A/N: My first try in Naruto fandom. This is shounen ai with Naruto/Sasuke and Kakashi/? as the main pairing. Don't like it, don't read, just push the back button. It's easier than wasting your time to flame me. I rewrite this fic because it left so many holes before, and I hope this one comes up better. As for the story, I will follow the manga plot until Tsunade became the Hokage but Sasuke wouldn't search for Orochimaru. So, here is the story. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Billions of thanks to my wonderful beta-reader, Kyubi-san a.k.a. The Fox of burden!

DISCLAIMER: Masashi Kishimoto sensei owns Naruto, I obviously don't.

/Italic words in here/ are for thoughts.

Reflection of Passion

Author: SIB

Chapter One: Sounds of Birds And Water

The center of the Hidden Village of Konoha was a red circular building where most crucial decisions involving shinobi matters were settled on. It was also where their Hokage's office was located and where she dwelt most of her time. Serving as such an important place, it was guarded well but not overly so since the chance for an uninvited guest to sneak in to the village itself was already nearly smaller than nil. No sane outsider would willingly choose to walk in unidentified and without clear purpose, except if the said trespasser wished to be captured by Konoha's ANBU and later interrogated with various ways of torture we could not really mention here.

Such was the great faith Konoha's residence had in their security, so we could only imagine how horrified Umino Iruka, a chuunin who worked in the aforementioned building and apparently the first one who arrived that morning, was to find a lifeless body lay precisely in front of the front door of the building. A body of a man he had never met before nor recognized.

Summer was at its end. The sinking evening sun glittered ripples of water that went cascading on downward ground, following the river's course at a leisure pace. Leaves were green and fresh on dry branches, immune still to the impending autumn's spell. Perched on the same branches were sparrows, chirping their closing song of the day.

All beauties of nature in its sundown glory were lost to a poised young man standing silently by the riverbank. His pitch-black eyes were fixed at a spot among glossy waves the flowing water made. His lips formed a thin line on pale skin, which protruded more in the frame of sleek black hair.

For once Uchiha Sasuke wasn't mourning for his clan's cruel fate or the burden a twelve year-old boy should carry as an avenger. He was merely waiting, dead bored although not tired, for his teammates and their instructor to appear. Kakashi-sensei stated no specific time to regroup, leaving his order only to finish their mission and subsequently meet at this place.

But the jounin was nowhere on sight. Neither were the loud idiot and Sakura.

With hands casually plunged into his pockets, the young genin scanned his environment for the eleventh time that evening. Like the previous ten observations, he sensed neither visible nor audible threat. Not that he expected a sudden dangerous ambush in a C-rank mission, but a shinobi should stay alert without any prejudice. Sasuke knew that policy only too well.

And there was the morning incident. It would be nowhere near wise to let his guard down, especially after the discovery of an unknown body that morning in the middle of the village.

As much as Iruka and the authorities wished to keep the incident a secret at least to civilians and shinobis lower than chuunin, the news still could spread out with the speed of fire devouring kerosene-covered wood. Before noon, those who didn't know that a nameless man had been found dead could be considered as hermits barricading themselves in their house, free from outdoor pressure and influences. Sasuke was not one of those who judged gossip worth much listening to and even he managed to learn the news from two horrified men talking about it in front of the Uchiha residence rather loudly. If the topic weren't that interesting, he would have glared them to death.

That also explained Kakashi's even more terrible lateness, which today had intolerably reached five hours. The Hokage must have called a meeting at once and the young Uchiha knew better to snort disdainfully at his instructor's lame excuse that he had to save a drowning cat. Not that it was believable in the first place.

His two teammates immediately bombarded the silver-haired jounin with questions concerning the incident but either they were unbelievably sharp for once or incredibly stupid that the two didn't press any further once Kakashi stated that he had yet to hear about the said occurrence. And so they did a mission as usual.

Hidden securely behind his black shirt was a scroll he was told to steal from a shrine in a nearby village. Being one of the talented ninjas, Sasuke found no real difficulty in snatching it from a peaceful non-ninja village and felt rather bored with his easy task. His instructor didn't elaborate the purpose of this mission but of course only a moron like Naruto would bother to inquire –loudly, if he might add. Ninjas were simply tools to accomplish given assignments and he knew it, regardless his strong revulsion of being regarded a mere tool.

His sense caught a slight digression of the wind's course across the river, as if a quite amount of chakra had been released. With a kunai firmly gripped between his fingers, once again Sasuke observed his surroundings and yet didn't leave the low bushes across the river out of his scrutiny, ready for any kind of attack from any direction.

Faint rustles of leaves being pushed aside came from behind and the young shinobi averted his gaze instantly. As he had suspected, the previous chakra release was only a distraction and the real attack was coming from behind...

"Yo."

If Sasuke were Naruto, he would have thrown his kunai to their instructor's head and screamed 'Don't you dare to scare me like that!' vociferously.However, being a frosty Uchiha, he merely narrowed his eyes and glanced back to the bushes. No sign of any movement. Was he imagining things?

"The first as usual, Sasuke?" Kakashi's cheerful voice interrupted his silent inspection.

Of course, what would he expect from the number one rookie? These days, he lived and moved on under the realization that the idiot hadn't been able to defeat him yet. Did his sensei actually think that he would lose to that... never mind. Sasuke bit back every rude reply he was about to spill and replaced it with an eloquent 'Hn'.

"Ah, well, let's just wait for them."

Sasuke merely watched the silver-haired instructor happily pull out his 'Icha Icha Paradise' and sit down, starting to read. Even though he no longer doubted the jounin's ability as a ninja, Kakashi's antics seemed always to find a way to get on his nerves. One would say it was because he began to care much for his sensei, that odd as it was, Kakashi was one of his precious persons. But being the icicle renowned as Uchiha Sasuke, he chose to shrug it off.

Following his sensei, the young genin sat down on the gravelly ground. It seemed to be another round of waiting. Not that he liked to wait but having Kakashi as an instructor taught you a lot about the worth of patience.

"Can you hear it?"

Sasuke was at once alert at his teacher's sudden query, but no irregular sound was audible. He listened more intently, unwilling to admit that he had heard nothing, and still there was nothing he could classify as threatening.

"What?" At last his egotism relented.

"Be silent and listen," Kakashi said, putting down his book and closing his eyes. Somehow it made Sasuke feel the older shinobi wasn't talking about an ambush. "Can you hear them?"

"What?"

"Listen," the jounin repeated patiently. Sasuke complied despite his growing impatience, yet he still couldn't hear anything but the birds and water, and many leaves dancing on the undulating surface of the river in crackly but sodden melody...

"Don't you think the birds have a very nice voice?" Suddenly Kakashi spoke up, much to the other's astonishment. He reached his right hand out and a leaf floated from the surface of water to the twirl of his fingers, leaving circular waves amidst the ripples. The green leaf firmly attached itself to his fingers like a piece of metal would to a magnet. "They beautify the sound of water."

Sasuke looked as if his sensei had gone mad. "...what?"

"It's not smart to say the same word three times in a row, Sasuke."

The young shinobi then preferred silence to another 'what'. But... was it what Kakashi demanded him to hear? Birds and water? It was so... un-shinobi-ish. And it was a jounin talking. Sasuke wasn't surprised that he failed to pay any heed to the said sounds before since he had limited his interest only from a ninja's point of view. And a shinobi didn't spend times listening to birds and water unless they were abnormal enough to his standards.

"They are boring," he blurted out.

Kakashi's eyes formed a happy curve, as if he was contented to the given reaction. "Sometimes it is fine to stop running and lay back, you know, only listen to what nature offers.

Sasuke snorted and stared at another surge of leaves flowing down the stream. "You talk as if you know more."

"I have lived longer," was the only reply, wrapped in such laid-back fashion only the copy ninja could pull.

"Doesn't mean that you're wiser."

His instructor could have been offended by the short and discourteous reply, but his voice was still nonchalant. "I've never said that I am."

At that remark, the younger shinobi was at a loss for words. He was not particularly a talkative one but usually he managed to compete equally with Naruto in returning insults, yet now... never mind. Very reluctantly, he tried to listen, to overcome his prejudgment of how boring the birds and water could be.

Water.

The ripples filled his mind, flowing ceaselessly in erratic motions, creating various tunes. They apparently held so many different sounds, something a twelve year-old boy who was so consumed in hatred and revenge had never recognized before.

"Water always has many sounds but river particularly provide many of them," a smooth voice rose, blending itself with the melody of the trickling brook. "Water splashes on rocks and pebbles, smooth-surfaced ones or rough, large and small, they create different sounds one with another. But within the water itself there are already many sounds. When it moves, it emits sounds of the substances clashing against each other. They have always clashed, crafting more and more echoes within themselves unless the water is still, and thus the sound of the river has never died."

The jounin's words seemed to wrap his mutinous mind within their intensity, their incorrigibility of being the words a ninja had spoken. They echoed, trying to penetrate the dark thick veil in his mind, forceful but gentle.

Somehow, they fit.

"And the birds," Kakashi's voice floated once again, rising slightly as if to match those of the much higher tones the sparrows had. "The beauty of their song stands out the most at dusk, when they are concerting a farewell. It tells us about the end of one day, about many doings and stories in morning and daylight, and... they will say goodbye."

Sasuke understood, even the part his sensei had left unspoken; that being a shinobi was a self of darkness, that it was when the birds finished their farewell a shinobi would begin to live, and whatever they did to prevent it the night would come. Inevitable. Perhaps it was the real significance of the song for them as ninjas.

"It was lonely, wasn't it?" The words left his lips unconsciously. For once, Sasuke let his guard down.

"Everyone should experience what loneliness means, else they won't value company," the jounin answered solemnly.

Being a child who had experienced more loneliness than humanly possible, the black-haired boy snapped, black eyes gazing angrily to the lazy one of his instructor's. "Are you saying it is okay to be alone?"

/As if he knows what it is to be lonely.../

"A shinobi is not necessarily alone." There was a firm tone in Kakashi's voice which compelled Sasuke to listen. "Like now I'm listening to the birds and water with you, I'm not alone. I have friends like Gai, Genma, Kurenai, and there are you, Naruto, and Sakura to be supervised. Shinobis are not really alone."

Sasuke stayed silent to hold back his rebellious side from bursting out of anger, his teeth were gritted to prevent any offensive retort from being uttered. To be in the middle of a crowd didn't mean that you were not alone, he had been long since acknowledging that. Often he found himself flocked in a mass of girls but none of them could erase that stamp with the word 'Alone' inscribed on it which marked his heart. Alone was not physical. Alone consumed mentally, slowly but lethal until you felt neither living nor dead.

"It's a matter of choice," suddenly his instructor said, cutting his incensed train of thoughts. "They are there to be your friends, but it is you who have to choose whether or not you'll take the offer."

A picture of himself shielding Naruto from death filled his mind. Sasuke winced. He had avoided that thought for long since it would bring many more to be thought of. He still had no idea what had pushed him to that level and why he had done something as idiotic as protecting his teammate with his life as a stake while he definitely had to live to be an avenger. Sometimes people did idiotic things but to put your life at a line when you needed to live was beyond idiot.

Uchiha Sasuke had never been affiliated with the word 'Idiot' before. His fangirls would kill you if you dared to.

But perhaps... just perhaps, the said Uchiha wouldn't mind to be called 'Idiot' once if he could divest himself of the 'Alone'.

It wasn't exactly comforting, let alone erasing his worry, his burden, or the constant picture of threat in Itachi's eyes somewhere nailed in his mind, but it did help him to relax a bit. He had called Naruto and Sakura his precious persons once and next probably he could try to let them ease his loneliness.

Damn Kakashi and his sounds of birds and water.

He sighed, eyes never leaving the single uncovered one of his sensei's. "Is this something all teachers have to do?"

"Maybe," the eye crinkled mirthfully. "I've never listened when Hokage-sama told us, the instructors, what we had to do to our subordinates anyway. I only do what I think is right."

/And you think this is right.../

Sasuke might have said more, even an unlikely thank you, if his voice was not suddenly snowed under a scream. "Senseeeeeeiii!"

Naruto and flashy entrances had always been good friends. A boy wrapped in orange appeared from the bushes at the other side of the river, followed by seven large snakes that could have been the offspring of those belonged to Orochimaru. Without blinking twice he jumped across the river, leaving his gargantuan pursuers behind, which apparently were too offended by water regardless the fact that they were reptiles, and much to the ninjas' relief, decided to let their grandiose prey go.

After blinking twice at his miraculously safe situation, Naruto leapt to his feet, a huge grin conquered most space of his face. Thrusting his thumb forward, he announced proudly, "Mission's accomplished!"

The others chose not to ask what he had done that could annoy seven large snakes.

"You don't have to get so loud," Kakashi patted Naruto's head with his book, which made the loud boy launch more protests. Luckily at that moment, Sakura emerged from the cluster of trees behind them, in her hand was a blue scroll. She blinked at the given situation.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," her instructor answered before his other subordinate could worsen the situation. "Excellent, you three. Now hand me the scrolls."

Naruto fished out his green one from his pouch and stared at Sasuke's black scroll. "Mine is much bigger than Sasuke's!"

The other boy said nothing about their scrolls' rather unnoticeable difference in thickness –which was hardly five milimetres at all– and merely deadpanned. "I'm one hour ahead of you, dobe."

"I helped Sakura-chan!" Naruto shot back, "I'm not an anti-social wimp like you, jerk!"

"And then you appeared from there across the river while she was from here?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows, not believing a word. "Wow, isn't that magnificent."

"I am fast! You know I can beat your speed!"

"Really?" The young heir of the Uchiha Clan wondered if his obnoxiously loud teammate indeed realized the new level of velocity he had gained from his practice with Kakashi.

"Fine! Let's have a match, you arrogant sissy!"

"Why not?"

"We'll have a race to Ichiraku!"

"No problem."

"Have a contest who can eat ramen faster!"

"Of cour-" Suddenly Sasuke stopped. He was not that dim-witted to challenge Naruto concerning his unholy amount of craving to ramen, as famished as he was.

Damn Kakashi and his sounds of birds and water. They made him too relaxed.

"Ha! You said it-"

"Stop right there, boys," their sensei's voice cut their brawl firmly. "You can kill or molest each other as much as you like, but do it outside my range of sight so I don't have to take any responsibility for any damage done on you both. Ah, and assemble here tomorrow at seven."

"And you'll come at ten, Sensei?" Sakura asked grimly.

Kakashi's happy smile answered. "You have to wait until tomorrow to find out."

The three genins left with much shouting and insults thrown between the two boys while Sakura followed their steps closely behind. At the sight presented before him, Kakashi decided that Naruto should really work on his stealth skill since it was harmfully contagious, even to Sasuke. A ninja without stealth was nearly as useless as a runner without feet.

"You seem to enjoy teaching so much."

Kakashi didn't even turn around to acknowledge his newly emerged companion. "You have to try at least once to find out," he answered seriously.

"No, thank you. I'm quite satisfied to be an examiner," Genma replied nonchalantly as he stepped out from the shadow of a nearby tree. Moving the long toothpick he was chewing to the opposite end of his lips, he asked, "Got anything there?"

A leaf the copy ninja had previously taken from the water during his conversation with Sasuke flew past his shoulder and was easily caught by his bandana-ed friend. "That's how they communicate."

The other shinobi examined the leaf closely and immediately noticed lines of unintelligible grass-like inscription at its paler flipside. He didn't recognize the language but it could have been some kind of secret codes used to avoid any sort of information leakage, like what they were attempting to do now.

"Pretty risky," he commented.

The silver-haired jounin shrugged. "Who knows? We don't even know if this is indeed related to the unidentified body."

"Perhaps I too find something interesting. Let's meet Asuma and Gai first," Genma tossed the leaf back to his fellow colleague and turned around.

After Kakashi put the newly found proof securely in his vest pocket, they set off at once. Trees were effortlessly lapsed under their light feet, leaving the sun behind to sink even lower.

"That was very wise of you." Suddenly Genma cut the silence between them, his low voice was scantily audible amidst the wind whistling fast and shrill in front of Kakashi's ears.

"Hm?"

"The talk you had with that Uchiha boy."

"I've always believed that experience is the best teacher," the silver-haired jounin answered rather proudly.

"Is it?"

"I'm joking," Kakashi's visible eye curved cheerfully. "Someone told me that long ago and Sasuke... he just resembles me too much."

"Something all teachers have to do?" Genma raised his hand to remove a cluster of leaves from scratching his face.

"Partly, but listening to water increases vigilance too," the other answered lightly as he flipped to a higher branch precisely before he could slam himself into a hard lumpy trunk, which suddenly loomed out of nowhere.

"Really, experience is the best teacher."

The copy ninja smiled behind his mask. "Ah, right."

Rest of their journey was finished in companionable silence.

The night had dawned at Konoha, establishing a dark sky garnished with countless blinking stars. Lamps had been lit, flooding the darkening roads with their light glow as many people began to pour out from their workplaces. At this particular night, only few who seemed so hurried to reach their home. Most of Konoha's population was still caught in heated conversation concerning the unknown body. As light steadily dimmed, their voices grown soft also, as if the darkness had ears and could suddenly ambush them.

Two boys could be seen treading their way on the main road after they had finished their competition at Ichiraku. As anybody could have predicted before, the taller one ended up paying the unbelievably expensive bill since he had lost the eating match. Only those who had ever experienced eating ramen with Naruto could fear the noodles as costly food.

"Ahh! I'm really full!" The shorter boy grinned at his sulking friend. "We should have eating match more often, Sasuke!"

"Shut up," the young Uchiha growled.

"What? Feeling so insulted because you lost?" Naruto was obviously enjoying his victory. Fortunately his companion felt that he would only sink even lower if he answered the stupid retort.

The other boy could have taunt him more and probably end up nurturing a one-sided banter, but it had never been really fun especially with no Sasuke to shoot back. They resumed their walking in silence, partly listening to adults standing at sideways and chatting vigorously still about the morning incident. Not that it was really interesting for Naruto; he had dismissed it as an unimportant matter since Kakashi told them that he hadn't even heard about it.

They finally reached the crossroad where he should turn right and Sasuke left. He had given up his attempts to say a farewell since the arrogant asshole had never replied to it even once and thus wordlessly he-

Suddenly Naruto stopped, realizing that his teammate had halted a few steps behind. Out of simple curiosity, he turned around and found Sasuke with a mix of pain and astonishment painted palpably on his face. His brow was crinkled as if something had offended him. The other boy raised his eyebrows and asked, "Something wrong, smartass?"

Sasuke only hmph-ed in reply and continued his steps. The flaxen-haired boy would have smacked him right away if he missed the wince which suddenly appeared at the other's face. Nevertheless, the Uchiha didn't stop, leaving his friend in wonder if he was only seeing things.

/Maybe a bug gets in his shirt,/ Naruto thought rather hopefully. However, he couldn't set his worry about the wince aside and later found himself sincerely wishing that it was really only a bug. It was better compared to the cursed seal.

Two jounins emerged at the door of a homely coffee bar. Greeting them was a view of coziness; wooden tables encircled by four chair each and not-too-bright lamp added with the heavenly scent of coffee were quite inviting. Soft murmurs could be heard filling the place from after-work customers, sometimes interspersed by newly arrived ones delivering their orders.

Another pair of jounins, who were already sitting comfortably behind one of the tables, waved at the two, beckoning them to come near. Kakashi and Genma made their way through the rather full bar slowly, accidentally bumping many persons in process.

"Who suggested for us to meet here?" Genma inquired when they eventually reached their table. Unfortunately the next second another man bumped into him for the third time. Having a sense of a jounin didn't actually help if it was that crowded. He couldn't really dodge it unless he wanted to shove his silver-haired friend forward straight to the table.

"Usually it wasn't this crowded," Asuma reasoned, being a regular customer of the place.

"You're late, Kakashi-rival! This makes the records 53 wins and 52 loses!" Gai exclaimed triumphantly. The supposed rival and his horrible level of apathy didn't even bother to answer, which left our beautiful green beast of Konoha in tears of joy and vengeance.

After they had sat down and had their orders, the four shinobis stared at each other. A moment later Asuma broke the silence, "Well?"

Kakashi fished the leaf out of his pocket and placed it in the center of their table. "I found it flowing down the river," he began, flipping the leaf to display the enigmatic inscription. "See there? I can't say it for sure but perhaps it has something to do with the incident." Gai, who was sitting beside his rival, brought the leaf up closer to his eyes to examine it more carefully.

"This is a beautiful masterpiece!" he cried out in sheer admiration and put down the leaf carefully back as if it was a thing to be worshipped. "This is undeniably a prove of hard work! The carver must have spent myriad times of hard work to practice until he can shape such a smooth delicate carving! Perhaps even with needles!"

"Needles, you say?" His bandana-ed friend interrupted, drawing all attention to his still expressionless feature. Genma remained silent for a moment, playing his toothpick up and down in steady pace.

"Something about the body?" Once again Asuma volunteered to break the silence before Kakashi had the idea to snatch the toothpick out of his friend's mouth and made the meeting longer with their bickering.

The brown-haired jounin nodded. The four of them were shinobis who unofficially were chosen by Tsunade to study the case, despite the fact that she had ordered a squad of ANBU to investigate. Being the only jounin who had taken part to perform the post-mortem surgery to the unknown body with Konoha medical team, Genma was supposed to file the report to their Hokage tomorrow. If he had found something which linked the leaf and the body, probably they could actually reach some creditable progress.

"It is something that actually I want to report," he told them solemnly. "About what Gai said, there are some needles in the pocket of trousers this man was wearing. But it can be coincidence. What actually I want to tell you is that I couldn't find any bruise or wound that could lead to his death. He seemed to be in a perfect health when he was somehow dead."

"Internal organs?" Kakashi asked.

"In perfect shape. I've checked everything from eyes to toes, even hair but I've never heard an illness striking hair which can cause death. I'm planning to resume the necropsy tomorrow and examine the brain but it's unlikely we'll find something new." He paused for a second then asked quietly, "Ever heard any jutsu which can result that kind of death?"

"Call that curse, not jutsu," Asuma told him bitterly, "but if it indeed exists, seems like Orochimaru's to me." His words were followed by a complete stillness from his colleagues.

"The people are restless," he continued in a lower tone, "they may seem curious or even excited about this incident but they are worried. If anybody can just walk in and die in front of the Hokage's office, I doubt they will still trust the security system."

"Tell them about what Genma has discovered and they will freak out," Gai pointlessly added. He looked at his rival and asked, "What about your Uchiha?"

The silver-haired jounin leant back to his chair lazily. "Well, he still hasn't suspected anything but I think it's best to keep it that way. He doesn't really need to know."

Asuma raised his eyebrows. "You still let them to do missions?"

"It will be suspicious if I don't," Kakashi answered somberly. "For the time being, he still has me and his teammates. Besides, Naruto would die for Sasuke if he needs to."

"Precious person, huh?"

"We must look underneath the underneath," he replied cheerfully, a happy smile curved his one visible eye.

"That is so modern, Kakashi!" Gai exclaimed, his eyes were shining in tears and pride. "That is my rival!"

"We'll see what the Hokage will say about this. Oh, and speaking of that, she called for another meeting tomorrow morning, seven o'clock sharp," Genma informed, glancing at his friend with infamous habit of tardiness in process.

"Again!?" The jounin with super fuzzy eyebrows cried out in distress. "I will die in shame if I am late again to meet my students! It can dampen their youthful spirits!"

"In this department, I envy you, Kakashi," Asuma muttered.

"We must look underneath the underneath," Kakashi told them wisely, which immediately earned him sour glances from three directions.

To Be Continued

Notes: I forget to mention this before, but here I make that Naruto has already known about Sasuke's cursed seal. I hope you don't mind. For Kakashi's pairing, I will reveal it in due time but of course, you can always guess Thank you for reading! Really hope that you will spare a minute to review!