be expected to aid them on missions.

Well, at least nothing would be boring; it never was with his team.

Haruto resisted the urge to sigh as Kakashi led him down yet another street and explained what everything was. It wouldn’t be as boring if he hadn’t spent his entire childhood running around them, he knows, but it’s still slowly killing him. He's pretty sure Kakashi is also making it boring on purpose. He’s only putting up with it all because it’s probably important that he has an excuse ready for why he knows his way around; time travel isn’t all that acceptable of an answer.

As he listens to Kakashi list the shops on the street, his attention drifts slightly to the Anbu following them; none of them he remembers off the top of his head, but they’re definitely familiar. It's hard to keep track of all of them. He met his fair share of Anbu through both his childhood and later life. Whether that’s a good thing or not is still up for debate.

They reach the end of the street after about five minutes of Kakashi listing things before he senses them nearby; by the looks of it, they’re heading this way. Finally, something interesting.

Just walking by quietly isn’t his style at all, and he would have started a conversation with Kakashi earlier, but he had zero idea how. He’s never really been good at small talk, no matter how much he likes people. Any skills he might have had were lost somewhere during the war and subsequent years of solitude.

Besides, Kakashi isn’t all that good with people either; it would be awkward for both of them, and he kind of needs Kakashi to at least tolerate him if he wants to gain some freedom in the village. He can't risk gaining the man's annoyance.

All thoughts were cut off by the energetic greeting from a certain blonde.

“Hey, Kakashi-sensei!”

He looked over at the pair as they ran up to them. Well, Naruto ran, and Haku walked. He made eye contact with the long-haired boy and smiled, his mood brightening as the kid returned the smile with a small one of his own. He never realised how adorable Haku was before, but maybe that’s just because he’s a lot older now.

“Hello, Haruto, Kakashi-san.” Haku said once he reached them. Ever the polite one he was.

“Hi Haku! And hello to you too.. Naruto.” He made sure to pause as if he were thinking; Haku has already tagged him as being terrible with names, so it’d be weird for him to remember immediately now.

“That’s me!” Naruto said it with enthusiasm, but he could see the wariness.

“Nice to meet you again.” Okay, that sounded a little dumb, but he was just really awkward about all of this.

Can you blame him? He time-travelled and was now talking to a mini-him. He’d like to see anyone else not be a little awkward in this situation.

“How have you been?” Haku asked

“I’ve been great! I did a couple things here and there; I may have pissed some people off; all in all, a pretty successful time,” he grinned. “How have you been, Haku? Zabuza do anything particularly dumb recently?”

“I have been well, and I don’t believe Zabuza has done anything particularly strange recently. Sorry to say.” The boy's apology would seem more real if he wasn’t fighting a smile, the traitor. He’s holding out on him.

“If you say so,” he said, making sure the distrust showed. How dare Haku choose Zabuza’s side after everything they’ve done together. He thought they were on the same side.

It’s truly unfair.

“Well, this seems like a good enough reason to conclude our tour; how about we stop for some lunch, hmm?” Kakashi spoke; the man was just too lazy to do it, and Haruto doesn’t know why he’s trying to make excuses.

“Oh? But I thought the tour was important." He said, just to be difficult, Kakashi can be lazy all he wants, but he’s not just going to let him.

“Maa, I’m sure you can just ask for directions later,” was the man’s reply.

Haruto snorted at that; this man was so strong and yet so lazy. He's unbelievable.

They ended up getting lunch at a nearby restaurant, and Naruto somehow harassed Kakashi into paying. Maybe being here wouldn’t be a total nightmare.

Chapter 5: No rest for anybody

Summary:

This chapters pretty boring, but I was in a rush so I hope that can be forgiven

Part of Kakashi’s job as Haruto’s babysitter was to follow the man around; this means he has to be ready to join the man whenever he decides to wake up. Over the few days since Haruto began his stay, Kakashi has found that, to his horror, Haruto wakes up early, meaning Kakashi has to wake up even earlier in order to be up on time. With this early wake-up call and his daily visits to Obito and the others, he hasn’t had much free time.

All this to say, Kakashi’s sleep schedule has taken quite a hit recently.

Which is why he is currently fighting off a yawn while overlooking the street outside Haruto and Haku’s apartment.

Why couldn’t they just be insane murderers? It would be less tiring that way.

Unsurprisingly, the two had decided to live together rather than separately, most likely so Haruto could look after Haku easier. The two had ended up staying in an apartment building somewhere near the village entrance.

The sound of a door closing brought his attention to where both Haruto and Haku were leaving the building. It seems it’s time for him to go say good morning.

When the two made it part way down the street and began their walk to the bridge, Team 7 was meeting at Kakashi and dropped down to meet them.

“Good morning, you two. Lovely day today, isn’t it?” He said with mock joy.

"Morning, Kakashi, how nice of you to join us." Haruto said happily.

The man’s seemingly limitless joy and energy reminded him eerily of Gai; he should make a note not to let the two meet. He doesn’t think that would end well for anyone.

After their small exchange of ‘good mornings’ Kakashi fell into step besides the two, his face tucked behind his book as he split his attention between it and the pair. Haruto and Haku began small conversations about random topics.

The current topic was about one of Haku’s old missions—something about a runaway thief who wanted to start an army of ...mice? It was all very confusing if you asked him, and Haruto just seemed incredibly amused by it all.

“Zabuza got tripped up by a bunch of mice." Haruto laughed

“There were quite a few of them." Haku defended

“It’s still funny.” Haruto said, “Don’t you agree, Scarecrow?”

Kakashi blinked at the nickname.

“Scarecrow..?”

“Names get boring; nicknames are always more fun,” was the brunette's reply.

“I see.” Kakashi did not see.

Haruto only laughed at his confusion; maybe he really was an evil monster.

Haruto and Haku went back to talking for the rest of their walk to the bridge, which only took about four minutes.

Like the previous days, they were the first to arrive, and just like then, Kakashi went to hide in a nearby tree; he had a reputation to keep up. Besides, it teaches the kids patience; he thinks he’ll wait two and a half hours this time, and he feels like reading today.

———

Haruto was sitting quietly on the bridge’s railing as the rest of the kids began showing up; first was Sasuke, then Sakura, and finally Naruto. It was still strange seeing everyone like this—younger and weaker than when he knew them all. It’s uncanny, but he thinks he might be getting used to it; it helps that they’re all so different like this.

Maybe it’s just his perspective, or maybe it’s because of the changes that have already been made, but he can’t seem to connect the friends from his future to these ones.

The Sasuke’s of his time and this one are both grumpy and don’t like talking much, but that’s the only real similarities between them; this Sasuke is vengeful and cold in a way his hadn’t been in years. His Sasuke was still angry, but he had learned how to use his anger as a shield and a sword rather than the wall this one used it as. His Sasuke was warm, in the way a campfire was on a cold night in autumn—a warm flame that burned strong and protected you from the cold.

His Sasuke was strong and dependable in a way this one hadn’t yet learned to be, still relying on nobody but himself and still too blind to realise his own weaknesses.

It wasn’t just Sasuke either; Sakura was different as well. The Sakura of this time is weak in both body and mind; she hasn’t yet learned to stand on her own. His Sakura wasn’t like that; she was steadfast and sturdy, confident without being arrogant, and she was one of the smartest people he’d ever known. She was a rock in the middle of a raging river—something to hold onto in order to avoid being taken by the raging currents. She kept them all strong, and she kept them moving. That's just who she was.

This Sakura could barely crawl, let alone run, with the brazen confidence of the woman he had known; she was weighed down by insecurity and doubt, things his Sakura had long since freed herself from.

Kakashi was somehow exactly the same and yet entirely different from the man he had called his sensei. His Kakashi was still weighed down by his losses, but he had managed to come to peace with them by the time of the war. Some part of him would always be in mourning, but that was expected. This Kakashi is fragile—more fragile than he can ever remember his Kakashi being. It was like the man was made of worn-down metal, strong once, but rusted and warped, chipping away in places. Time and pain have weathered him in ways that it had only strengthened his own sensei.

Then again, maybe Kakashi was always that way; his sensei was hard to read on his worst days, and without his sensing ability, he might have never known about that fragility.

The easiest one to deal with is, surprisingly, Naruto. Sure, it’s strange to call someone else his name and strange to see his face on another, and yet, it’s probably the easiest thing he’s done in a long time. That would probably sound strange to anyone else, but it makes perfect sense to him.

In more ways than one, he’s no longer Naruto. Don’t get him wrong; he’ll always be the boy he was and will always be that excitable prankster who wanted more than anything for people to like him, but so much has changed since then.

To start, his dreams have changed; he doesn’t want to be the Hokage anymore, content with just protecting his friends and family in whatever way he can rather than being acknowledged. His appearance has changed; his once bright blonde hair has become a vibrant red; his blue eyes are now violet; his skin is painted with seals and scars; and the whiskers on his face have faded away.

His current appearance is why he’s taken to using henges so often. He’s not exactly plain-looking, which makes it kind of hard to blend in. Now, the seals were his fault and the scars were just the result of war; the rest, though, is all thanks to Kurama.

Man, thinking about Kurama still hurts; it doesn’t help that he can feel the past Kurama, who’s still inside Naruto. Sage, He misses that old fox.

It was his fault that Kurama died; he knows that; he had messed up and gotten himself hurt pretty badly during the war; by all means, he shouldn’t have survived. But that stupid, stupid old fox had taken it upon himself to save him, at the cost of his own life. It shouldn’t have happened; it was his fault, his screw-up. Kurama shouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself to save him, but he did, and that sacrifice not only saved him but also changed his appearance.

Thus, red hair, purple eyes, and no whiskers. The red hair is probably to match Kurama’s chakra, and the eyes are like a combination of both his and Kurama's. The whiskers are harder to explain; they don’t show up anymore unless he’s in sage mode. He’s not sure why.

Not that any of that really matters; he looks different, and there’s nothing he can really do about that. Besides, it’s not the change that’s the problem; in fact, he’s kind of proud of it; the red hair and purple eyes make him look like an Uzumaki, but that's also the problem; a random Uzumaki running around isn’t exactly subtle, and it’d be pretty hard to convince people that you're some random nobody like that. Hence the henge.

He thought about revealing himself a few times in the past few days, but again, he chose not to. He still needs the freedom of being just another face. He can't give that up just yet.

It’s not that he’s going to stay hidden forever; he’ll come clean eventually, but he can’t afford to bring extra attention to himself until he can guarantee he’s fostered enough trust that they won’t question his every move. Until they trust him, he’ll have to settle for being Haruto, just some weirdo who likes henges.

He’s just glad he’s been able to avoid a situation where he might need to reveal it, i.e., little Naruto announcing he’s an Uzumaki. He can’t very well claim ignorance later on if he’s heard the kid shouting his name, can he? Thankfully, it was Haku who introduced the kids; he’s more soft-spoken than any of them combined. It’s also a good thing his younger self is so predictable; he’s been able to dodge any chance of it being said near him so far. The irony of calling himself predictable isn't lost on him.

He can already tell that keeping this up is going to be exhausting.

•••

It was about two and a half hours of waiting later before Kakashi finally decided to come down from the tree he was sitting on and join them on the bridge. He either reached a slow part in the book or he decided to take mercy on the kids. Knowing Jiraiya’s writing style, it’s probably the latter; there's never a dull moment in those stories. Unfortunately for him, he’s very aware of this.

For some reason, Jiraiya had him edit his work back when they travelled together, and it still haunts him, both the content and the horrible grammar. Seriously, you’d think an author would be better at grammar, but apparently not.

Immediately after the silver-haired man landed on the bridge, he was greeted by both Naruto and Sakura yelling at him.

“Late!!”

Haruto had to hold in a laugh; he remembers when he and Sakura would do that. Sasuke said it was annoying, but Haruto knows he secretly found it just as funny as they did.

He watched Kakashi morph his face into his usual eye-smile with his hands held up in a defensive gesture.

“Maa, sorry for being late. There was a very angry cat stuck in a tree; it took a while to get it down,” the man said.

“Liar!” was the twin response.

Back then, he found his sensei’s chronic lateness beyond annoying, but after learning the reason why he was always so late, he’s learned to let it go. That doesn’t give him an excuse today, though; he’s just being a pain now. He knows Kakashi’s already visited the stone; he made sure to leave Kakashi enough time in the morning to do so. It’s not like Haruto needed the extra sleep.

It wasn’t just his appearance that changed when Kurama died; his body changed too; he’s faster and more durable; he heals faster than others; and he doesn’t need as much. He doesn’t need as much sleep, food, or water, and he’s able to tolerate harsher climates than he should. He's changed.

He's grateful for it, really, being able to do all these things helped greatly during the war, but now it isn’t all that helpful.

Not needing as much sleep doesn’t stop him from doing so, but it does mean that he forgets at times. He forgets to eat and drink sometimes too; he doesn’t need to do these things, but it’s comforting to him; it's like a knife to the gut every time he forgets one. It’s a special kind of hurt to know that he’ll never be the same as everyone else again; he’ll get over it, though. He always does.

He makes sure to listen to Kakashi as he tells the kids what they’ll be doing. It seems the kids will be playing capture the flag today; that’ll be fun to watch.

It seems the teams are Naruto and Sasuke, Haku and Sakura, interesting choices; honestly, if he’s placing bets, he’d have to go with Haku and Sakura for winning; Naruto and Sasuke fight too much.

He doesn’t think he and the other Sasuke were that bad. Probably.

Hmm, what’s Kakashi saying now?

Oh, so they’ll both supervise a team, huh? Sounds fair.
…..
Wait, what-

Before he could question the man further, he had already left. He hates it when he does that.

Haruto looked down at the remaining genin, Haku and Sakura were both watching him expectantly.

“Well,” he started, "it seems I’ll be supervising you two today!"

He did not feel as eager as he looked. Man, he was really hoping to slack off today.

At least he got the pair that could actually get along. It'll save him a headache, hopefully.

Chapter 6: Hair ties and plans

Sakura didn’t like their chances of winning this. It’s not that she’s being pessimistic or anything; it’s just a fact.

Sasuke is smart and strong; he’ll know immediately that Haku is the biggest threat out of them both, and that means he’ll go after him first. Naruto has always been straightforward, so he’s definitely going to go straight for their flag, or straight for Haku. If Naruto goes straight for the flag, then Sasuke will fight Haku, and if he goes straight for Haku, then Sasuke will go for the flag.
They'll split up regardless of who does what, and Haku can’t possibly manage to stop both of them, no matter how strong he is. If someone like Haku can’t stop them, then she has no chance.

It’s not that she’s entirely weak; she wouldn’t have been the top kunoichi of her class if she were, but that didn’t mean she was all that strong either. Even Naruto, with his clumsy, half-thought-out ideas and moves, could beat her if he tried, and she wouldn’t stand a chance against Sasuke even on her best day.

That’s why she knows they’re going to lose; the odds are just too stacked against them. It’s not their fault; they have no chance.

Haruto just doesn’t seem to get that.

“I’m telling you, we don’t stand a chance!” She said exasperated.

“You don’t know that!” Was the only thing the man said in reply.

Sakura was seconds away from pulling out her hair in frustration. What didn’t this guy get?! They were outmatched, and they were going to lose; there was no way they wouldn’t!

“It would take a miracle for us to win!” She shouted

“So make one!” Haruto replied

“That's not how that works! How am I supposed to make a miracle?” She asked angrily.
"Yes, you can! I'm sure of it!" Haruto said

"How are you so sure?" She asked
“Because you’re smart,” Haruto said.
Sakura blinked. What kind of reason was that? It's ridiculous!
Despite herself, she couldn’t help the stunned expression that overtook her face, nor could she fight the tinge of blush that coloured it. She just hadn’t expected that; she hadn't expected her being smart to be the reason the man was so adamant.
It’s not because she's never been called smart before; she’s been called smart plenty of times by her teachers, her parents, and her friends; it’s not an uncommon occurrence. The difference now is how Haruto said it, how confident he was about it.

Haruto says she’s smart in the same way someone says the sky is blue. As if it’s some well-known fact that everyone knows, and anyone who hasn’t figured it out is stupid. Maybe that's stupid to think about; there’s no way Haruto could possibly mean all that. The man is seemingly like that in everything, so this shouldn’t rattle her as much as it does. The man is just confident like that; it doesn't mean anything special about her.
It shouldn't matter. Except for the fact that it does.
Apparently she was thinking for too long, because next thing she knew, Haruto was crouching down in front of her and speaking again.

“I mean, from what I’ve seen, Sakura, you're incredibly smart and resourceful, and that’s an observation of only a few days of minor D-rank missions. I can only imagine how much more obvious it would be if given a chance to shine through,” Haruto said softly.

Sakura blinked, then she shook her head in hopes of clearing away the thoughts lodged in it. Face pointed downward, she spoke again.

“It doesn't matter how smart I am; there’s still no way to win this." Sakura said

She looked up at the man in front of her; his expression had faded from its previous grinning excitement into a softer smile, his eyes watching her warmly.

“How do you know that?” Haruto asked

“Because! There’s no way we could beat Sasuke-kun; he’s too smart and way too strong, and even Naruto would pose a problem for us if we let him; he's just way too stubborn. Haku can't possibly stop both of them, and I couldn't stop either of them if I tried,” she explained.

“Sasuke is smart, and Naruto is indeed stubborn, but you know what Sakura?” Haruto asked, his voice tinted with mischief.

“What?”

“I think you’re both of those things.” The man grinned.
"How so?" She asked sceptically.
“You’re a civilian who managed to become the top kunoichi in her class, a feat that can only have come about from being both smarter and more stubborn than the rest of your class. I’m sure of it.”

Sakura was beginning to think that maybe Haruto was just trying to convince her to try through false compliments, but the look on his face told her he meant every word.
Haruto made a very convincing argument, but no matter how sure Haruto seemed to be with his words, she couldn’t bring herself to fully believe him.
That being said...
She was willing to try.

If this stranger was so convinced she could do it, how could she give up without at least giving it a shot?

Her decision must have shown in her face because the smile on Haruto’s face had become bright with triumph. It almost made her laugh; the man was strangely endearing, she was finding.

Sakura walked past the man towards Haku in order to start planning their strategy. She made sure to ask as many questions as she could think of, asking if he had any ideas or strategies and if he had any concerns. She asked about any weakness and questioned any strength she could, and Haku answered every question.

By the time they finished planning, ten minutes had passed, and they had drawn about a dozen different diagrams in the sand, only to immediately cross them out again. It wasn’t a long planning session, but it was quite tedious. The wind was strong enough to be a real hindrance, but it was definitely enough to be annoying. The dirt had been blowing around everywhere, and her hair kept hitting her in the face and obstructing her view.

She was getting more and more frustrated with it and briefly wondered why Haku and Haruto weren’t just as annoyed as she was; both of them had hair longer than hers, so logically they’d be having a worse time, right? A glance at the two answered her question well enough; they weren’t complaining because they had their hair tied back, Haku in what was apparently his signature bun, and Haruto in a low ponytail.

She envied the way they didn’t have to deal with the hair issue and softly mourned that she didn’t have the same idea. Her hair blew back into her face, and Sakura had to stomp down the temptation to rip it out when Haruto’s hand came into her field of vision.

Confused Sakura looked up at the man, who merely pushed his hand closer to her. Sakura reached towards it and held out her palm, blinking as the man dropped something onto it. It was a hair tie.

Sakura looked back towards Haruto, noting now how the man’s hair was no longer pulled back but instead blowing gently around him.

“You looked frustrated; I thought you might need it more than me,” was the man’s offered reasoning.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, dumbfounded.

The man grinned before jumping up onto a nearby tree branch, sitting with his legs hanging over its side.

Sakura looked at the hair tie for a moment longer before she proceeded to pull her hair back. At least now the wind won’t bother her.

———

Maybe Kakashi should have let Haruto have these two instead. He mustn’t have been thinking straight, because why else would he decide to supervise Naruto and Sasuke when they’re together?

Maybe he really has lost his mind; a decision like this surely counts as insanity, right?

The more Kakashi listened to the two arguing genin the more he regretted his choice of training exercise. Why did he split them up like this again?

Kakashi audibly sighed before he grabbed both boys by the scruff of their shirts in order to separate them.

“Now, now, shouldn’t you be focusing on winning rather than fighting each other?” He said.

“Focus on what? All we really need to do is distract Haku, and we’ll be fine” Sasuke said

“Oh? Only Haku? What about Sakura? Shouldn’t you worry about her as well?”
He asked half mockingly.

Sasuke practically scoffed.
“Why would we? Sakura isn’t nearly strong enough to be a threat.”

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the boy's words. The kid reminded him frustratingly of-

Naruto’s indignant squawk dragged his thoughts back to the boys.

“You take that back! Sakura is plenty strong! And she’s smart and pretty too! Unlike somebody.” The blonde yelled

Sasuke made a sound reminiscent of a growl before he tried to grab Naruto. Kakashi simply pulled him further away from the blonde.

“Maa, if you two are so sure you’ll win, then how about I go tell the other team you’re ready to start, hmm?”

Although he posed it as a question, he had already lowered the two to the ground and started leaving before they had even begun to answer him. Not wasting any time, he made his way over to where the other team was—anything to get away from the bickering pair behind him.

When he reached the three, though, he couldn’t help but stop short of them, instead staying perched on a tree just to the side.

It wasn’t anything particularly glaring about the scene that stopped him; it was more a combination of things. When he had left them merely twenty minutes prior, he could have sworn that Sakura was standing awkwardly between the other two. He also recalls her being shy and almost reserved when he left.

Not that he thinks anyone would believe him if they saw her now. With how confident she seems to be explaining her seemingly well-thought-out plan to Haku, with Haruto listening from his spot on the tree above them. The girl's hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and coupled with the fierce look on her face, she looked every bit the shinobi in training she was—and despite having no real clue as to why the change had occurred, he couldn’t help the slight sense of pride he felt for it.

He smiled a bit under his mask; he knew she would be good at giving orders—if she can keep this up, she’s bound to be a great leader some day.

Deciding that he’s watched them enough, he jumps down to greet the trio properly.

"Yo,” he said.

All three of them turn to face him, each of them responding with a greeting of their own.

“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura called, turning her body to face him.

"Kakashi-san,” Haku said, nodding softly.

“Heya Scarecrow!” Haruto yelled, jumping down from the tree to stand on the ground with the rest of them.

“So, how are things going? Are we all done over here?” He asked

Sakura perked up from her spot,
“Oh! Yes, we are! Are we starting now, sensei?"

“Since everyone’s ready, yes,” he answered, "start heading over to the starting point now."

•••

Now, Kakashi knew Sakura was smart, in theory, but the girl has spent so long presenting herself as nothing more than Sasuke’s fan girl that it wasn't hard for most to overlook this fact. That being said, it’d be impossible to ignore her intelligence after seeing this performance.

Kakashi had known that Sakura and Haku had a plan, and he had known it was at least a decent one from the little bit he had overheard previously. That didn’t stop him from being shocked by it, though.

Now, Kakashi prides himself on being in control of his outward reactions in almost any situation, but watching Sasuke go from complete overconfidence to flailing wildly as he slides face first into a tree is not one of them. It took everything he had not to laugh outwardly at the display, let alone stop the way his eyes widened comically at the scene.

Haruto, it would seem, did not share his tact or subtlety, as the man had immediately doubled over laughing, almost falling off of the tree branch they were both on in his amusement.

Kakashi watched as Naruto stood like a startled deer, clearly torn between laughing and running, as Haku began advancing towards him. The blondes decision was quickly made as he was forced to dodge the long-haired boys attack, only to get tripped up by Sakura immediately afterwards.
Sakura and Haku shared a nod before the girl began running in the direction of Sasuke and Naruto's flag.
Sasuke, having recovered from his previous slide, courtesy of Haku freezing the ground, began charging at the ice user—a move quickly stopped as Haku froze the ground again. Sasuke only barely managed to stop himself from hitting another tree, and by the time he had turned back around, Haku was upon him again.

Haku and Sasuke fought for a few seconds before Haku was forced to jump away as Naruto tried tackling him from the side. Sasuke, seeing an opportunity to advance, withdrew from the fight in order to go after Haku and Sakura's flag.

Leaving Naruto and Haku to their fight, Sasuke ran straight for the other team's flag, only to stop short when Sakura's voice rang out.

“I got the flag!” She yelled, running back into view, the flag clenched tightly in her hand. Sakura raised the flag above her head, a grin splitting across her face as she ran back towards them.

Kakashi watched as the girl ran towards Haku’s side, gleefully talking to her teammate about their victory, while Haku stood smiling, adding his own thoughts at times. He looked over at Naruto, who had been standing in the same spot since Sakura had first called out. The boy seemed to go from overtly confused to upset before eventually settling into a smile of his own, running over towards the two winners happily.

“Way to go, guys! That was awesome!” Naruto called
He congratulated them again when he reached them properly, before he then started rambling about how cool their plan was. Haku was smiling all the while, and Sakura's face tinted slightly at the praise of her plan.
Naruto seemed to take the loss well, putting aside his disappointment in favour of praising his fellow team 7 members. Sasuke, however, did not seem so well inclined. The boy was standing still with his face scrunched up in what looked like a combination of confusion and frustration. Completely ignoring his laughing teammates.
He sighed, preparing to drag the boy over, when Haruto moved. He blinked as Haruto jumped down from the tree and walked over towards the boy. Kakashi watched as the boy was startled when Haruto placed a hand on his shoulder, having not noticed his approach. Just as he was about to follow the man, a voice called out to him.

“Kakashi-sensei! What did you think of our plan? Do you think it was good?” Sakura called as she and the other two ran up to him.

Kakashi looked between Haruto and Sasuke before looking back down at the girl's excited face. Sighing internally, Kakashi jumps down in order to talk to the girl. Haruto is still within his sight; he can spare a moment to talk to her.

Tenzo’s on duty today. He’ll just bother him about whatever is said later.

Chapter 7: Start of a conversation

Sasuke glared up at the man standing in front of him.

“If you're going to say something, then say it already.” He said impatiently.

Haruto laughed awkwardly. “Right, right, sorry.”

He kept glaring.

Haruto sighed.

“It’s just that you seem really upset, is all. I just wanted to ask you why,” Haruto said slowly.

“Why?” He asked

“Yeah, why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because I lost."

Haruto tilted his head at that, his face looking slightly amused, as if Sasuke had said something ridiculous. Haruto shook his head and laughed a bit.

“What?” He demanded

“Nothing, sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you or anything; it’s just such a childish answer; I hadn’t expected it from you,” Haruto said.

Childish? Who was he calling childish?!
Sasuke glared even harder at the man, but this just seemed to make him laugh again.

“See? Your getting angry over nothing!”

“It’s not funny!” He yelled

“Of course not, sorry,” Haruto said, hands held up as if he were trying to appease a small child.

Sasuke gritted his teeth at the gesture.

“I’m not some weak little kid.” He ground out

“I never said you were,” Haruto said.

"Right,” he said.

Sasuke watched as Haruto’s face fell into a strangely neutral expression in under a second. He blinked at the way the man’s eyes went from amused to calculating; the look was … unsettling on the man’s usually smiling face.

“Why does being seen as a kid upset you so much anyway?” Haruto asked, tone neutral.

Unnerved by the brunettes shift in behaviour, it took Sasuke a moment to understand what the man had asked him.

“Why does it bother me?”

“Yeah, why does it bother you?”

Sasuke felt his eyebrows furrow as he stared at the man’s face.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He asked, annoyed.

“If it was, I wouldn’t have asked." Haruto said
Sasuke scowled at the man's answer; honestly, why did he expect this idiot to actually take what he was saying seriously? The guy didn't seem to be able to do that with anything else; why would this be any different?
Despite the fact that Sasuke is sure Haruto can see the annoyance on his face, the man still looks at him expectantly for an answer.
Sasuke sighed, relenting to just answering the man so he'd leave him alone.

“It’s because little kids are stupid and weak, and they need protection from everything. And I’m not like that, so there’s no way I can be a little kid,” he said.

Sasuke expected the man to be confused or something. Clearly, Haruto wasn’t the smartest person around; otherwise, he wouldn’t act as stupid as he does. What he hadn’t expected was the reaction he did get. Haruto laughed at him.

The stoic expression Haruto had adapted earlier completely disappeared as the man began laughing, his hands rising to cover his mouth as if he were trying to smother the sound.
Sasuke felt his face heat up in embarrassment. Why was Haruto laughing at him? Sasuke was being completely serious here!

“What’s so funny?!” He yelled

Haruto took another couple of seconds to pull himself together before he answered him.

“Nothing, nothing; it’s just that you sounded so grave about it that what you said caught me by surprise." Haruto chuckled

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked

“Well, you phrased it like it was the worst thing in the world, but there’s nothing wrong with any of the things you mentioned. It just seemed funny to me,” Haruto said.

That just made Sasuke confused. How did Haruto not understand what was wrong with all of those things? Was the man truly so stupid that he couldn't even understand such simple facts?

“Of course there’s something wrong with it!” He shouted

“Really? You think so?” Haruto asked

“Yes!”

———

Haruto watched as Sasuke practically shook with emotion as he yelled. Like this, Sasuke looked every bit like the angry child he had once known—the same child who would eventually become the cold, murder-happy man he knew. He hated it.

He hated seeing how his anger had already woven itself so deeply into Sasuke's heart; this was the anger that had been growing and festering since the massacre. This is the anger that sent Sasuke spiralling, after all—an anger that was so potent it could do nothing but consume its host entirely.

God, why had nobody helped Sasuke sooner? Sasuke wasn't exactly a subtle kid; scratch that; Sasuke wasn’t subtle at any point. In fact, Haruto thinks Sasuke might actually be allergic to subtlety of any kind.

Though maybe that's an inherited trait—all the Uchiha's he's met have been like that—even when they were trying to be subtle, they just couldn't pull it off entirely.

But then again, those might have just been the ones he met.
There's no way the entire clan could have been like that; at least, he hopes not. The thought of an entire clan being like that was actually kind of terrifying.

Guess he'll never really know the answer, huh? It's not like he has a point of reference after all.

Geez, isn't that a sobering thought?
And if he wasn't sober enough from the previous thought, the thought that Sasuke himself might not even know the answer decided to dig its way into his rib cage and bury itself there.

He wonders if Sasuke's ever thought about that, and if he has, how many times? How many times did he agonise over thoughts like this without anyone doing anything about it? They had to have noticed; they had to have known that losing his entire clan was going to mess Sasuke up in the head.

And doesn’t that just make it so much worse? Sasuke could obviously be suffering so much, for reasons even a blind man could figure out, and yet not one person ever did anything until it was already too late.

Why wasn’t anyone paying more attention to him? Why did nobody help him? Why did it take Sasuke running away and joining Orochimaru for people to finally understand that he needed help? Why was nobody paying attention to him? Why did nobody-

Haruto ground his teeth together to prevent himself from letting out something that would probably have sounded more like a growl than actual words.

Stuffing all of his anger into the tiny box at the back of his mind, Haruto sighed internally.

He has to keep reminding himself that he has a chance to change things now. Just because nobody saved his Sasuke back then doesn’t mean he can’t try to save this one. That's why he came back in the first place, after all, to fix things.

Deciding to focus his attention back on the present, he turned back to his conversation with Sasuke.
“You and I have a different definition of wrong then,” He said, trying to keep his voice from betraying just how much this conversation was affecting him.

He’s already pushing his luck just by having this little talk; if he starts slipping up, then the anbu are sure to jump straight on him, and then he’d be screwed. They’d send him straight to T&I, and then he’d be forced to escape, which would ruin any chance here for both him and Haku. There’s no way they’d let Haku stay if the person in charge of watching him pulled a stunt like that. It looks like he has to be on his best behaviour then.

On that note, he pulls his wandering mind back to Sasuke—he should really stop going on tangents like that. They’re really starting to get out of hand.

“I don’t understand.” Sasuke said

Haruto blinked. Right, still talking to Sasuke.

Haruto looked at the boy; he couldn’t help but smile at the adorable expression on his face. He was so much more adorable than big Sasuke ever was.

Haruto took a deep breath. Okay. Here goes nothing.

Notes:

Sorry this doesn't really have much content, I have a whole bunch of exams coming up so I have to focus on them and won’t have any time to write for a while so updates may take a while and I wanted to post something before that. Hope you liked it anyway though :)

Chapter 8: Heartfelt conversations are always confusing

“You and I have different definitions of wrong." Haruto repeated

Repeating it didn’t really help Sasuke, though; the words still made no sense to him at all. It was frustrating.

"Explain,” he demanded.

Haruto smiled softly at him as he crouched down to be at eye level with Sasuke. Despite how soft and comforting the smile looked, Sasuke couldn’t help but feel small when faced with it, as if he really were just some stupid kid who needed to be coddled.

It infuriates him to no end how something as insignificant as a smile could make him feel like this, like a child who still hadn’t quite outgrown the need to be spoon-fed everything. He wasn’t a kid. He hadn’t been a kid since the day his clan had been slaughtered.

No matter what Haruto said next, nothing would change the fact that he isn’t that kid anymore.

Haruto gave an exaggerated sigh before he began speaking.

“It’s just that I don’t believe there’s anything particularly wrong with any of the things you’ve listed." Haruto looked at Sasuke, head tilted in a way that somewhat reminded Sasuke of a fox. It wasn't quite a calculating look, but it felt assessing all the same.

The man’s face hadn’t changed at all; he still looked every bit like the smiling idiot he always did, but the look in his eyes betrayed a severity that Sasuke wasn’t sure really fit with the conversation. The way Haruto looked at him told him that Haruto thought that this conversation was important, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why he cared so much.

The conversation wasn't particularly heavy at all, and yet Haruto treated it like it was. Did the man have a personal investment in it? But why? Haruto didn't know Sasuke at all, so there's no way it has to do with him—a past experience maybe? Was it similar to this one?

Perhaps Sasuke reminded the brunette of someone? Or maybe Haruto didn't know either. Sasuke does that sometimes; it's like a strange case of nostalgia or deja vu. Sometimes Sasuke will do or think something, or even just hear something, and he'll be overcome with the oddest of emotions.

And thinking about it now, it's probably another bout of deja vu that has him feeling so torn right now.

Because that's what he was, Sasuke was torn; honestly, he didn’t know how to react to what the man said, and he didn't know why the man seemed to care so much. It made no sense, but…

Sasuke wanted to know.

It was a baseless want, and he had no idea why he wanted to know what the brunette meant. For all intents and purposes, the guy was just some random shinobi who just so happened to have shown up; Sasuke had no reason to care about what he thought.

If it had been anyone else, Sasuke's sure he would have stormed off by now; after all, there's no need for him to suffer through some stranger's lecture, and by all means, he should do that. He should walk away from this whole conversation and forget it ever happened.

And yet, he doesn't do it, he doesn’t even try.

Something about Haruto has pulled him in; it was another familiar feeling, one that had deja vu swirling in his stomach, one he’s sure he’s felt before. And not just some vague memory of it either; he's sure he's felt it, right down to his bones.

He just couldn’t seem to place it; for the life of him, he couldn't remember where he'd felt it before.

All Sasuke knew was that Haruto felt warm and safe and familiar in a way he hadn't remembered feeling in years; he felt so much like home, like the home he had before the massacre.

Haruto felt like comfort and peace—a place where he could rest, just for a little while, just until the warmth that seemed to cling to Haruto's entire being managed to sink its way down into Sasuke's very soul. Then maybe he'd be able to keep some of it with him, for when the nights seemed cold enough to freeze him, bones and all.

It was as terrifying as it was comforting—and it drove him insane how the feeling affected him.

He vaguely gets that nostalgic feeling again, like he's felt all of this before, in some distant past he can't seem to remember having. As if this flurry of conflicting emotion has followed him from whatever life he’s lived before and it was just a normal experience.

And this- having Haruto care about him—felt normal too, like it's happened time and time again, but that made no sense! It wasn't normal for someone to care about Sasuke anymore.

How could they when nobody seemed interested in even knowing who Sasuke really was?

It just made no sense to him; why did Haruto care anyway?? It was so entirely strange to him; this entire situation had left Sasuke feeling so completely unsteady that he couldn’t help but speak out.

“Why do you care so much?” He asked

Sasuke didn’t think it was possible, but somehow Haruto’s expression became even more fox-like than before—the tilted head and sharp-toothed smile gave off a truly mischievous feeling.

It was confusing and kind of intimidating; Sasuke almost regretted asking, but before he could take it back, Haruto spoke.

“Because I do.” Haruto said. Straightening up from the crouch he had taken before, grinning wide.

What kind of answer is that? That is not a proper response!

Before he could voice his opinions, however, Haruto continued speaking.

“Hey Sasuke, why don’t you go congratulate your teammates on their win, huh?” Haruto asked.

Huh-?

“What do yo-?" He was cut off by Haruto.

“It’s important, y’know? That you get along with your team, even if it’s just because you have to. It’s important that you have people like that, because people like that are important.” Haruto said, his voice surprisingly soft.

He wouldn't have guessed someone as loud out there as Haruto could seem so quietly resigned. The entire situation had gone from mildly confusing to something he had no idea how to understand.
Haruto merely smiled knowingly at him.

“Is this all confusing for you?” Haruto asked

Sasuke couldn’t help but nod dumbly; he had no idea what to say.

“That’s okay; things like this don’t always make sense to everyone. People learn things at their own pace; some get it quicker than others, some get it immediately, and some don’t ever really get it, and that’s fine too.” Haruto smiled gently.

Sasuke was speechless. How did they get here? He doesn’t understand—he hates it. He hates not knowing or understanding; it makes him feel so lost.
He doesn't know what he's supposed to say or do; the conversation had started out rocky, but now it was like there was no place for him to stand at all.

What did Haruto mean by all of that? People like that are important, and it's important to have them. What's that supposed to mean anyway? Does he mean strategically? No, Haruto doesn't seem the type so-
“Haaaa, I can practically hear the gears turning. I know I said it was important and everything, but there’s no need to think so hard about it, yeah?” Haruto said, his hand reaching over to flick Sasuke lightly on the forehead.

“Don’t worry so much; you’ll figure it out eventually; there's no need to rush it. Like I said, people figure it out at different speeds; hell, a friend of mine didn’t properly figure it out until he was already seventeen. So don’t go rushing things, okay? There’s no time limit on this, y’know?” Haruto said, laughing softly.

Sasuke still didn’t get it, but... Haruto was so warm right now, and he couldn’t help it; he believed him. If Haruto was so sure, then Sasuke would just need to wait. It didn’t feel good; it felt wrong in so many ways to just trust the man—this stranger who he knew nothing about and who knew nothing about him.

And yet, nothing had ever felt as right as this did. As if trusting Haruto was both the easiest and hardest thing he'd ever done.

He won’t worry about it. If Haruto’s lying, it won’t affect anything at all, and if he’s telling the truth, that there is something he's missing, something he hasn't realised yet. Well, he’ll just have to come back to that later. When he does figure it out.

For now, he guesses he’ll just have to wait for it.

And it's not like congratulating Sakura and Haku on their win will kill him; he can admit it was a smart plan. The only reason he didn't admit it earlier was because he was too busy mourning his loss.

But if Haruto is so sure it's important, he guesses he can overlook his defeat.

He'll just have to remember not to underestimate Sakura next time.

Yeah, next time, he'll win! But for now, he congratulates his opponents.

He can do that, at least.

Notes:

So this isn’t very long, but I’m coming to the end of the tests and exams so I figured I could at least post this as to assure people I wasn’t dead or something- lol

Chapter 9: Prank gone wrong

Kakashi was amused.

Usually, whenever he has to get up in order to supervise Haruto, he’s left bored outside until both Haku and the man decide to leave for the day. This typically means he has to get up earlier than Haruto, which means he has to be up even before sunrise. Unsurprisingly, there isn’t much happening so early in the morning; normally, he’d just sit watching the apartment and his book—normally, that is.

Today, however, it would seem he isn’t the only one out and about.

Naruto was around, and by the looks of it, he was up to his typical shenanigans.

Kakashi watched in mild amusement as the young genin began to climb up the side of Haruto and Haku’s apartment building. Kakashi pushed down a smile as he watched the kid start setting up what was admittedly a fairly interesting trap. It seems Naruto is feeling creative.

Kakashi wonders mildly as to what Haruto could have possibly done for Naruto to put this much effort into this prank; though, thinking about it, it was probably due to what happened yesterday.

Not too long after Haruto and Sasuke had wandered over to them after their little talk, Naruto and Sasuke had gotten into another one of their disagreements. Cue the shouting and hitting.

Kakashi had squashed down a long-suffering sigh, already dreading having to try and break up the bickering pair.

His dread proved to be unnecessary, as Haruto had beat him to it.

The brunette had taken a moment to watch the two before he unceremoniously took both boys by the scruff of their clothes and pulled them apart. Now, considering how such a move tends to be Kakashi’s own go-to when breaking up a squabble, the action alone probably wouldn’t have caused the boy to be quite so vindictive.

No, the reason Naruto was now coating Haruto’s balcony railing in glue and placing an honestly concerning amount of glitter and paint (seriously, where did he get that much?) above the doorway was because of what happened right after that.

After Haruto had pulled the two apart, the brunette then proceeded to dangle them both upside down by their ankles. He then decided to completely ignore them both in favour of talking to Haku and Sakura.

Haruto had kept both boys hanging upside down like that until all of their complaints had come to an end, which took a pretty long time considering how stubborn they both are.

Kakashi had figured that the boys would probably hold a bit of a grudge, and Sasuke and Naruto had both seemed quite humiliated by their treatment.

Though he didn’t quite think that Naruto would be quite so creative.

Despite how often he had heard about Naruto’s pranks, Kakashi had never actually been witness to one in its entirety. Sure, he’d seen half of one or two, and the aftermath of the messier pranks was usually quite hard to miss.

But generally, Kakashi had spent so long avoiding any reminder of Minato and Kushina that, by extension, he had avoided Naruto and his pranks as well, thus why he had never seen one fully.

He had assumed the kid had to be extremely creative, what with the stories he’d heard about them over the years. By the looks of it, he was right—even if he's sure this is probably one of Naruto's less creative plots, Kakashi just hadn’t realised how familiar they would look.

It was a bittersweet thing to realise.

Naruto’s pranks were exactly like Kushina’s.

Perhaps it was genetic?

Kakashi couldn’t help the small smile he felt. As painful as it was to see Naruto act so much like his mother, he couldn’t help but be fond of it as well.

Really, why did feelings have to be so confusing? It would be so much easier if he only had to deal with one emotion at a time instead of all of these mixed ones.

Dragging his mind back to the present, he felt his mood shift back to the amusement of before.

Haruto was awake, and just like he does most days, the first thing he did was walk to the balcony.

Kakashi glanced towards Naruto, who had hidden on the roof overlooking the balcony.
The boy was practically leaning over the side of the roof in anticipation; Kakashi couldn’t help but chuckle at that, not that he didn’t feel similarly. It’s not that Kakashi thought Haruto would actually fall for the prank; despite his behaviour, Haruto wasn’t stupid, but he did wonder how he was going to get past it.

Well, guess he’d find out shortly.

———

Naruto watched the doorway, excitement building as he saw Haruto getting closer and closer to opening it and setting off his trap.

He wasn’t planning on pranking Haruto at first; he didn’t want to risk upsetting Haku by doing anything to the man, but after yesterday...

Naruto was going to mess with Haruto for weeks for doing that.

He hadn’t even done anything wrong! It was Sasuke who started it, not him! But Haruto had punished the both of them, and it was super embarrassing because Sakura and Haku both laughed.

He gets that it was kind of funny, but only because that jerk Sasuke also had to suffer through it—it was still totally unnecessary for Naruto to have to do it too.

Thus, Naruto decided on this plan. He had put orange paint and pink glitter in buckets above the doorway so that when Haruto opened them, they would fall on him. He had also put glue on the railing, which will make cleaning up the glitter he put there even harder. The second wasn’t technically a prank, but he had felt really dizzy after Haruto put him down, so the man deserves the extra trouble.

Speaking of, it seemed Haruto had finally reached the door! Turning the handle, pulling it open, and..!

..

The buckets didn’t fall.

Why didn’t the buckets fall?

That made no sense at all!

Naruto had to force himself to not move from his spot on the roof. He was just so confused. Why didn’t the bucket fall? Did he not set it up right? No, that doesn’t make sense; he had checked it, and it had been exactly like it’s always been, so it had to be something Haruto did.

But what?

He tried not to, but he couldn’t help it. His curiosity was killing him; no way was he going to let it go.

Dropping down onto the balcony next to Haruto, he instantly began questioning him.

“How’d you do that?" He shouted

Haruto blinked owlishly. “Do what?” He asked, head tilted.

“The buckets! How’d you get them to not fall on you?” He asked

Haruto raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Should you be yelling like that so early in the morning? You might wake someone up."

“That’s against the point! How did you do it?” He said, though he was a bit quieter about it than before.

“I really don’t know what you mean,” Haruto said evenly, but his eyes betrayed his laughter.

Naruto huffed out an annoyed growl. “I mean these!” He said, marching over to the door and throwing it open..!

Splat.

He.. didn’t think that through... and now he was covered in paint and glitter. Great.

Naruto looked over to the brunette behind him, only to see the man trying, and failing, to hide his laughter.

Naruto glared at him.

The brunette waved his hands in an attempt to be soothing. “Sorry, sorry, I just..." Haruto paused to laugh. “I don’t mean to laugh,” he continued.

“Yeah, sure.” Naruto grumbled.

Haruto shook his head in amusement. “No need to be like that kid; it doesn’t even look that bad,” he said.

Naruto stared at him.

The brunette sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I didn’t believe it either." Haruto paused, his attention drifting off to something else before he dragged it back to Naruto.

“Okay, come on in; we’ll get you cleaned up, yeah?” Haruto said, already heading back into his apartment.

“Huh?” Naruto asked

Haruto turned back to look at him. “You coming?”

“Uhh, okay..?” Naruto said, unsure, slowly stepping into the apartment.

Haruto watched him in amusement before shaking his head softly, “Haku! Can you bring me a damp towel, please?" He called

Naruto stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, glancing around it randomly before drawing his attention back when Haku stepped into the room.

“What did you..” Haku stopped short upon seeing him, his face going oddly blank.

“Uhh.. I can explain,” he started, his face already heating up in embarrassment as Haruto began laughing again behind him.

Before he could actually explain, though, he heard a startled laugh escape Haku. One laugh led to many, and soon Haku was fully laughing, his shoulders shaking as he walked over to hand him the towel.

Naruto stood, burning with embarrassment, as Haku retreated back to his room, seemingly trying to smother his laughter as he went.

A few moments of red-faced silence passed before he felt the towel be pulled from his hand and then dropped on his head.

Naruto looked up at the long-haired man. When did he get in front of him?

How’d this happen anyway? All he wanted to do was pull a little prank, and now he was standing in the middle of Haruto and Haku’s apartment, dripping orange paint and pink glitter.

And the worst part is that Haku had seen it! Now he’ll think he’s some sort of idiot, and he won’t want to be friends with him anymore! What’s he going to do?? Haku is the best, and now he knows that Naruto just… isn’t.

“Don’t worry about it, okay? I'm sure Haku won’t hold it against you or anything,” Haruto said softly as he began to slowly clean the paint and glitter from his hair.

Naruto just stood there grumpily.

“You don’t know that.” He muttered

Haruto laughed softly. “I promise you, Haku has seen me do things much stupider than accidentally setting off my own prank. So if I haven’t scared him off yet, you definitely haven’t, y’know?”

Naruto looked up at the man slowly. “You mean that?” He asked quietly.

“I do”

Naruto looked up at Haruto; the man wasn’t looking at him anymore and was instead focused on cleaning his hair. It felt kind of weird to have someone so focused on him like this; the last time anyone did was… well, he’s not sure.

But it’s… nice.

Being taken care of that is, it’s really, really nice. And kind of strange..

It’s not like nobody’s ever cared about him before. There’s a lot of people that have, like Iruka-sensei, Teuchi, and Ayame as well, and then there's, umm.. well, the Hokage, he guesses. And there’s Kakashi-sensei too!

Even if Naruto is kind of sure, Kakashi-sensei doesn’t really like him all that much. It’s not that Kakashi has ever done anything wrong, but sometimes it’s like the man can’t even look at him. It’s like looking at him is somehow painful for him, but Naruto can’t figure out why that is; he doesn’t think he’s ever done anything.

Not that he's done anything to a lot of the other people that don't seem to like him. Maybe Kakashi-sensei doesn't like him for the same reason as them?

Not that it really matters; even though Kakashi may not like him all that much, he still protected him back on that mission. So Naruto guesses that has to count for something, right?

So if he counts Kakashi, that makes.. five people who have cared for him..

That’s not very many, is it…

“It was a good plan, y’know?” Haruto said suddenly, though his attention was still focused on cleaning the rest of the paint from his hair.

Naruto blinked, “huh?”

Haruto glanced down at him, “the prank, it was a good idea, and your execution of it was great too, y’know? You just had a poor choice of victim,” he said.

“You never explained how you got the buckets to not fall on you..” Naruto said

Haruto laughed softly. "You're really caught up on that, aren’t you?” He said, his head tilted slightly in obvious mirth.

“I just don’t get how you did it! And, well, I really want to know; believe it!” Naruto yelled

Haruto shook his head while chuckling softly. “Alright, how about this? You go wash your face and any of the other spots I missed in that bathroom over there,” he paused, stepping back a bit to look over his hair. Nodding briefly in approval.

“And after that, if you haven’t already eaten, you can have breakfast with Haku and me, and I’ll tell you how I did it. How about that?” He finished, smiling softly at him.

Naruto nodded dumbly at him. Did Haruto always feel that warm? "Alright," was all he said, turning around to walk to the bathroom Haruto had pointed out to him.

"Oh, wait, Naruto,” Haruto called.

“Hmm?” He turned to look at the man.

“Would you mind if I invited Kakashi? I wouldn’t want to just leave him outside,” Haruto asked with a grin.

Naruto thought the expression came across as way more teasing than his tone would imply, but who was he to judge?

“Uh, that’s okay,” Naruto answered.

Somehow, Haruto’s grin became even more wicked in nature. But despite the mischievous expression, Naruto couldn’t help but be comforted by it. Haruto just seemed to have that effect on him.

Feeling a strange sense of warmth curled up in his chest, Naruto smiled as he continued his way into the bathroom.

Maybe Haruto wasn’t a total jerk, even if he did hold him up by his ankles.

The guy was alright.

Chapter 10: Starting the awkward breakfast

Notes:

This one’s pretty short and not much happens, it’s pretty much just a set-up for next chapter. So sorry in advance if it’s more boring than usual.

Haku walked into the kitchen to find Haruto already finished making breakfast, though he quickly noted that there was more food than usual.

“Are we having guests?” He asked

Haruto turned to face him with a smile.
“Yep! Naruto is just washing off the rest of the paint and glitter, and I’ll invite Kakashi inside in a minute,” he said joyfully.

“Speaking of Naruto, why was he..?” He trailed off.

Haruto laughed. "Well, it would seem you guessed right; he wasn’t all that happy about yesterday.”

Haku stared blankly at Haruto; he had warned the man that this would happen after all. “I told you he wouldn’t be,” he said.

Haruto rolled his eyes at him, "yeah, yeah." Despite his fed-up tone, Haku could see the teasing glint in his eyes.

Haku couldn't help but return the expression. Haruto's mood always seemed so infectious when he got like this.

"So did he not set the prank up, right?" Haku asked

Haruto shook his head minutely. "No, no, the kid's prank was all set up just fine. He just hadn't taken me into consideration."

Haku tilted his head in confusion, a habit he's pretty sure he got from Haruto. "Then what did you do for Naruto to be the one that set off the trap?"

His question just made Haruto laugh again. "I thought it was obvious?" he asked.

Haku blinked shortly before he realised, "Oh, that's what happened," he said.

Haruto chuckled. "Yeah, it's pretty simple when you think about it; it kind of makes it really boring."

"It does. But doesn't that almost seem a little like cheating?" He asked slowly, making sure all traces of teasing weren't present in his tone.

Haruto looked up from where he was placing the plates on the table, a teasing smile already in place. "Careful. It almost sounds like you wanted him to prank me." The man's eyes widened in fake shock, letting out a gasp of mock disbelief. "Could it be... Is this your teenage rebellion?"

Haku watched the man in exasperation, though he couldn’t help the smile that had started tugging at his mouth. “I'm serious; are you sure it doesn't count as cheating? It seems like quite an unfair advantage."

Haruto laughed again. "Well, you see," he said, but he was cut off by a knocking sound.

Haku watched as Haruto’s face split into a large grin, turning to him as he asked, "Haku, would you mind getting the door? It would seem Kakashi is fed up with waiting for us.”

Haku nodded and wordlessly walked over to the balcony door, opening it to find the silver-haired shinobi standing outside it.

“Yo”

“Would you like to come in for breakfast, Kakashi-san?” Haku asked

The man looked slightly confused at that. “uh..”

Not giving him time to recover, Haku moved to the side and began ushering him in towards the table.

When they came close enough, Haruto reached out and pushed Kakashi into one of the chairs, pulling one out for Haku as well before taking his own seat.

“Naruto should be out in a minute,” Haruto said, a wide grin making its way onto his face.

Haku watched as Kakashi visibly pulled his persona back together; it would seem Kakashi still isn’t completely used to Haruto’s special kind of chaos.

Haku couldn’t help but smile sympathetically at him; he remembers when Haruto first started dragging Zabuza and him into things. Needless to say, it took them a while to adapt.

Especially when Haruto would do something completely random like this.

He distinctly remembers the time when Haruto showed up randomly in the middle of the night, covered in paint and carrying a bucket of glitter.

They never did get an explanation for that one.

For Kakashi’s own sake, Haku hopes he’s quick to adapt.

———

Admittedly, Haruto might be enjoying himself just a little bit too much.

Watching Kakashi awkwardly fumble through the situation made Haruto almost feel bad for putting him through it. It's not exactly hard to realise that his old sensei isn’t the best at socialising with others.

But any thoughts of feeling bad were quickly squashed by the pure hilarity of it all. Though that may just be him being overly indifferent to socially awkward people, he's had a lot of experience with them.

Haruto can't tell if the blame falls more on Kurama and the other foxes or if it's more to do with the people. Either way, they’ve clearly influenced his personality more than he realised.

Not that it really matters much.

A few more beats of silence went by before Haruto decided it was probably time to try and break the awkward atmosphere.

“So, how has your morning been, Kakashi?” Haruto asked, leaning his elbows on the table in order to rest his head on his hands.

He felt Kakashi’s emotions spike with uncertainty and had to hide the smile, threatening to split his face. If he had known that messing with Kakashi would be this hilarious, he would have started doing it earlier.

"Well, it’s been-” Kakashi was cut off as Naruto opened the bathroom door and walked into the room.

The blonde froze as three sets of eyes all landed on him. “Uhh, hi..?”

———

Naruto stood still in the doorway as all three of the room's occupants stared at him. Suddenly, he was feeling really, really awkward.

A short chuckle drew his attention to Haruto as the man turned around in his chair to face him. “Hey! You get all of it?” He said.

Naruto perked up at the question, “Uh, yeah! I think so..” he said, a small smile pulling at his face.

The man’s face split into a comforting grin. “That’s good! Why don’t you come have a seat, and then we can eat?” Haruto said warmly.

“Uh, okay," he said, walking towards the empty seat at the table.

Naruto looked over to Haruto as he began speaking. “So, you still want to know why the bucket didn’t fall?”

Naruto couldn’t help the way he lit up at the question. “Yeah!”

Haruto let out a chuckle at his excitement. The sound gave him an odd sense of comfort to hear; usually when someone laughs at him, it’s in a cruel way. Usually, their laughter will make him feel upset and angry, and he’ll start yelling or something, but Haruto doing it just makes him feel warm.

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you,” Haruto said.

Naruto grinned happily at him, Haruto grinned back just as enthusiastically.

Chapter 11: Truth revealed

Naruto was practically vibrating in anticipation as he practically leant over the table in order to hear Haruto better.

Haruto laughed. “You seem so excited that I can’t help but feel like the truth's just pretty underwhelming, y’know?"

He heard a quiet laugh from Haku’s direction, followed by a quiet mumble of what sounded a bit like, “cheating often is,” but he was too focused on Haruto to be completely sure.

However, he did catch the look of feigned exasperation Haruto sent Haku’s way, so he guessed it must have been some sort of inside joke or something.

Haruto shook his head softly as he turned back to face him, an affectionate smile across his face. And Naruto had to ignore the flicker of warmth it gave him to have the expression aimed in his direction. He really has to figure out how to stop reacting like that every time Haruto is even a little nice to him; it’s getting out of hand.

“Alright, reveal time!” Haruto said. Instantly, all of Naruto’s attention was focused on what the man had to say—disappointing or not, he wasn’t going to miss it.

Instead of speaking, however, the man just smiled softly, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Naruto was so focused on the man, however, that he didn’t notice when something softly pressed against his hand. He didn’t notice—that is, until he heard a squeaky laugh come from next to him.

Naruto snapped his head down in time to see what looked like the end of a tail disappear under the table.

Confused, he moved to look further under the table when he heard the laugh coming from on top of the table instead. Quickly moving back up to look, he came eye-to-eye with a particularly furry face.

Stunned, all he could do was blink as he slowly leant back in his chair and away from the face. Now that he wasn’t so close to it, he could see the animal more clearly.

Sitting happily on the table and looking directly at him from its spot in front of him was a very playful-looking fox.

Naruto wasn’t completely sure, but the fox looked to be around average size; its fur, however, looked extraordinarily fluffy, like one of those really fluffy cats that look more like tiny clouds than animals. The fur was also a lot different than what he’s heard most foxes be described with; instead of the orange-coloured fur more commonly talked about, it was instead a mix of brown and white.

The brown fur was covering the fox's legs, face, and ears, with a long strip running down along its spine and stopping just short of its tail; in contrast to the brown, the rest of its fur was a snowy white colour.

Its eyes were a honey-like brown, and they were filled with a childish kind of mischief as they stared at him, its singular tail swishing back and forth behind it at a moderate speed.

A throat being cleared brought Naruto’s attention to the silver-haired man across the table from him. His sensei’s eyes looked at the ball of fur with a strangely neutral expression, as if it had been stripped of everything but a carefully crafted calmness. It was kind of unsettling.

Naruto vaguely registered that the fox had also turned its head to face the man when Kakashi asked, “Is this how you stopped the bucket from falling then?” His tone was honey-sweet in a way Naruto thought didn’t really match his current expression.

It took a second for his words to truly sink in, but when they did, Naruto stood up quickly and looked straight at Haruto. “Is that true?! It was the fox who stopped the bucket from falling?" He asked rapidly.

He looked between Haruto and the fox repeatedly before the man in question chuckled, "Yep! Sorry if it’s a bit disappointing, but I did warn you it might be,” Haruto said happily.

Naruto stared at him for a second before once again looking at the fox, who had trotted over to Haruto and jumped to sit on the man’s shoulder. He might not have been an expert on fox expressions, but he’s pretty sure this one looked incredibly proud of itself.

Before he could ask anymore questions, he heard Haku speak, “See Naruto? There’s really no reason to be upset over your prank not working."

Confused Naruto turned to face his friend and asked, "What do you mean?”

Haku smiled kindly, but Naruto could see the hidden mirth in his eyes, and in the most teasing tone he had ever heard the other boy use, he said, “Because they cheated.”

And just like that, all hell broke loose.

Before he could even react, the fox had hopped across the table and landed on the table in front of Haku. The fox opened its mouth wide and-

“Nuh uh!”

It spoke..?

It’s voice was on the squeakier side, kind of like a little kid's voice would be, and it was glaring at Haku as if he had said something completely insulting to it.

Haku glared right back in fake annoyance. “You heard me,” he said.

In that same squeaky voice, the fox began speaking again, “Why you-" only to be cut off by Haruto laughing loudly from his side of the table.

"Honestly, Haku, I thought you were better than teasing those younger than you,” Haruto said, playfully scolding him.

The fox whipped its head around and looked back at Haruto with what Naruto can only describe as a look of betrayal, its mouth hanging open and its eyes staring at him unblinkingly. The look only served to make Haruto laugh even more, meaning the man was all but falling out of his chair with the force of his amusement.

The man’s laughter was loud and cheerful, which caused Haku to start laughing as well. In the face of Haruto’s infectious joy and Haku’s quiet mirth, Naruto couldn’t help but join in.

The laughter continued until Kakashi once again cleared his throat from across the table. Slowly, the laughter stopped, and then all eyes were on Kakashi; even the fox had looked over at him.

“As funny as all of this is, I do think Haruto was going to explain what happened further." Kakashi said, though the end was phrased more like a question than anything.

Naruto almost laughed again when he took a better look at the man’s face. Usually Kakashi is all put together and unshakeable; even when completely off guard, he still manages to hide most of his emotions behind his careful mask. Now, however, the man’s face is almost visibly strained, and his eyes look like they are almost twitching.

It almost made him start laughing again, but the man looked about three seconds away from snapping, so Naruto would have to hold back.

For now, that is.

He would totally be laughing about this later, though.

“Right, right, sorry about that,” Haruto said, a kind smile taking over his face.

A squeaky scoff drew his attention to the fox on the table. “What’s the matter with you, huh?” It asked.

“Now, now, there’s no need to be rude; Kakashi here is a guest, y’know?” Haruto said in a gentle reprimand of the small creature.

With how rash the creature had been acting, Naruto had half expected it to ignore the man's words, but to his surprise, the fox merely huffed in mild annoyance before trotting back over to Haruto's side.

Haruto smiled softly at the small thing as it jumped back onto his shoulder, nuzzling happily against the man’s neck.

“As I’m sure Kakashi here has already guessed, this little one here,” he said, reaching his hand up to pet the fox's head softly. “Is one of my summons” Haruto said.

Summons? He knows he’s heard that before, but he can't seem to remember what it was. Actually, he thinks Haku might have mentioned it once—something about having a friend who could summon foxes—was he referring to Haruto when he said that?

Not wanting to be left too far out of the loop, Naruto asked, “What’s a summons?”

After he asked, he couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious. He hopes he doesn’t seem dumb by asking that. He doesn’t want Haruto or Haku to think he’s stupid or something.

Before he could take the question back, Haruto had already started explaining, "a 'summon' is what people call a creature, usually an animal, which is called upon when one uses the summoning technique."

The questions must have shown on his face because Haruto smiled indulgently and continued explaining, “The summoning technique is one that allows a person to call upon or transport a creature to their location. The only real requirement is that the summoner must have a contract in place with the animal before they can summon it.

This can be done in various different ways; some summons are much more lax with their requirements for a summoner, and some are decidedly not. It really just depends on the summons," Haruto finished explaining with a small grin on his face.

Naruto grinned excitedly at the explanation, “Sooo, your summons are foxes then, Haruto? I think Haku mentioned having a friend that could do that; does that mean you're that friend?” He asked enthusiastically.

“Haruto is indeed the friend I mentioned,” Haku answered his last question.

Haruto grinned happily at Haku. “Aww, do you talk about me, Haku?”

Haku ignored him, but Haruto's grin didn't falter at all.

“Anyway, so yes, my summons are foxes. Though they aren’t exactly all like this one here, you see, this one is just a baby in comparison to most of my other summons, so there are quite a few differences between her and the adult ones, which I usually call upon,” Haruto said.

The fox on his shoulder looked a bit put out at being called a baby, but it—she? She was quickly appeased when Haruto rubbed her head again.

“So she held up the bucket for you so it didn’t fall?” Naruto asked

“Yep! She pops in and out frequently and just so happened to be here this morning when you were setting up your trap. And well, she’s never one to give up an opportunity, so..." Haruto trailed off sheepishly.

Haruto slowly scratched behind the small fox's ears; it seems that while he was talking, the fox had completely fallen asleep on his shoulder.

"That's... so cool!” He yelled, or, well, whisper-yelled, so as not to wake up the sleeping fox.

Haruto grinned back just as enthusiastically. “Isn’t it?” He said happily.

Though there is one thing he hasn’t asked...

“Hey, uhm, what’s her name?” He asked quietly.

Haruto tilted his head slightly at his question, so he elaborated further, “The fox... uhm, what’s her name? She has to have one, right?” Naruto asked again.

Realisation dawned on Haruto’s face as he straightened up his head, a wide smile covering his face. "Oh! Of course, her name is Ritsuko; I probably should have told you all that earlier,” Haruto chuckled awkwardly.

He smiled happily at the man.

Suddenly Haruto clapped his hands together and said, “Okay, now that explanations are out of the way, why don’t we all dig into breakfast, yeah?”

“Yeah!” Naruto shouted happily, already beginning to dig into his food. He vaguely heard the agreements that followed from both Haku and Kakashi as he did so.

Haruto laughed at his antics, but he was too consumed by the food to take any notice. All around him, the sound of people eating started up, and a spark of warmth made its way into his chest.

Eating with people was nice, he realised. He already knew that having company while eating was fun, and his experiences doing so with Iruka-sensei were proof of that. But eating with people around a table was a lot nicer than he had imagined it would be.

He likes it; it’s warm and happy, and it's so cosy that Naruto almost hopes that it will last longer. He knows it can't, though, so he’ll just have to enjoy this warm feeling while it lasts, and then he can just hope that he remembers it later.

Either way, he’s almost kind of happy that his prank didn’t work.

This meal is way nicer than anything he would have felt just by pranking Haruto. He was sure of it.

Chapter 12: An attempt at conversation

Notes:

So sorry this is so late, I didn’t have many chances to write at all recently. The good news however is that it’s officially school holidays where I am so (as long as I can avoid writers block) I should be able to go back to posting on time.

Admittedly Kakashi is the one who put himself into this position to begin with, so really he has no reason to complain about it.

But really, what was he thinking when he came up with this training plan?

Sure, on one hand, it means he doesn’t have to do as much to entertain the little gremlins and that he can pretty much just sit back and relax while they wear themselves out. But on the other hand…

“So did you enjoy breakfast this morning Kakashi?”

He’s been left alone with Haruto.

Kakashi held back his instinctive groan at the man’s question, why ask that? Judging by the knowing glint in the man’s eyes he clearly already knew his answer.

Kakashi decided against indulging the man’s teasing and instead focused on more important things, like his book for example.

He forced his eye not to twitch when all Haruto did was laugh at his silence.

“Aww, come on, it wasn’t that bad was it?” Haruto asked

Kakashi just kept ignoring him, not that he would even know what to say if he did answer.

If he was being honest, he didn’t know what had happened that morning, it had just been one thing after the other. One moment he was waiting on the rooftop and the next he was sitting awkwardly around a table eating breakfast with increasingly random things happening.

If he had to sit at a table with Haruto, Haku and Naruto ever again it would be too soon.

And that’s not even mentioning the fox.

Who could have guessed that Haruto would be a fox summoner?

In retrospect it truly isn’t all that shocking, he can remember quite a few moments where he himself had even likened the man’s mannerisms to the animal.

It’s just, when his only reference of a fox is the kyuubi...

It’s not exactly his first thought to associate a fox with anything even remotely positive.
And, despite any suspicions he and others may possess, Haruto has been nothing but a positive.

He doesn’t just mean Haruto’s personality either. Much as he doesn’t fully understand how, Haruto has managed to bring team 7 out of their shells. And although the change in them isn’t a big one, it’s still a good change.

So a connection between the happy, bright personality of Haruto and the hateful, malicious one he’s associated with foxes?

Not all that obvious to him.

He understands that ‘bitter’ and ‘malicious’ aren’t the only things foxes are, he does. But after watching Kushina struggle with the kyuubi for years, only for it to end up rampaging and killing Minato, Kushina and so many others.

It’s hard to seperate the two, that’s all.

Hard in a way few things have ever been for him.

Much as it pains him to say however, the breakfast, or at least the fox present, probably helped divided them a little.

After all there’s almost no similarity between the raging kyuubi and the ball of fur he met this morning.

Thinking of the tiny creature, Kakashi had to take a moment to appreciate the fact that the little fox had already returned to wherever it came from.

As.. cute, as the thing had been, it had proven to be quite the troublemaker in the times it had been awake. Not maliciously so, just childish.

He recalls that at more than one point it had even jumped over the table to head butt him in the shoulder. It had tormented everyone at the table, though he can’t help but notice it seemed to particularly dislike him.

The only one it hadn’t bothered throughout the meal was Haruto himself.

With everyone else the fur ball had been an absolute nightmare, but whenever it was near Haruto, or Haruto would pet it or call its name, it became an absolute angel.

Maybe that was the main fox trait it possessed, being a ball of two faced deceit. It wouldn’t shock him if it was.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Haruto’s voice, “What are you reading there Kakashi?” Haruto asked.

Kakashi briefly glanced up at the man, a misleadingly happy smile in place as he answered, “this? It’s just a lovely book written by a respected member of the community,”

Haruto huffed out a laugh, “right, right.” He said, “I’m sure that’s what it is, I suppose that means it isn’t the book I thought it was,”

Kakashi spoke in a slightly mischievous tone when he responded, “Is Haruto familiar with the series then?”

Haruto smiled slightly, “no, but an acquaintance of mine often complains about it, so I’m vaguely familiar with it,” he said

“Oh? They complain? I find that hard to understand, this is such a lovely piece of literature after all” He said unconcernedly, not really paying attention all that much.

Haruto laughed, “it’s not to important, just some drunken rants about how depraved the content of the books are, though I suspect it’s mostly a personal opinion of the author as I can’t see her reading them.” He explained.

Kakashi couldn’t help the smirk that played at his mouth upon hearing Haruto’s words, a woman complaining about Jiraiya? Not surprising.

The most commonly said comment he hears about it in the Jonin Standby Station is that ‘if every woman that complained about Jiraiya was to one day team up with each other none would survive, Great toad sage of the Sannin or not’. Then again the jonin are all hopeless gossips, so they tend to exaggerate at times.

Then again even without that exaggeration, the number of women who complain about Jiraiya isn’t exactly a small one.

Swallowing down the any trace of laughter at Jiraiya’s misfortune with women, Kakashi said, “given the authors unique reputation, that someone would complain about him isn’t to much of a surprise to me,” he made sure to keep his tone flat as he spoke, as to not risk betraying the humour he felt.

Haruto laughed softly, “i guess it isn’t”
He said.

Kakashi couldn’t shake the fact that despite his attempts to hide all traces of mirth from his face and voice that Haruto still knew exactly what he felt.

It should have felt unnerving to have someone so easily see through his mask, but the only thing he could bring himself to feel uneasy was the fact that it didn’t unnerve him. Kakashi is almost certain that it had more to do with the odd warmth and comfort that Haruto seemed to emanate than him losing his edge.

As it was, the strange comfort Kakashi felt whenever the other man was around still felt strange to him. Despite his denial of the fact, Kakashi is more than aware that he can be just a little paranoid, more than what is usual for even shinobi. So feeling comfortable around a stranger like Haruto’s? It just doesn’t happen.

And yet.. he can’t help but feel that unexplainably warm feeling creep up on him whenever the man does something in a way that feels particularly familiar to him. It’s something in the way Haruto will switch from carrying himself with an easy air of confidence one minute only to switch to a barely controlled swirl of chaos the next.

He tries not to think about the two people each mood reminds him of. He doesn’t quite think he’s ready to unpack that, he’s not sure he ever will be.

Chapter 13: Sakura does not like chasing cats

As it would turn out, Kakashi’s ‘training plan’ was just a mission. A mission that had Sakura actively considering murder.

Why was it that catching one little runaway cat could be so difficult?

Honestly if the one she killed wasn’t that fur ball, Tora, then it’d be one of her teammates instead. Either way, if she had to spend one more hour chasing that stupid cat, she was going to be finishing her day with murder charges.

Seriously, it’s just one dumb cat! It shouldn’t be this hard to catch! And yet here they were, an hour into their idiotic cat chase, and they haven’t even come remotely close to catching it.

Next time, if Kakashi says they’re doing another cat chase, she’s just going to go home instead of participating. The boys can do all the work, and then she can get a chance to do something actually productive with her time instead.

Sakura's attention was drawn back to the world around her as Haku’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie at her side. “It got away again! Its heading towards your side, Sasuke!”

Sakura’s extremely proud of the fact that she didn’t throw the walkie-talkie off the roof at the news. Even if she really, really wanted to.

She was just about to head off to help Sasuke when she heard a familiar voice from her left “I’m assuming from your expression that things aren’t going too well."

Turning her head towards the voice, she looked up at the rooftop of the building next to the one she was currently on. Standing, or more accurately, crouching, on the ledge of that rooftop was Haruto, and right behind him was Kakashi. Though she couldn’t help but notice that Kakashi looked more like someone who had just been picked up by a tornado than the put-together appearance he normally has.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Uhh, is Kakashi-sensei okay?”

Haruto looked mildly confused at her question before turning to look at her sensei, almost as if he had forgotten that he was there at all. "Oh, that,” Haruto said, looking back towards her with a toothy grin across his face. “Don’t worry about him; he was just being lazy, so I had to encourage him to come here a little."

Sakura found that she didn’t really want to know what ‘encouragement’ looked like in this situation. With a quick glance back at Kakashi, showing that he had already returned to his usual uncaring look, she decided to just drop the subject entirely.

“Uhh, okay then..” was all she could think to say.

Haruto’s grin softened into a smile as he shifted into a sitting position, still looking down on her from the ledge of the other rooftop. “So how are things going with catching that cat?” He asked.

As if a switch had been flipped, Sakura went back to her murderous mood from before. Sakura fought the urge to punch something.

Her shoulders slumped downward as she openly groaned at the question, “terribly! That stupid cat just won’t stay still!” Her voice was filled with frustration as she spoke.

She snapped her head back up as Haruto just chuckled at her frustration, but before she could voice her indignation, she was cut off by Kakashi. “Maa, if it’s going that badly, maybe you just aren’t doing it right.”

Sakura couldn’t help the dumbfounded look that crossed her face, nor could she stop herself from glaring at her sensei for his words. As if it were that easy!

“But Kakashi-Sensei! We’ve already tried everything!” She whined

“Have you, though?” Haruto asked

“Of course we have!” She yelled

Haruto’s face split back into its previous grin before it was smoothed back into the smile. “And what exactly is it that you’ve tried?” He questioned, leaning forward slightly.

She huffed in annoyance, not understanding why he was asking such a pointless question, "Everything! We’ve tried cornering it as a group, catching it individually, splitting up to corner it, and still none of it worked!” She cried

She was hoping she’d get at least a little sympathy from the pair; instead, all she got was a sceptical look from Haruto and an unimpressed one from Kakashi.

“Say, Kakashi, does that sound like everything to you?” Haruto asked, turning to face Kakashi as he did so.

Kakashi inclined his head towards Haruto before replying, “I don’t believe it does.”

Haruto smiled brightly at Kakashi's response, nodding and turning back to her with an expectant look on his face. Sakura wondered briefly when they started getting along so well.

Growing more confused than angry at the exchange, it took her a moment to scrounge together her next words.

Breathing out through her nose, Sakura asked, “Then what is it that we haven’t done?”

"Well, we can’t just tell you that,” was Haruto’s, oh, so helpful, reply.

Sakura could practically feel her patience running out.

“Then why even bring it up?” She asked

Thankfully, Haruto actually seemed up for answering her this time: “Because you need to know that what you’ve been doing isn’t working, and you weren’t going to stop and think unless we did something,” he said.

“But I have been thinking; it’s just that none of what I’ve thought about has worked out,” she said slowly, making sure that her words made as much sense as she could make them.

"Well, then maybe it’s time you thought a little differently,” Kakashi said, in the same aloof tone he usually has.

“Think differently?"

“Yes! You’ve been trying so many different ways of doing the same thing. So why don’t you try doing the opposite thing?” Haruto inquired

“The opposite? Like what?”

It was Haruto again who spoke, "Like." He spoke softly, as if carefully considering his words: “How one might usually catch a wild animal."

“What do you mean? Why would I treat Tora like a wild animal? Tora's just some stupid house cat, even if the thing is ridiculously hard to catch." Seriously, Tora is just a pet that refuses to stop running away.

“That’s not what I said; I said treat Tora like a wild animal, not that Tora was one.” Haruto clarified.

“How does that work? What's even the difference?" She asked

"Well, normally, when trying to catch a wild animal, you don't chase it now, do you?" Haruto questioned.

"Well, no," she said.

“So, if relentlessly chasing Tora down doesn’t work for you, maybe you should try waiting for Tora to come for you."

She couldn’t help but be a tiny bit frustrated at that. “Like a trap? But we’ve already tried doing that, and it didn’t work; the cat didn’t go anywhere near them,” she said.

“Did you give Tora a reason to go near them?” Haruto asked

“Like.. bait?”

“Exactly like bait! You’ve got to give Tora a reason to go near the trap for it to work, so did you?"

“Well.. not exactly,"

Haruto laughed. "Well, no wonder it didn’t work then."

Sakura thought the suggestion over, feeling a little embarrassed that she hadn’t considered using bait earlier. She had been so focused on catching Tora as quickly as they could that she had completely ignored the possibility of just waiting her out.

But now that she was actually considering it, she had to admit that it was probably their best shot at catching Tora. While the cat was already on guard, they probably wouldn't be able to catch it as simply as they could have at first.

That being said... maybe if they just… Or maybe they could...

Oh! That’s it!

She couldn’t help but jump excitedly. “I got it! I have to tell the others!"

Moving before she could think, she began running in the direction of where her teammates should be. If she was right, they could finally finish this mission!

Chapter 14: Conversations about an old friend

Haruto doesn’t know if he should feel proud or afraid of watching Sakura run off like that.

Proud, because little Sakura is starting to actually grow into the woman he knows she can be.

Afraid because he’s seen what his Sakura was capable of when motivated while angry and all the destruction that would usually come with it.

That being said, no matter how scary she's definitely going to be when she’s older, he’s going to make sure to be the most supportive person he can be.

He is kind of worried about what she’s going to do to Tora when she catches her, though. As much as he says he’ll support her, he’s not exactly keen to have to deal with all the political ramifications of something happening to the cat.

Which sounds ridiculous out of context, he's sure. But he remembers clearly how much the Fire Daimyo's wife loved that cat. He can only guess how furious she'd be if some little genin-girl were to kill it, and by extension, how bad that would look politically.

Not that he would have to deal with said politics. If it comes down to it, he’ll just claim there’s an emergency or something somewhere else and make a run for it. He wouldn’t be much of a help in a political fight anyway; he’s never had much luck with them.

Not that he’s ever needed to; before the war started, he had no real reason to know about politics or how to navigate them, and even during the war, there wasn't any real need for it.

There wasn’t any space for anything like that to happen at that time; either you were with humanity or you were with Kaguya and her army. And no self-respecting Shinobi was going to be on Kaguya's side. There wasn’t any place for an in-between to form either, let alone enough energy to waste on actually making one.

That was probably the only good thing about that war. It was probably the only time in history that every Shinobi was fighting for the same cause as the one next to them.

It was just a shame that, even with all of that, it wasn't enough for them to win. Maybe it could have been enough had it happened earlier in time, but with the circumstances of the war and how far along everything already was when they noticed it...

They never really did stand a chance, did they?

“Maa, with how excited she looked about this plan of her’s, I almost feel bad for the cat.” Kakashi's voice came from just behind where he was sitting. Haruto spared a moment of silent thanks for the distraction from his thoughts.

Haruto laughed at his words, an echo of his previous thoughts, “Sakura's a smart girl; I’m sure she understands that hurting the cat wouldn’t be a good idea. Traumatising the poor thing, though, that's probably still on the table for her.” He said.

While Haruto couldn’t actually see any actual amusement on Kakashi’s face, he could still feel the emotion coming from the man.

He’s pretty sure that’s what it is anyway. While he’s technically had the ability to sense emotions since he was sixteen, at the time it had been limited to negative emotions like hatred or anger.

It wasn’t until he was around nineteen or so that the ability started evolving in order to sense other emotions on top of that. It started small, feeling emotions like sadness or guilt, then expanded further until Haruto could sense all kinds of emotions.

But even if he’s had the ability for a while now, that doesn’t mean he’s always perfect at telling emotions apart. Especially positive ones.

During the war, Haruto had a lot of experience sensing things like bloodlust and hatred; after all, it was all he could actually feel from the Zetsu. Things like grief and fear are also an unfortunately familiar feeling to him; it was almost the only thing anybody felt during that time.

It's not that positive emotions were never felt by anyone; they were just so faint and brief in comparison to the negative ones that they didn’t leave much of an impression. No matter how hard he or anyone else tried to extend them, those moments of happiness never lasted long enough.

It didn’t matter what they did; they just couldn’t escape the fear and misery that clung to them. But the happiness, while not lasting nearly long enough, was still enough to matter. Still enough to give them the hope they needed to keep going.

No matter how brief and small it had been, it was important.

Even now, after spending so long in this time, Haruto still isn’t always accurate when reading positive emotions. He’s getting better at it, though; he can usually tell them apart pretty accurately now.

It probably doesn’t help his already poor ability to feel positive emotions when people like Kakashi focus so hard on hiding their feelings in general.

While they can never fully cover up the emotion, they can still usually somewhat conceal it. Kind of like there’s a fog in the way, said fog doesn’t actually stop him from seeing anything; it just takes more effort to make out.

Now that he thinks about it, he probably has Zabuza to thank for how well he’s able to read Kakashi at all. It’s kind of funny how similarly the two treat their emotions.

“Oh? You seem quite confident in her abilities there, Haruto,” Kakashi drawled.

Haruto couldn’t help the way he started laughing at that. He’s still not over how someone can sound and look so aloof while feeling so much curiosity. He’d probably find it pretty impressive if it wasn’t so hilarious to him.

“Do you think so?” He asked, grinning happily. “I hadn’t even realised.”

“Is that so?" Kakashi said in reply, the small amount of disappointment not quite reaching his voice.

“Is that answer not satisfying enough for you, scarecrow?” He asked, only slightly mocking.

Kakashi idly tilted his head to the side, his amusement much clearer than it was before. “Well, it wasn’t the most interesting of answers,” he said.

“Oh? I’m so sorry, but if that's the case, I don’t think I really have a good answer for you then,” Haruto spoke. “The only one I can think of isn’t all that fun, I’m afraid."

“But there is another answer, then?” Kakashi asked.

Haruto let out a short laugh. “She reminds me of an old friend of mine; that’s probably why I’m so confident in her,” he answered.

“She reminds you of your friend?” Kakashi questioned.

“Yep!” Haruto replied quickly before seeming to reconsider, “Well, she kind of reminds me of her at least.”

Kakashi only seemed to get more interested as he spoke, "Oh? Then what was this friend like then?”

Haruto smiled at the question; he hasn’t had many opportunities to talk about his friends in quite a while now. He’s found that he enjoys being able to share stories about them; it’s nice.

Even though his friends will never exist again in the same way he knew them, that doesn’t mean he has to ignore the fact that they exist at all.

Happy to have an excuse to speak about her, he excitedly started talking. “Oh, she was just the best! We had known each other since we were kids, and even back then, she was always really strong and smart. That was just when we were kids, too! She only got even more incredible after that, you know?"

Kakashi looked at Haruto with barely hidden amusement and said, "You think very highly of your friend, don’t you?"

Haruto scratched his cheek lightly in embarrassment. “Yeah, sorry about that. I'm told I have a tendency to ramble sometimes."

Kakashi just waved off his apologies. "It's fine; I did ask you after all."

“If you’re sure, Scarecrow, I'll take your word for it.”

A moment of silence passed before either of them spoke again: “This friend of yours sounds quite remarkable.. You say Sakura reminds you of her?” Kakashi asked, curiosity still blatant in the man’s chakra.

“In most ways, yes, but not in all of them."

“Well, to compare Sakura to someone you clearly think so highly of, that’s quite the praise."

Haruto looked in the direction Sakura had gone, a fond smile taking over his face. “Yeah, I guess it is."

Notes:

Sorry I disappeared for so long, I got really distracted by a new show I started recently and lost track of when I last updated.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway, even if it took me forever to actually finish it lol.

Chapter 15: Got the cat in the bag

Haku thinks his new sort-of-team is being a little dramatic about all of this. Yes, capturing the cat did take a lot longer than he had anticipated it would, but surely it didn’t warrant such celebration upon completing it.

So the cat was incredibly hard to catch, and sure, it took an irritatingly long time to do it, but does Naruto really need to drop to the floor in exhaustion like that? And is Sakura.. crying? Haku squints his eyes to see better, and, sure enough, those are tears. Sakura is actually smiling so hard that she’s crying.

Even Sasuke is acting dramatic, though admittedly not as much as the other two are being. Instead of collapsing to the ground or crying like Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke has instead taken to leaning his forehead against a wall and staring at his feet.

He couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you all think this behaviour might be just a little too dramatic?”

The reaction to his question was, to say the least, underwhelming in nature. Naruto merely groaned from his place sprawled out on the floor, and Sasuke didn’t even react more than a faint mumble.

The biggest reaction from all three came from Sakura, who answered him with nothing more than a complaint about how they were ‘being completely reasonable’ and how Haku just ‘wasn’t reacting enough’.

“I don’t think not acting like you three after such a simple mission counts as an underreaction,” he stated candidly.

Seemingly about to defend their actions again, Sakura began to speak before being cut off when Naruto sprang up from his place on the ground. “You only think that way ‘cause you’ve been a shinobi for, like, way longer than any of us! You have an advantage!”

Haku huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. “I hardly think the duration for which I’ve been a shinobi has anything to do with this.”

Sakura brought her hands up near her head, gesturing widely as she spoke. “It totally does; there’s no way you would be so relaxed about this if you didn’t already have experience!"

Haku shook his head in exasperation. “Sure, but even if I didn’t have ‘experience’ like you say, I doubt I’d act so drastically."

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

Haku decidedly did not startle at the sudden sound of Haruto’s voice, though he did have to fight back a laugh as he watched all three of his companions practically jump at it.

Naruto almost fell over with how quickly he moved backwards from the sound, and Sakura couldn’t hide the way her head snapped towards it. Sasuke in particular reacted quite hilariously, having moved frantically away from his place against the wall in an attempt to save face.

Looking for a way to avoid outright laughing at the trio, Haku turned to face Haruto. The man was perched on the edge of a nearby rooftop, grinning happily as he looked down on them.

Besides Haruto, the copy-nin stood lazily, one of his hands stuffed casually into one of his pockets and the other hand holding his usual book up to his face. Seemingly completely uninterested in the things around him.

“What do you mean, Haruto?” He asked

Haruto tilted his head, as he tends to do in certain situations like this one. Haku has noticed him do the particular action quite a few times, usually when he’s confused or whenever he’s feeling particularly amused by something.

It’s a habit he probably picked up from his fox summons; Haku has definitely seen a few of them make the same gesture in the past.

If the playful smile still stuck on Haruto’s face was anything to go on, then he’s more amused than anything, and Haku has the sinking suspicion that it’s at his expense.

Haruto scratched his cheek absently as he answered, "Well, it’s just that I don’t exactly remember you being in the best condition after your own first couple of animal chases."

Haku may not have the ability to sense emotions like Haruto does, but he doesn’t need it to know that all three of his new teammates have focused their full attention on Haruto’s words. Even Kakashi seems mildly interested, though Haku might be imagining that bit. The copy-nin is even harder to read than Zabuza used to be.

Haku watched as each of his teammates came to stand nearby him, with Naruto standing closest to his side before speaking, “His own small animal chases?”

Haruto looked to the left of Haku, where Naruto was standing, and said, “Yeah, you remember Ritsuko, right? She’s the summons you met this morning."

Haku could just make out the confused faces of both Sakura and Sasuke before Naruto nodded, and Haruto continued speaking. "Well, like Ritsuko, one of my other summons tends to enjoy dropping in to visit at times.”

“The difference between the two is that while Ritsuko is more than happy to settle down for a nap, the other one, Himani, likes to run off on his own a lot. The problem with that is that he’ll run away and get totally lost in doing so."

“Which means that someone has to run after him so he doesn’t end up unable to get back or hurt in any way, and that someone has ended up being Haku on more than one occasion."

“And well, the first couple of times he did that, he reacted quite the same as you three did."

Not thirty seconds after Haruto finished explaining, Sakura was moving forward and pointing accusingly at Haku. “So we were right! You’re only calm because you’re used to it!”

The other two didn’t say anything, but if the slightly smug look on Sasuke’s face and the shocked joy on Naruto’s were anything to go off of, then Haku was in for a world of embarrassment and teasing.

———

Haku is glaring at him now.

Maybe he should feel bad, but Haruto is nothing but entertained by this whole thing. It’s not like he went out of his way to embarrass the boy, but really, how could he have resisted such a golden opportunity?

It just couldn’t be helped; truly, Haku will understand, probably.

If nothing else, the embarrassment and teasing will probably bring the four together more. It’ll do well to chip away at the seemingly untouchable impression Haku made upon them.

It's better to do that early on than risk any of them getting trapped in such a mindset. He knows from experience that befriending someone you view as above you or untouchable never truly goes well.

All that being said, he doubts Haku would take any of his excuses at the moment, not with the way he’s still glaring at him….

Maybe he can bribe Haku into forgiving him?

But what could Haruto do? Lunch maybe? He knows Haku usually enjoys trying new meals, even if the boys never actually said anything about it.

And if he’s buying for Haku, he might as well pay for the other three too; not for Kakashi, though; he’s a big boy and can buy his own food.

If he’s buying all four kids food, he might have to limit how much they can order; he knows very well how much he could consume back as a kid. He could probably afford it with how much he's managed to save since getting back to this time, but that doesn’t mean he wants to risk it.

He couldn’t help but smile fondly at the kids as they all stood laughing together; even Sasuke ended up smiling along with the others. It was a rare sight even after he got over his grumpy vengeance phase, but it was nigh impossible back during their childhoods.

Maybe this Sasuke was less stubborn than his was? He hopes so.

Haruto turned his head to look at Kakashi. “So, you don’t happen to have anything else planned for the day, do ya’ Scarecrow?”

The man in question lazily glanced down at him over the top of his book, the faintest trace of suspicion in the man’s eyes. “No, I hadn’t planned anything further than catching the cat; I figured the kiddies wouldn’t be too happy if I did."

Haruto chuckled slightly. “You’re probably right; little Sakura would definitely riot, and I doubt the others would stop her."

“Oh? You think Sakura would be the first to react out of all of them?” The man asked with mock confusion.

He laughed again. “Oh definitely, out of all of them, she probably has the shortest temper; even I could tell that much."

He’s not kidding either; compared to Sasuke and his younger self, Sakura may seem the calmest, but that’s not really true. Sasuke was angry and cold, sure, but he also had the capacity for patience when it suited him. And while Naruto is certainly loud and quick to act, that doesn’t necessarily translate to being short-tempered—easily annoyed, yes, but not truly angered.

He briefly considered adding Haku in, seeing as the boy does have a tendency to be quite extreme in certain situations. But he ultimately decided against that, seeing as to how he only ever truly gets mad when he feels one of his precious people is being threatened.

Sakura, on the other hand, may act all calm and collected on the outside, but everyone who’s ever met her knows that, truly, she has to be one of the easiest to anger people ever. And he's including Tsunade in that number.

Than again, he’s half convinced that being easily angered is a requirement for being a medic-nin; all the ones he’s met seemed to have had that trait in common at least.

Kakashi huffed in what Haruto is almost certain is amusement: “I can’t argue with that; Sage only knows how such a small girl could hold so much anger."

Haruto laughed again. “I suppose I should be grateful that I’ve never personally been on the receiving end of it then."

Grinning happily, he asked, “So if you don’t have anymore plans for the kids today, why don’t you let me treat them to some lunch, huh? They could probably use it after all this running around they’ve done."

Kakashi stared at him questioningly, seemingly trying to figure out his reasoning.
Haruto just continued speaking undeterred in the slightest: “I’d have to take Haku anyway, you see, mostly as bribery so he doesn’t hold a grudge over me embarrassing him and all.”

“So I figured, why not just invite all the kids to come along, ya’know?”

Seemingly content with his reasoning, Kakashi accepted the plans fairly easily: “Maa, I don’t see why not; we can go find somewhere to eat after dropping Tora back off with her rightful owner.”

He smiled up at the words, "Great!" But just so you know, I’ll have to rely on you and the kids to tell me what places are worth going to.”

Kakashi gave him his signature closed-eyed smile and said, "Of course.”

Notes:

Sorry I haven’t been updating all that frequently, schools starting back up again so I’m trying to focus more on that than other things. But everything’s kind of evened out again so I should (hopefully) be back to updating more. ;)

Chapter 16: Lunch time

They ended up going to that old barbecue place he remembers Choji used to rave about; he was always talking about how the food tasted amazing.

Haruto remembers vaguely that he tried it once or twice, but it’s been so long that he can’t really remember how it tasted at all.

He wonders if Kakashi chose this place because he knew who would be here, or if that was a complete accident on his part. It could be either one knowing Kakashi.

Not that the answer to that would really change anything; he’s actually pretty excited to see what this meeting will bring. It’ll be interesting to watch, at the very least.

He can’t tell if he’s more interested in meeting more of his mini-friends or in seeing if he can convince a certain Jonin to tell him some embarrassing things about Kakashi. That second bit would probably be difficult to accomplish, and it would definitely take awhile. He could probably manage it, though; he’s been told he can be pretty convincing when he wants to be.

And being able to make fun of Kakashi is absolutely worth the effort it would take him.

An excited voice drew his attention to the excited blonde genin beside him.

“Hey Haruto! Haruto!” Naruto yelled excitedly, bouncing up and down as he walked.

“Maa, Naruto, it’s important not to yell so loudly in public; it disrupts other people." Kakashi scolded

The blonde in question merely scrunched up his nose in annoyance at the man, “Who cares!? I’m trying to ask Haruto a question!” The boy exclaimed.

He can’t help but wonder if he was also that bad when he was a kid; he likes to think that he wasn’t. He understands that technically, this Naruto is an accurate representation of his personality back then, but he's going to ignore that fact. And well, if he was that bad, he probably owes a sorry to Kakashi-sensei.

...and anyone else who tried to teach him too, for that matter.

It’s probably a good thing that Kakashi is a typically patient person by nature; it’s probably how the man’s been able to cling onto the little sanity he has left even while having him, Sakura, and Sasuke as a team.

He’s almost certain that a person with even a little bit less patience would probably have quit all together on the first day. The worst part is that he’s not even sure he’s exaggerating about that. Just because he personally thinks that they weren’t completely horrible doesn’t mean he’s not very aware of the fact that others don’t exactly agree with him on that.. But, oh well,

There was nothing he could do about anything that happened back then, and it’s pretty entertaining for him now, so he probably won’t do anything to actively change anything about it. It’ll happen on its own eventually.

Sakura will grow up to be the strong and terrifying person she was always meant to be. Sasuke will, if everything goes well, still grow out of his angsty avenger phase- though without the 'running off to join Orochimaru' stunt if he has any say in it. Naruto as well will, hopefully, still manage to outgrow his more... annoying habits.

However it ends up going this time around, Kakashi will just have to deal with them until then.

The sound of a door opening brought him back to the present, the smell of the restaurant hitting him fully. He could feel more than see the exact moment Kakashi noticed the group in one of the far corners of the room. From the momentary surprise, he can assume that Kakashi didn't, in fact, know they’d be here, though he doesn’t seem at all upset about the development.

He contemplated saying something when Naruto cut him off, "Oh, hey, it’s Shikamaru and Choji’s team!”

“Oh! And Ino-pigs there too,” Sakura added, albeit in a far grumpier tone.

Kakashi perked up in fake interest, “So team 10 is also here? What a coincidence! We should all go say hi!” He said, false cheer bleeding into his face and tone.

The silver-haired man was already walking over to the four in the corner before anyone could say anything more about it, leaving them with nothing to do but follow along as well.

———

Ino was getting really fed up with Shikamaru’s laziness.

“Honestly Shikamaru! You’ll never get anywhere if you don’t put even a little bit of effort into your training!” Ino scolded, glaring at the boy across from her.

“Now, Ino, I’m sure Shikamaru is doing his best, so why don’t we all settle down and eat some lunch before we go back to training?” Asuma said, trying to keep her from getting too worked up at her teammate.

Ino huffed, “If that were true, he wouldn’t spend all day sleeping or looking at clouds!” She argued, "At this rate, the other teams are going to completely overtake us!"

More specifically, Sakura's group might beat them! How can she possibly be a proper rival for Sakura if her teammates won't even try and help out?

It's not like Shikamaru slacking off is a one-time thing either; he always does that! Asuma-sensei will give them a mission or some training to do, and she and Choji will put in all the work while Shikamaru just lazes around doing the bare minimum. She’s sick of it!

Why should they have to do all the work? If she doesn’t say anything, no one will! Asuma-sensei is too indulgent of them, and Choji is already too accustomed to Shikamaru’s personality to care, even when he isn’t busy stuffing his face with food.

While Ino has technically known both Shikamaru and Choji practically all her life, she was never all that close to them. They were friendly, sure, and she probably knows more embarrassing things about those two than anyone else on the planet. But that doesn't mean they were ever truly friends before this, not that she'd really mind that.

She's more than aware that Shikamaru and Choji are way cooler than people think. That's part of the reason she's always so mad at them; they have the potential to be so cool, yet they act like absolute idiots about it.

With newfound determination, she prepared to start scolding them both, but a voice cut her off before she could start, “What a surprise! Who could have guessed we’d end up going for lunch at the same place and time!”

Ino looked over to see a man walking over to their table, one she vaguely remembers seeing talk to Asuma-sensei at one point or another. The man’s face was mostly covered, and his only visible eye was curved upward into a smile.

Asuma-sensei smiled at the man as he came to a stop besides their table. “Kakashi! What brings you here?”

“Maa, well, the kiddies finished all of their missions sooner than I thought, and then the stray I’m babysitting suggested we get lunch, so here we are,” the silver-haired man, who’s apparently named Kakashi, said with a shrug.

Kiddies? He must be some sort of teacher then, and judging by the vest, he’s probably one of the Jonin sensei’s rather than an academy one.

“You wouldn’t mind if we joined in on your lunch at all, would you, Asuma?” Kakashi asked.

Asuma smiled, “Not at all!” He turned to face them again. “You guys don’t mind either, do you?” He asked

Ino looked at the two before shaking her head somewhat. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

She saw Choji briefly look up from his food to shake his head as well, and she heard Shikamaru mumble out his approval too.

“Wonderful!” Kakashi said, his eye once again curving into a smile.

The man slid into the place next to Asuma-sensei, which made Choji and Shikamaru side over to make room as well.

The man said ‘we’ which means he brought his team with him, right? Ino looked around the restaurant for whoever could have been the guys students, her eyes quickly catching on the approaching head of bright pink hair. She couldn’t help but blurt out her name, “Sakura?!”

The girl in question came to a stop near their table, crossing her arms and looking to the side. “tch, Ino-pig.”

Kakashi threw a hand over his chest, in a manner far too dramatic to be anything but fake. “How very mean of you, Sakura! You should be nicer to people, especially when they’re being so nice as to share their table with us,” he exclaimed, his voice raised in a clearly teasing way.

Sakura turned to face him, stomping her foot in indignation. “I’m plenty nice!” She said, planting her hands on her hips and glaring accusingly at the silver-haired man.

A new voice yet again cut into the conversation, “You can’t go five minutes without antagonising someone; can you scarecrow?” The new stranger said, amusement laced in his voice.

The new voice drew her attention to the rest of the people that had gathered around their table. Two of the four people were strangers, one looking to be about the same age as Asuma-sensei and the other looking about two or three years older than she was. The other two she was definitely more familiar with, one being Naruto and the other being Sasuke. Ino had been so focused on Sakura and what she was doing that she hadn’t even noticed their arrival.

Asuma sensei’s laugh broke through her thoughts. “That’s just how Kakashi is, I’m afraid; you get used to it after a while,” he said, shrugging lazily.

The stranger laughed, “So I'm starting to gather.”

For the life of her, Ino couldn’t manage to remember ever seeing the man or the other kid at all around the village before. Are they new or something? Though that could just be that they aren’t all that memorable, While the younger one is admittedly above average in terms of good looks, the older guy was pretty average-looking.

That's not to say the guy was totally plain, but his face wasn't all that impressive either.

The man was about as tall as the Kakashi guy and had waist-length brown hair that had been tied back in a loose, low ponytail. The most noticeable part of his appearance were probably his dark blue eyes, which Ino thought matched the outfit he was wearing fairly well.

Asuma smiled politely at the man. “You must be the infamous Haruto I’ve heard so much about. I’m Asuma; it’s nice to meet you,” he said, holding a hand out for Haruto to shake.

The stranger, Haruto, shook his hand with a quiet laugh, “that’d be me! Though I would like to know how exactly it is that I’ve become the ‘infamous’ Haruto, I don't remember doing anything that could have gotten me that label,” he said, raising an eyebrow in question.

At that, Asuma just laughed again, and strangely enough, Kakashi seemed to be inching slowly away. "Well, you see, Kakashi here has done nothing but complain since you’ve arrived. I don’t think he’s been this lively in years, if I’m being honest.”

“Lively? Dead on my feet is more like it.” The silver-haired man deadpanned.

Before any of them could continue their conversation, a certain blonde, who wasn’t her, spoke up, “Come ooooonnn!! I thought we were gonna eat, not talk all day!” Naruto whined

Ino couldn’t help but giggle, seems Naruto hasn’t changed at all, still just as much of a massive airhead as he always was.

The Haruto guy didn’t seem to take any offence at all towards the blonde boys whining, instead just laughing at his antics instead. “Sorry about that, Naruto, didn’t mean to bore you so much; you’ll get your food, don’t worry.”

The man’s words seemed like enough to satisfy Naruto, as he then shuffled around the table and started bugging a half-asleep Shikamaru. The rest of the standing group followed suit, each taking a seat around the table as well.

— — —

The lunch was turning out to be a lot less of a hassle than Kakashi originally thought it would be. After the initial introductions were over and done with and conversations started going, it went fairly smoothly.

A few minutes after they sat down, Haruto asked each of the kids—which, to his surprise, also happened to include the team 10—what they’d like to eat. All three of his little genin, plus Haku, each told Haruto what their orders were after a quick glance at the menus.

While the Yamanaka girl and the Nara kid turned down the offer due to having already eaten, the Akimichi boy was more than happy to accept the extra food.

Most of the kids started talking to each other fairly easily, with some blatant exceptions.

There’s the obvious ones, of course: Sasuke is off to the side, brooding like always. Haku, while he is sitting near the rest of them, hasn’t really spoken much at all. Though that has less to do with mopping about like Sasuke and more to do with the boys naturally quiet personality.

The surprising ones come in the form of both Sakura and the Yamanaka kid, who have both been not-so-subtly glaring at each other from different ends of the table.

“How long exactly do you think we can ignore them?” Asuma asked, glancing at the two wearily.

Kakashi shrugged, glancing back down at his book. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Asuma gave a short laugh. “Of course you would be, but I think staying here much longer might break me.”

Kakashi ignored the potential jab in the sentence.

Haruto laughed awkwardly. “I don’t think there’s much we can do but ignore it.”

Asuma hung his head and sighed. “Unfortunately, you’re probably right about that.”

“If it makes you feel any better, it could be worse.” Haruto commented

Asuma eyed him sceptically and asked, "How so?”

"Well,” Haruto said, looking at the girls, “at least they’re being quiet about it.” He then looked between Sasuke and Naruto, “unlike certain others can be.”

Kakashi side-eyed him briefly, "Try not to jinx it.”

Asuma laughed. “Ah well, as fun as this has been, it’s about time we got back to training,” he stated, standing up from his seat.

Kakashi glanced up at the man, closing his book and standing as well. “Then we’ll head out too.”

———

Sasuke doesn’t know how he let himself get talked into having lunch with these people, but he couldn’t be happier to finally be leaving it.

That being said, he would have enjoyed it even more had Haruto not decided that he needed to walk him home. Which caused a chain reaction, and now he was dealing with overly friendly chatter from Sakura and equally irritating chatter from Naruto.

Haruto had been smiling and talking non-stop, and the usual silence he’d grown used to from Kakashi had been replaced by occasional sarcastic comments as the two conversed behind him.

Sasuke was finding himself becoming more and more grateful for Haku, as the boy had continued to maintain his usual quiet demeanour as he walked beside them.

When they finally reached the entrance to the Uchiha district, Sasuke was near-desperate to escape the constant noise.
Quickly bidding the group goodbye and rushing back to his house.

It wasn’t until Sasuke had reached his destination that he realised, This had been the first time anyone had walked with him in years..

Sasuke.. Sasuke didn’t know how to explain the feeling he felt at the realisation.

It wasn’t a bad feeling.. not at all.

Sasuke paused in his doorway for a moment before inevitably deciding that it didn’t matter.

Whatever this feeling was wasn’t important in the slightest; he would just have to forget all about it.

After all, he has more important things to focus on.

Shaking his head, he walked into his house and closed the door behind him.

Notes:

Sooooo, I completely overestimated my ability to write consistently. Really sorry that I just dropped off grid like that, I wish I could say that it won’t happen again but knowing me it probably will

Hope you can forgive me

Chapter 17: Lessons from a “not a” teacher

Haruto would like to note that all of this is most definitely overkill.

Look, he understands the need for paranoia and all, but there has to be a line somewhere, and this definitely crosses it.

Barely even a second after he stepped outside of his apartment, Kakashi had practically grabbed him by the neck and dragged him to the training ground.

The man cheerily announced that he had a meeting to get to that day, and then he ‘asked’ Haruto if he would watch Team 7 for him.

And by asked, Haruto means he had rushed through the words before smiling, thanked him, and then Shunshined away before he could say another word.

And being practically kidnapped wasn’t even the start of it.

Not only did they drop him in the middle of the farthest training ground from the village, under the guise of it being the only one available, but they also doubled—no, wait, this is probably triple—the amount of Anbu watching him.

And that’s not even mentioning the number of Root agents that have also joined the party.

(Seriously, for guys that are all about stealth and not being found, they stick out like entirely too much among regular people.)

Maybe, given the context of how strong he really can be, something like this would probably be reasonable; hell, it’d probably be considered insufficient. He could totally escape from this many people without issue; hell, if he tried, they probably wouldn't even realise he'd left.

But! All of that is irrelevant! Because they don’t know how strong he is! If they did, there’s no way he’d have been allowed into the village to start with.

So considering that fact, this is most definitely something he'd consider overkill.

Not that it really matters; their lack of awareness is a good thing in his current position. So he's just going to ignore the incredibly dramatic babysitting detail he has and just focus on being as unassuming and unthreatening as humanly possible—or at least as much as he can maintain.

Which would be a lot easier if the kids stopped annoying him so much.

He probably sounds like a broken record at this point, but man, does he feel bad for their teachers. Or maybe that's just him being more sympathetic now that he's had experience teaching his own tiny students.

Seriously though, you'd think that after looking after, and even occasionally teaching, so many kids—and the fact that he had been one of them—you'd think he’d be used to it by now.

But no, he isn’t.

Instead, he’s about three seconds away from doing something that is, admittedly, pretty rash.

Wait, No. No, be strong, Haruto! There’s no need to do anything, so long as they just stop-

“What’s the point of us even being here if we’re not even going to do anything?”

Never mind, absolutely he’s doing it.

You know, he could almost feel bad about this.

Then again, watching as all four of them splutter before frantically swimming for the river bank is funny enough that any guilt is short-lived.

And even though he should probably have been more worried about it, feeling the Anbu freak out enough to almost blow their covers was also pretty hilarious.

… that being said, he’s fairly sure at least three of them almost set him on fire there, so he probably won’t be doing it again any time soon.

Though if the kids start getting on his nerves again, he could probably put up with a bit of fire if it meant a moment of peace and quiet.

He grinned slightly as he watched Haku belatedly pull himself up onto the river's surface, the grin only growing as the boy shot him an annoyed glance.

A resounding shout of “What was that for!” Was his cue to turn his attention back to his other tiny charges.

Haruto couldn’t help but laugh when he looked at the group. He gets that the glaring is supposed to be ‘intimidating’ but, really, all they managed was looking like a bunch of soaked and disgruntled kittens. It's sort of adorable, if he’s being honest.

“Hey! Why’d ya throw us like that for!” Naruto yelled angrily.

Haruto eyed them all passively, his head tilted slightly to the side. “Well, you guys wanted something to do, right? So I figured I'd give you something to work on.”

He watched Sakura's angry glare shift into a sceptical look. “How does throwing us into a river play into this?”

Haruto straightened up his head before replying, “Do you three notice a difference between how you got out of the river and how Haku did?”

He watched as the kids slowly looked between themselves and then looked over to Haku, who had yet to fully walk off of the river.

Haruto watched as each of the kids pieced together what he was planning.

Haku was the one who caught on first, judging by the understanding that flashed across his face.

Next was Sakura, who looked up at him with a face practically filled with excitement. The sight brought a smile to his face yet again, but a much softer one than usual.

He missed seeing this side of her, the one that jumped at every opportunity to learn something new. It wasn’t a common sight when they were kids—or maybe it was; maybe he just wasn’t paying attention to these little details.

Little things were never really his thing, anything outside of the big picture just wasn’t important. He’s gotten better about that habit, though. Maybe it’s because he grew up, or maybe the time spent working on all the detailed seals has affected how he views things.

Either way, he’s just happy he’s able to see how excited she is again. It’s been far too long since he last saw her face light up like this.

Sasuke had a much more, well, Sasuke reaction to the realisation. By which he means there was barely any reaction at all.

If it weren’t for the fact that Sasuke went from outright glaring to a more subdued, mini-glaring instead, Haruto might not have noticed any difference.

And the whole emotion sensing helped, just a little bit, too.

And lucky last was Naruto, who watched Haruto with a confused puppy look, eyebrows scrunched up with a frown, and asked, “You’re going to teach us how to walk on water?”

At Haruto’s nod, Naruto broke into a happier expression, smiling widely and exclaiming “cool!”

Haruto returned his smile enthusiastically.

———

Sasuke’s starting to remember how much he hates chakra control exercises.

He thought that already knowing tree walking would mean that learning this would be practically nothing to him.

He was wrong.

It's like he’s trying to learn a completely different technique, but also not?

It makes no sense.

“Having trouble?”

Sasuke’s eyes snapped up at the man.

Haruto had initially taken to casually standing on the sidelines with Haku, who already knew the technique, and talking. But now the man had apparently decided to start leaning over his shoulder, an annoying grin spread across his face.

A cursory glance around revealed that Haku had gone over to help Naruto, who seemed to be struggling just like he was, leaving Sakura on her own.

Though, if the barely audible sounds of triumph are anything to go by, she wouldn't have actually needed the help to begin with.

He brought his attention back to the man standing beside him, who had taken to tilting his head to the side with an air of fox-like mockery.

Annoyed, Sasuke grit his teeth and answered, “What does it look like?”

To his utter chagrin, this show of irritation only seemed to amuse the man further.

Haruto smiled. “There’s no need to be so upset, y’know; I’m only making conversation.”

Sasuke glared at the man, but Haruto just laughed again.

Haruto went quiet for a moment, and Sasuke almost sighed in relief at the silence, but before he could become too relived, the man spoke again, “I can help, if you want?”

Sasuke suppressed the urge to groan in annoyance at the continuous interruptions, “I don’t need your help.”

Sasuke tried to refocus on the exercise instead of the irritating man next to him. Breathing deeply, he imagined his chakra moving down towards his feet. He imagines the chakra, focusing it on the balls of his feet in order to stick to the water surface, and then-

He barely has time to react before the unstable surface beneath his feet gives way entirely. Just as he’s prepared to swim to the river bank once again, he feels himself being grabbed by the back of his shirt.

Sasuke looks to the long-haired man besides him and immediately has the urge to scowl again at the sight of the giant, knowing grin spread across the man’s face.

“Are you still so sure you don’t need my help?”

This time, Sasuke couldn’t suppress the urge to kick the man—perhaps not the best decision when Haruto is the one actively keeping him from dropping into the river. Sasuke might have regretted the action more had the man reacted more strongly than just a slight chuckle.

Realising that he wasn’t getting anywhere with his struggling, he relented, levelling a glare at the man as he asked, “How could you possibly help anyway? You’re not a teacher or anything.”

Haruto gave a mock scoff at his question, but the slightly mocking glint in his eyes was proof that the man hadn’t taken any offence whatsoever.

“I’ll have you know I am an excellent teacher.”

Sasuke eyed the man judgmentally. “You expect me to believe that?”

Haruto laughed happily despite his scepticism, “It’s the truth!”

He just stared blankly at the man, hoping his lack of belief was perfectly clear to him.

Naruto shook his head in defeat. “Fine, fine, you don’t have to believe it for me to teach you.”

Sasuke groaned in defeat, and Haruto grinned happily at his victory.

“Alright, so let’s start with you telling me what it is you are currently doing. Does that sound alright with you?”

“I guess.” Sasuke sighed, “So, I’ve been taking my chakra and focusing it on the balls of my feet, exactly like we do when tree walking. But whenever I do that, the water shifts again, and I can’t seem to find a stable enough surface to stand on.”

“And you won’t; water, by nature, is never going to be a stable surface. It’s constantly moving and shifting, which means that when you focus your energy on a single point, you’re going to end up moving with it.” Haruto smiled softly throughout his explanation: “So instead of focusing on a single point, instead try creating a platform over the top of the water and imagine that platform pulling you to the surface of the water.”

Sasuke still eyed the man sceptically, but he still tried to follow his instructions when he was finally lowered back down to the river.

Focusing on his chakra once again, he imagined it moving down towards his feet once again, but instead of having it create a singular point, he spread his chakra out into a circular platform.

He felt himself wobble at first, but then he managed to get his balance enough to stand upright, but before he could celebrate properly, the river shifted dramatically and his chakra gave out beneath him.

Like before, Sasuke barely managed to fall for even a moment before he was caught by Haruto and brought up to the man’s eye level.

“Well, pretty good advice from someone who’s ‘not a teacher’, isn’t it?” Haruto asked, grinning cheerfully.

Sasuke looked to the side. “I guess it wasn’t the worst advice,” he muttered reluctantly.

Haruto just smiled in the face of his annoyance, and, for once, Sasuke didn't immediately want to punch him for it.

Chapter 18: Dodge-balloon (river edition)

Notes:

Chapters pretty short, sorry in advance :/

Naruto laughed excitedly as he dodged yet another water balloon, waving his arms around wildly in an attempt to regain balance after the shift in weight.

He heard a small shriek from behind him as Sakura ducked out of the way of another stray; the sound quickly followed by the sound of Sasuke’s grumbling being cut off as he too was forced to move out of the way. Naruto held back his snickers at seeing his face twist into a moment of panic as one of his feet sank below the river's surface.

Haruto was right when he said this would be both a fun and effective way to practice water walking; this was totally awesome!

Naruto grinned over at Haku, who was standing next to Haruto on the shoreline. The boy gave him a small smile in return, arm raised in preparation to throw another water balloon at them.

Naruto grinned again as he heard Sakuras laugh behind him as she managed to avoid the balloon just in time, but almost crashing into Sasuke in the process. Her hurried apologies were cut off by yet another balloon.

(Despite how accurate and non-stop the water balloons seem to be, Naruto is completely convinced that Haku is taking it easy on them still.)

Haruto was half crouching next to Haku, though unlike Haku, he wasn’t throwing any water balloons. Instead, Haruto would occasionally call out small encouragements or bits of advice from his spot, only sometimes leaving it to stop one of them from falling into the river again.

He doesn’t know why the man even bothers if he’s being honest; they’re all already soaked from both failed attempts and when he threw them in earlier, but oh well.

Even with all of his weird quirks, Haruto has got to be one of the coolest people Naruto has ever met.. although that’s not saying much considering he hasn’t exactly met many people—but who cares about that, 'cause right now Haruto is in the top 5 coolest people ever!

And he’s not just saying that cause the guy is teaching them all these cool little tricks and letting them play awesome games... Those are only mostly the reasons; there are definitely others!

And sure, maybe the skills are just the basics, like Sasuke had started complaining about earlier, but ‘the basics’ are what he struggles most with, and Haruto explains them in a way that just makes sense to him.

He breaks them down in ways that he understands, and! He doesn’t even do it in a rude way like some other people tend to! He just- does it. No sighing or rolling his eyes, no whispered comments; he just explains it all patiently and happy-like.

As if it’s nothing, as if people haven’t been looking at him like he’s a total idiot for not being able to understand... like he’s just another kid to teach.

Naruto doesn’t remember anyone really treating him like that before. There’s always been this- this, separateness—an invisible line separating him and everyone else. He sees it in all the adults around him—how they’ll hesitate when grouping him with the other kids, how their eyes will pause on his raised hand like it's the most annoying thing in the world (it's why he stopped raising it in the first place).

He doesn’t remember a time when they didn’t do it. Doesn't remember a time when they didn't get that stupid-stupid look in their eyes just from looking at him.

It doesn’t help that their explanations never seemed to work for him; that all their "tricks" and simplified answers flying over his head just made it look like they were right. That he really was just the lazy, stupid kid that wasn't worth the effort of teaching—who didn’t even deserve to be with all the others in class in the first place.

It’s the first bit he’s found that always hurts the most. He knows, no matter how much he might try to deny it, that he isn’t the smartest of people, especially not when compared to people like Sakura and Sasuke.

But there’s one thing he’s always prided himself on being able to do, and that was to be able to try and try and try again until he eventually got it right in the end.

So to have that, to have all his effort just completely ignored like that—it hurts; it hurts so much more than he’d like to admit.

The issue was never a lack of effort; all of the advice he was given just never seemed to work for him! So to have Haruto show up and explain everything not only in a way he understood, but without any of the usual hesitation too...

Well, Naruto didn’t realise how much that could possibly mean to him.

Naruto’s thoughts were cut off as he felt a water balloon crash fully in his face, sending him sprawling backwards. The only thing stopping him from falling through the river was the sudden feeling of hands grabbing him by the collar.

He looked up at the man holding him off the water's surface and was greeted by the man’s typical smiling expression.

“You feeling okay there, Naruto? You were looking a little spaced out there, kid,” he says, his smile becoming just that little bit—almost unnoticeably—softer.

Seriously, Naruto's always been able to understand people's faces better than most, but people like Kakashi, and now Haruto too, always seem to stump him.

Naruto fought the urge to physically shake off his previous thoughts before answering, or else he might end up saying something completely stupid.

“I’m fine! Haku’s just a really good shot, s'all,” he argued.

Haruto tilted his head in that same fox-like manner he now realises must have come from the man’s summons, a considering expression crossing his otherwise smiling face.

Haruto pauses for a moment before turning to Haku. “They’ve been at this for quite a bit now, Haku. What do you say we all settle down for some lunch?”

Immediately, protests sounded from him and his other teammates, but Haruto just shushed them all soundlessly.

Not one to ever be deterred, however, Naruto persisted. “But Haruto! We’re fine, really! We can totally keep going for a whole lot longer!”

And—in a rare show of team unity—both Sakura and Sasuke shouted their support.

Haruto leant back in a way that reminded him eerily of Kakashi, squinting his eyes in a judging manner. Whatever it was he found while looking at them must have been funny, however, because the man just huffed out a laugh and shook his head.

“Yeah right!” Haruto laughed, “You lot are basically falling over yourselves! You’ll feel a lot better if you just took a quick lunch break, I promise you.”

“But-!”

“No buts! We are all going to have a nice lunch, and that’s final!”

 

Notes:

Sorry for dropping off for so long, a friend made me start a new series, and like most things it grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go until I had consumed as much content as possible. Hope you all can forgive me :)

Chapter 19: Sasuke’s great heist

Sasuke, despite all his outward protests, was indeed grateful for the chance to rest, even if said rest came with having to listen to Naruto and Sakura loudly arguing over who got the last piece of food.
A glance at the bickering duo showed that neither had any intention of backing down, and one towards the supposed adult amongst them showed he had no interest whatsoever in stopping them either.

Perhaps Sasuke should have known they would end up like this the moment Haruto told them to share the food he offered. They had brought their own lunches, of course, but the hunger built up during their training had meant that the small meals weren’t nearly enough for them. Thus prompting Haruto to pull out a large container of food from seemingly nowhere and offer it to them.

It went well for the most part, he and the other two eating the offered food easily. Haku and Haruto had brought their own food as well, and, in combination with their built-up stamina and tolerance combined with their far less strenuous activities, neither needed any extra food. Meaning it was just the three of them eating it, which was all fine... right up until it wasn’t.

Honestly, he’s known them long enough that this isn’t even a surprise anymore, which is exactly why he should have expected it. Not that expecting it could have stopped them from fighting; it would take the Hokage himself showing up to stop those two, and that would only work on Sakura anyway.

Meaning Sasuke has to resign himself to the earsplitting shrieks of outrage until inevitably one of them grows impatient enough to just snatch the food entirely. Truly, if he’s being honest, the food's not even that good; there’s no reason for either of them to be so worked up about this. But that doesn’t seem to matter as the two still look about three seconds from attacking each other.

“Naruto, you’ve had twice as much as I have! It’s only fair that I get the last one!”

“I did not!”

“Did so!”

He’s grateful for the chance to rest, and he’s eaten more than enough to be content, truly. He can deal with a little yelling and fighting; it’s not nearly as bad as some of the past fights the two have had.
Really, he can put up with it just fine. Besides, he’s above participating in such childish actions or caving to those stupid impulses. Such idiocy is beneath him as the mature shinobi that he is.

Really.

…

Another shriek, and Sasuke’s limited patience finally gave way.

Moving before either of the bickering idiots could react, Sasuke’s hand shot out to grab the last of the food Haruto had given them. Jumping up to stand just out of reach, he made quick work of eating his stolen morsel.

The two, now silent, idiots stared up at him in blank shock, looking to all the world like they had no idea what had just happened. One moment passed, then another, before the two seemed to realise what he had done. Predictably, the two jumped up in twin offence, squawking like birds as they did so.

Sasuke only barely having the foresight to start running before either of them could cross the small gap between him and them. Rushing right into the cover of trees, quickly followed by the indignant shouting and hurried footsteps.

He has the brief thought that he had just traded one hell for another before quickly thinking again. Anything is better than having them yelling in his ear. Even this.
Technically speaking, they might even have been doing something like this anyway; no doubt even Haruto had to have grown bored of watching them stumble around on the river's surface by now. So really, he’s judging getting a head start on further training.

Getting annoyed and starting a game of tag because of it is something immature little kids do, which he’s not; there’s nothing childish about training, however, which is exactly what he’s doing.

He’s still a perfectly mature shinobi after all.

 

————

 

There was absolutely nothing mature about what Sasuke just did, and Haruto is loving it. He’s so proud of that little nightmare, all grown up and finally acting like a dumb kid. A bit redundant, he realises, but he’s just so happy to see this version of his old friend being able to exist outside of his anger and vengeance. Sasuke might have gotten over it eventually, but the damage he did to himself during it left its mark, one that Naruto isn’t sure would have ever faded.

So yeah, he thinks he’s allowed to be a little contradictory right now, at least until the happiness drops back to normal levels.

He’s pulled from his thoughts by the long-haired boy still sitting next to him.

“You seem happy.”

He moved to shoot a curious look at his current unofficial ward, unintentionally tilting his head to the side, a habit he picked up when Kurama was still with him and which has only been encouraged by his current summons.

Huffing (or maybe he just sighed?) in slight amusement, Haku shook his head softly,
“Zabuza was right; you really are a complete softie.”

Haruto laughed, throwing his hand to his chest in mock offence, “Haku, I can’t believe you’d say that to me! I’m a brick wall of emotion; there’s nothing soft about me!”

That got a laugh out of the boy, though still only a small one. One of these days he’s gonna get a full-body laugh out of Haku, but until then he’s content with these small bursts.

Haruto really does love this kid. When he had first run into Haku and Zabuza after coming back to this time, he had, admittedly, not been all that interested in sticking around them long term. He figured he’d show up to the wave mission, keep both Zabuza and Haku alive, and then disappear again.

Of course that was thrown out the moment he ran into them two years ago.

It had been after a mission that had gone badly; Zabuza had been taken by surprise, and Haku had just barely managed to get them both out alive. When he found them, Zabuza had already passed out due to blood loss, and Haku had been panicking, going through every medical procedure he could think of.

He had known that they would have been fine; this is something that happened before he showed up, and so it would have happened in the previous timeline as well. Meaning Haku and Zabuza would have been fine; he didn’t need to step in. He probably could have ignored them, but Zabuza had been seriously hurt, and Haku looked terrified, and he just couldn’t bring himself to leave.

Even after talking down a frantic Haku, helping Zabuza, and taking care of his own injuries from the encounter, Haruto still couldn’t bring himself to leave them. Haku was still scared out of his wits, and Zabuza hadn’t yet woken up at all, so he stayed.

It all devolved after that; any plans he had to keep his distance from the two had been completely abandoned, and, if he’s being really and truly honest, he’s so happy they did.

He liked Haku before this; the boy was one of the key players who shaped his view of the world when he was young. His appreciation and care for him have only grown since then, until it became the soft, smooshy feeling he now carries with him.

He can’t help but be happy when he sees his friends enjoying their lives, and that goes especially for people like Sasuke and Haku. Both of them have had such difficult lives up until now, so to see them grow past those traumas and have fun again? If it's a situation like that, then yeah, yeah, he's probably going to become a little emotional over it.

So there’s no real defence for him in terms of ‘not being a softie.’ He knows that, but damn him if he’s not gonna take advantage of anything that makes Haku laugh.

“I can’t believe you’d say such lies about me, Haku; I never took you for that kind of person!”

A slightly louder bout of laughter was his reward for that one; he didn’t think he was being particularly funny or anything, but Haku seems to find it funny all the same; he’ll just have to thank Haku’s strange sense of humour for that.

He hopes this time he’ll be able to protect this peace that he loves so much, if not for his own selfish reason of wanting his friends around, then for the continued happiness of those friends.

———

Sakura dusted off the dirt that had begun to cling to her clothes.

After so many failed attempts to tackle her food-stealing teammate, it was only a matter of time before she seemed to have more dirt covering her than the ground. That amount, however, was nowhere near as bad as how much dirt, twigs, and leaves now clung to practically every inch of Naruto.

The blonde could probably pass for a funny-looking bush if he stayed still long enough, and Sasuke, while not quite as leafy as Naruto, isn’t faring much better. Out of the three of them, Sakura is definitely faring the best against their apparent shared foes: trees and gravity.

Sakura will have to make fun of them both later, but right now she needs to tackle the traitorous food thief at least once in order to be satisfied. Sasuke may be the love of her life, but that means nothing right now. That food was hers. She had spent so long fighting Naruto for it, only to be betrayed out of nowhere by the one she loved. Despicable.

“Sasuke! Just stand still so I can tackle you already!” She yelled.

The addressed boy just gave a prideful smirk (or as close as a dirt-covered kid could get to looking prideful whilst still leaning on a tree to catch his breath) before springing upright from his slouch and dodging away from a running Naruto.

This entire thing reminds her of that day they spent playing tag; the only thing missing is-

A vaguely human-shaped blur rushes past her and towards Sasuke, the target of the blur only barely dodging as Haku comes to a stop where he had just been standing. Huh, what do you know? She was just thinking about him.

A grin, wider than the one she hadn’t even realised she’d been wearing already, spread across her face. Looks like it’s the three of them against Sasuke again. Awesome.

She really loves playing tag.

Judging by the horrified look on Sasuke’s face, however, he doesn’t agree with her on that. Oh well.

————

 

So, perhaps stealing the food wasn’t as thought out as Sasuke thought it was, but how was he supposed to know it’d end up like this?

Haku wasn’t even eating it with them; he has no reason to be chasing him right now! And yet, here he is, helping Naruto and Sakura chase him through the forest. This has to be because Haku likes Naruto better; the older boy is biassed, and it’s showing.

It’s so not fair that- Sasuke cursed under his breath as he dodged yet another crazed tackle from a certain blonde. Okay, no time for thinking; gotta focus on not getting caught; just don’t get caught—especially not by Naruto. If Naruto gets him, then Sasuke will never live it down.

———

Haruto’s attention snapped to the new presence entering the clearing, but he didn’t move from his place against the tree, still facing the direction Haku had run off in.

Seems Kakashi is finally back from his little meeting, and just when the chase was finally getting good too.

Haruto waited for the man to get closer before finally turning around to face him properly.

“Scarecrow! Meeting went well, I hope,” he called.

Kakashi didn’t answer at first; instead, he made a show of looking around at the empty clearing, raising his visible eyebrow in a questioning gesture.

Jokingly, Haruto rolled his eyes, faking annoyance. “What’s with the silent treatment? The kids are all fine; they’re just out playing tag. Little Sasuke played a trick on Sakura and Naruto, and they got a bit upset over it.”

If Haruto weren’t such a good sensor, the genuine bafflement from Kakashi at his words would’ve been completely missed. As it was, the man did a very good job of pretending that his next words were entirely mocking.

“Ohh? Sasuke did, you say? To think the grouchy kiddie had it in him,”

Haruto cackled, “Right! I don’t think even he knew he could pull something like that off!”

“How nice to see the kiddies grow up so nicely; it makes my heart weep with pride,” Kakashi mocked, wiping away an invisible tear.

Haruto could only shake his head in response to the man’s tone; before Haruto could say anything, Kakashi’s tone shifted.

“Ah, Haruto, just so you're aware, the village will be hosting an event soon.”

Haruto tilted his head slightly, silently telling the man to continue.

“You’re familiar with how the Chunin Exams function, yes?”

Haruto scoffed halfheartedly, “Is that what that whole meeting was about? Geez, with how rushed you were when you ditched me here to babysit, I figured it was more interesting than that."

Kakashi huffed out a laugh, “The Chunin Exams are some of the most important trials in a young shinobi’s life. What could possibly be more interesting?”

Haruto debated flopping to the floor in a display of dejection but ultimately decided to at least pretend to be mature for once. “Of course, the exams are important, but your team hasn’t even been active genin for a year yet; surely your presence wasn’t needed so desperately.”

“Hmm, I’m not too sure about that; I’d say it was just as important as the other instructors.”

Haruto suppressed a knowing smile, instead opting for a look of mild surprise. “You don’t mean you signed them up for the exams, do you?”

Kakashi just silently watched as the brunette gave in to the urge to flop bonelessly to the ground.

“You gotta be kidding me; those kids barely know the basics of being a Shinobi, and you’re just tossing them into the deep end?”

“With supervision”

Haruto paused his mini rant, slowly raising his head from the ground to look up at the man, “So that’s what it is. You’re going to shove them into the deep end now when you can help them, rather than letting them jump in on their own when nobody’s looking."

“Exactly, they’re all so eager to get out into the big wide world that I do believe they’ve forgotten that it is littered with people ten times larger than they are.”

Haruto silently drops his head back onto the ground, letting out a sigh as he did so, “If only the entire world could be monitored the same way as the exams, right?”

Kakashi shrugged softly, moving to sit against the tree like Haruto had been doing previously. “Unfortunately, the world is not so kind to the young and inexperienced.”

Haruto closed his eyes, what was sure to be a bitter smile taking over his face. “Yeah, it really is unfortunate.”

Neither Haruto nor Kakashi spoke again until the kids eventually came running back into the clearing, covered head to toe in dirt, leaves, and debris of all kinds.

The sight of them all, alive, happy, and safe, was enough for Haruto to wipe the bitter expression off of his face. Instead he pulled himself back up to a sitting position, grinning happily as Haruto came walking back over to his side.

———

Haku watched as Haruto silently moved around the small room. After Kakashi got back from his meeting, they had headed practically straight back to their apartment. Haruto didn’t act strangely at all until he just suddenly started pacing out of nowhere.

Haku stood up a little straighter as Haruto’s attention turned towards him for the first time in almost an hour. Sighing, the man asked, “Haku, do you feel comfortable staying here in Konoha?”

Confused, Haku replied, “I suppose it is fun to train with Team 7, and it’s nice to spend time with them even outside of training. The people here are also quite nice." Saying this, he paused for a moment before adding, “when they want to be, that is.”

While it’s true that the people here have been friendly, or at the very least polite, towards him, Haku has noticed that they can be quite… rude towards Naruto. Though rude might be a bit of an understatement for some. Some of the looks they give him, their eyes remind Haku of all the people who tried to kill him before Zabuza found him.

At first, Haku had been half fooled that perhaps it was due to Naruto’s pranks, but no amount of mischief could explain the amount of rage in their eyes.

Haruto watched him for a moment more, a slightly tense expression on his face, before letting out another sigh. It’s strange to see Haruto so uncertain; in all the time Haku has known him, he’s never seen such an unsure look on the man’s face before.

“Haku, be honest with me; would you be okay being here on your own for a while? There are some urgent things I need to do. I’m ashamed to say I lost track of time and didn’t realise how behind I was.” The man finally said, a sheepish expression on his face.

Haku made sure to not react too much to the question. In truth, he was a bit worried about being in this place on his own; he’s comfortable with Team 7 and their sensei, but others still make him nervous. He can’t say that, though; Haruto has never been this nervous before, at least not openly. Haku cannot allow his own weakness to hinder whatever Haruto needs to do.

Haku took a breath to respond but was cut off before he could, “Don’t lie, okay? I do have other options that don’t include just leaving, so if you say you want me to stay, I will,” Haruto said, a joking grin on his face, but his tone betrayed his worry.

Haku shook his head slightly at the man’s worried tone, “If those options were reliable or easy to implement, then you never would have even mentioned this issue.” He said plainly, Haruto’s embarrassed look being his only answer, “I am worried about being on my own, but if you believe it’s alright to leave me here—and I know you wouldn’t have asked otherwise—then I will be fine.”

Haku felt just that little bit self-conscious of his words. He didn’t mean to sound so upfront with his reply, but he can’t truly say he regrets his words either. Judging from Haruto’s reaction, he supposes what he said must have been at least somewhat the right thing to say.

Haruto was watching him again, though this look was different from the previous one. He was looking at him in that way that always left Haku feeling like his very soul had been taken out and examined to the tiniest detail. Like any lie he might have said would be found and exposed. But Haku didn’t lie, so he just stood there and looked back.

Haku was worried that maybe Haruto still wasn’t convinced to leave him by himself, but before he could argue further, the look was gone and a soft smile had taken its place.

Haruto slowly, in a way so unlike his usual way of moving, pulled Haku into a comforting hug.

Haku didn’t return the hug; instead, he allowed himself to lean into the embrace, relaxing easily into the ever-present warmth Haruto radiates. Haku has never been much of a hugger; as much as he adores Zabuza, the man’s warmth was always a simple implication. A safety net that would always be there to catch him when he needed it, but which never reached out first.

It’s no criticism of the man’s character, of course; Zabuza himself has never quite been the type to express himself. A result of the man’s own upbringing. The very fact that Zabuza shows so many obvious signs of caring for Haku is a testament to just how much the man has changed for him.

Before he found Haku, Zabuza had been like a glacier, frozen solid and jagged in all places. Now the man resembled more of a frosted path, flanked by razor-sharp spikes of ice. Not for harming the one who walked along it, never that, but to ward off any predators that may stalk alongside it.

The protection and safety provided to Haku mean more than anything to him, and while in a different way, the frosted part is just as comforting as the warm fire that is Haruto.

From the moment Haku had met him, he had understood that Haruto was a flame. At first, Haku had mistaken him for a harsh but small forest fire, one that aimed to burn all that got too close. Of course, Haruto can be that, but more often than not he is a campfire. A comfort to all travellers on long journeys during a cold night. A warmth that seeks to surround and comfort all it can.

Despite not having known the man for long, Haku has come to view the man as a sign of safety.

Haruto pulled back, arms still loosely wrapped around his shoulders, that same soft expression on his face. One of the man’s hands came up to gently hold his face. “You are one of the most incredible people I have ever known, ya’ know? Everyday you make both me and Zabuza so incredibly proud of you that it’s not funny, ya’ know that, right?

Haku felt the tips of his ears heat up, and he had to duck his head down to avoid looking at the man’s sincere expression any longer. His efforts were proven to be in vain as the man just laughed softly, and he felt the heat spread to the rest of his face.

Haruto’s face came into view once more as the man knelt in front of him. “You won’t be all alone, okay? I plan to leave either one or a few foxes behind to keep you company, even if only when you’re inside the apartment.”

Haku just nodded at the man, still too embarrassed to respond after the unexpected praise.

Haruto pulled him into another hug before letting go of him again. “I’ll make the proper arrangements with the village and Kakashi tomorrow; for now, why don’t you and I get some sleep, yeah? I promise no matter what, I won’t be gone for long.”

Haku nodded, both unable to and unwilling to protest as the man softly ushered him into his room, a hand softly ruffling his hair in a gentle goodbye.

———

Haruto felt awful about leaving Haku here on his own, but considering how it was Kakashi babysitting him and that it would soon be the Chunin exams, he felt it was safe to leave Haku here while he handled the more recent problems.

He wasn’t totally lying when he told Haku that he had lost track of time. He had been so preoccupied trying to find and help all his old friends that he hadn’t had a chance to properly track down his enemies as well.

He’s had run-ins, of course, mostly with Orochimaru and Kabuto, as well as a few members of the Akatsuki here and there.

His main priority had been to keep his friends safe, and so far he’d say he’s been rather successful at that. The problem now is whether or not Orochimaru will still be targeting the Chunin exams.

With the changes he’s already made, it would be impossible for the exams to go as they did in his timeline. But that doesn’t mean things won’t still go bad, and he’d like to prevent as much damage as possible.

He’d also like to take this opportunity to find a few more people that he hadn’t been able to yet. Mainly, he’s hoping to find Karin among the participants of the exams.

He’d tried to find her before the exams took place, but unfortunately, Karin is exceptionally good at hiding when she wants to be. She had never been the most upfront about her past either; he’d asked once, during one of those quieter moments during the war. She hadn’t said much, just a few things here and there about how she was treated before Orochimaru found her.

Most of what she’d talk about was the things that happened during her time with the snake sannin. As nice as it was to know Karin felt comfortable enough to talk to him, it wasn’t until he’d started looking for her that he’d realised just how little he knew. He understands it, though, as much as Karin grew to like them all, she was still someone who kept her secrets to herself.

What he does know, however, is that Karin met Sasuke during the exams. So, hopefully she’ll be a participant in this timeline's exams as well.

As much as it pains him to say it, Karin isn’t the priority of the exams. If he does his job right, then she’ll be safe enough until he can get her after the exam is finished. The only issue that should include her is the issue of how to convince her to go with him. That’s definitely going to be a headache to deal with.

Until then, however, he has a snake to track down.

 

Chapter 20: New (fur-covered) friends!

Naruto sulked as he sat, legs swinging over the edge of the bridge. He let out a groan as he flopped down onto the wooden planks.

“It’s not fairrr, why’s Haruto gotta leave already? he barely just got here!” He complained.

“He’s been here for months Naruto! And you heard what he said, he’ll be back before we know it! So quit your whining already would you!” Sakura yelled.

Naruto pouted up at the girl, “I’m not whining! I’m allowed to complain okay! There’s nothing wrong with complaining!”

“You are too whining! Only an idiot would think what you’re doing counts as complaining” she argued.

“I’m not an idiot, you’re just mean Sakura!”

“I’m not mean, you’re just-!”

Sakura’s next retort was cut off as Kakashi landed on the railing next to her, book pressed against the bottom half of his face as he stared down at them both. Simultaneously, like clockwork, three shrieking voices yell,

“Late!!!!”

Haku, who had been sitting against the railing next to Naruto, just chuckled softly at his friends antics.

It took Naruto a moment to realise the problem, three voices. Not two, three.

Naruto whipped his head around to stare wide-eyed at the boy behind him, out of the corner of his eye he watched Sakura do the same.

The ever-mocking voice of his sensei sounded from behind him,
“Ah, to think all three of my precious students are rebelling against me now, I had thought at least you wouldn’t betray me like this dear Sasuke”

Naruto watched as a hint of pink burst across Sasuke’s face, his face scrunching up even more than usual.

The teasing from their sensei continued,
“Surely you must understand that it’s not my fault i’m late,” the man took a small breath, and Naruto could feel the excuse already coming, “you see, I was on my way here when this old lady’s flower cart fell over and-“

Before the man could continue his explanation, a head of pink hair spun around to call him a liar.

At that, their sensei was again met with three pairs of glaring eyes.

The silver-haired man simply smiled, his one hand coming up in a way that could have been apologetic; had he not also stuffed his face back into the book resting in his other hand.

“Maa, fine, fine, if that’s how you three are going to be today,” and at this point he paused, and the three stood in slowly mounting horror as he said, “then how about we work through our differences with a game of tag, you three, against Me and little Haku here”

————

Sakura groaned, body collapsing in on itself as she dropped against the base of the tree. She watched as Naruto barely managed to get under the shade of the tree before dropping face first to the ground. Sasuke pretended to be all put together, but she had been around him long enough to notice the pink flush on his face and shaking arms as he sat cross legged nearby her.

Annoyingly, both Kakashi and Haku seemed completely fine, despite how they would have needed to run around just as much to make up for having one less member on their side.

Haku, at-least, had the decency to show mercy upon her and the other two by offering a bit of his lunch as a peace offering. It also didn’t escape her notice that the boy seemed to be purposeful cooling down the air around them as an attempt to help them further.

Kakashi-Sensei on the other hand, just smugly sat on one of the higher branches of the tree, face and body relaxed as he ignored their plight in favour of his stupid book.

Sakura’s mood only lightened at the sight of her lunch, and at the realisation that Kakashi-sensei had said they could go home early today. Apparently the village was preparing for some event and their sensei was asked to help sort through some things. Annoyingly, Kakashi had ignored their questions about what the event was, saying stuff about how they’d ‘find out soon enough’ or whatever.

Sakura tuned into the chatter around her, though it was mostly just Naruto talking at Haku.

“Say, Haku, since Haruto’s away doesn’t that mean your staying alone?”

The long haired boy shook his head softly, “not really, Haruto arranged for two of his foxes to keep me company for the time he’s gone,” which made sense, what didn’t make sense was what he said next, “they’re also the ones that made my lunch for me.”

Sakura watched Naruto nod his head, like the idiot he was, completely accepting that ridiculous statement at face value, but she wasn’t convinced.
“How could foxes make your lunch? They don’t have hands,”

Haku tilted his head, similar to how Haruto would have, but lacking that fox-like trait that made the movement seem inherently mischievous.
“I’m not actually sure how they did it, they’d already finished making it by the time I woke up this morning.”

Sasuke shot Haku a sceptical look,
“Then how do you know they made it? They’re foxes, they could have stolen it or something,”

Haku laughed a bit at that, “no, I doubt it, these foxes have made food for me before, and they always put a piece of fruit cut into a paw in it,”

Naruto seemed bright eyed at the confirmation that, yes, there were in fact fox-chefs looking after Haku. Sasuke seemed to still be heavily suspicious of the idea, but if she really considered it then she didn’t think it was that unbelievable. Despite her initial concerns, there really is no proof that foxes can’t cook, for all she knows they have some sort of special ability or something.
There were people in the world who could summon giant fireballs and tsunamis, so it could certainly be a possibility.

Sasuke huffed, “I still don’t buy it”

Before Haku could say anything in response, Naruto practically jumped, his voice bubbly and excited as he spoke,
“How about we try to catch them cooking then!”

Sakura scrunched her nose at the suggestion, “How would we do that? Haku just said they make all the food before he wakes up, so either really early or in the middle of the night”

Naruto, as usual, wasn’t deterred at all by her statement, his bright grin still plastered across his dumb excited face.
“We can have one of those like things! where people hang out at someone’s house and sleep there!”

Sakura blinked at the explanation, “you mean like a sleepover?”

Naruto nodded rapidly in answer, “yeah! A sleepover!”

Sasuke crossed his arms, annoyance and something else playing across his face, “sleepovers are for little kids, we’re shinobi now, that’s way to old for that sort of stuff”

Naruto, ever unable to withstand Sasuke’s taunting, quickly snapped back at the other boy, “Is not!”

Sasuke scoffed, “is too.”

Now, usually, Sakura would never argue against her wonderful Sasuke. After all he’s absolutely perfect on all accounts and therefore she doesn’t usually need to, but right now he’s just so plain wrong she can’t stop herself.

“Naruto’s right Sasuke-kun, Sleepovers are definitely not just for little kids, me and some other girls from school still have them every once and a while.”

Sasuke looked a little taken aback by her rebuttal, but really he should know that even she can’t defend him being that dense.

Any further arguments were immediately silenced when Haku broke into the conversation with a timid,
“What’s a sleepover?”

Sakura felt her jaw drop, and with all the dignity and self-control she had she-
“You don’t know what a sleepover is?!?”
-yelled at the top of her lungs.

—————

Which is exactly what led to her and her teammates sitting on the floor of Haku’s living room, staring down two massive multi-tailed foxes.

Sakura could practically feel her eyes popping out of her head as she looked but she couldn’t stop herself self, they were just. too. cuuute!!!

She held in the impulsive squeak as she watched one of the foxes (who was wearing a tiny little hat!!) smile toothily at them. Three long fluffy tails swaying softly behind them as she(?) Introduced herself in the prettiest voice Sakura had ever heard.

“Well hello little ones, it’s a pleasure to meet you all, my name’s Shinju” her beautiful pale grey eyes crinkled into a smile, “the silent statue next to me is my little brother Yori”

Sakura glanced over at the equally adorable looking fox next to Shinju. Yori’s fur was a dark-almost storm like grey in colour and it seemed to get darker in sections, especially on his five long-soft-looking tails. The other fox didn’t reply verbally, but he gave them all a small nod of acknowledgment at his introduction.

She grinned as she watched the absolutely adorable fluffy foxes smile kindly at them, laughing even as Naruto chattered on a mile a minute at them.

This was gonna be the best sleepover ever!