A creak sounded as the door to the hokage's office opened. Kakashi glanced up through narrowed eyes, grimacing behind his mask. Papers were strewn about his desk, letters from others countries in response to his news that Madara was still alive.
The room was dark—he'd been working since what felt like dawn and now it was evening. Even Anko attempted to give Kakashi his space as he dealt with the political fallout of Madara's second resurrection. But, as a chakra scan quickly proved, his wife Anko was not his visitor.
Within seconds, Sasuke's face came into view. Kakashi opened his mouth to send the boy away, but stopped short when he noticed the look in his eyes.
Something was off. He hadn't seen a look like that in years.
"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said, the suffix in his name only serving to surprise the current hokage further. "Do you have a moment?"
Sitting up just a little straighter, Kakashi folded his hands together and gave the boy a short nod.
"What is it, Sasuke?"
"Uchiha Madara," Sasuke began, and Kakashi already knew this couldn't be good. "I just saw him."
"Where?"
"At the… funeral. The one everyone was just at yesterday."
"Hyuuga Akira's?"
Sasuke nodded slowly. Something still seemed off.
"Did he tell you why?" Likely, if Sasuke knew where the man was, he wouldn't have bothered coming in to see him. Frankly, the why, or at least the lie that may have been told, could shed some light on the situation.
"He just wanted to talk."
"About what?"
"He said you would know, too. You and Tsunade."
"Know about what, Sasuke?" Kakashi prayed to any deity possibly listening that this wasn't about what he feared it was.
"That kunoichi who died. Who she was…" Sasuke trailed off, and something in Kakashi stomach dropped. "And what she was… to my brother."
His fears confirmed, Kakashi gave no immediate response.
What was Madara hoping to gain by this, by revealing this fact to Sasuke? Madara never just revealed information for no reason. The strange circumstances of Akira's death had been tiring enough to cover up. Neither he nor Tsunade could quite figure out what had happened. It was hard enough to keep the villagers from panicking and not have Akira branded as a traitor for what had happened, whatever the cause. Was that what Madara was planning? To overwhelm them?
"And do you believe him?" Kakashi settled for saying. "That this girl was somehow involved with your brother?"
"I saw her children." Sasuke gazed at the hokage with accusing eyes. Unable to think of an appropriate reply, Kakashi once again said nothing.
"So you did know…" Hesitance gone, now Sasuke was just angry. "Why didn't you tell me? Why does everyone still think I'm a child, that I can't handle the truth?!"
"When I found out, Sasuke, you were still a wanted criminal bent on destroying the village."
The Uchiha's expression only fell all the more.
"Five years…" Sasuke trailed off. Kakashi braced himself for the rest. "You knew for five years that I wasn't the last Uchiha, and you never bothered to tell me?"
"Revealing such a thing and having the wrong people overhear could have caused a social uproar and unnecessary, possibly violent attention drawn to Akira and her children," Kakashi said simply. "I gave my word to remain silent. The three of us agreed it would be best for you not to know, especially after you married Sakura."
"What about Tsunade? Who knew first, you or her?"
"Tsunade found out about Akira's pregnancy shortly after she arrived. Akira only told me when Tsunade was unconscious and she was out of allies. She was trying to save you—"
"Save me?" Sasuke scoffed. "Save me by naming her son after me and then never mentioning why? I didn't even know who she was!"
"And Akira wanted to keep it that way."
"Well, she shouldn't have." Sasuke said darkly, and something told Kakashi there was more to this story.
"So are you planning to reveal what you know to the village? To the twins?"
Sasuke looked away, his dark eyes glassy.
"I can't."
The room fell silent, and a terrible thought crossed Kakashi's mind.
"Sasuke, what have you done?"
Come to think of it, the Uchiha had been on guard duty that night when Akira was injured. Her wounds hadn't been inflicted by a weapon like Samehada, otherwise there would be barely anything of her left. Madara didn't have the habit of fighting with a sword, but…
Kakashi's eyes widened as the pieces clicked together in his head.
Sasuke did.
"I didn't know who she was," Sasuke said with more regret in his tone than Kakashi would have ever imagined possible. "I thought she was with Madara."
Now it made sense—Madara hadn't been trying to kill Akira. He'd been trying to blackmail her. That's why someone had broken into the Hyuuga compound. Madara's target had been the twins. That was why he had tried to save Akira—
"She tried to tell me," Sasuke continued, his tone melancholy. "But I wouldn't listen. Now I have a niece and nephew that I can't even go near because I killed their mother." He paused, and then let out a sarcastic laugh. "Not just their mother. I killed Itachi, too."
Tsunade would never let him get away with this. She'd loved Akira—that girl had been her student for two years before going off to join a unit at the hospital full time. Not to mention, the opinion of the village was split enough when it came to the truth about the Uchiha clan. Sasuke bore the brunt of most of the hate for both his own crimes and what his clan had attempted, but even as a man in his twenties, it clearly still bothered him.
A burden like that would be far too much to put on a five-year-old, and if Sasuke were suddenly put on trial for this, word would get out and the truth would be revealed one way or another. Sakura would be devastated, even more so than finding out her friend had died, and if Sasuke weren't executed, he would be imprisoned.
Despite being hokage, Kakashi didn't have full reign over the law. If he went to Tsunade and the other members of the council about this and any potential legal action were taken, which it would be, not just the Uchiha twins, but two sets of children would be growing up without a father, and Kakashi knew only too well what that was like.
Kakashi had a daughter who was almost four, Rei. He couldn't imagine leaving her side or having to watch her grow up without him. Even Sasuke, as cold as he was, probably didn't want to see Sakura raise Isao by herself.
As for the Hyuuga clan—they would likely disown the twins. They had such a long standing rivalry with the Uchiha clan it was a wonder Sasuke didn't have more attempts on his life.
No; Sasuke couldn't deal with any more hits to his record, and those twins didn't deserve the curse of the Uchiha. Kakashi ran a fingerless gloved hand through wild silver hair and let out a sigh.
He didn't like it, but being hokage wasn't about liking things. It was about doing what was best for the village.
"We never had this conversation," Kakashi said softly. The Uchiha gave him a bewildered look. Kakashi raised his voice ever so slightly. "Get out and let no one know what you are now aware of, not even Sakura. If you must, watch over the twins, but never let anyone know you are there and certainly not why."
The young Uchiha, still clearly surprised, only gave his former teacher a brief nod before leaving the room, just as quickly as he'd come. Kakashi breathed out another sigh, this one more heartfelt and much deeper.
Kakashi couldn't see a better way out of this, no matter how hard he searched. Now all he could do was hope Sasuke could keep his mouth shut.
Hyuuga Kagami stared ahead with a bored expression as she and her brother headed down the dusty Konoha path.
With the academy classes having just ended, the street was packed with bustling parents, eager to bring their children home.
Being fourteen, Kagami and her brother Sasuke had been out of the academy for nearly two years. If not for the doe-eyed girl who walked beside them, no one on their team would even be here.
There were two other presences with the raven-haired twins: Riku, their blonde-haired teammate, and Saya, their childhood friend who still often spent time with them, despite being assigned to another team.
"Thanks for coming with me to pick up Takumi!" Saya grinned, jade eyes twinkling.
Sasuke returned the smile. Riku said nothing, and Kagami sighed.
The things we do for friends…
Takumi was Saya's younger brother. At eight year old, he was still fairly new to the academy, and with Kaname's work schedule at the hospital and Makoto-sensei's extra teaching responsibilities, it made things easier for everyone when Saya came to get him.
"What's the word with the new graduates?" Riku inquired, fingerless gloved hands crossed behind his head. Strands of blonde hair covered most of his left eye, although the playful glint in his only visible iris could still clearly be seen.
"My dad said everyone was able to pass this year," Saya replied.
Kagami snorted. Sasuke shot her a warning glance.
"Looks like Genji finally graduated. Only took him what, two tries?"
Sarutobi Genji, that slacker—he took after his long sought-after teacher Nara Shikamaru even more than the man's eight-year-old son, ironically named after Genji's deceased father.
"Nee-san, be nice," Sasuke scolded, momentarily frowning. "Not everyone finds the ninja academy easy."
"They put him on a team with Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Isao," Saya spoke up, trying to sound positive.
Kagami only snorted again. "Great, so lazy idiot gets paired with the egotistical Uchiha and the big-breasted moron? Would've been more fitting if Kushina were blonde like Naruto-sensei."
"What are the other teams?" Sasuke interjected, attempting to change the subject.
Saya paused, brushing a finger to her chin in a thinking pose.
"Well, let's see…" she mused, thinking back to one of her father's rosters. "Other than Genji's team, I believe Nara Shikura was paired with Aburame Haru and Rock Neji."
"Sounds like they'll at least make a good team," Kagami admitted. "Who's their sensei?"
"Lee-san."
"Isn't there a rule against parents being on the same team as their kids?" Sasuke questioned.
Saya shrugged. "I guess someone made an exception."
As part of Naruto's preparation for becoming hokage, he and the soon-to-be former hokage Hatake Kakashi had collaborated on approving this year's proposed ninja genin teams. Frankly, the whole ordeal sounded more like something Uzumaki Naruto would do—likely a plan to bring Rock Neji and his estranged father closer. It was no secret the two of them did not see eye to eye.
"Any others?" Riku spoke this time.
"I don't remember too many," Saya admitted, "but Akimichi Chou was paired with Houzuki Sora and Inuzuka Kai."
"Hm. Chou's mom works with mine. I've seen her around."
"Ah, there's Takumi!" Before Kagami could chime in her vote of doubt, Saya spotted her brother.
How the girl managed to spot the eight-year-old without the byakugan was beyond her. All she knew was that facing the mass of little ones emerging from the academy together certainly beat letting Saya, in all her sweetness, face the crowd alone.
Saya noticed Takumi before he noticed her. Kagami barely had time to blink before the blue-haired girl had her arms around her brother's shoulders and ushered him in Team Naruto's direction, where Kagami, Sasuke, and Riku stood beside a tall tree with an empty wooden swing swaying from one of its larger branches.
"Hi, Sasuke-san, Kagami-san! Riku!" the eight-year-old smiled, one of his front teeth missing. His brown hair was tinted red, much like Kaname's, only his eyes were blue, a stark contrast between Kaname's green and Makoto's hazel.
"Kaa-san wants me to get home and make dinner as soon as possible," Saya informed, her brother clinging to her arm, still with a wide smile. "See everyone tomorrow!"
"Hn." Kagami grunted, and Saya and Takumi disappeared from sight into the crowd.
"So…" Riku began, breaking the overlapping silence. "Training anyone?"
Kagami and Sasuke exchanged smiles, the first mutual expression they shared all day.
The training grounds they spoke of resided a ways away from the Hyuuga compound where Kagami and Sasuke lived. They had a favorite corner near the back where hardly anyone ever went concealed from the side by a small grove of trees.
"Both of you versus me?" Riku suggested, clenching his right hand into a fist.
The Hyuuga twins grinned and simultaneously activated their respective byakugans.
Riku was getting better, Kagami had to admit, at dodging their pokes, but he still had much to learn. He lasted a while—five minutes almost. But then Sasuke managed to disable the boy's right arm with a set of pokes while Kagami swept out his leg.
By the time the dust settled, Riku lay on the ground, two chakra enhanced palms in his face as Kagami and Sasuke stood over him.
"Maybe you should consider fighting us one at a time," Kagami said, her voice taunting. Riku glowered, but accepted Kagami's hand when she offered to help him up and Sasuke shuffled backwards.
"I thought I would find you here." Three heads turned to see a tall blonde-haired man with cerulean eyes and unmistakable whisker markings across his cheeks. His outfit consisted of a mix of blacks and blues beneath a standard Konoha olive green flak jacket.
"Naruto-sensei!" Riku waved while his other hand cupped the back of his head where he hadn't fallen properly.
The soon-to-be hokage approached them, still smiling.
Sasuke offered an additional wave, but said nothing. Both his and his sister's byakugans were now deactivated.
"Shouldn't you be with Kakashi?" Kagami inquired, her left eyebrow raised.
"I just accepted my last mission before my inauguration. Come with me to Ichiraku's and I'll tell you all about it!"
Ramen with Naruto-sensei was an odd tradition. Kagami would rarely go out for ramen, if ever, were it not for their sensei. She certainly didn't hate the taste. Rather, she saw no point in going out for something so simple that they could make instantly at home.
The new mission sounded exiting, at least judging by Naruto-sensei's enthusiasm. Hopefully, it would actually be fun rather than something exclusive to their sensei's eclectic tastes.
"So, what's our mission, Naruto-sensei?" Sasuke inquired. The four of them were the only customers at Ichiraku's that evening, allowing each of them front row seats at the well-worn counter of their sensei's favorite restaurant.
"Hopefully something a little more interesting than helping a cat out of a tree," Riku added.
Naruto laughed, shaking his head. He turned to the lady behind the counter, a smiling brunette who Kagami knew as their former academy teacher's wife.
"Ayame-chan! Four of the usual please!" Naruto called, holding up the number four on his fingers.
"Coming right up, Naruto!" she called back. Her smile was polite, a usual polite hostess look, although her eyes were genuinely happy.
"Anyway," Naruto continued, turning back to his team, "this mission means a lot to me for a number of reasons. First of all, we'll be heading to the Land of Waves."
"Close to the Mist village?" Sasuke said, attempting a specification.
Naruto beamed. "Correct! My first mission outside of Konoha was there. We'll even be helping the same people."
"Doing what exactly?" Kagami inquired, her tone less enthusiastic. So much for something interesting. "If I recall correctly, the objective of that mission was body guarding for a bridge builder."
"Correct again," Naruto affirmed. "Tazuna is his name, but this particular mission doesn't involve any body guarding. Just manual labor."
Kagami had to bite her tongue to keep from rolling her eyes.
When are we going to get any real missions? We've been a team for nearly two years and hardly anything's happened. They'd travelled, mostly to Suna and a few civilian villages, but never anything above C or D rank. Not to mention, manual labor certainly wasn't interesting enough for her taste. They did enough of that with training.
"In the least, it should be easy," Riku remarked, a lazy expression on his face. He leaned an elbow on the counter while Kagami sat with the front of her body facing the counter and Sasuke with his back, his full attention focused on their teacher as he spoke.
"Guess we'll find out! It'll be my last mission before my inauguration ceremony next week. Kakashi thought it would be fitting if I went out strong."
With a C ranked mission. Hardly strong.
Before anyone else could comment further, two things happened. One, their ramen came, carried by old man Ichiraku, who looked truly that— old. His face was wrinkled, his hair was gray, and it was a wonder how he managed to balance all four bowls of chicken ramen in either of his hands and both forearms without burning himself or dropping them.
"Tou-san!" Ayame turned to her father, her expression alarmed. "You shouldn't be carrying so much!"
"Nonsense, Ayame-chan. I've been doing this twice as long as you've been alive."
"You know, you really shouldn't." A new voice chimed in, and all eyes turned to see a familiar pinkette and her dark-haired husband.
Uchiha Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's eyes lit up at the sight of his teammates. "And Sasuke, too. What are you guys doing here?"
"Just here to see Umito. Is he here?" Sakura inquired, jade-colored eyes on Ayame.
Umino Naruto, or better known as "Umito," was an interesting child. With his parents being Umino Iruka and Ichiraku Ayame, Uzumaki Naruto was not only one of the ramen shop's best customers, but also their child's namesake.
"Over here, Sakura-sensei!"
The speaker was a boy barely tall enough to be seen peering from behind the corner. He touted brown hair, like Ayame's, and his face fixed in a smile. Beside him stood a much taller silver-haired girl in a short blue kimono complemented with thigh high navy boots. A red obi interrupted the calm blue color of her outfit and, most strikingly, a leaf hitiate covered her eyes.
"Ah, Umito, Rei," the pinkette offered her two students a wave. "I didn't know you both would be here."
"Father isn't getting back until late. He has a lot of loose ends to tie up," Rei answered, referring to the soon-to-be former hokage. "Kaa-san said she'd be out late, as well."
"Well, I guess it works out to my benefit then," Sakura grinned. "I just wanted to say that you three are to meet me tomorrow at the training grounds at noon. There's some new formations I'd like to go over before our next mission."
"Understood, Sakura-sensei!" The two spoke in unison and with that, they returned to the back room from which they'd come. Judging by the sounds that followed, Rei was helping with the dishes.
"How does she not break anything, considering she's blind?" The room fell silent at Riku's remark, and several people shot him harsh stares. "What?" Riku shrugged. Then his arms flailed. "It's true!"
"Rei has a heightened abilities to sense chakras," Sakura explained, her tone not at all accusing like Kagami expected. "Because of it, she's able to sense movement and function almost normally."
"Hm." Saya had explained the notion before, but even now Riku didn't seem to quite understand.
For Kagami, who heavily relied on her eyes for most any type of jutsu she performed, she could understand why the concept didn't make sense at all to someone like Riku, who had never had to deal with such a handicap.
"Shall we pass the message on to Saya? We should see her sometime before then," Sasuke offered.
"That's okay, I managed to catch her on her way home from the academy," Sakura assured, waving her hand for emphasis.
While they talked, Kagami's gaze wandered to the tall man standing behind Saya's teacher. Dead black eyes stared back at her.
It's that creep who has the same first name as my brother. In an odd way, he seemed to purposefully avoid making eye contact with her. Uchiha Sasuke.
Although he didn't show it, Sasuke had been surprised the moment he walked into Ichiraku's. He'd agreed to accompany his wife to check on her students, and although he sensed the twins' presences as he and Sakura approached the shop, he hadn't expected what he'd seen.
His niece, with that long ponytail and the red hair tie—she looked just like Itachi, sitting the way she did with her back to the door. Upon seeing her up close, it became quite clear that she was female, but from a distance, Sasuke had literally felt his heart stop for a few seconds.
Thankfully, with her attention focused on Umito and Rei, Sakura hadn't noticed. But, in his attempts not to stare, Sasuke had to avoid looking altogether.
Kagami seemed to be the embodiment of the aloof side of his brother—the cool type who always seemed composed and knew what she was doing. Meanwhile, his nephew seemed to have inherited Itachi's softer side. He was by no means weak, but just the way he looked at people… Sasuke could tell that his nephew cared, that he desired with everything in his being to protect the ones he loved.
The younger Sasuke certainly didn't share the same long hairstyle, but dark bangs framing a smile like the one he had—even at a glance, Sasuke could see Itachi in him, too.
"Isn't that great?" Sakura turned to look at him, a smile on her face, but in his musing Sasuke hadn't caught a word anyone said. When he didn't reply, much to his relief, his wife elaborated, "Naruto and his team are going on a mission to the Land of Waves tomorrow, just like the one we did all those years ago!"
"Just hopefully with a lot fewer assassins!" Naruto added, chopsticks extended. He dug into his ramen, but continued to speak nonetheless. "We're just going to help Tazuna build a new house for Inari! Apparently he's married now!"
"They grow up so fast," Sakura sighed, a hand on her hip. Gato was long dead, so Team Naruto didn't have to worry about him. Nonetheless, Sasuke remained bothered, but not about the mission.
"Sakura, we're leaving," Sasuke cut, his tone deadpan. He offered the soon-to-be hokage a half-hearted wave. "See you around."
Sakura shot him a confused look, but didn't argue. She turned back to Naruto and his team.
"Sasuke's right. We should be getting home," she said. "Isao just graduated from the academy today, and I promised to cook him his favorite!"
"Say hi to Minato for me!" Naruo's wife had been babysitting Sasuke and Sakura's younger son Keiji along with Naruto and Hinata's equally-aged son Minato while Sasuke and Sakura were at work. "Kushina graduated today, too, so I guess we should do something special for her." Naruto scratched his head nervously. Everyone knew he wasn't much good at planning any sort of celebration.
"Best of luck! I'll be sure to let Hinata-chan know Kushina passed!" Sakura waved once more, and with that, they were off.
Sasuke and Sakura walked for a bit, both of them in silence until Sakura felt it appropriate to begin questioning him.
"Did you have to be so sudden? Everyone seemed to be having a great time," she scolded, almost playfully. Sasuke said nothing, not even bothering to comment. "You always get so quiet when his team is there."
"It doesn't matter. Let's just get home to Isao." He and his oldest son possessed vastly different taste palettes, so dinner would likely not be much fun, but that wasn't what bothered Sasuke, either.
It wasn't just Naruto, and it wasn't just the twins—it was the twins with Naruto, and the circumstances that had led to them being placed under his tutelage.
(Two years earlier…)
"Kakashi."
The hokage didn't look up immediately as he recognized his former student's voice. When he did glance upward, Sasuke's expression was stern, angry even.
"Is something the matter?"
"You know exactly what I'm here about." Definitely angry. He could hear it in Sasuke's voice.
Still looking down, Kakashi set his stack of seemingly never-ending paperwork aside and then focused his full attention on Sasuke. Rather than guessing, he nudged the Uchiha just a bit further.
"What seems to be troubling you?" It seemed to be the only occurrences when Sasuke visited him.
"You put the twins under Naruto!" Sasuke's lip fixed in a snarl. "He doesn't know a thing about them! How can he possibly be their sensei?!"
"And you think you would be a better idea?"
"You know I would be!"
Kakashi folded his fingers in front of himself atop the surface of his desk. Even with the mask obscuring half his face, the look in his eyes was calm.
"Sasuke, you are a powerful shinobi, this I am not denying," Kakashi began. "However, being a powerful shinobi does not mean you will also be a good teacher."
"No one else here knows how to use the sharingan!" Sasuke blurted. Kakashi gave him a Look. The Uchiha mumbled something, then quickly corrected himself, "According to our clan's traditions."
"Sasuke, the twins are only half Uchiha. There is no guarantee that they will ever even activate the sharingan."
"And if they do? What is Naruto supposed to do about it? He doesn't even know!"
"Naruto may not have the sharingan, but he has the heart of a teacher. What about their third teammate Riku? Would you intend to neglect him and focus solely on your niece and nephew?"
Sasuke muttered something again, this time inaudibly.
"Naruto is fit to be their teacher. His wife is a Hyuuga. He knows more about that half of their blood than you do."
But I can't just sit back and watch! Sasuke's expression screamed. However, the Uchiha said nothing of the sort.
"Sasuke, we agreed. The twins are not to know who you are."
"They wouldn't have to!"
"And if they do activate the sharingan? How do you plan to explain that to them?"
"I'd think of something!" Sasuke insisted, but Kakashi shook his head.
"The decision has been made, Sasuke. Naruto will be their teacher. You are not fit to be a sensei. What kind of a hokage would I be if I assigned a former international war criminal in charge of a team of genin?"
Sasuke had no reply. He looked at the ground, his dark eyes glazed over.
"Perhaps Naruto will let you assist in their training at some point, but I would recommend against it. You shouldn't torture yourself. That's all being their sensei would do to you."
"I already torture myself. Every time I have to look at their faces—every time Sakura so much as mentions them," Sasuke cut, his tone bitter. His eyes blazed with the sharingan for the briefest moment. "I torture myself that I can do nothing, just sit here and watch, when they're the last living piece of my brother I'll ever have!"
"We've been over this before," Kakashi repeated, his tone firm. "If you reveal who you are to them, you incriminate both of us. You, for killing their mother, and me for allowing you to get away with it. Our wives leaving us would be the least of our problems if that were to happen."
"You're making a mistake," Sasuke said.
"No, Sasuke," Kakashi corrected. "I'm preventing you from making another one."
Well, this took a hell of a lot longer than I intended. Apologies for the wait. School (I'm in my senior year of college), life (2016 sucked and even two months later I'm still recovering), and writer's block have been beating my ass into the ground. Thank you all who are still following and took the time to read. For those who just arrived, welcome!
This is the sequel to my first story Skin Deep which starred Uchiha Itachi and my OC Hyuuga Akira. This one stars their two kids Hyuuga Kagami and Hyuuga Sasuke as well as their friends Koizuki Riku (Deidara and my OC Koizuki Eri's kid) and Fukami Saya (Konan's daughter who my OCs Fukami Makoto and Itsumade Kaname adopted), and very much deviates from the original manga. I promised myself I would finish this story and that is exactly what I am going to do. Hope everyone enjoys! (Also, my sister and I did a LOT of new character designs for this fic, so please don't hesitate to ask me who someone is if you are confused. I will be happy to answer!)