Start Again M*therf**kers

“Naruto! Duck!”

Naruto blinked in rapid succession as if coming out of a dream, before swiftly dropping to his hunches, barely missing being skewered by a projectile. Immediately, he was on the move, dodging the multitude of spikes that followed after the initial attack as he quickly made his way toward his teammates. Sakura was heaving out panting breaths, doing her best not to stumble under the weight of her exhaustion while Sasuke was clutching onto his Sharingan eye, blood seeping through his pale shaky fingers. Naruto breathed out a heavy sigh which devolved into a series of throat-tearing coughs, dry and clawing its way out of his esophagus, sending spittle flying into the air. Without thinking, he crudely wiped the expanse of his mouth with the back of his hand while hoping to the Sage that he hadn’t just coughed up half his blood supply.

“Ashura…”

“Indra…”

The ominously melodious tone –calling for names long passed, forgotten, and remembered all the same –coupled with the foreboding dread crawling up their spines forced the three of them to look up. Instinctively, they searched for the bearer of the voice, their eyes darting around wildly as they took on a defensive stance, planting their feet and raising their hands, chakra burning like fire in their blood. A soft hum broke through the sudden quietude, capturing their attention with its mournful –grieving like a mother would their dead child –song before a figure dressed entirely in white descended from the sky like an angel they knew she was not.

Naruto gritted his teeth, standing firmly in the face of the otherworldly power –everything in him was screaming, shouting at him to run and hide and survive, “Kaguya-!”

None of them were in any sort of condition to fight a fucking goddess of all things.

None of them dared to do anything reckless like jumping into the fray without an inkling of a plan.

None of them ventured toward the scattered ashes and the unmoving body lying beside it –was he even breathing anymore?

Two were already lost from their arsenal of fighters.

Two of their precious people gone in the face of their desperate gambling because who wanted to fight another war after Madara –they had not thought to wait, they had only been thinking of it as another threat to eliminate because they were so fucking tired.

“Do you really think you can stand against me?”

The euphonious voice sounded throughout the barren land, heavenly and hellish in equal measure that it almost gave Naruto whiplash. Steely pupil-less eyes stared down on them from above, an imposing aura of power and royalty bearing against them as if they were mere peasants. No, they were peasants in the face of the Rabbit Goddess and her power. The stark white hair flowing gently around the lithe figure was adorned with two wood-like horns, depicting her station as a god of this world. Her pristine robes were a beacon in the sky –such a dichotomy to the stained wasteland below her.

Kaguya was everything an Earth-destroying Goddess should be and more.

Naruto shivered slightly at the reverberating voice. It was soft, almost caring in its crooning, as if the goddess was preparing to sing them a lullaby –a contradiction to her ruthless attacks and casual disregard for human life. It was comical how Kaguya’s actions differed so heavily from her tone like she was luring them into a false sense of security before striking hard and apathetically. For someone who claimed themselves as the Mother of Chakra, she wasn’t very motherly.

“If you think something like this is going to stop us then you’re sorely mistaken.” Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who spoke. He stood tall, unmoved by the carnage as he faced their greatest adversary yet with a coldness in his eyes –a coldness Naruto hadn’t seen since Itachi’s death.

Noticing movement from the corner of his eye, Naruto turned just in time to watch Sakura draw herself up to her full height, legs braced for battle and a ferocious look in her poisonous green eyes. He caught Sakura’s gaze, watching as she cycled through a series of emotions –painfearangerdetermination –before she sent a nod of acceptance toward him. Swallowing dryly at the unconditional trust his teammate had just put in him, Naruto turned to look at the hovering goddess once more, his eyes began to slit as bleeding red chakra cloaked his skin forming the golden armor he was now known for. Kurama grinned, full of malice and teeth, in the back of his mind. 

Naruto could virtually pick the moment that Kaguya had switched to something more bloodthirsty –something that paled in comparison to the monster before them. He had noticed it immediately, the thing that lurked beneath her porcelain skin. It rippled and curled and begged for violence, fed and engorged itself on the blood and fear and suffering of the people that Kaguya had so easily trampled.  He had seen the change, the way white eyes darkened as that thing took command and demanded their blood in penance for their disobedience, their gall, their utter disrespect.

‘It’s like looking in a mirror~’ The voice in the back of his mind –no, not Kurama, it was someone he thought he had overcome, someone who was not supposed to exist anymore –crooned lovingly.

‘Did you miss me~?’

“Come to your death, children.”

Gasping sharply, Naruto blinked awake.

His heart beat a rapid tune in his chest, matching the dreaded song that repeated in his head. The sound was so loud, it echoed in his ears. He breathed in deeply, holding the air in his lungs for a moment before exhaling slowly. The cycle continued until Naruto’s heartbeat returned to normal –until it didn’t pound heavily in his head and reverberate around the deathly quiet room. Unhurried as he was, Naruto turned his head to the side and came face-to-face with a still-sleeping Sasuke. The other’s pale face glowed brightly under the light of the moon, showcasing the distinct features of the formidable Uchiha Clan. Naruto took note of the differences, between the Sasuke from before and the Sasuke that was lying next to him and observed the blend and separation of the specter and the reality.

The sharper cheekbones and jaw-line were evident if only softened by youth and a healthy amount of baby fat. The lines that Naruto had so often traced, devoted and loving every inch of them, were merely a relic of the past, leaving behind the smoothness of rebirth. He so desperately wanted to retrace those lines once again. He wanted to re-establish what was lost. While their bodies had lost its scars, wiped of their pain and torture and grief, and born anew, their hearts remained the same. Naruto could feel it in the way his chest tightened as his heart beat too fast than it could handle –scars upon scars upon scars made the skin taunt and ribbed and tough yet still, it was so fragile. The marks left were beautifully broken blotches, one from every person they had lost and every failure they had endured.

Naruto shook away his thoughts before distracting himself by skimming Sasuke’s face once again. Azure eyes lit up with concern and amusement when he noticed the little furrow between thin eyebrows, scrunched up and disrupting the caricature of peace. It seemed to be a habit rather than something Sasuke developed out of fear and trauma which was comforting for Naruto –at least, there are some things that even Sasuke couldn’t outgrow. He smiled softly, reaching out steadily to smoothen out the little nudge before his fingers lightly drifted over a pale cheek and descended to cup Sasuke’s small jaw. Subconsciously, the other boy leaned into the palm, vulnerable and trusting in a way that he never let himself be which only made Naruto melt even further.

Sleep dearly suited his lover, only serving to make Sasuke’s face even more childish and cute.

Really, Uchiha Sasuke made for an adorable child.

A soft groan broke out from behind him, forcing Naruto to detach from Sasuke and turn to face his other headache and best friend.  He felt small hands grip tightly onto his bushy tail, tugging it away from his body and hugging it closer to their chest. Sakura was definitely taking full advantage of his furrier features. The slight tugging brought little discomfort to Naruto, who just shifted his tail closer to his friend, allowing the redheaded girl to snuggle into the surprisingly soft fur. Moving on instinct, his tail slinked around Sakura’s body like a cat as it practically purred and curled into the crook of her neck. Naruto took a peek at Sakura and snorted lightly, the sound muffled by a hand against his mouth. He had to admit that the sleep-mussed Madara hair and sleepy pout suited his dear friend very much. Naruto couldn’t wait to tease her about it in the morning. Although he was sure that Sasuke would beat him to it with how unfiltered his mouth tended to be –seriously, Sasuke had zero self-preservation when it came to Sakura.

‘Bad dream, Fishcake.’ Kurama’s voice rumbled in his head.

Naruto rolled onto his back and faced the slightly molding ceiling above him, slit-pupils and newly enhanced fox vision making it easier to trace and count the cracks within the plaster. He hummed faintly as he considered his fluffy tenant’s inquiry. He wouldn’t call what he had a bad dream necessarily. Naruto knew what bad dreams were and they weren’t like that –no, it was more like he was reliving a memory of a time so long passed.

The war against Kaguya had been going on for so long that Naruto hardly remembered the beginning –the invasion of the Rabbit Goddess and her army of puppets. Of course, he remembered the deaths and the panic and the fear of the people but he couldn’t exactly recall how the first battle against the Rabbit Goddess had taken place. It had been a failure, the first time. He knew that the blow against them had been bad –so terrible, in fact, that he still wondered how they had managed to get back up. Of course, after that, it had been a game of cat and mouse for years.

Even though Naruto didn’t remember the first battle, he remembered what came after.

And every now and then, Naruto regretted remembering those haunting days.

It was the reason Naruto had come to hate bloody-filled smiles.

After Kaguya, it was just a series of failures and deaths and crying and rage and pain and- before they finally decided to turn tail and run because nothing was worth dying for in that hellscape. Running and hiding was what they –these proudly powerful, ‘hey, we survived Madara and lived to tell the tale’, shinobi –had been reduced to. But nothing was worth the price of their pride, their lives weren’t worth their pride and arrogance so if it meant turning coward and running, just so that even one person survived then it was worth it.

‘Your mind is wandering, kit.’

Suffice it to say that, while Naruto hardly recalled that first battle, he remembered much of what came after.

That was…until now.

“Was that real?” Naruto asked into the darkness of the room.

Kurama was quiet for a moment as if debating whether to tell him the truth or not before reluctantly caving on Naruto’s silent insistence, ‘Hn.’

“Hn. Huh?” The redheaded boy mused, a smirk twisting on his lips, “Picking up some of the famous Uchiha traits, ey, Kurama? Are you finally gonna admit that you like Sasuke too?”

The demon fox’s eye twitched at the insult –because being referred to in the same sentence as those dreaded eyeball-obsessed maniacs was indeed an insult. ‘As if I would ever like that damnable Uchiha of yours!’

“Don’t lie~” Naruto sang lightly, a shit-eating grin on his face, “I know you have a smidgen of care in that fluffy body of yours.”

‘Fluffy-!’ Kurama roared loudly in his mind, forcing the redheaded boy to close his eyes against the sudden sound, ‘I am the Kyuubi no Youko! The strongest of all the Bijuu! I’m not anything close to fluffy, you little meat stack! Oh, when I finally leave this wretched place, I’m going to wring that scrawny neck of yo-’

‘You still haven’t said that you hate Sasuke.’ Naruto interrupted smugly before Kurama could finish his threat.

Kurama growled lowly. The sound should have sent warning signals to the primal part of his brain –in fact, many people would have slit their throats in fear but all Naruto felt was warmth spreading across his chest. Contentment coursed through his veins, not blazing like wildfire but toasty like the burning embers of a dying flame. The thoughts that had once roamed and dared to consume his mind flitted away much like the fireflies that dominated the night and were replaced with the companionship of his closest friend.

‘You’re talking a whole lot for a fishcake.’

Naruto wasn’t even bothered by the supposed insult from his furry friend. Instead, he chose to spend his newfound time teasing Kurama on his ability to now communicate with Sasuke on his level. Kurama didn’t find his jokes all too funny and threatened bodily harm in various horrifying ways that made him love the fluffball even more. Naruto giggled childishly under his breath, carefully aware of the other sleeping occupants in the room as he listened to Kurama’s furious rant. He sighed softly, letting his mind drift in the familiarity of the deep tenor in the fox’s voice.

Kurama always knew the best ways to distract him –he’d rather not remember things he had tried so hard to forget in the first place.

Unknowing to Naruto, the two octopuses’ wrapped around his body on either side of him had been listening closely to his one-sided conversation. They had resolved to squish the little fox even tighter between their bodies, giving Naruto support without alerting him to their conscious state. Sakura and Sasuke had woken up not long after Naruto’s abrupt awakening, having felt the disturbance in his chakra and the way he stiffened after what they assumed was a nightmare. However, they didn’t dare interrupt the other boy’s musings with the demon fox; instead, they just further intertwined their limbs with Naruto’s, pushing closer to him in hopes that it would offer him comfort. Feeling the other boy relax, they proceeded to wrap their arms around him, grip unrelenting as if holding Naruto together so that he wouldn’t fall apart.

And like that, Naruto eventually drifted off back to sleep, safely encased within the arms of his family while Kurama whispered stories of times long ago.

Naruto stretched his arms straight up into the air, his muscles straining from the pull while his stiff joints let out a satisfying crack. His mouth gaped open in a yawn, small fangs poking out, before settling into a pleased groan of pleasure. Naruto smacked his lips together while absentmindedly scratching the back of his head, glancing confusingly around the room and making a note of the time of day. It still seemed to be fairly early in the morning if the lack of glaring sunlight was any account. Waking up at the ass crack of dawn was a habit that Naruto would take years to break.

There was nothing more intense than a good ol’ stretch and yawn after a long night's sleep –barring his little nightmare mishap. He smacked his lips once more, trying to get rid of the cottonmouth and the faintest hint of morning breath before turning his attention to his companions. Naruto barely withheld a yelp at the sight of two pairs of eyes boring into his own with an unnatural sort of focus. His nervousness at the sudden attention was only hinted at with a twitch and flick of a furry red ear which only intensified their stares.

“Why…-” Naruto began slowly, his childish voice cracking slightly as his anxiety rose to the surface. He cleared his throat and tried again with more steel in his spine, “Ya staring, why?”

Sasuke and Sakura stared for a moment longer, not acknowledging his question in favor of analyzing him –for what? He didn’t know but he wanted them to stop. His fellow redhead was the first to break as she let out a mournfully wistful sigh while leaning away from him before collapsing onto the bedding. Sakura proceeded to stare at the ceiling, her gaze mildly manic that it had Naruto grabbing at the blankets for comfort. However, Sasuke continued to unrelentingly bore holes into the side of his head. The singular dark eye and Rinnegan stood out starkly in the gentle morning sun, filled with an unnamed yet familiar emotion that made Naruto’s tail bristle and puff out. The tell-tale signs of a blush began to rise on Naruto’s cheeks, fire burning in his blood and blazing through his body. It started from his chest, where his heart was beating wildly as if trying to escape his body, before crawling up his neck in a fiery fury and settling prettily on his cheeks.

Kurama gagged in the back of his mind and muttered something about Uchiha and it being too early for their shit.

Those eyes that Naruto knew like the back of his hand –from their sharpness to the patterns laced with grief and anger and love –widened as his pupils dilated. It was as if he was seeing something. Something Sasuke couldn’t quite comprehend and couldn’t quite believe. It was something that stumped Sasuke enough that his mouth dropped open slightly as his gaze blanked out. It reminded Naruto of the girls that used to follow the Uchiha around in their youth. Kurama distantly clucked at his obliviousness and how hare-brained of a vessel he had.

Before Naruto could voice his thoughts, worries that were piling up the longer that Sasuke remained immobile and silent, Sakura appeared and smacked the shit out of the Uchiha.

Sasuke’s head snapped to the side, the previous dazed look disappearing in an instant. He blinked rapidly as if he was coming out of a trance before he turned to look at the culprit. Sakura didn’t even give him an inch before she kicked him out of their shared bed with an unimpressed look on her face. Sasuke let out an undignified yelp as he landed unceremoniously on the ground, sprawled out like a starfish and debating his life choices.

“Seriously, aren’t you like four-” Sakura grumbled in irritation as she extracted herself from the medley of blankets, “…way too fucking early for hormones and horniness.”

“What.” Naruto cut in, utterly confused by the sudden turn of events.

Sakura rounded on him, finger raised, and pointed threateningly at him with a furious look on her cherubic face, “And you!”

Naruto twitched in answer, his tail wrapping around his middle comfortingly which helped him ease a bit of his mounting anxiety. He lightly petted the fur while his ears pressed flatly against his head as he waited for the inevitable tongue-lashing from his very angry best friend. Sakura stopped dead just as she was about to start her rant, her emerald eyes roving his body from head to toe with a severe look before she let out a loud groan. She dropped her head into the palms of her hands and let out a scream of frustration before looking up at him once again.

Unsure as to what was going on, Naruto hesitantly asked, “Are you okay, Sakura-chan?”

Sakura stared at him for a moment longer before deadpanning, “No, I am not okay Naruto because I can already see disaster on the horizon.”

The redhead took a deep breath, scrubbed her fingers through her hair –musing it up and making her look more manic than usual –and then turned to face Naruto head-on with determination in her green eyes. “Naruto…you can never go outside this island without some type of mask on and a seal to hide your…features.”

Naruto squawked loudly, “Hah! What the hell are ya talking about?!”

“I mean it Naruto or I will chain you to a boulder and leave you outside until you shrivel up and die!” Sakura screamed over his protests, not taking no for an answer.

Meanwhile, Kurama was laughing at his vessel’s stupidity and bet that there would be many kidnappings in the future involving his idiot and the Elemental Nations. He’d be surprised if there was even a world to save after the first time Naruto was going to be snatched –which, no doubt, was definitely going to happen at some point. And Kurama would sit back and watch the chaos while cackling. Really, the next decade was going to be the most fun he’s ever had in his lifetime.

Seriously, his old man was a chaos gremlin.

‘Was this karma?’

‘Is it because I abandoned my village and turned rogue, killed my brother and a bunch of other inconsequential people?’

‘Is this that old man’s punishment for attempting to kill Naruto?’

After Sakura’s declaration, the two redheads had devolved into wrestling like a couple of wild animals on their shared bed. Sasuke was still sprawled on the ground, wondering how his life had turned out this way, and was therefore unable to break up the fight. Although, calling it a fight was a bit of a stretch in his opinion considering that Sakura was strangling Naruto while the latter struggled weakly to break free. Growls and snarls were heard along with shrieks and whines of pain –the former definitely came from Sakura –before the half-fox conceded and admitted defeat by sulkily falling limp onto the bedspread.

‘It’s because I disrespected that old fart in the sky, isn’t it?’

Then Sakura proceeded to literally strong-arm Naruto into accepting her terms, “Swear it, Naruto!” She demanded as she slowly tightened the headlock she had Naruto in.

“Alright, alright- ack! Okay, Sakura, I swear it!” Naruto wept silent tears in the face of his friend’s tenacious threats. When Sakura decided she was done with him for the day, he was unceremoniously dumped back on the sheets like a feudal lord dropping his wife for a younger model.

Without another word to either of the boys in the room, Sakura began to gather her things so that she could get ready for the day. She went to the closet on the far side of the room and yanked it open, easily picking out what she wanted to wear with a look. The redhead grabbed a towel on her way out and slammed the door shut without a backward glance. The frame of the doorway rattled for a moment, the door creaking slightly under the force of the slam before it settled safely.

Then there was sweet, sweet silence…

…until Naruto groaned loudly and started whining.

Sasuke let out a sigh. It was going to be a long day.

‘I bet that old fart is having a field day up there.’

“Naruto, shut up.” The Uchiha stated blandly and then got up from the floor, body aching slightly from the hard floor.

They had removed the tatami mats from all the available homes on Uzushio on the account of how damaged and mold-ridden everything was. While they had plans to replace the mats with brand new ones, they currently were running low on funds –re: they were fucking broke. Naruto had rectified their immediate problems concerning the cold and general stuffiness of the room with some well-designed seals and a couple of fluffy blankets which he insists he never stole. All of which was piled onto the futons that Sakura had managed to scavenge from the first house they had visited. 

Slowly, Sasuke started to gather everything he needed to bathe and change for the day. They certainly had a long day ahead of them, especially with the arrival of their new residents. While he had managed to find a suitable living space for them, it wasn’t exactly ideal which meant more construction work and materials were needed today. Since Naruto had been out of the village for a couple of months, Sasuke was back on the job of scouting outside Uzushio and getting them the things they needed. Hearing Naruto starting to move his ass, the Uchiha walked over to the door and opened it slowly. He left the other boy behind with a soft click.

From the quietness, Sasuke guessed that the kids were still asleep and he thanked the Sage for that. He couldn’t deal with the enthusiasm and star eyes that Yahiko had shown him yesterday so early in the morning. He had much to do today and dealing with a gaggle of kids wasn’t one of them. Since Naruto was the one to steal the Ame Orphans in the first place, then he would be delegated the job of entertaining the kids while the adults were away –the irony of that statement was not lost on him.

Naruto pouted from his slumped position at the sound of Sasuke leaving without a single word of greeting, especially after that morning stare-fest of his. The tell-tale heat of a familiar blush stained his cheeks when he recalled the sheer intenseness of his lover’s stare –he hadn’t felt like that in a while. Naruto squealed lightly while playfully kicking his feet in the air, much like Sakura used to do in her less-than-pleasant years. Kurama groaned loudly in his head, Naruto could practically feel the old fox roll his eyes in exasperation.

‘Must I listen to your drivel about that damnable Uchiha, Fishcake-’ The fleabag grouched, solemnity radiating from his slouched form.

“Shut it!” Naruto squeaked loudly, embarrassed to know that his tenant had been listening in to his fanboying.

With that, Naruto literally slapped his Sasuke-infused thoughts away and jumped out of the shared futon with newly invigorated energy. A small smile stretched across his whiskered face as he trotted about their room, taking in the way it was ‘lived’ in with Sakura’s medical texts and various hair accessories scattered amongst Sasuke’s blunted weapons, yarn, and knitting needles and his own numerous sealing scrolls. It had taken them some time to become accustomed to their ‘new’ home, lacking their comrades, their families, and the overall safety and happiness that initially came with living in Uzushio.

But they had persevered somewhat so it wasn’t all bad.

Naruto serenely made his way toward one of the only unbroken mirrors in the house, taking in his ruffled, animalistic appearance with curious eyes. Even after a year of being in such a body, his reflection still caught him off-guard with how unnaturally natural it was on him. Oh, he had grown used to it enough that it was now an afterthought but seeing it was a different thing altogether. Naruto watched as one of his furry ears flicked in the mirror before swiveling around like some kind of satellite dish, identifying minuscule noises that even seasoned shinobi would be hard-pressed to hear. The kids were still asleep, two of them snoring so lightly that Naruto had to zone in to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating and the other snoring –probably, no, it was definitely that little orange-haired shitlit –like a freight train.

A tired yawn built up heavily in Naruto’s chest before it escaped his lips, the force of it left his azure eyes watering and even more hazed. He blinked away the sleepiness and started collecting his things so that he could bathe. Yanking open the doors to Team 7’s shared closet, Naruto grabbed the first dark shirt he saw along with a pair of loose sweatpants and some wrappings to stem off the extra cloth, and threw them on the futon. Sasuke was definitely going to kick his ass for stealing his clothes again but Naruto was running low because someone –Sakura –had refused to follow their chore chart and wash the clothes. His lover always kept numerous spare clothes because of his unfortunate ability of always splattering blood on himself. A downside was that Sasuke never kept anything with color because of that exact problem so Naruto was stuck looking like the brooding bastard for the entire day.

“Took you long enough!” Sakura called out from the other side of the open mixed bath. She was lounging against a white stone, her body wrapped in a towel with a satisfied smile on her cherubic face.

Sasuke grunted in greeting and sunk down a little further in the water, his closed eyes and hair were the only things Naruto could see. He shook his head at them before shamelessly stripping down until he was bare and made his way toward the bathhouse on the other side of the compound. Grabbing the soap and the bucket to fill with water, Naruto proceeded to wash away the dirt of yesterday with a quiet sigh. Bathing after his mission the day before had been out of the question with how tired he had been so Naruto had forgone it and choose sleep instead. Although the itchiness and sticky feeling on his body was something he’d rather not have to deal with again –too many memories of not having any time or resources to bathe, of the tacky feeling of blood dripping down his skin and flaking off after a few hours of drying, of dirt matting his hair and body until he couldn’t distinguish what color his skin tone actually was.

The unexpected influx of memories from that time caused Naruto to scrub his skin harder, trying to pry the phantom feeling of despair from his skin. Suddenly, the air in his lungs felt more restricting and suffocating than ever. It seized and tapered in his lungs, straining his throat and coming out in small desperate gasps.  Angry red lines marked his body as he dug in deeper than necessary, the world narrowing until all Naruto could feel was his wildly beating heart in his ears –so much like that time when he had come so close, so close until they pulled him back, ripped him away. A slight feeling of burning erupted along his arms and legs, his pale skin was inflamed as blood rose to the surface and sluggishly filled the newly created scratches. The pain made Naruto sigh in relief; it grounded him and caused the tightness in his chest to disappear bit by bit until he was able to breathe properly again.

‘Kit…’ Kurama whispered, being the sole witness to the episode much like every other time that Naruto had an attack. The boy had learned to hide these ones –the ones where he hurt and healed himself, using pain to chase away everything he was feeling –better after the first time. It seemed like the unexpected onslaught of memories from last night had triggered some of Naruto’s more unsavory habits.

‘I’m fine.’ Naruto shot the other down with two simple words. The scratches had already scabbed and healed over, leaving raw pink skin and flakes of blood which were easily washed off with a bit of soap and water.

Kurama huffed out an irritated sigh and left Naruto’s fate to that of his teammates –no doubt the pink-haired brat would clobber some sense into him.

Without another word from either the tenant or vessel, Naruto stood up once he deemed himself squeaky clean and trudged towards the onsen, grabbing a towel to wrap around himself on the way there. Sakura and Sasuke were still soaking themselves in the heated waters, previously stiff shoulders relaxed as they relished in the peace before the chaos. Unnoticed by Naruto, the two others in the room had noticed the slight manic energy of their third along with the raised pink lines on his body. Naruto might have healed but the evidence of his attack was still there for them to see and deduce what had happened –not that the other knew that they knew, what with how distracted he seemed to be.

While Sakura ached to do a full check-up of her idiot of a teammate to make sure he didn’t rupture anything –magical fox healing or not –she knew that was the last thing that Naruto needed. It would only push him to smile for their sake, to seem happy and alright so that he didn’t worry them. That was the last thing she wanted. Sasuke was of the same mind as her if the side-eye was anything to go by so they stayed silent as Naruto breached the heated waters with a very loud and very exaggerated sigh. The fur of his tail, heavy with water from the washing and steam of the bath, still managed to retain its exuberance as it wagged slightly in the water, sending water everywhere. Making sure that her towel was secure, Sakura leaned her elbows against the stone behind her while sinking down further until she could comfortably rest her head back. She blinked her deep green eyes lazily while staring at the ceiling, humming lightly in the pleasant silence.

“Sasuke, I assume that you’re going to be leaving today.” Sakura breached the quietude, already knowing how antsy the Uchiha got whenever he was in one place for too long. His unfortunate luck that got him injured and bedridden had left Sasuke stranded on the island with nothing to do since Sakura had forbidden him from training of any sort. She had made her stance clear on that while brandishing several paralyzing and sleep-inducing senbon needles so that the Uchiha had gotten the message loud and clear.

Sasuke slowly emerged from his watery depths, a grunt of affirmation leaving his lips which Sakura just sighed at. Both of her boys really were terrible patients –and they complained about her bedside manner, especially when she had them as her patients. Sakura would also be busy today, hauled up in her clinic as she tried to make something out of the absolute disaster of a medical center. It had been bumped up on her list of things to do last night after Nagato’s check-up. Sakura didn’t have the equipment or supplies necessary when it came to children –Team 7 didn’t count, they weren’t really kids and they could heal themselves or tough it out. The Ame Orphans would need vaccinations and supplements and vitamins to account for what they severely lacked. They were too small for their ages, skinny and malnourished, belaying their terrible conditions in their war-torn country. Alongside their need for more food and money, the situation wasn’t looking too good for them at the moment.

While Sakura didn’t begrudge Naruto for bringing a bunch of orphaned kids –not just kids, they were Akatsuki’s leaders, Pain and Konan, the ones who destroyed their village and killed so many people –she also knew that they were lacking the resources needed to take care of them, especially when Team 7 could hardly take care of themselves on a good day.

“Naruto,” Sakura called out softly, “I’ll be stuck in the clinic today…and probably for a few weeks. I need to bring it up to standard.” ‘For the kids’ seemed to echo around the bathhouse as Naruto nodded in acquiescence, he understood that the time for leisure had officially seized.

“I’ll send some clones your way to help you.” Naruto offered with a hard stare, forcing Sakura to agree with fearsome azure eyes. She knew that the right thing to do was to reject him, sighting the fact that Naruto already had multitudes of clones running around the place, collecting information and going behind enemy lines, but the look in his eyes refuted any argument she could have made.

Sakura shook her head in exasperation, “Alright, but if it gets too much, please tell me. You’re already straining yourself and your chakra.”

Naruto’s nose scrunched up at her words, “I’ve done more than this, and I was fine Sakura.” He countered petulantly, the fire in his eyes dimming partially.

“Yes, when you were in the body of an adult with the experience and muscle memory of a war veteran. Need I remind you that you’re in the body of a child, untrained and underweight at that?” The question was rhetoric, Sakura would remind him –loudly and with her needles if need be –whether he agreed or not.

Naruto seemed to ponder over something for a moment before bursting out, “Wait-! If you and Sasuke are gonna be busy, that means-!”

“You’re babysitting, dobe.” Sasuke stated with a smirk stretched across his lips. Naruto’s eye twitched at the other’s remark –of course, the one time that the Uchiha spoke was to piss him off.

Babysitting, huh?

It wasn’t a totally horrible thing to do, especially considering how he needed some time to unwind after his very long mission away from Uzushio. It also gave him a reason to slack off and rummage through the archives again. Sakura couldn’t scold him if he threw out the reason that he needed material for the kids to study or some shit. Not to mention, Konan was a darling, sweet girl who Naruto would sacrifice the world for, cheeky attitude and all. Nagato wasn’t half-bad since his cuteness makes up for everything else that was creepy about him. It was only that last one, that little shitlit of a child that was currently the bane of Naruto’s existence. Like a shit stain that refused to leave the toilet bowl even after he cleaned it a thousand times. It had only been a day since the orangutan arrived and already he was causing him enough stress –he swore to the Sage that if he ended up prematurely greying because of that arse-sniffer, Naruto would drown him.

“I can take the other two.” Naruto conceded after some very heavy thinking, “Sasuke can take his student with him. He needs experience and all that and what better way than on the frontlines and spying with Sasuke.”

And if he somehow perishes after taking a step out of Uzushio then it wasn’t Naruto’s fault.

‘Feeling vicious, Fishcake?’ Kurama chuckled at his vessel’s thoughts. It was quite violent considering who it was aimed at.

Sakura snorted lightly, “Yeah, not gonna happen, Naru-chan. We already made the argument that they can’t leave without sufficient training, even then I would like it if they did not leave until they’re old enough.”

“Kids shouldn’t be involved in any type of war.”

The soft whisper was heartbreaking to hear from the usually hardened Sakura. They all agreed with her words, remembering the number of children lost to the Fourth Shinobi War and then Kaguya because they were forced to fight to survive. However, out of the three of them, Sakura encompassed the statement the most. After all, she had been the one who outlived her child, and wasn’t that a parent’s worst nightmare?

The feeling of solemnity befell the trio as they thought back to their own childhoods and the subsequent tragedies that followed. Sakura was right –no children should be involved in the whims and unnecessary skirmishes of adults. In an ideal world, that would be a reality. There would be no need for war if the adults decided to sort things through peace and not violence, if they didn’t involve their people in their petty bets and grudges, if they realized that the lives in their hands weighed more than the war they waged. There would be no need for the shinobi, no need for the villages, no need for child soldiers –a truly perfect world that Obito had dearly wished and fought for, no matter how misguided he had been.

But that wasn’t here. And they hardly lived in a perfect world. It certainly wasn’t in the time they had come from but they could make it so. They couldn’t erase the blood already spilled and the lives already ruined but they could prevent a future where war, their destruction, seemed inevitable. After getting rid of the Madara and the Zetsu of this time period, Team 7 could strive towards a new goal of peace before the Third Shinobi War could take place. It was an idealistic dream. But it was better than nothing.

“Alright…” Naruto groaned loudly in acquiescence, “But can I maim him a bit? It would be a good way to teach the little sh-boy some humility. Better than learning you’re not infallible on the battlefield, dattebayo.”

“Sure.” Sakura shrugged impassively while Naruto blinked at her in shock, “But for every injury he gets that I’m going to have to heal-”

“-I’m going to replicate on you, Naruto.” Sly eyes peeked from under lowered eyelids as she spoke, the poisonous green glinting in vicious delight much like a snake waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Naruto choked on his next breath, devolving into a series of coughs that left his lungs burning and his chest shaking. Sasuke chuckled softly from his corner of the bathhouse, content to stay out of their drama and Naruto’s childish rivalry with a literal child. Although, he hoped that his lover would take some time to take care of himself, especially after running himself ragged trying to pick up Sasuke’s slack. He had noticed Naruto’s nightmare from this morning, something that he was staunchly refusing to speak about if his silence on the matter was anything to go by. His exhaustion had definitely contributed to his weakened mental state, alongside the sudden appearance of the Ame Orphans. Even Sasuke had a difficult time facing the ghosts of their past and he hadn’t even been there when Pain invaded and destroyed Konoha. Sasuke guessed that the familiar face was jarring in its own right, bringing back memories that they had pushed aside in the face of their mission.

Sasuke hoped though that some bonding time with the kids would unwind Naruto a bit because even if the other boy grouched and complained about them, he still liked children. “Oi, don’t teach Yahiko to be a deadlast like you, dobe. I have class and a useless student would be a threat to my reputation.”

“HAH?!” Naruto glowered at him, his face turning red until it matched the color of his hair, “If you’re so worried, then why don’t ya take him with you, teme!”

“Ah, some of us have actual work to do, dobe.” Sasuke chided condescendingly at the other boy, “You can’t push your chores on us just because you’re lazy, Naruto.”

One azure eye twitched in response before Naruto launched himself at Sasuke, towel flying off his waist in his haste as he tackled and attempted to drown the Uchiha. They tugged and pulled at one another, yanking on hair and even resorting to biting –the latter was surprisingly Sasuke’s main move as he left a deep indent along Naruto’s tanned flesh like some kind of wild animal. The redheaded boy shrieked in pain before clocking the other upside the head, hard enough to disorientate and subsequently suffocate the other within the heated watery depths. Sakura sighed tiredly as her two boys continued to fight, not even trying to pull their punches but then again when did they ever? Really, it was too early in the morning for their bullshit. She was already up to her nose in sorting through the documents of the Uzushio Archives, along with the added weight of the repairs needed for her clinic, and the Ame Orphans –Sakura was already exhausted and the day hadn’t even started yet.

“Alright! That’s enough you two!” Sakura eventually snapped, causing both boys to snap to opposite ends of the bath. They’d detected the girl’s rising temper –her sheer need to kick them through the earth’s crust –and had quickly separated in hopes that her anger dissipated as swiftly as it had arrived.

Naruto and Sasuke pouted in their respective corners, one more pronounced than the other but Sakura could tell. She sighed while pinching the space between her eyebrows, wondering how she got stuck with two literal children for teammates on a mission that tittered on the scale leaning towards the destruction of humanity and life itself. The band holding together the mess of her collected hair snapped as if mimicking her own fracturing patience, causing her hair to cascade down her shoulders and sink into the water below her.

‘Ah…her temper mixed with that hair of hers isn’t spelling anything good for us, is it?’ That’s what Naruto’s eyes seemed to indicate, what he signaled towards a further paling Sasuke.

Twin dark eyes widened almost imperceptibly, irises shaking as he rapidly messaged back, ‘Distract her before she explodes.’

‘What?!’ Naruto motioned back as his frustration mounted, ‘Why me? You started it, teme!’

‘It’s your fault that you’re an easy target, stupid.’ Sasuke tone was snarky and sounded too much like a snooty housewife.

Naruto bodily-twitched, watching the insult radiate from the other boy’s whole being before sighing in defeat. Normally, he would loudly refuse Sasuke on all ends but Sakura’s face was redder than it had been a few minutes ago and he didn’t exactly want to die an early death and definitely not in a bathhouse of all places. Naruto plastered an adorable smile on his face, one that highlighted his swiveling furry ears and tribal-like whiskers –he looked like a goddamn delight if he said so himself. Naruto dearly hoped that the sunshine emitting from him would simply burn away the demon residing within Sakura. He made sure his tail was out of view since it gave away his true thoughts since the fur was standing on end in face of a threat.

‘Really, Fishcake.’ Kurama shot at him, irked at his thought process.

‘Not like you, fleabag-’ Naruto countered snappishly, ‘-more like the demonic spirit of Madara. Sakura is part Uchiha, maybe the old goat tagged along for a ride.’

‘Now, that’s a terrifying thought.’

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto started, voice soft and sweet and utterly filled with bullshit, “I wanted to ask about the kids.”

“What?”

The murderous aura dissipated slightly at his words as Sakura’s voiced her confusion; even Sasuke was contemplating his utter stupidity if the raised eyebrow was anything to go by. But Naruto took that break in anger as a win –meaning he tackled that opportunity and ran like the motherfucking Yellow Flash, “Y-Yeah…yup. I wanted to-… discuss the kids. Since I’m gonna be stuck with ‘em for a while-” ‘A while was an understatement if Naruto was reading things right.’ “-so I wanted some input on some things. Ya know, takes a village to raise a kid and all that and I’m hardly a village all by my lonesome.”

‘That’s right. I, Uzumaki Naruto, declare the demon spirit Uchiha Madara be banished to wherever the fuck he came from. Be gone demon Madara!’

Sakura shot him a dry look, “Naruto, you’re literally a whole army by yourself with your shadow clones.”

“Ah, ah, shadow clones can easily be popped, you know that,” Naruto mentally added that one particularly shitty child would have a field day bursting his clones before continuing, “and some variety in opinions would be amazing! Especially since they’re supposed to be your students as you both so righteously declared. Don’t want me to fuck ‘em up before you even got a chance to mould them into your little mini-mes, right.”

Sakura’s initial skeptical face had devolved into something filled with irritation and then the horrified realization settled in, “Alright, alright! What do you want to know?”

Naruto opened his mouth, ready to rattle off some bullshit that his brain normally spat out on the regular, except this time, he drew a complete blank. His mind was just playing a constant loop of ‘Ehhhhh?’ as he tried to drudge up something –anything at this point –to ask Sakura, who was narrowing her creepy eyes in suspicion as the minutes dragged on. Ahh, he’d really done it this time. Sakura was totally going to break his face and call it emergency surgery. A whimper left his lips at the thought, he really liked his face the way it was, and while he wasn’t exactly vain like some people –cough, cough, not naming names, Sasuke, because it would be terrible to rat someone out like that –he did want to be able to breathe like a normal person in the future.

Kurama snorted before throwing him a bone, ‘You’re all so confident, taking in kits and saying you’re going to teach them. You’ve never taught anything to anyone, much less children. It’d be a miracle that those kids even learn how to use chakra in the first place.’

“The-!”

“The…” Sakura drawled out lowly, stretching out the word in hopes that Naruto would eventually get to the fucking point.

“The-…I mean, our teachers sucked, right?” Naruto started hesitantly, words verging into questioning territory while Sakura just raised an eyebrow at him, unsure as he was as to where the fuck he was going with this, “What I’m saying is that…my mentors weren’t exactly people who should have been teaching children.”

It seemed like in between Naruto’s absolute foolhardy behavior and ramblings, he had found something to be insecure about –ie. Teaching children.

“I don’t…” Naruto stammered slightly under the weight of Sakura’s suddenly heavy gaze, “I don’t really know how to teach children. I’ve guided our friends into using various techniques, I guess…but children are a whole other ball game, ya know. Ero-sennin isn’t exactly someone I can’t safely emulate for a bunch of toddlers.”

‘Naruto should never take after that pervert.’ Sakura and Sasuke thought collectively, shuddering unnoticeably in disgust and anger.

“So, I don’t know how to go about, ya know…teaching kids and all that.” Naruto finished lamely; his explanation had definitely opened something up inside of him that needed to be addressed. And it wasn’t an unfounded fear because anything involving kids was going to be difficult. The Ame Orphans were exactly that, orphans –kids who would probably look up to them and see them as parental or guiding figures for years to come, no matter their physical age. Their maturity would naturally make the kids want to follow them, seek them for advice, and generally –

“That pervert was the Fourth Hokage’s mentor.” Sakura kindly informed them before the conversation could go further, to which Naruto made a face. He could practically see the underlying meaning of Sakura’s words blaring at him.

Of course, Naruto knew that his father had been trained by the Sannin and had come out better for it at the end of the day but, for some reason, he didn’t really want to base his trust on that alone. His father had certainly been a better man than he if he came out of Ero-Sennin’s training utterly untouched by the man’s perversity.

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t put it past that pervert to corrupt even someone like the Fourth Hokage.” Sasuke grumbled, remembering Naruto’s musings on the dead man.

Sakura huffed out a sigh while she restlessly gathered her hair into a messy bundle on the top of her head before crossing her arms over her chest, seriously pondering his words, “I see what you mean, Naruto but I don’t necessarily take top spot for having a stable teacher.”

Affronted on Tsunade’s behalf, Naruto squawked, “Hah, Baa-chan was-!”

“A wonderful person, Naruto.” Sakura cut him off before he could get too worked up, “Shishou was a good person and a good teacher, that I could never refute but she had her issues. Ones that she unknowingly passed onto me, habits that I really don’t want to pass onto another person, much less my student.”

Oh, how they knew about those habits of Sakura’s. Luckily, Ren hadn’t been around for it.

With that said the both of them turned to look at their last teammate who had been staring at them with his silent brooding air. Feeling their gaze, Sasuke blinked before pointing at himself as if asking if they were talking to him. The Uchiha’s eyes turned dull and unreadable like he was debating why he associated with them in the first place, “Are you guys serious?”

Naruto shrugged, “Hey, you never know, horrible people can be good teachers. And you don’t talk about your time with that body-snatching Orochi-perv so how’re we supposed to know whether he was a decent teacher or not.”

“It’s Orochimaru!” Sasuke hissed out, sounding too much like his very hated and thankfully departed teacher, “I think that’s clue enough about the type of teacher he was.”

Sakura and Naruto made a face as they remembered the snake summoner from a lifetime ago. Naruto pursed his lips before nodding slowly, “Yeah, can’t have you hissing at the kiddies and giving them hickies.”

Sasuke twitched.

Naruto heaved out an irritated breath while wondering why all of their mentors were so problematic, “How about Kakashi?”

Sakura gave him a dull look, “Naruto, as much as I love Kakashi, you know I really do, but he wasn’t meant to be a teacher.”

Sasuke snorted on his end of the bathhouse, “Any person shameless enough to read porn books in public shouldn’t be allowed near children.”

Well, that was another one down. Seriously though, had any of his mentors been stable enough to actually teach children –probably not, maybe that was the reason why they were all so fucked up themselves.

Sakura bit her lip in contemplation, debating whether she should speak up or not before mentally saying ‘fuck it’ and continuing, “Iruka-sensei was a good teacher and a good person to boot.”

Naruto smiled softly, a subconscious action whenever his old Academy school teacher and pseudo-father was mentioned. He never really had time to process Iruka’s death in the beginning. He had been forced to accept it and move on because people needed him and he couldn‘t break down. Fuck, Naruto hadn’t even been there when Iruka died. He had heard it through word-of-mouth after the initial chaos, weeks later as if his death had been an afterthought to mention. Even then, Naruto hadn’t been able to mourn because he had been stacked making sure they all didn’t die a gruesome death while attempting to find a place to hide hundreds of people.

Remembering Iruka brought a sense of melancholy to the forefront, a deeply hidden sadness that made Naruto want to curl up in his blankets and sleep forever.

‘All those buried feelings and yet he couldn’t find it in himself to cry for the man that he considered a father~’

Naruto sucked in a deep breath and let it out, shaking away any further debilitating thoughts, “Ah, Sakura-chan, you have too much faith in me if you think I can be like Iruka-sensei.”

Sensing his solemn mood, Sakura clicked her tongue at him and then moved closer to him. She waited for a nod of acceptance from Naruto before inching further and wrapping him in her arms, “Idiot boy, did I say that you have to be like him?” She massaged the area below his furry ears gently to calm him down while his wet tail curled comfortably around her body.

Sasuke made his way over from where he had been isolating himself like some emo lone wolf, “Use him as a guide. Whatever made him a good teacher will serve as a guiding hand when you’re teaching the kids, dobe.”

“And I think you’re worrying too much about this.” Sakura continued seamlessly, “We’re not expecting to instantly get it right. We learn as we go, I thought you knew that. We improvise shit because we absolutely suck at planning, Naruto.”

“I thought that you’re supposed to be the Number One Unpredictable Ninja.” Sasuke teased softly from beside Naruto. The Uchiha had quietly fitted himself onto his lover’s open side, content to be a pillar for the other to lean on as he slowly let his guard down. “Be Unpredictable.”

Naruto perked up at the title, grinning unabashedly at his teammates, “You totally said that in Caps, teme.”

“Unfortunately.”

Sakura snorted while melting into their hug, putting all of her weight on Naruto which caused him to sink into the bath water. The boy squeaked in response, flailing under her body as he slowly –oh so slowly –sunk to his death, Sakura’s heaviness was nothing to sneeze at. But, Naruto would be hard-pressed to ever mention that to her face or out loud for that matter. He liked living, thank you very much.

“Yeah, we’re gonna be learning with you anyway. So you don’t have to stress too much, Naru-chan~” Sakura agreed easily as she continued with her slow suffocation of her dear best friend. That was what he got for irritating her so early in the morning. Don’t think that Sasuke was somehow safe from her wrath –sometime in the near future, Sasuke was going to wish he stayed with the Uchiha Clan.

All of a sudden, an ominous shiver crawled down Sasuke's spine. Blinking rapidly, he shook his body slightly to get rid of the uneasiness that had enveloped him out of nowhere. Maybe, he had stayed in the bathhouse for too long. This child's body was definitely more prone to illnesses so he was probably coming down with something.

“Plus, no matter how much you disagree, you love the mini-humans. I’m positive you love them already and it’s only been a day since you kidnapped them.” Sakura started enthusiastically, her voice filled with mischievousness.

Naruto pouted in affront, seems like he would have to defend his honor ‘til his dying days, “I did not kidna-!”

“And you’ve got a couple of minions to do your bidding.” Sakura bulldozed through his argument furtively without a hint of shame. Naruto was hardly irritated, in fact, he was mesmerized by her suggestion.

‘Minions…’ Naruto thought dreamily, ‘…to do my bidding.’

A dark cackle rang throughout the bathhouse, eerily sounding and echoing throughout the compound like a portentous prophesy in the making.

Sakura heaved out an exasperated sigh before standing up, rivulets of water cascading down her towel-covered body. She had already spent enough time with her boys that she was certain she had lost enough braincells to constitute a problem. Without looking back, Sakura sauntered out of the bathhouse, completely deaf to Naruto’s call for her to stop and Sasuke’s grunt for help as his lover tried to suffocate him.

“Oi, Sakura-chan! If you leave before eating breakfast, I’m gonna smother ya!” Naruto managed to shout before his voice was smothered by Sasuke, who dunked the other boy.

Leaving her boys to their games, she gathered her things and made her way toward their shared bedroom with a huff of slight irritation. Initially, she had hoped to quickly bathe, change and leave before Naruto worked up the energy to even leave the bed but it seems her plans were thwarted. For as much as her teammate groused about not being a suitable teacher and hating kids, he sure got the motherhenning down to a ‘T’. Naruto had definitely taken after Iruka-sensei in that right.

Mindful of the children in the compound, Sakura quietly opened the door to the room and slipped inside. She discarded her towel into the hamper in the corner of the room and then started pulling on her clothes. Sakura had found them in the abandoned houses near the center of the village and while she ached to use the clothes of children long gone, none of the other things had fit her. Unfortunately, having her Uchiha heritage brought to the forefront hadn’t done wonders for her height and, along with the fact that she was a girl, made her shorter than both of her boys –which was downright evil when considering Naruto’s height. Sasuke never rejected the opportunity to laud his own superior stature over their heads which earned him enough bruises to last a lifetime.

Sakura strode towards the mirror next to the vanity, making sure most of her body was in the frame as she posed in the outfit. A simple dark blue kimono dress with sky blue and white accents that stopped at her mid-thigh tied together with a black obi and paired with black shinobi-grade tights. A sturdy pair of sandals adorned her socked feet –it was the type that didn’t clack when she walked which suited her quite nicely. Sakura turned right and left, noticing that her movements weren’t restricted in the slightest and that she was well-balanced on her feet.

“Everything seems good…” She mumbled under her breath, eyes roving over her form before landing on the bane of her existence.

Stupid Uchiha genes –why couldn’t Sasuke get the Madara hair?

Grabbing the brush off the table in front of her, Sakura attempted to tame the red strands into something manageable so that she wouldn’t end up with matted knots again. She shuddered while running a hand through her hair; it was rougher and courser than her previous cherry blossom strands and something she would probably get used to when she was dead. Every morning was a challenge, an unending battle in which she never came out the victor. No wonder Madara went crazy –at this point, she might too. The stream of curses falling from her lips was broken with the click of the bedroom door. Green eyes darted to the intruder, only to find ears poking into the room. Two twitching fluffy red ears, swiveling with a personality of their own, were spying on her much like a fox curiously watching something intriguing.

‘Naruto probably heard what I was saying and decided to scope out the danger before entering.’ Sakura wryly thought, staring at the ears still sticking out of the doorway.

“Come in, Naruto.” She called out softly, wincing as she roughly tugged the brush through her hair when she noticed it had gotten stuck. “I’m not going to maim you.”

‘If anything, I might maim myself if I keep going.’

“Ah, Sakura-chan…” Naruto said, equally soft as he stepped into the room before shutting the door slowly.

While Sakura continued to fight a losing battle against her hair, Naruto pitted around in the background, walking around stark naked as he moved to change into some clothes. He gently eased one of the cupboards open, taking out a baggy garish orange jacket, that Sakura would definitely be getting rid of when the boy wasn’t looking, before moving towards a heap of clothes tossed haphazardly on their futon. Any overly big flaps of fabric that hindered Naruto’s movement were taped away with standard shinobi wrappings around his waist and ankles. His feet were bare, sharpened black toenails more noticeable against tanned flesh –Naruto had told them that wearing shoes was uncomfortable, like his balance and senses were muddled, so unless he was outside of Uzushio, he never wore shoes.

Other than his slightly damp hair, Naruto was ready-to-go for the day.

Naruto shifted out of the corner of her eye, feet tapping hesitantly on the ground before he steeled himself and spoke up, “Need some help?”

Not waiting for a response, Naruto marched forward and gently extracted the brush from the tangled mass of red strands with the competency of someone who had dealt with troublesome hair and won. There was nary a pinch to her already sore scalp as he expertly pulled apart the knots within her hair before brushing them out until it was smooth. Naruto continued the methodical tug-and-brush, the motion was soothing and lulled Sakura into a state of deep relaxation, very much like how she got when she meditated.

“Pass the bottle of hair oil from the table.” Naruto nudged her gently, refraining from startling her which she was grateful for. Sakura curiously scanned the various products and items that littered the vanity table before zeroing in on the innocuous bottle in the very middle of the mess. She reached out and snatched it, the actions were ingrained in her psyche as she popped open the bottle and took a sniff. Immediately, Sakura identified a few medical herbs that she normally used in the clinic for inflammation and a few others that were unfamiliar to her.

Sakura hummed in thought and then asked while passing the bottle off to her teammate, “Where’d you get it?”

Naruto huffed out a breath while taking the offered oil then he expertly dashed the slightly viscous substance onto the tips of his fingers and his palms. After placing handing the bottle back, then Naruto went to town on Sakura’s sore scalp, “On my way to Ame, I stopped by this small village that needed some help with a few missing-nin. One of the grannies gave it to me for free after she saw my split ends.”

Sakura snorted after the short but brief retelling. While she wouldn’t have minded his usual rambling, the peacefulness of the morning and Naruto’s skilled hands were more up her alley so she refrained from asking more. She sighed in relief as he massaged the cool liquid into her hair, starting from the roots before working his way to the tips, making sure every part of her head was covered. Sakura sank into the feeling; not minding the minor scratches she felt from Naruto’s clawed fingers since they soothed the itches littering her scalp. She hummed lightly to the nameless song emanating from the warmth in her chest and the unheard voice in her head.

Feeling a shallow tugging, Sakura’s eyes peaked open until they were half-lidded and lucid. Naruto pulled her head back so that she was staring up at him with such a content-filled gaze that could melt even the coldest of hearts. When those green eyes weren’t light up like poisonous vipers, they reminded him of a very pleased cat being served hand-and-foot –not very different from another Uchiha that Naruto knew. Well, cats were prevalent in the Uchiha Clan so he wasn’t especially off the mark with his observation.

Azure eyes stared back at Sakura with amusement and devotion and so much love –ah, Naruto really did wear his heart on his sleeve –it almost made her want to hide away. Instead, Sakura averted her eyes and jerked her head down to look at her reflection or, more specifically, the mess she called hair. She blinked in surprise, her mind taking in the image before her yet not comprehending it. Ever since Team 7 had landed themselves in the past, she had acquired the passive skill: Madara’s Hair and she had been unable to really contain or handle the mass of fire red she had been saddled with. Sakura had resigned herself to keeping her hair always tied up in a bushy bun on top of her head.

Sakura had refused to cut her hair.

Even though she hated it.

She hated everything about it.

It was too long. It was too dry and coarse and not like her delicate pink strands from before. It always got in her way whenever she let it down. It was heavy. It weighed on her and made her head hurt. It was Madara’s hair. It made her resemble the man too much for her liking. It was a burden through and through.

Sakura hated it so much.

‘I’m never cutting my hair. It reminds me of Tou-san so I’m going to keep it long even if it’s as impractical as you said, Kura.’

Yet, Sakura never once cut it.

Because, for all the reasons Sakura hated it, there was one reason she loved it.

It reminded her of someone she loved.

Sakura’s eyes misted over slightly, softening the vivid green to a gentle sage, “…thanks.”

The blue of Naruto’s eyes seemed to soften, deepening into a darker shade of cerulean as he smiled at her in the reflection of the vanity mirror. Without another word, he started weaving the red strands of her hair into an inverted braid from the top of her head. The tail of the braid ended just below the middle of her back which Naruto tied off with one of the elastics bands he kept on his wrist. He hummed in satisfaction, proudly taking in his work and his godlike ability to tame even Madara’s Hair.

“There! All done!” Naruto shouted loudly, breaking the once serene atmosphere. Sakura stared at him accusingly, her eyes deadpan while he pouted in response. Naruto had lasted longer than she expected, she’d give him that.

Naruto huffed indignantly, nudging and poking at her until she relinquished her seat so that he could plop his fatass down, “Shove off, Sakura-chan! I gotta get myself baby-proofed and ready for my minions.”

Sakura rolled her eyes, green eyes lighting up into that vicious color that normally made her enemies cower in fear, “Yahiko is going to cut off any braid you put your hair in Naruto.”

The other redhead gasped in fear, exaggeratedly clutching at his hair and his heart simultaneously like a mother would her child and pearls. Sakura couldn’t really call him out on that since she knew how attached he was to his long locks, especially when the red now reminded him of his mother. Still, Sakura coughed out a laugh at his reaction and turned to leave the room, hoping she would be able to get out before- 

“Oh, and Sakura-chan-” Sakura froze at the happily-sing-song tune of the interjection, “don’t leave until I’m done with the food.”

Sakura gritted her teeth and gulped at the intense killing intent that erupted from behind her, “Ah, Naru-chan, I’m going to be very busy today so I thought I would get an early-”

“If you leave this house with a bento in hand, I will personally shove every single dish down your throat and through your ass until you start seeing Madara waving you toward the afterlife.”

The very air that Sakura breathe seemed to freeze as if waiting for her response.

“Y-Yes…” That was all she managed to get out.

Naruto stared at her for a moment longer before the suffocating aura dissipated as if it never existed and with a jovial hum, he allowed her to leave.

Sakura hated pissing off Naruto.

Naruto sighed softly as he settled himself comfortably in front of the vanity while Sakura vacated the room. His dear friend was as slippery as Orochimaru when it came to her own health and well-being, often forgoing entire meals unaware because she was so deep in her work. Not that Naruto stood for that nonsense. Similar to how Sakura lost her shit when Naruto and Sasuke disregarded her advice and fell off the deep end –both of them ensured the same of her when it was necessary.

Grabbing the brush that he had initially used for Sakura, he carded it through his own slightly damp tangled red locks. Even though he was still feeling mildly hazed and tired from the bath and onsen, he was careful as he skimmed the brush through his hair with a routine-like efficiency, skilfully avoiding the two furry protrusions laying flat on top of his head. A yawn sneaked passed his lips before he could catch it, sending a pleasant shiver down his body before he stretched, hands reaching for the sky while his clawed toes dug into the ground. Naruto groaned loudly in relief, feeling the knots in his back give way while combing his fingers through his silky, less-damp hair. He hummed in delight then started gathering the strands on the right side of his head and began to weave the red locks into a simple braid. Following that, Naruto did the same on the left side before tying off the simple pattern laced through his hair and tucking it into a high ponytail. Content with his appearance, he moved on to brushing out the tangles in his tail, being extra cautious with the sensitive limb so that he wouldn’t hurt himself.

‘Looking a bit too much like those red, air-headed fools, Fishcake.’ Kurama commented lazily, to which Naruto refused to be offended.

Instead, the redhead grinned brightly at the confirmation that he did look the part of the Uzumaki Clan as a slight blush stained his whiskered cheeks. Naruto had been delighted to find out that his clan had traditions, ceremonies, and customs that were prominent before their destruction. It had been foolish of him to think otherwise when Uzushio had basically been a makeshift village that existed before Hashirama and Madara even existed. Within the Archives, Naruto had discovered that the clans within Uzushio had commonly worn many charms and braids within their hair, which was always kept longer than the average shinobi. Essentially, the long hair was a symbol of pride for the clans, showcasing how powerful they were while the braids were symbols of status and rank. Children started wearing braids as soon as they graduated from the Academy and thus were recognized as shinobi of Uzushio.

It had been surreal for Naruto to find out, especially as someone who had his orphan status constantly shoved in his face every single day of his life, even after he had found out who his parents were. He had customs to follow, traditions to adhere to, and ceremonies to do –all of which were further exasperated as someone descending from the Uzumaki Royal Family. From the stories his father had divulged, his mother had grumbled about doing them every time but still smiled ridiculously through it. His father mentioned that the nostalgia and memories of her lost home were what kept his mother from forgoing the stuffy clan nonsense. Kaa-chan had truly been a wild and free spirit through and through.

‘More like crazy.’ Kurama grumbled as he remembered the explosive redhead he had previously inhabited. Kushina had been bold and bossy and beautiful and Naruto had definitely taken after her in that right. Kurama conceded that it was better than taking after that irate blond-haired bimbo.

Sakura hadn’t been as moved by the revelation since she still considered herself to be civilian-born and a Haruno despite her Uzuchiha bloodline and shaky relationship with her long-gone family. Sasuke had scoffed and muttered on and on about how clan shit and responsibilities were not all that it was cracked up to be and had decided to stay far away from it. It seemed like Sasuke’s taste of freedom made him come to dislike his own clan and how the Uchiha ran things –not that Naruto could blame him since the Uchiha had been on the brink of starting a civil war. Despite their grumblings, Naruto had been extremely happy to follow his clan’s ways and started to slowly adopt them in the smallest of ways.

‘Kit, enough reminiscing, or the pink-brat is going to use this as her chance to scamper off.’ The old fox commented idly, his tails waving lazily in the air before he rolled onto his back and contented himself by wiggling in the conjured mindscape grass.

“Shit.”

After wrangling Sakura and Sasuke into taking the lunches that Naruto had tirelessly made for them before sending them off to their respective duties. Various vegetables had been placed delicately into the little boxes, alongside a helping of the fish and chicken he had cooked the night before. Sasuke’s had been decorated with those baby tomatoes he loved but refused to admit while Sakura’s had a hidden stash of sweet red bean dumplings that he had swindled from an overeager vendor on his way home.  He had packed extra for the Uchiha because the boy couldn’t cook for the life of him and would most likely injure himself trying to boil a pot of water. Sasuke had assured them that he wouldn’t be gone for very long, only to niggle his fledgling spy network to check if it was flourishing. There was also something else that he mentioned needing to do but he refused to divulge, flushing every time Naruto prodded him for an answer until the redhead backed off. Sakura had squirreled away enough food in her clinic so that she wouldn’t have to come back to the compound for anything. Naruto was sure that if he hadn’t threatened bodily harm –see, the violence goes both ways –earlier then she would have definitely forgotten to eat.

Sasuke bolted like a startled rabbit before any of the kids –read, that annoying little orange-haired shit that clung to him like gum to the bottom of his shoe –could wake up. Sakura only chuckled at the Uchiha’s behavior, listlessly stating that he shouldn’t forget to hide his fox-like features and then fucked off to her dreary clinic. Therefore with the abandonment of both of his shitty teammates, Naruto was left with the task of waking up the hellions, plus Konan, who were too comfortable telling him to fuck right off when he generously woke them up with breakfast. The ungrateful brats, Naruto was totally going to make them scrub every single toilet in the compound with a toothbrush for their disrespect.

“Stupid kids-” Naruto grumbled under his breath childishly while sorting through the numerous containers of food in the kitchen.

All that was left was the kid’s food for the day and Naruto’s own helping of food.

The abundance of food could be delegated towards Naruto’s successful traipsing across the Elemental Nations over the past few months. During his information haul, the Uzumaki had seen fit to send a couple of specialized grains from Tea Country and from the Land of Vegetables for Sakura to analyze and replicate so that it could grow within Uzushio’s habitat. After a couple of months, they managed to grow a sustainable crop of long-lasting grain and other various vegetation which reduced the cost of food for the three of them. It had certainly lighted the weight on their shoulders, knowing that none of them would go hungry and die of starvation in the near future. The arrival into the past –a past that was ragged with war –had proven difficult for them since they had to scavenge for bare essentials. While that wasn’t exactly something they were new to, the distrust from the locals had certainly taken some time to get used to. It seemed like children weren’t exempt from the scornfulness of the civilians –not that Naruto could blame them. Children as old as five, who had managed to graduate the Academy and earn the rank of genin, were placed onto the battlefield so kids were eyed with as much suspicion as adults. From what Sakura had explained, the Second Shinobi War has been constraining on everyone, not only the shinobi factions, so the civilians were rightfully angry and distrustful of every single unknown person.

Naruto huffed out a sigh, suddenly irritated beyond belief as he scoffed, “The nerve of old decrepit men calling themselves wise and then starting wars without thinking of the consequences.”

“Naruto-san,” A sweet soft voice that definitely didn’t belong to a certain orang-utan, “what are you talking about?”

The redhead brightened at the sight of Konan’s clear amber eyes, filled with curiosity and delicate happiness –a safe place for them had really done wonders it seemed, “Ah, nothing much Konan-chan, just how pointless the war is.”

Just as Naruto considered dying in peace right then and there, all of a sudden he heard this agitating, graving voice.

“Huh, intelligent things can actually come off your mouth.”

That horrible grating voice, that Naruto ever had the displeasure of hearing, barged its way into their conversation like some kind of rampaging bull. The Uzumaki twitched lightly, intent on playing ignorant even as his hand reached for the butter knife near the packed lunches.

“Naruto-san,” Another voice piped in and distracted Naruto from his less-than-pleasant thoughts. It was calm and soft and unlike the one before which he was so grateful for because it really was too early in the morning for attempted infanticide. “How are you?”

Naruto practically beamed at the blindfolded child, “Ah, such manners! Asking me how I’m feeling and everything, kyuu~ It’s so cute, I’m gonna blush~!” He gushed loudly, grabbing hold of his cheeks while swaying like a swooning maiden.

Yahiko scrunched his nose in displeasure, finding the pervert redhead’s actions distasteful, “Oi, shut it, you walking embarrassment! It’s too early in the morning for your bullshit.”

Naruto displayed a closed-eye smile, “And it’s too early for you to be alive, shitlit.” He commented in delight, idly brandishing the butter knife from before.

“You wanna go, pervert!” Yahiko shouted, trying to push up his sleeves before realizing he had a short-sleeved sleeping shirt on.

Naruto snorted in amusement, lazily taking in the way the younger boy geared himself up to hit him as he winded his arm back like some kind of plebeian.

‘He kinda looks like you, Fishcake.’ The old fleabag injected with a snort that he refused to acknowledge in any way, shape, or form.

Naruto shifted his feet, preparing to take the hit straight on because he remembered Sakura’s words and he would rather not deal with another concussion. The little orange gremlin charged like a bull, ramming straight into him while repeatedly punching his tiny fists into his sides –a good ol’ schoolyard tackle and hit. Even with his childish body and reduced power, Naruto could hardly feel a thing and resisted the urge to yawn in response. He pushed the boy off, gently enough that he didn’t fall and cry like the fetus he was but enough that he had to regain his footing.

‘Oi, Fishcake, don’t you have those prototype healing seals that you wanted to test out?’ The old fleabag questioned all of a sudden, throwing Naruto off slightly but not enough to dodge the next strike from the shitlit.

‘Yeah, why?’ Naruto absentmindedly answered as he avoided another tackle.

‘You’ve got a perfect test subject right there.’ Kurama gleefully pointed out the menace he truly was –what could he say, watching small children beat each other up was cathartic and if he imagined the orange one as that annoying child Naruto used to be then that was between himself and himself.

Naruto grinned unabashedly, killing intent spiking a little as his feet shifted from defense to something not-quite offensive but would certainly hurt like a bitch. Just as the orangutan came flying at him once more, fist outstretching and boiling with the need to punch smug-looking redheads in the face, Naruto caught the attack. Without mercy, Naruto yanked the kid forward which threw him completely off-balance, and then tossed him like a ragdoll over his shoulder.

Yahiko choked and screamed as the air was forcefully ejected from his lungs. Naruto took a moment to revel in his win even if it was completely immoral and unethical to take pleasure in beating up a literal toddler. Nagato had retreated behind Konan, fearfully clutching at the back of her clothing since he couldn’t tell what was going on and had only heard Yahiko shout in pain. On the other hand, Konan had seen everything and was absolutely enjoying herself if the gleam in her eyes was anything to go by.

“Now then-” Naruto sniffed smugly before catching himself with a cough. Making himself appear more humble and solemn, the redhead turned to address the other kids with a small frown, “-and that’s what happens when chilDREN-!”

“NUT SHOT!”

Naruto seized up as everything in him shriveled up and died, his knees locking together and sending him crashing to the ground in a heap of shameful pain. Yahiko burst into boisterous cheer even as his back screamed in pain from the initial throw because not only did he one-up that pervert but he also made Konan laugh. The only girl in the kitchen had gasped at the cheap shot before devolving into a fit of giggles while Nagato looked back and front between all of them, confusion clearly visible on his half-covered face.

‘That stupid fucking kid!’ Naruto squawked as he cupped himself on the ground, waiting for Kurama to alleviate the pain somewhat. The redhead groaned loudly, his voice deepening into a growl that sent shivers down the kids’ backs, “This is what happens when Sasuke flees his baby daddy responsibilities. Always running away like a coward, when that sonofabitch comes back, I’m gonna rip his ballsack off his body.”

Location: Somewhere on the border of the Land of Fire

Sasuke shivered suddenly and then sneezed violently. Dread crawled up and down his spine ominously, like an ill-begotten omen. He had a feeling he was in some kind of trouble. He'd better extend his trip for an extra month. Sasuke would dearly like to live past infancy.

Meanwhile, Kurama was having the time of his goddamn life. The old fox was huffing and puffing, barely breathing as he laughed at his vessel’s pain like the utter menace that he definitely was.

‘Truly, watching a five-year-old minion knee you in the dick will be the highlight of my entire life, Fishcake.’ Kurama snorted as he rolled around the mindscape before huffing in indignation, ‘Take it as payback for all those insults to my extraordinary being.’

‘Damn, shitty fox!’ Naruto cursed silently while lamenting his atrocious luck.

Yahiko stomped towards the downed ninja, confidence increasing the longer he towers over the smug asshole, “That’s what you get for turning your back on an opponent, perv.”

Kurama blew out an amused breath, finally calming down from his laughing fit, ‘Getting lectured by a fetus, Fishcake. Must be a new low for you, huh.’

Ignoring the very unhelpful bijuu in the back of his mind, Naruto gritted his teeth and climbed to his feet, stumbling all the way until he was leaning over the little shitlit, “Ya gonna regret that.” That was all he said before shoulder-checking the kid out of the way.

Naruto made sure to signal the kids to follow him as he meandered out of the kitchen, grabbing his sealing materials and the healing-seal prototype that he had been working on. He had started the project on the basis of relying too much on Sakura as their medic-nin. Even though Naruto had Kurama’s healing factor, he had taken rudimentary medic-nin lessons from Sakura to treat wounds so that they wouldn’t get infected –he had learned the hard way that even though his injuries healed, the dirt and germs in the wound healed into his body as well. There was also Sasuke, who didn’t have any sort of way to heal himself which lead to him always being the most injured out of the three of them.

Case in point: Sasuke’s severed arm.

While Naruto and Sakura served as people who would heal that overzealous idiot, Sasuke often found himself alone and roaming the Elemental Nations like some nomad. The seals he designed would supplement any immediate care a person needed and give them enough time to reach a doctor or medic-nin for treatment. Maybe after Naruto had it tested out and ready for use, he wouldn’t have to deal with a half-dead Sasuke coming home to them.

“Oi, perv!” That little turd called out with little care for his volume –ironic coming from Naruto, “Where’s Sasuke-sama?!”

Naruto halted on his path of vengeance, brain stalling as he attempted to process the amount of bullshit that left that gremlin’s mouth, “Sasuke…sama…”

Unaware of the landmine he had just stepped onto, Yahiko continued to tattle excessively, “Sasuke-sama said that he was gonna teach me all these cool jutsu. Why are we stuck with this perv?”

Swallowing heavily, everything he was feeling was viciously shoved deep down, Naruto just stated, “Sasuke decided parenthood wasn’t for him and bailed like the bastard he is while Sakura burrowed herself in the clinic which leaves me as your teacher for the next few weeks.”

With that said, Naruto stalked off, not waiting for any of the kids to follow as he seethed with irritation the longer he walked. The absolute disrespect, the audacity of that little creep, he couldn’t wait to wring his neck, Sakura’s warning be damned for all he cared. At least he would die a happy man, knowing he had taken that shitlit out of this world first. Imagine, calling his frigid lover with such an honorific when Sasuke had dipped faster than a father going to the store for milk.

When Naruto reached the only stable grounds for training, he stopped dead in his steps and waited for the kiddies to catch up.

“Your opponent will be me.” Naruto grinned mischievously, vindictiveness flooding his veins and sending his blood pumping, “And just so you know, I excel in taijutsu.”

Yahiko gasped loudly as he struggled to breathe from the run he had just endured. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto hadn’t immediately started beating the kids into a bloody pulp. He had simply started with a few dodging and grappling techniques, which were all defensive in nature and would help the kids out of a pinch. Naruto had let them attack him, told them to put their heart into every punch and kick, and, all the while, he had never attacked back, only defended. Offensive techniques would come when they had better endurance and stamina to back up their attacks which is what Naruto was doing now.

“You’ve still got another lap, arsebreathe!” Yahiko heard that shitty excuse of a teacher call out. He hissed out a curse before pushing his body to complete the fifth lap around the training ground. The area was fairly large and since they were beginners, Naruto had decided on five laps for a warm-up before he devolved into throwing the little hellions into the dirt.

Konan and, surprisingly, Nagato were sitting idly on the bank, waiting for their third teammate to finish his final lap before they could move on to better things. They had already stretched out their worn muscles until their bodies felt like jelly so Naruto decided to give them a break. In his assessment of the kids, Konan was the fastest of all three of them and was able to clear the laps in record time which made Naruto unreasonably proud –of course, who wouldn’t be proud of their dear student? Yahiko was basically the deadlast since he started out by almost running himself into the ground before he started lagging behind a quarter way through –the kid clearly didn’t know his limits. Naruto refused to see any similarities between that shit and himself. Moving on, it was Nagato, who was the most surprising since he had been able to keep a steady jog while regulating his breathing. While he certainly had trouble navigating the area because of his lack of sight, he had managed fine after the second lap as if he had the entire training ground mapped out in his head. Nagato wasn’t as fast as Konan, not by a long shot but he also didn’t run off foolishly and lag behind like Yahiko.

Sakura had chosen a smart student to teach –Naruto would give her that.

When Yahiko finally joined his friends on the bank, huffing, and puffing and gasping for breath before he was appeased by a water carrier from Konan, Naruto decided to start with a few misspoken words that he needed to acknowledge. He waited for a few moments while that orange-haired shit complained and snipped about having Naruto and not ‘Sasuke-sama’ as his teacher which he pointedly ignored in favor of enjoying the light breeze combing through Uzushio. The humming in his chest grew the more he zoned out and reveled in the simple pleasure of feeling the sun on his skin and the wind in his hair. Naruto itched to release his ears and tail from the temporary seal, wanting to immerse himself fully in the abundant nature chakra present, as well as the warmth coming from Uzushio herself.

“Alright, that’s enough, Yahiko.” Naruto interjected before the kid could get carried away.

Instantly, the young boy froze up at the sudden use of his name in such a serious tone. For all that Yahiko griped about the perv, he had never had any ill intentions towards the other boy because, at the end of the day, Naruto had saved them and taken them away from Ame. Naruto gave them food and clean water. Naruto gave them a home. Naruto gave them hope. Yahiko might like messing with the other boy –because who wouldn’t, he was like prime teasing material, he was so easy to rile up –but he knew where to draw the line.

Even at five years old, Yahiko had a perceptiveness and maturity that shouldn’t be seen in kids his age.

“Sasuke will be back in a few weeks at the least.” Naruto settled on saying first if only to ease some of Yahiko’s worries since the kid was already attached to the suicidal bastard. “Sakura will collect Nagato when she gets the clinic up to code. You guys don’t have to worry about being abandoned, alright? Those guys just don’t know how to handle the unconditional admiration of pipsqueaks.”

Yahiko snorted, “And you do?”

Nagato and Konan seemed to be of a similar opinion going by their sheepish and polite smiles –quiet in the face of Yahiko’s sarcastic comment.

Naruto resisted the urge to pout at the unenthusiastic response, “I’ll have you know, lotsa people look up to me, dattebayo!”

Konan giggled at the sudden slip of his tic before saying, “It’s not that we doubt you, Naruto-san but it is hard to believe.”

Naruto cleared his throat loudly, sniffing indignantly, and then continued as if the kids hadn’t said anything in the first place, “Well anyways, Konan-chan, you currently have the best physical fitness and stamina of the three of you. With your smaller stature, speed is going to be your best friend and I’m the best at that.”

“‘Cause, you’re short.” The peanut gallery said his two cents which Naruto easily overlooked.

“We’ll have to see whether you have the aptitude for very powerful attacks but you could easily get by with more nuanced techniques that you could modify to fit your style.” The redhead said seriously while remembering the powerhouse that Konan was with her origami paper. While not necessarily on the same power scale as Pain, Konan-chan was powerful in her own right and with techniques that could rival the Sannin. Naruto was totally going to rip off Ero-Sennin by leading her down the path of the paper.

“Yahiko,” Naruto started, already feeling the life drain out of him at the shit-eating grin on the kid’s face. Fuck, was he like this as a kid? Was this karma? Naruto was sure that everyone was laughing at him from the pure lands, “You’re impulsive and you’re probably gonna get yourself killed, kid. You’re arrogant and egotistical and delusional to some degree.”

Yahiko twitched at his words, already rearing up to shout some very not-nice expletives, “But, you’ve got the drive and a determination that rivals my own and an impossibly crazy dream. You’ll be fine…probably. You’ll be training with Sasuke. He’s a master at kenjutsu so that might be something up your alley. Techniques-wise, he’s got almost all of them down so there isn’t going to be a problem there, and depending on your chakra affinity, you’ll have plenty to do. Sasuke’s powerful and a complete hardass. Good luck.”

‘If anything, that Uchiha needs luck.’ The fluffball comments lazily, ‘He’ll go crazy in a week with that kid.’

‘Eh, if he somehow managed to survive kid Naruto then he’ll be fine…probably.’ Naruto disagreed somewhat and then stated, ‘In any case, better Sasuke than me.’

‘That Uchiha literally ran away from that shitty village to get away from you.’ Kurama blew out a slightly exhausted breath, ‘But yeah, better him than you.’

‘Aww, you do love me!’ Naruto exclaimed while making kissy faces at the old fox.

Whatever protests he had were shoved in the back of his throat as he evaluated the last kid. Honestly, Naruto didn’t know how Sakura was going to make a medic-nin out of the kid –from what he knew about the kid, the Rinnegan had been Nagato and, essentially, Pain’s greatest power and greatest downfall. Without that, Naruto didn’t really have a map for the kid’s abilities based on the knowledge he already had. The no-eyes thing wasn’t helping one bit.

Naruto stared at the kid for a moment longer when he remembered his blunder about something he said yesterday, “Nagato, I will admit that I made miscategorized your sensing ability. I based that on my own sensing abilities which were inaccurate. Your ability stems from the Uzumaki bloodline while mine come from somewhere else. Sorry ‘bout that kid.”

Nagato flailed slightly at his apology, “I-It’s okay, Naruto-san. But if you could tell me about-…”

“No problemo.” Naruto answered when he discerned the kid’s hesitation. He hummed lightly, trying to remember the only person who had something similar to the ability Nagato had shown. While it wasn’t exactly the same, Karin had superior sensing skills that were the result of training and the Uzumaki bloodline and while he didn’t know much about her, Sasuke had spoken about her. Karin had died fairly early during the war against Kaguya –a fact that his lover lamented over. “I don’t know much about it but there should be something within the Archives. Your ability seems even more powerful though so it had probably mutated or gotten a boost after your-…had been removed. I’ll check the Archives for you so don’t worry. In the meantime, I can help you cope with any drawbacks since it seems like you can’t turn it off.”

While Nagato thought over his offer, Naruto mulled over his own words while taking in the natural way that the redhead responded to the environment. His body was reacting to the slightest of sounds, his feet shifting before turning towards it as his head swiveled to face the negligible disturbance in the area. It was already an extremely powerful ability –training it would make Nagato an invaluable asset.

Naruto softly clicked his tongue at that, silently shaking away the thought. He was thinking too much like a Hokage. Whether or not Nagato wanted to train his ability was up to him and Naruto didn’t want to influence him on that. It already left a sour taste in his mouth, weaponizing and teaching these kids at such a young age, especially when Naruto knew what he knew about them.

Naruto was already taking advantage of them –he’d rather not influence their actions and decisions too.

“I’d like that, Naruto-san.” Nagato eventually answered, breaking Naruto away from his thoughts.

Naruto bit his lips for a moment, before smiling widely –so wide that it hurt. “Of course kiddo. I’ll teach ya, dattbayo!”

Naruto was pretty sure there was a special place in hell just for him.

“Alrighty,” The former Kage suddenly clapped, bringing everyone’s attention to him, “Konan-chan, Nagato-kun, Brat, how about we start on some basic maneuvers on blocking before we move onto anything else.”

Yahiko bristled like a cat –so much like his dear Sasuke –before puffing out a breath, “But we already did that!”

Naruto grinned in dark amusement, his fangs poking out were childishly vicious in comparison, “Yeah, but now you’re gonna be blocking me when I come at you, brat. Now, dodge, pipsqueaks.” Just as the last word left his lips, the half-fox shot forward, palms facing outwards as he struck.

Yahiko let out a slight shriek at the sudden movement but managed to jump aside and avoid the first strike. The kid’s eyes widened and he whooped in excitement –prematurely, that is. For that, Naruto showed no mercy as he thumped the boy on the head; hard enough to leave a slight bump but not hard enough to bleed. Yahiko cried out, falling back and onto his butt as he clutched the top of his head, grumpily cussing about the pain while trying to hide his sniffles. Not making the same mistake as earlier, Naruto kept the kid in his line of sight before going after Konan, who had been standing and watching wide-eyed in shock. He waved cheerily, disarming and innocent in equal measure which caused the girl to relax slightly before he lunged at her.

Konan yelped and ran, skilfully dodging his first few strikes even with her back turned to him. Points to her for the spatial awareness, it probably came with the territory of being an orphan within a war-torn country. But Konan couldn’t do that forever. Naruto shifted his stance and flipped over her head, landing with feline grace in front of her before ramming his palm into her stomach. Konan choked on her breath, stumbling back and falling from the suddenness of the attack rather than the pain. The little girl coughed heavily while trying to get her breathing under control, tears dotted the corners of her eyes but she didn’t start crying. Konan managed to gather herself fairly quickly from what Naruto could guess which was concerning in its own right, especially for a five-year-old child. Filing that away from Sakura to deal with later, Naruto moved on to his next vict- student with nary a glance back at the other children.

Nagato had been hunched in the corner of the training field, the sudden screams and sound of fighting from his friends had shaken him enough that he was close to folding into himself. Naruto’s eyebrows furrowed in concern, he debated whether he should put a stop to the exercise before he traumatized the local blind kid. Sakura would definitely kick his ass into the sun if she found out that he had made her precious student cry. Weighing the pros and cons of attacking a clearly defenseless blind child, Naruto decided to go with his gut –hey, it’s worked perfectly fine for the past twenty-five years of his life, and it’ll probably work now.

‘Yess…’ Kurama hissed menacingly as he rubbed his paws together, ‘Think with your gut. I am your gut.’

‘Yes, gut!’

‘Kick the blind child.’

With confirmation from his gut, Naruto carried on and bulldozed toward the shaking redhead at the end of the training field. Nagato was still cowering, close to crouching down and blocking out the world as his body chose ‘shut down’, instead of fight or flight. Seriously, how did the kid manage to survive in Ame while blind is something Naruto did not understand. He huffed softly before skidding to a stop in front of the kid –kicking down someone who obviously didn’t and couldn’t fight was practically bullying. The only kid Naruto had signed up to bully was Yahiko, and that was because he gave as good as he got.

Honestly, Nagato reminded him of the disabled alley cat that roamed the Akaasan in Konoha. It had been extremely shy and passive for a street animal but people found the obvious missing limb, plucked fur, and scars distasteful. Naruto had liked that cat –he only had fond memories of it since it was the only animal that seemed to want to be around him as a child. Ramen and he were the same like that.

“Nagato! Dodge!” Naruto called out as he took a step back and then went for a running leap at the kid.

The kid squeaked in alarm but was able to dive under, what would have been a devastating tackle for a five-year-old, at the last minute. Naruto went sailing over the kid’s head; he managed to right himself before face-planting and embarrassing himself by dramatically flipping and landing on his feet. Those fox traits were good for something other than being Sasuke and Sakura’s stress toy.

Breathing out a relieved sigh that he hadn’t broken his nose while fighting a defenseless child, Naruto berated himself for being impulsive and decided to think with his head rather than with nothing at all. He easily blocked out the derisive scoff at the back of his mind. Negativity was the killer of all positive vibes and Naruto basically ran on positivity. Turning his attention back on his target, he stalked toward the boy, who was currently trying to lengthen the distance between the two of them.

Nagato was sweating bullets. He could barely scramble away from his crazy guardian, much less move in the slightest as the other kid marched toward himself with a singular goal in mind: to beat Nagato into the ground. He had been paying close attention to Konan and Yahiko, and heard their terrified screams before it was violently cut off. He was sure they were dead and he was next. This is what they got for striking a deal with a shifty stranger, and if Yahiko was to be believed, a perverted one too.

It was everything out of Nagato’s nightmares.

Abruptly sensing a force rushing towards him from his flank, Nagato dived forward, harshly landing on his belly while barely ducking below the chakra monster sailing over his head. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he sank into the dirt below him. The break in his attention was all Naruto needed to palm-strike his torso further into the ground. Nagato didn’t even have time to scream as he gagged on his spit. The air was forced out of his compressed lungs from the attack, leaving him choking and coughing as he tried to not die from the lack of breathing.

Naruto grinned madly, incisors glinting in the morning sun as he took in his work. He had pushed Nagato harder than the other kids, on account of his lack of eyes –the kid was in dire need of some spatial awareness skills if he wanted to fight alongside the others. Naruto dusted off his hands, swiping off the smidgen of dirt smudged across his cheek before skipping toward the downed child. Wordlessly, he heaved the kid off his feet, patting the dirt off his clothes before herding him off to the other kids, who had been watching anxiously on the sidelines.

“Yatta!” Naruto cheered at the tired children, uncaring of the glares they sent his way in response.

The trio’s stamina wasn’t exactly terrible, but it wasn’t very good either which was why they were suffering from his little exercise. Dodging practice contained three goals that it was supposed to train and test: spatial awareness, stamina, and reflexes. At the moment, those three were the most important for basics, especially for kids so young. It was also their youth that made it better for them since training them from such a young age would build a better foundation for when they were older.

As much as Naruto hated this –training these kids for a fight they shouldn’t be a part of – it was for the best. Already, Nagato had been targeted and his eyes were stolen. Yahiko was rearing for war, determined to start and finish one altogether. Konan, such a dearly sweet child, would follow her idiot boys to the ends of the world, even if it meant their deaths. Training the Ame orphans was better for all of them, especially if it meant they lived longer than the versions from their past life.

Naruto shook his head violently then slapped his whiskered cheeks hard enough to leave them red –he needed a clear head when teaching these kids. He was bullshitting his way through this stuff as it was, he didn’t need his morbid thoughts to fuck up his roll. Clearing his throat, Naruto clapped loudly to gather the attention of his gremlins, plus Konan, his grin was particularly terrifying to the kids.

“Alrighty, kiddos! Round 2 starts now!” Naruto shouted eagerly, as he braced his feet against the ground, ready to launch himself at the kids.

They groaned in unison. Yahiko looked like he died yesterday with his announcement while Konan’s eye started twitching slightly, regretting ever waking up in the morning. Nagato was the picture of utter defeat, mimicking tumbleweed like he would drift away aimlessly from a single Uzushio breeze.

Naruto pouted at the overreaction to his training –and he had been going easy on them, “Don’t sweat, it’s a team effort this round, dattebayo!”

The trio brightened up after that, the light so pure and childlike that Naruto couldn’t help himself, “Team effort also means that I get to use a little more power to pound ya into the ground!”

“Now, let’s get down to business!”

The island of Uzushio was filled with screams of terror and the crazed cackles of a maniac for the rest of the day.

Location: Iwagakure - The Land of Earth

Sasuke sighed in frustration as he hit another dead end.

The spy network that he had set up after arriving in the past had been a small, fledging thing. It had been barely worth mentioning. Nothing significant changed in the past year and a half –other than that they had some kind of eyes within the major countries and that was only made possible because of Naruto’s numerous clones.

Clicking his tongue, Sasuke turned and walked away from another potential asset, he gained nothing from the interaction so he wasn’t going to waste any more time around these mongering people. Informants were the backbone of information dealing, especially to the shinobi in times of war and they knew that. It was that power that allowed them to bald-faced refuse and turn away shinobi on the hunt for information. They spoke in the language of money and power –things Sasuke and his teammates currently didn’t have.

Money was a driving force within the faction and with the right price a person could get information on anyone they wanted, from the Daiymo to a gutter rat. But cash was tight everywhere in the Elemental Nations so power had to do in these circumstances. The power through contacts and connections –not just raw power that is – and those were gained through recognition. For shinobi, that status came from whether or not their faces were plastered across the Bingo Books or if they were high-ranked officials with their fingers in many pies.

There was one definite way to solve their current problems and it was something he had brought up to Sakura and Naruto. While they hadn’t agreed, they hadn’t exactly disagreed either on the account of how vulnerable they actually were. They didn’t want to give away their advantage of being functionally unknown in the Elemental Nations. Team 7 had shelved the idea until they were a bit older and Sasuke was willing to do some grinding in the shadows while Naruto kept up the onslaught of clones.

It wasn’t like Sasuke blamed the others for their less-than-enthusiastic attitude toward his idea. Already the future was changing in ways they hadn’t expected and they’d rather not get caught off-guard again so early in the game by adding more variables to the already complicated equation.

Making sure that there was no one around, Sasuke used shunshin to away from the bowels of Iwagakure territory and made a beeline toward the borders of the country. He had hoped to get something on the state of the Iwa through the Akaasan of the village but every informant he had met up with had stubbornly refused to talk. It was a wasted trip on Sasuke’s part with weeks of his time gone down the drain since he had to travel around the borders of Fire Country to get to Earth County –he’d rather not get spotted by an errant Uchiha.

While the thought of using the Sharingan on them had been tempting, Sasuke wasn’t an idiot. That place had been crawling with eyes and any hint of red would have landed him in one of Iwa’s cells without his eyes.

“Shit…” Sasuke cursed under his breath –his exchange had definitely caught someone’s attention. Either that or someone snitched, which wasn’t unlikely.

Sasuke pushed himself to go faster as he switched between shunshining through the trees and running through the rock-clan land. In some ways, the Uchiha missed the Land of Fire with its abundance of trees which was way better than this rock-filled, barren land –no wonder these people were so irritated all the time, picking fights and scurrying for land. Sasuke had lived in a wasteland for seven years and he’d rather die than live in a place similar to that again.

Cursing under his breath, Sasuke cast a wide-area genjutsu before using shunshin to displace himself on a rock that had a higher vantage point. The genjutsu he used was a fairly obvious one, easy to break but able to give Sasuke some room to think about what he needed to do next. He was limited on what he could do because of his small body so he had to buy enough time to figure out whether there were more Iwa-nin coming after him as well as find a way out of this place without killing himself in the process. Naruto wouldn’t appreciate him coming home half-dead again and he’d rather not deal with the redhead’s screeching.

Sasuke readied himself as he felt the genjutsu break and out stepped the Iwa-nin, cocky swagger and all. The shinobi with all the confidence of a person guaranteed their prey without a lick of work and…well, that just made Sasuke even more pissed off. He didn’t bother raising his arms defensively or lowering himself in front of the imbecile –only two people would ever see him like that.

“Well, well, if my eyes ever deceive me!” The Iwa-nin chortled loudly, his shit-colour eyes gleaming with something like greed, “I knew I wasn’t seeing things when I saw an Uchiha brazenly walking through Iwagakure territory.”

‘Fuck, did Naruto’s seal fail halfway through?’ Sasuke bit his lip in contemplation, ‘Even then, I was plenty covered, enough that I wouldn’t have been recognizable when the seal failed…which means that I was being watched from the beginning.’

The Iwa-nin was obviously watching for something on his face because he giggled childishly, the sound was grating and uncomfortable, “Ahh, we’ve had too many spies in recent months for us to not be on guard but I will admit I wouldn’t have caught you if a little rat didn’t tell me.”

The man stared at him for a minutely longer, taking in his very noticeable features with narrow but manic eyes, “Who wouldn’t recognize the spawn of those red-eyed bastards?! Though, I wonder why one so young is in enemy territory.”

Unintentionally, Sasuke stiffened at the man’s thought process. The Iwa-nin picked up on it if his gleeful grin was anything to go by, “Those tree-huggers like to preach peace and love and all that bullshit as if they’re above the rest of us…but they also send children into battle and the only way for an Uchiha kid to grace the battlefield is if they’re wielding those fancy red eyes.”

The Iwa-nin stalked toward Sasuke’s position, a kunai in hand and hunger haunting his eyes, “Why don’t you show those pretty eyes of yours so that I can rip them out.”

Sasuke bared his teeth in response as crimson red dyed his uncovered eye, the pattern showcasing the three-tomoe rather than the Mangekyou which caused the Iwa-nin to grin widely. His right foot slid back as he prepared himself for a fight with the other shinobi while the other raised the kunai upwards for a potential strike to the throat. Sasuke swallowed dryly, his eye narrowed in on his target as he moved to attack to which the other responded in kind with surety by shooting towards him at full speed, gunning for first blood.

“UrGHH--!”

The Iwa-nin was forcefully halted in his tracks by a lighting-coated hand through the chest. Another Sasuke was standing behind the shinobi with his arm piercing the man’s torso with a blasé look on his cherubic face. The drips of blood from the crimson-coated limb landing on the rocky landscape were the only sound in the vast area, alongside the choked breaths and gasps from the victim of the attack. The original Sasuke let out a sigh of relief before sending a tired glare to his clone who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

“You were taking your sweet time, weren’t you?” Sasuke clicked his teeth as he spoke to his clone.

The clone scoffed in response to his words, “Weren’t you supposed to play decoy? All you were doing was staring dumbly while he announced that he was going to RIP OUT OUR EYES!”

Sasuke sniffed hauntingly before crossing his arms and turning his head. “He talked enough for the both of us so what’s the use.”

The clone rolled their eyes while snidely commenting on his uptight Uchiha genes being multiplied by a hundred since he was basically an incest baby. In a mature manner, befitting his actual adult age, Sasuke stuck out his tongue in response before giving his clone the cold shoulder. Instead, he sauntered towards the barely conscious Iwa-nin with only one intention in mind.

The Iwagakure shinobi’s suspended death was only maintained through the clone being arm-deep in his guts otherwise, he would have instantly bled out after the attack. His vision was blurred around the edges, slowly merging with the dimming lights but he was still able to make out that demon child with those demonic eyes of his coming closer. The Iwa-nin began struggling hopelessly, using whatever energy or will to live he had left in an attempt to get away. It was a futile effort at best. If the Iwa-nin did manage to extract the arm from his body, all of the blood would spurt out of his body like a burst pipe, killing him instantly.

Fuck-! But the Iwa-nin knew that would be better than whatever fucked up shit that spawn of the devil would do to him. He had heard the horror stories from veterans or shinobi that barely managed to survive with their lives intact –those devilish red eyes of those demons that showed them horrible things and did horrible things to them. Fuck, if he was going out like that!

In all the Iwa-nin’s contemplation of death and finality, Sasuke had made it to the talking corpse, spiraled red eye shining maliciously as he advanced like death itself. Grabbing a hold of the dead man’s face, he forced the Iwa-nin to look into his eye while the man harshly shook his head from side to side, eyes closed shut tightly and face pinched in fear and panic. Sasuke motioned for his clone to pry the man’s eyes open, which he gladly did and then he went to work. He dove into the man’s mind, seeking the information regarding his failed infiltration and the supposed rat the man had mentioned earlier –only to find something worse. Sasuke clicked his tongue, grimacing in disgust which caused his clone to jolt in surprise before he started firing questions his way. He didn’t deign to answer and instead continued to scour the man’s mind, making the entire process as painful as possible.

‘Hmm…seems like Iwagakure wants to end the war because of the massive losses on their side.’ Sasuke hummed in thought as he recalled the history taught to the Konaha Academy students surrounding the Second Shinobi War. It wasn’t unlikely that Danzo had his grimy old wrinkled fingers in the prolonging of the war, in addition to the Third Shinobi War. ‘Konoha isn’t losing as much as the other nations, especially not Suna and Ame.’

“This really is just Konaha’s War, huh,” Sasuke muttered derisively under his breath.

“Well, is a squadron of Iwa-nin going to ambush us or not?” His clone inquired slightly impatient, he wanted his arm back from the shinobi, preferably not blood stained but they couldn’t have everything they wanted.

Sasuke snorted at his clone’s attitude before retreating from the man’s mind without a second glance. The Iwa-nin slumped over, frothing at the mouth slightly with dull eyes before his body completely collapsed in a heap of blood on the ground. His clone stared at the blood-covered arm with revulsion and then tried to get rid of the excess fluid by shaking and swiping his arm from left to right.

“So, what did you find?” His clone questioned as he fruitlessly attempted to clean himself up –Sasuke didn’t know why he bothered, especially when he was just going to dispel the clone anyway.

Sasuke bit his lip harshly as he remembered the true purpose of that man following him. The Sharingan, he would admit, had its downsides with the photographic memory and this was one of them. Sasuke pushed away those horrible memories and responded, “He had a particular…inclination towards children and saw us as an easy target before switching gears when he saw the eyes.”

The clone grimaced at his words, moving forward to award the corpse of the despicable man a savage kick to the groin, “Fuck, Naruto would have beaten him black and blue for that before killing him.”

Sasuke smiled softly –and a little dumbly –at the mention of his lover.

“Shit, we do smile like a goofy ass whenever that deadlast’s name is brought up.”

Sasuke’s smile dropped from his face.

The clone gasped in offense, clutching at his chest as if he had been fatally shot, “Sakura was fucking right and I probably owe her some money for this now. The extortionist piece of shit definitely knew- fuck.”

Sasuke was unwilling to deal with his clone’s shit at the moment so he dispelled the other before turning his attention to the dead scum at the feet. Instantly the corpse was enveloped in purplish-black flames, quickly eating away at flesh and bone and leaving nary a hint of the existence of the disgusting man. Blood gathered at the bottom of his exposed eye, falling over and running down his cheek, leaving a streak of dark red in its wake. Once Sasuke was sure there wasn’t anything left, he quickly closed his eye with a loud groan. The pain radiating from his head and eyes made him dizzy enough to see double, but not enough to faint –truly this body was a burden.

When Sasuke felt stable to a certain degree, he walked over to the remnants of the Iwa-nin to make sure not even a speck of the man’s hair was left behind. He was confident in his ability to use and control Amaterasu but this tiny body of his proved unable to handle to powerful attack which would have definitely affected his use of his dojutsu. Sasuke scraped his sandal over the scorched earth and began mixing the surrounding dirt with the burnt land. As much as he would like to say that his overreaction came from the fact that he didn’t want anyone to find out anything regarding the scummy Iwa-nin, it was actually because Sasuke didn’t want any connection leading back to him.

While Sasuke wasn’t worried too much about anyone finding out someone was in Iwagakure territory, killing off their soldiers –he was more worried that people would find out that an Uchiha was in Iwagakure territory, killing off their soldiers. It would be traced back to Konoha, and while Sasuke had no love for his old village, he’d rather not have his presence cause an extension in the war. Iwagakure would use him as a provocation to continue the war even if they were losing which would put a wrench in their plans and change the coming years. Also, Konoha would be alerted to a potentially rogue Uchiha with an activated Sharingan infiltrating villages and hunt him to the end of his days. The Uchiha Clan prided themselves on knowing and recording all their dojutsu users and having a rogue Sharingan user running amok would send all of them into hysteria.

Sasuke sighed tiredly, he was already exhausted and it wasn’t even the middle of the day yet. He wondered how Naruto and Sakura and their band of gremlins doing. Hopefully, it was much better than him because he was ready in to throw in the towel, especially when he could still vividly remember all that Iwa-nin’s thoughts regarding Sasuke. In all honesty, Sasuke thought he was being irrationally worried about someone finding the revolting man. After all, no one would miss the paedophilic man.

“Alright…” Sasuke puffed out a sigh as he straightened and prepared himself for a long journey to the other side of the world, “Off to Sora-Ku I go.”

Location: Mountain’s Graveyard

Madara wheezed softly, the sound rattling lightly in his chest as he lost himself in the haze of the Eye in the Moon Plan. The days were few and far in between grief and anger as he dreamed of a perfect world, filled with peace, where his brother was alive and happy and not dead in his grave. He could feel himself withering away, even with Hashirama’s cells keeping him alive –just barely. Yet still, Madara hung on because he had to see their dream come true. He would see Izuna and Hashirama and their family again, alive and well and living in peace.

His musings were abruptly ended when the split-dye plant matter, Zetsu, made his presence known as it slithered its way toward him with a screwed-up look on its face. Immobilized as he was, Madara wasn’t able to turn away from the plant and was, instead, forced to face its scrunched expression while preparing himself for the eventual delivery of bad news.

“We have a problem, Madara-sama.” Zetsu muttered impassively –his expression gave away his displeasure.

Madara just hummed in answer before gesturing, with a nod of his head, to continue.

“The Rinnegan and the child are missing.”

All sound seemed to still be in the cave.

The drips of the water ceded falling from the stalagmites of the cave. The skittering critters halted their movement as if sensing the hostile mood. The mild draft from earlier had come to a standstill like the wind had changed directions so that it wouldn’t come into contact with the dour atmosphere.

“Is it related to that event?” Madara rasped out softly.

That event to which Madara was referring to involved a very daring shinobi using multiple clones of different people to spy on him. While all had been dealt with, the fact that someone was in this area, by this cave, didn’t spell anything good for them or their plans.

Zetsu blinked, undaunted by the seething anger in the Uchiha. “Possibly but it is hard to say.”

Possibility, indeed.

Anomalies had begun that day and now…his Rinnegan and the Uzumaki child were missing.

“The Rinnegan must be retrieved at all costs, Zetsu.” Madara settled on saying.

“We can find another Uzumaki child if need be.”

Zetsu bowed deferentially to the Uchiha Patriarch.

There was frustration and anger swimming in those glowing yellow eyes –not that Madara could see, blinded as he was by his own anger.

Zetsu did not like being undermined.

“Yes, Madara-sama.”

Location: Unknown

A dark chuckle left thin lips as they raised the jar higher, enough that the sun reflected off the surface of the glass, mostly concealing the contents.

But not enough.

Ringed purple floated gently in the sloshing liquid as the jar was delicately placed into a secure scroll and hidden away from the world.

It wasn’t the right time.

No.

Not yet.