Konoha : Naruto's playground

She squeezed his shoulders gently as she gazed down softly upon his unruly golden hair. He looked so small and weak, a shadow of the strong individual he had become these past six years. It was unfortunate that she had no presence in his life since the time they had spent together but she deserved every punishment that came her way, if only to atone for the sins of her blood.

He slowly reached up and pushed her arms away, feverishly extracting himself from her grip as if it were burning him by the slightest of touches. At first she grew alarmed; had she held him too tight that he had been hurt? She searched for his gaze, desperately seeking to confirm his security but he moved his head to the side. He turned slowly, his breath hitching in his throat, loud in the uneasy silence filling the clearing. Slowly, he walked away, his gait unmeasured causing him to stumble every few steps. She reached her hand out to touch him, to call him back from the darkness that seemed to envelop him. It was like their last meeting all over again, just with different circumstances.

"In truth, you should be dead."

Her hand froze in mid-air. She couldn't grasp him, she couldn't welcome him into the warmth of her home that she knew he needed. What kind of a friend was she?

"You are a murderer from a clan of murderers. We knew of your movements since the time of the Nidaime..."

She had no right to touch him; she was unworthy of his attention or his presence. Minato would be so very displeased with her were he alive.

She told herself to be strong, to show her strength of will to the rest of the world just as he did. He who had the heaviest of burdens placed upon his young shoulders and it was all...all...

"...all your fault..."

Uchiha Mikoto sighed as she leaned against the wall, her obsidian hair falling in front of her face. Her pink and blue apron rustled as she raised her left hand to brush the odd carrot slices from the edge of her chopping-board and into the saucepan that was boiling gently on the stove. Yesterday had been a nightmare, a reminder of the things she should never have done, the things she should have done and the things she would never be able to do.

She was pitiful, a disgrace to the Uchiha name compared to her eldest son. Bereft of her dreams and the symbols of her loyalty, she remained as a simple memory of things that she really ought to have forgotten.

But she couldn't forget, not now, not ever. She had been successful as a Jounin, one of the deadliest Ninjutsu users to bless the ranks of Konoha before the rise of Hatake Kakashi. If she hadn't been so stupid maybe she would still hold the prestige and honour that used to be associated with the mere mention of her name.

Maybe she could have adopted him.

She had opened her eyes to the white ceiling of Konoha Central Hospital. When she had mustered the strength to push herself upright, her blood had frozen from the simple presence of the man looking at her with eyes a mixture of contempt and disappointment.

"Uchiha Mikoto...ex-Jounin of Konoha, it pains me that I order the removal of your hitai-ate."

She complied, her arms stiff as she fumbled with the ends hanging from the back of her neck. In her anxiety, the cloth fell through her sweaty palms and landed with a small 'thunk!' on the tiled white floor of her room. Sarutobi didn't wait for her to pick it up.

"I shall be quick. In truth you should be dead."

She looked up distantly as if expecting a death sentence to escape his lips at any moment. She had no excuse, nothing to fall back on and she knew that in her state there was absolutely no chance of her overpowering the Hokage in this situation. A stab of guilt rocked her body just by thinking about it.

"I confess that I am confused...confused and distressed that you who showed such promise, would cooperate with a coup d'état. You are a murderer from a clan of murderers. We knew of your treasonous movements since the time of the Nidaime."

Idly, she thought, she shouldn't be surprised by the hollow voice that the usually kind leader addressed her with. The Uchiha's plot had failed, her family had been destroyed and she would be left to face the backlash of their foolishness. It hurt.

It hurt that the one to foil their plan was her own son. Itachi loved the Village more than she did.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, the shock of finding herself alive too great for her mind to withstand. She briefly entertained the idea of Survivor's Guilt and yet it was so obscenely disgusting to her mind that she immediately buried it under her thoughts. She wanted to die, welcomed it, and yet she would be forced to live a decrepit existence without her children or husband. Sarutobi wouldn't execute her otherwise he wouldn't have wasted his time talking. From her experience he was pragmatic to a fault.

"YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND THE FULL CONSEQUENCE OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"

She shrank back from his barking shout; the wide-brimmed hat perched on his head fell to the ground in his anger. What could she say?

The Sandaime turned his back on her, dismissing her as if she had riled him by her presence. She probably had; she was a traitor after all.

"Itachi was ordered to exterminate the whole of the Uchiha clan. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

She gasped. He had let her live! But that means-

"I will allow his wish to remain. You and Sasuke are alive. You will have all rights as an ex-Shinobi revoked and you will remain in the Uchiha Complex."

SASUKE! He was alive!

She sobbed, tears falling fast and hard at the crushing guilt that swept through her veins. She had no right...no right to be alive. She could only thank God that her youngest son wasn't harmed.

"It seems he knew the situation better than I..."

Her bloodshot, streaming eyes attempted to focus on his hunched form as he seemed to sag whilst gazing from the window.

"...So unfortunate that Naruto-kun was caught in your stupidity. Make no mistake..."

"This was your entire fault."

He swept his cloak around him, fluidly bending and snagging the edge of the head gear that denoted his station and headed towards the door. His statement clicked in her mind just as he pulled the door to her room open. A choked sob tore from her throat as he looked contemptuously over his right shoulder at the wide-eyes boring into his head.

"Uzumaki Naruto was caught in the crossfire, the bloodshed that was caused by the lunatics of your family in which even you played a part. He has been left bedridden, the state of his mind unknown. Consider your actions now that you know what happened."

The door snapped shut with an echoing finality.

She glanced down at her index finger that had been nicked by the knife in her hand. It was a thin cut, nothing that could harm her at all. She watched in grotesque fascination as the red liquid of life bubbled up from the wound. All that remained for her were the nostalgic moments that flashed irregularly through her mind. Brief moments of déjà vu when she encountered something that reminded her of days long gone. She had been mistaken; a fool to follow the fools of her clan. A pitiful wife that followed her husband almost to his grave because of his inferiority complex and the weakness of his mind. Maybe she would have reacted differently over time if Hiruzen hadn't thought it necessary to inform her of that fact. Maybe she would have sought revenge on the Village that took her family from her...

She knew she would never do that, not when Naruto had been a victim of something that had absolutely nothing to do with him. She felt bile rise in her throat, wooziness descending over her like a cloud of fog.

Her memories...how she hated them.

"You BRAT! How dare you steal Henaro's toys?! No dinner for you tonight!"

"But she's lyin'! I swear I never took any of her 'tupid toys!"

A depressed child sitting on a weathered balcony two floors up from the ground. He was too young to be looking up at the sky with that expression.

She remembered the white-hot anger that had risen in her chest at the sight of a child being treated in such a way. Her own four year old would have been crying and clutching at the hem of her skirt if anything like this had happened to him and yet he was sitting there with a blank face as if it didn't hurt him at all.

She knew better though; he was definitely crying...crying inside.

"Youkou-chan?"

He had looked up, his eyes glittering and shifting slightly like the depths of the ocean. Her heart trembled in her chest. He was a beautiful child, the rightful heir of one so strong and his eyes were a testament to his existence. How could anyone refuse him? She remembered thinking of the deep pond to the side of the Uchiha estate; the way the surface shifted slightly in the breeze, small shafts of light driving through the light blue liquid like arrows. His eyes...

Were dead.

She had almost recoiled, only just managing to stop herself when she subconsciously realised what the child may think had it happened. It was as if he saw the world through bars, like he was the prisoner instead of the jailor. If she would curse Minato and Kushina for something, it would be this.

"Youkou-chan, don't cry..."

He wasn't crying.

"I-I'm not cryi-"

"Shhhh."

She had jumped to the railing, crouching down in front of his small form to hug him to her body. Her hand automatically went to his head to stroke the soft locks of his blond hair just like she always did to Itachi and Sasuke.

"Hey, don't cry Youkou-chan! It's a big world out there and I like you, see?"

He'd clung to her like she was his bastion, his final lifeline in a world he was drowning in. He began to shiver slightly and it had nothing to do with the temperature of the night. Mikoto had closed her eyes slowly, pulling him closer as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"I know I said don't cry...but go on...it's alright to cry."

They had remained like that for about an hour, a mother holding a child in a comforting embrace. Her anger had festered, smouldering deep within her soul as she witnessed the four year old child weep unrelentingly. A child should never cry for more than a few minutes.

Never.

The next day she had lost it, storming into the orphanage and threatening them as the Matriarch of the Uchiha clan. She had never regretted hanging up her Jounin vest until then; how she had wished she could stick a Kunai between the beady eyes of the Orphanage manager.

She was no stranger to fear, she had feared so many things in her life. When she had received the missive from the ANBU that her nephew had returned in a coma she had almost lost it again. Sending Sasuke ahead of her, she proceeded to rush to the Hokage tower to understand the situation. When she had arrived, sweating and panting from the sudden exercise, Sarutobi had looked at her with the same eyes as that day. She almost broke down again from what that glance must have meant.

By the time she arrived at the hospital there wasn't a single person in Shisui's enclosure. The sight of her proud nephew reduced to a pallid, unmoving shell froze her heart. Where had Sasuke gone? Did he know that Naruto had been his teammate on the mission? Given the two children's prior interaction, he would no doubt try to blame the Uzumaki heir in some way. Her breath had caught in her throat as she put two-and-two together. Naruto would blame himself and Sasuke would only make it worse.

For a moment she couldn't move, her legs and arms refused to respond to her will. When she had burst into motion, the doubts in her mind had disappeared.

She didn't know how much Shisui actually knew of the events of that day, the monumental farce that had caused an entire clan bar four to disappear in the space of a single night. It was almost incomprehensible and yet she thought she caught a few hints, sometimes at the dinner table or other times when passing him in the corridor. Sometimes he would look at her with a peculiar expression in his eyes; a guarded, calculating stare almost as if he were searching her heart for the darkest secrets of the Uchiha clan. The first thing she had done to protect the family she had left, was to destroy the Nankino Shrine, the place where the rebellion had begun.

He was a clever boy, far more intelligent than his family had given him credit for. He had matched Itachi blow-for-blow throughout their entire life, emerging as a legend alongside his best friend; the two most feared Uchiha to appear in Konoha in their generation. It was possible that he had figured much of the detail out by himself and when the time came, she didn't know how she would face him.

Deep down, she felt a flash of relief at his comatose state and she felt guilty for it. Her eyes remained out of focus as she stirred the pot of food unconsciously.

But that was all gone now. As she said...

All in the past.

XXXXXXXX

Naruto awoke grumpily, cursing at the sun for shining through his decidedly thin curtains as it rose gracefully into the sky. His mind was foggy and he couldn't bring himself to remember the events of the previous day. It was almost as if he didn't want to remember them, but that couldn't be right, could it?

Groaning loudly, he swung his feet off the side of his bed and balanced lethargically on the cold laminate. Stretching languidly, he cracked his neck to both sides and set off for the bathroom. His morning routine went by so fast that before he knew it he was at his dining table with a carton of milk and a hot-buttered toast. The sparse breakfast disappeared just as quickly as it came and the thought of the bread tasting oddly of sand drifted through his mind. After washing up and getting dressed, he decided to spend the day training as he had nothing better to do with his time. He couldn't bring himself to face Shisui in his state and the sight of his other two Jounin friends brought an acidic taste to his mouth. He would just have to avoid them today.

As he stepped out into the mid-morning sun, the heat already raising enough to make him feel clammy, he locked his apartment door behind him and turned to the stairs facing the Hokage Monument.

He froze.

Floating high in the sky, a message scrawled in a yellowy substance hung over the heads built into the rock. His mind crashed and rebooted about three times before the contents managed to get through to him.

UZUMAKI NARUTO

TODAY I WILL DEFEAT YOU

SABAKU NO GAARA

'What the...'

BOOM!

The balcony crumbled from under him in a shower of sand and dirt. Reflexively, Naruto swung his Ryu-Zashi from his back and slammed them into the cement wall next to his door so that he wouldn't fall. His head snapped up to the landing at the top of the building where he had felt a small flicker of Chakra announcing the presence of whoever had decided to declare war with the prank-master of Konoha.

"GAARA!"

The red-headed sand-nin stood with his arms folded and his emerald eyes closed. The light from the sun presented an almost noble image but Naruto knew better.

His sand was vibrating.

"...So that's how it is, huh? This is how ya' greet me after all these years?"

Gaara cracked a single eye open slightly, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly as if he was trying to smile. It was an improvement; the last time they had met Naruto could never tell when his friend was happy unless his sand was laughing. What was up with all of his friends? They were all crazy!

Who the hell laughs by making the sand he controls vibrate?!

"Uzumaki Naruto...how have you been."

"Gaara, when you ask a friggin' question, you make it sound like one."

Gaara tilted his head to the side in slight confusion. His jaw worked slightly as if he was testing the words in his mouth before he asked them. Naruto sighed in his mind. He was socially inept too.

"Uzumaki Naruto. How...have you been?!"

Naruto sweat-dropped.

"Err...You made it sound like you were shocked at something else..."

The Shukaku Jinchuuriki hummed lowly before striking his pose once again.

"Uzumaki Naruto! How have you BEEN?"

Cue face-palm. That was a feat, especially whilst hanging from the side of a building with no support underneath him.

"Look, forget it! I'm great, now can you put the ground back so I don't fall any minute now?"

It wasn't really a question but Naruto asked merely to uphold the etiquette of the conversation. Anko would have snorted and asked if he ever had any etiquette anyway.

"No."

"What?!"

Gaara looked down at his blond friend and it was at that moment that Naruto realised just how far the red-head had come. His eyes used to be dull and lifeless. He used to stare out at the world as if he wasn't actually seeing anything around him. He would mutter to himself at irregular moments and would take hostility to things that appeared normal to anyone else. One of Naruto's worst memories of his adventure beyond the gates of Konoha had been the day Gaara had killed so easily thinking it was a prank. Naruto had by no means been a stranger to death at that point, but he shivered at the thought of someone his age being able to do that sort of thing without any qualms.

Gaara's eyes positively shone with mirth as he looked down from his vantage point. The light from the sun cast the rest of him in shadows and so the effect was only amplified as the only light source in that area. Naruto broke into a grin slowly.

"Heh...you know what you're gettin' yourself into, right?"

The sand-nin's eyes twinkled.

The Konoha Jinchuuriki sighed good-naturedly. Pushing Wind Chakra to his arms, he flipped and landed sideways on the wall before springing up into the air. He bent his knees as he landed softly, sheathing his Wakizashi in a smooth movement.

"You're on! Remember this is war. There's only one rule: don't get other people caught up, see?"

Gaara nodded slightly.

"How was your breakfast of sand?"

Naruto's eyes widened and he gagged, coughing and spluttering to rid his mouth of the dusty taste in his mouth. Gaara made an odd coughing noise, almost as if he had squirted juice up his nose as someone told a joke. He jumped away as fast as he can, reshaping the block's balcony at the same time.

The War was on!

XXXXXXX

"So, Naruto-kun attacked you?"

The two Genin teams and their Sensei stood rigidly in front of the desk of their venerable leader, some looking visibly startled at the familiarity the Sandaime had mentioned the blond brat's name. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of his superior as the others turned to discern his answer before he actually spoke.

"No I-"

"Hokage-Sama! 'Ruto would never do somethin' like that! You know as well as me an' 'Kashi what that would mean to him!"

Sarutobi regarded the Tokubetsu Jounin sternly. It was true that what Yuuhi Kurenai had related with regard to yesterday's activity had a veritable number of holes in it and yet he couldn't remove the nagging feeling that there was much more at stake here.

"Indeed, I feel that Naruto-kun would never attack an innocent no matter how much he despised them. Yuuhi-san, if I may, what exactly happened before Sasuke appeared in the clearing where Team 8 was training?"

The pale Genjutsu-mistress shook her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as she understood what the Sandaime was implying with his question.

"I don't know Hokage-Sama. Team 8 and I only witnessed what happened after Sasuke was thrown into the training area."

Sarutobi flicked the end of his pipe with the nail of his index finger sending a small spark and a cloud of ash into the air.

"Then you were not aware of Naruto-kun's apprehending of a spy within our walls a few minutes before?"

All three Jounin's eyes widened in shock. Hiruzen smiled thinly at their reaction and decided to inform them of what had happened later. For now, Sasuke had to answer his first question.

"Uchiha-san."

Sasuke's head whipped up at the authoritative voice addressed to him.

"H-HAI!"

"Did Naruto-kun really attack you?"

Sasuke began to sweat heavily as all eyes turned his way this time a few of them held uncertainty in their gazes.

"I...I- No, Sandaime-Sama...I attacked him."

The elder Hokage leaned back in his chair with a sort-of triumphant expression on his lips whilst Kakashi and Anko visibly angered. Kurenai looked aghast at what the implications of such an action may be whilst his contemporaries simply stood uncomprehendingly in the midst of it all. Inwardly, the Uchiha Survivor sighed. There was no point in hiding it now; after the flashpoint with his mother last night, there was no way he could justify what he had done.

"And why, may I ask, did a Genin, a registered Shinobi of Konoha feel the need for hostility against a civilian?"

Sasuke's face flushed at the hidden barb. Civilian? Him?! There was no way that blond idiot could possibly be considered a civilian! He was far stronger than most Shinobi, let alone Civilians! He opened his mouth to retort without thinking of who he was speaking with only to be cut off by his one-eyed Sensei.

"Sasuke."

It was a quiet reminder of where the power lay in the room. He sucked in his breath and made a visible attempt to calm his rampant emotions.

"I heard that he was involved in Shisui-niisan's mission at that it was his fault that he got injured so badly."

Kakashi and Anko looked at him in shock. Everyone else had no idea what the conversation was about after that statement.

"What?! How the hell did you come up with that?!"

Sasuke turned frantic eyes on the purple-haired Jounin.

"I heard Sensei speaking in the hospital and he said it was his fault!"

Kakashi strode over, pulled out a spoon and stuck it up his butt. Sasuke yelped in pain and flopped to the ground as he desperately tried to pull the cutlery from his posterior. Anko gagged on her tongue in an effort to stop laughing and the rest of the audience stared at the scene as if Kakashi had just announced that he was actually a monkey in disguise.

'Mind you, ´ Kurenai thought, 'add a bit of hair here and there and he could probably pass off as one...'

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! WHY'D YOU DO THAT TO SASUKE-KUN?! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT SPOON FROM ANYWAY?!"

Kurenai winced from the volume with which the pink-haired Haruno decided to use and yet she couldn't help agreeing with the last question.

Where did he pull that spoon from?

Sarutobi coughed lightly, obviously trying to cover his chuckling but getting their attention at the same time.

"Sasuke, that was a very foolish thing to do. However, I will let your actions slide as I'm sure the news must have affected you greatly."

Anko slammed her hands down at the front of the desk, the wood creaking from the force. Sarutobi returned her furious gaze calmly.

"What the hell is that?! Do you know how much pain he's in?! Have you ever seen him cry before Hokage-Sama?! You're the one who he calls 'Jiji', so have you ever seen that kid cry in the years you've known him?!"

Kakashi remained oddly impassive and Kurenai could only wonder why Anko had risen in such a way. Why hadn't Kakashi stopped her from shouting at the Hokage and why was she shouting for that matter? She knew that Anko saw the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki regularly but she didn't know that they were so close as to warrant such a defence.

"You know, when I was trainin' him, one day I stuck a Kunai into his shoulder as we were sparrin' and I kinda dragged it all the way down his arm by the way I was movin'. He didn't let out a sound..."

Anko turned and stomped towards the door, Kakashi and Sarutobi had their heads bowed and she couldn't see what their emotions were like. There was a Chuunin Exam meeting coming up and Anko was the Second Exam's Examiner, she couldn't leave now!

"Anko! We have a meeting after this! Where are you going?"

She didn't stop, but she muttered her reply as she continued out the door.

"Then I'll flippin' wait outside..."

Kurenai sighed. Anko was such a difficult person to deal with. She did enjoy hanging around with her when she had the time, but when she got worked up it was like watching a bull slam itself against the bars of its cage.

All eyes were drawn to the window as a muffled boom echoed throughout the room. The ground shook furiously for about three seconds before dying down. The occupants could only stare in shock and horror as a wave of sand rose up on the West side of town only to crash heavily into the ground causing another earthquake. A cloud of smoke floated over the area lazily until it was blown out of the way when the top half of a building exploded in a mushroom of brick and dirt.

Kiba put it best.

"What the...hell was that?"

XXXXXXX

Naruto laughed uproariously as Gaara was trapped for the second time on one of his sticky seals he'd planted for that exact reason. A small 'Ping!' echoed through the trees as a variety of paint bombs and other assorted pranks descended on the sand-nin's head. Gaara's Sand rose up automatically to cover his head and the liquid splattered all over his defence.

"Heh, I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

The Ichibi's Jinchuuriki looked up in shock as his sand suddenly dropped from ontop of him and rolled down the side of his head leaving a long, gooey line of something trailing down his body. It seemed as if the weight of the liquid caused his Chakra Control to unbalance and so it could no longer remain airborne.

Clever.

Naruto disappeared cackling as Gaara pulverised the seal etched to the ground with his sand. Standing, he wiped the sludge from his forehead and looked around slowly. There was no telling when the blond prank-master from hell would attack next.

"Gaara! HEY GAARA!"

The red-head turned to the sight of his two siblings jogging towards him.

"There you are! What are you doing out here?!"

Gaara stared at them emotionlessly for a moment. Whipping his hands out, he summoned one of his secret techniques into the palm of his outstretched appendages.

"I have puppets."

Temari screamed whilst Kankurou jumped almost a foot into the air. His sand began to vibrate.

"Y-You...DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

VRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Two perfectly round pellets of Omni-Paint came shooting from the air and cracked the new arrivals on their heads. They were quickly followed by a gout of water that drenched them from head –to-toe and caused the pellets to expand and change colour as they mixed. Gaara's sand vibrated ferociously as he stood contemplating the scene.

"W-Wha-"

"W-who-"

Temari and Kankurou blinked as they watched their youngest brother turn to the trees and address someone hidden.

"Nice choice of colours, Uzumaki Naruto."

A barking laugh floated down from the trees of Training Ground fourty-two, the area the prank war had moved to after devastating a large majority of the Village. Naruto had learned to his expense that the ground and windows were bad places to balance on when facing his friend; Glass was made of sand after all and the ground had to have a large quantity of the yellow granules stored within it.

Of course the Villagers themselves weren't spared from the fun. One unfortunate man found that his pants were very itchy whilst a group of shoppers suddenly found themselves drenched with a strange, sticky liquid that smelt oddly of a mixture between Ketchup and Sea-Food sauce.

Gaara made to jump into the trees when he found himself stuck to the ground. He glanced down to find his feet encased in a wobbly, pink substance.

"Is that...jelly?"

"MUHAHAHAHAHA! NEVER MESS WITH THE PRANK-KING UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

"I yield."

"TOO LATE FOR THAT GAARA! TAKE THIS!"

The Jinchuuriki of the Shukaku made a small 'Eep!' before he was buried up to his neck in bright yellowy-green bird feathers. They stuck to the paint and moisture from all the previous pranks and Gaara resembled a very strange bird if there was even one like it. Naruto landed gracefully between his two siblings and Gaara himself looking untouched.

"Wait...THAT'S Uzumaki Naruto?! THE Uzumaki Naruto?!"

Naruto nodded proudly as he thumped his chest.

"There's only one Uzumaki Naruto and you ain't me!"

Kankurou and Temari stared in abject shock as Gaara systematically preened himself from the tickling feathers covering his extremities.

"So, who're you?"

Kankurou replied in a dazed voice.

"Kankurou and Temari...we're Gaara's family..."

"Kankurou and Temari? Hmmm, is that some kind of circus?"

He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"I'm sure I must've seen a poster somewhere or somethin'...you guys use those girly puppets right?"

Temari sniggered next to him as the puppeteer attempted to defend his pride.

"Oi! Temari! Shut up! You're covered in paint too!"

Needless to say, her mouth snapped shut straight away.

"Oh, heh...about that...want me to get rid of it?"

"RIGHT NOW!"

Naruto cocked an innocent eyebrow as he began forming handseals.

"Alright! But remember, you asked me to!"

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

A weak water dragon blossomed from his mouth and collided with the pair sending them skidding away through the sludge under their feet. Naruto waved after them before turning to his friend.

"So what you doin' out here Gaara? I didn't know Suna Shinobi were allowed to leave whenever they wanted!"

Gaara flicked his hand sending a glob of paint and gunge into a patch of long grass at the base of a large tree. He shook his head as he looked up slowly.

"We are not here of our own volition."

"Volly-what?!"

Gaara smiled internally; at least his vocabulary was better!

"We came for the Chuunin Exams."

Naruto 'Ohhhhed!' before pausing.

"Err...when's that?"

Gaara almost sweat-dropped.

"It starts tomorrow."

The Konoha Civilian grinned brightly as he nodded his understanding. He plodded over to his friend and threw an arm over his shoulder. Gaara reflexively leaned out of the way and started off without him. Naruto chuckled and jogged to keep pace.

"So how've you been?"

"He's been fine."

Naruto spun on his heel, his arms thrown outwards from the movement. Kankurou and Temari stood at the base of a tree behind them. Temari had her eyes closed as if contemplating something. Naruto took in their clean appearance with a critical eye. Temari was obviously older; her hair was pulled into four pig-tails arranged in a bunch at the back of her head. Her eyes were a light shade of grey when she opened them to look into his curious eyes. She smiled slightly and bobbed her head in acknowledgement and Naruto returned the gesture. Kankuorou's eyes were much smaller than his siblings', his hair concealed by the top of a strange, black one-piece suit that stuck up where the ears of an animal would usually be. Two purple lines of paint stretched from under his eyes and disappeared beneath his garb at sideburn level whilst another line ran from the centre of his forehead to under his chin. He grinned at the blond and Naruto waved.

They jumped forward, Temari light-purple skirt rustled as they landed on either side of the blond. Kankurou wrapped an arm around his neck whilst Temari hugged him from behind.

"Wh-What-"

"Thank you."

They both whispered into his ear, so quietly that he could have mistaken it for the wind. His head whipped from side-to-side as he struggled to comprehend what was happening.

"He talks about you all the time, you know. We don't know when you came to Suna, but you really helped us out."

Naruto ducked his head in embarrassment as Temari squeezed him slightly and Kankurou slapped him on the back.

"Hey, so are you really one of those puppet-actor thingies?"

Temari broke off laughing and Naruto had to lean to the side to avoid a swipe from the boy's arm.

"Hahahahahah! The funniest thing is that he actually is a puppeteer too!"

"Shut up, nee-san!"

Naruto laughed along with them but tensed as an ANBU agent appeared barring their way alongside Kakashi and Anko. Naruto avoided the two Jounin's eyes as he faced the elite operative.

"Uzuki-san! What's up?"

The mask stared back at him as if in exasperation. He couldn't really tell, but her body language spoke for itself.

"Hey, hey! Everyone knew who you were when your Bunshin popped back then! It was so obvious that you weren't actually with us the whole time!"

Anko snorted and the elegant ANBU agent didn't take her eyes from her quarry.

"Uzumaki-san, I implore that you weren't part of the travesties in the Village today."

The two friends glanced at each other.

"SCATTER!"

All four of them jumped away but Yuugao, Anko and Kakashi grabbed Naruto before he could get any further. He pouted at the headlock courtesy of a certain snake-mistress.

"Hey! No fair! You ganged up on me!"

Yuugao sighed behind her mask.

"Life is rarely fair Naruto. Sandaime-Sama wants a word with you that's all."

"Hey! You called me Naruto!"

Kakashi coughed into his mask and Anko's body trembled as they took off towards the most important building of Konoha. He was so innocently guilty that she couldn't help but love him. She was sure that Kakashi and Shisui felt the same and their patchwork family was held together by his presence. She doubted that they would have been anything more than passing acquaintances if it wasn't for the blond-bumble head.

"Naruto, if you shut up I'll buy you a lollipop later."

Kakashi palmed his face at the excited shout of 'REALLY?!' that blared in his ear. His joke had backfired; trust Naruto to throw off his punch lines all the time.

As they sped through the streets of Konoha, Anko and Kakashi couldn't help but notice that whenever they looked at him he would avoid their gaze. A sinking feeling lodged in their guts.

There was no going back now.

XXXXXXXX

The three landed quietly outside the Hokage Tower and made their way on foot towards the Sandaime's office. The journey was made in silence and Yuugao could feel the growing tension the closer they got to their destination. She couldn't begin to understand how the three felt after Shisui was incapacitated but she could sympathise with their feelings at least. It seems that they were far closer than she originally suspected.

Kakashi pushed open the door to Sarutobi's office and walked in, the others following in his wake. Naruto glanced around with a frown on his face as he saw the members of Teams 7 and 8 already within. He stopped suddenly and pointed his finger at the pale-faced Uchiha sulking at the edge of the room.

"EEEH?! What's he doin' here?! He tried to kill me yesterday!"

Sarutobi sighed from behind his desk. He stood up slowly, stretching his joints and gripping his pipe as his mouth opened in a long yawn. He then walked over to the blond, knelt and ruffled his hair. The other occupants looked at the scene in surprise.

"Naruto-kun, we already know what happened last night so we'll put that behind us. What I want to know is why the Village was shaking all day today."

"YEAH! AND HOW DARE YOU SHOUT AT SASUKE-KUN?!"

Sakura found her mouth full with Naruto's sweaty sock he had just ripped from his foot and thrown at her whilst she screamed at him. The pink-haired girl fainted in shock with a look of revulsion on her face.

"That's strange! I know I've been runnin' around a lot today, but that was a clean pair of socks this morning!"

Reaching down, he pulled the other off, an off-green, ridged cotton sock that sagged against his fingers as he held it. Taking a small whiff, he stood with a curious look on his face, the audience waiting for his reaction.

His eyes rolled up in his head and he dropped unconscious to the world.

As everyone looked on in total shock, Kakashi sweat-dropped heavily.

"Maa...I think that settles it then. What do you say Anko?"

The Special Jounin nodded distantly.

"Umm...who's gonna pick up the sock?"

The room was vacated swiftly.

ZZZZZZZZ