Sequel to "the Vigilante": The Uchiha Clan's been saved, Shisui and Itachi are good friends with Kakashi, and Konoha seems to be at peace. Things are turning out differently; Itachi and Sasuke have a younger brother, Naruto doesn't live alone, and Kakashi has several reasons to keep on living. However, Kakashi soon discovers that someone isn't too happy with him and wants him erased completely.
Chapter 1 Surrogate
They say a mother holds your hand for a while, but holds your heart forever. To many children of shinobi in Konoha, those moments lasted even shorter than is expected. Some don't get the chance to hold their parents' hands at all as they grow up to be shinobi themselves.
To Hatake Kakashi, a twenty-six year old withdrawn and refined shinobi, he thought it was unfair that Uzumaki Naruto was robbed of that chance twice. The first time was due to cruel circumstance that his birth mother needed to give up her life for him. It was a noble sacrifice, nevertheless, but it left Naruto alone. The second time Naruto missed the opportunity to gain a surrogate mother was when the orphanage pulled him out to live on his own. This had been a slap to the face for Kakashi.
Moreover, Kakashi did not make a good parental figure towards Naruto, even though he was now the kid's guardian and teacher. He was hardly a grown man himself; how was he supposed to teach a twelve year old?
"You lived alone ever since you were a kid just like me Kaka-sensei," Naruto argued relentlessly.
"And look how well I turned out," Kakashi pointed out. He gestured to the headband covering his eye, his mask covering the majority of his face, and his official jonin uniform. "There are a few white hairs that I saw in the mirror the other day."
Naruto stared blankly at him. "But Nii-sei-san, your entire head is white."
That was another one of Naruto's nicknames that he'd been given, combining 'older brother' with 'sensei'. Thus, this was another reason Kakashi had no parental influence over the younger, more energetic ninja. Most people don't listen to their siblings when they're ordered to do chores.
"It's a grey-ish silver, thanks a lot."
"So that's why I have to live with you?" Naruto huffed tenaciously. Inwardly, he was glad that he had not had to live by himself since a few years prior. And he knew that Kakashi was fully aware of that. "And move out when I'm 20 like all the other kids."
Kakashi's eyes widened and he developed a sensation of cold sweat. He could not dedicate that much time of his life (and personal space) to Naruto's mess. It didn't matter how fond of him Kakashi was. "Um, no you're free to move out at the nice younger acceptable age of 18," he said quickly with a small laugh.
It was late and dark outside in the village of Konoha. Even though the sky was pitch black, the neighbourhoods and streets were lit up in bright lights that helped create a busy atmosphere within the village. Around them, things were peaceful and warm, yet dynamic and industrious.
"Where are we going?" Naruto inquired. It was close to dinnertime and his stomach growled loudly.
"After a long day of training, we were invited to dinner at a friend's home," Kakashi informed him, keeping the details as vague as possible.
However, Naruto suspiciously caught on. "Whose place are we eating at?" Eating out at restaurants and shops was a common occurrence, but he wasn't used to eating at another person's home.
Shrugging inconspicuously, Kakashi led him through the village. "They're making a huge feast. Shrimp, lobster, beef, sushi, you name it."
Drooling, Naruto dropped the questions and eagerly followed the tall man. He couldn't have known that Kakashi was bringing him one step closer to his worse nightmare.
When they arrived at the residence, a number people welcomed them. The first person to greet them was Uchiha Itachi, who maturely bowed and opened the door for them.
"Wait a second… Aren't you Sasuke's brother?" Naruto questioned curiously. "This is your home?"
Itachi shook hands with Kakashi, who leaned in closely to whisper him something. "Don't give in, we'll try our best to step around this for as long as possible."
"Understood," Itachi agreed. "I haven't told Sasuke either that I invited you both. He was upset about some incident from your training today. Haven't you gotten them to cooperate by now?"
"Trust me, I've tried. I hope they don't end up killing each other one day."
"Kaka-sensei!" someone called out cheerfully.
"Yahoh, Sakura-chan." Kakashi waved at his third student Haruno Sakura as they sat down at the table.
"Hey, it's the Spiky-haired twins," Uchiha Shisui greeted them pleasantly. Naruto brightened up.
"Hi, Shisui!"
Cautiously, Kakashi eyed the people at the table. His students, comprised of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, made up Team 7 with him as their leader. So far, all three young shinobi were seated far away from each other, which was a sign of relief. Sakura sat between two people that he recognized as her parents. They were sitting by some of Shisui's relatives. At Kakashi's side of the table were Itachi's family, including his parents and his two younger brothers Sasuke and Takumi, and Shisui himself. Takumi was the youngest person at the table. He was 5 years old and was the spit and image of Sasuke.
The moment Naruto and Sasuke spotted each other, they crossed their arms and looked away. Thankfully, they did not make a scene.
"Ooh, I'm so happy that we're all here," Uchiha Mikoto, the boys' mother (and wife to Uchiha Fugaku) announced as she set the last plate of food on the table. "I've been meaning to have Sasuke's team all come over for dinner to celebrate their hard work as genin."
Mikoto beamed proudly at all three young shinobi, who all looked anything but happy.
"Thank you for making us dinner, Aunt Mikoto," Shisui said gratefully in their place. He wasn't directly related to Itachi, but he'd long been considered a member of the family. "Those guys are happy to be here too that they already agreed to do the dishes together!"
The three students in Team 7 all exclaimed in protest. Mikoto didn't seem to notice since she started to commend them for their selfless behaviour.
Beside his mother, the young Takumi fidgeted eagerly. "Can I help?" he asked his older brothers, clinging onto Sasuke's arm. "Please, Nii-san?"
While eating, Kakashi turned towards Shisui. "I thought the plan was to keep them as far apart as possible," he said in a quiet voice so that the others couldn't hear.
"What was that you were preaching all this time, Kakashi?" Shisui retorted with an impish grin. "Teamwork is so important, we gotta learn how to work together and be a single unit. La-la-la."
"You haven't met Sakura, and you haven't seen the three of them together before. It's a work in progress. I was desperately hoping the teambuilding would be put on hold for at least tonight," Kakashi admitted sheepishly.
"On the other hand, I was hoping to see an interesting display of trial and error this evening."
"Mum!" Sakura whined when dinner was over and they were idly chatting. The kids, tagged along with an enthusiastic Takumi, all worked together in the kitchen while the others enjoyed a cup of tea. Itachi had gone to supervise the chaos after losing rock-paper-scissors to Shisui and Kakashi.
"Sakura, why are you covered in soap buds?" her father asked, bursting out into laughter. He was an easy-going type of guy.
"It's all Naruto's fault!"
Kakashi put down a handful of cards, sighing. "I told you Itachi's too soft," he said to Shisui while getting up.
"He is way too nice."
Not unlike many other instances throughout the time Kakashi had known the two, he found Sasuke and Naruto wrestling and kicking each other on the kitchen floor. Itachi stood in the corner of the room, unsure of how to break them up while holding his second brother over his shoulders. Shisui stepped in to observe in the background with complete amusement on his face.
"Okay! Hold it!" Kakashi ordered. He stepped in and physically lifted each of them up by the ankle. He struggled a little bit, noticing that they were getting bigger. One day when they were grown up, he wondered how he'd be able to stop one of their fights.
"He was hitting on Sakura-chan, so I defended her!" Naruto called out.
"If anybody was bothering her, it was you!" Sasuke retorted angrily. "I wouldn't ever waste my time on meaningless tactics like that."
"This is not the way we behave as guests in someone's home," Kakashi instructed Naruto. "Who spilled dish soap over Sakura?"
"Me!" Takumi squealed delightfully. He held up the soap bottle and aimed at Kakashi without shooting. He ducked regardless. "I was practicing my ninja skills like Nii-san."
"Kaka-sensei, we're covered in soap too," Naruto complained, glaring at the little Uchiha brother.
"It's not my fault that every one around me is incompetent," Sasuke mumbled.
"What did you say?"
"Okay… enough."
Kakashi separated them into different rooms and forced them to clean themselves up before they came to clean the mess in the kitchen. Even though they tried to argue, Kakashi pointed out that they made Takumi's soap bomb even bigger by fighting.
Itachi scratched his head nervously. "This is what I get for having more free time from ANBU?"
"Get used to it," Kakashi told him, recalling how the Hokage freed him from his ANBU duties a few years ago. "The way things are going, it looks like shinobi will have a lot less work to do in the future. And you get to spend more time with your family."
Takumi smiled brightly and hugged his older brother's neck. "I'm so glad that Nii-san will be around more," he said with his high voice, which seemed to be a trademark of the family's.
Several minutes later, a less grumpy-looking blonde kid re-entered the kitchen with a towel over his shoulders and Mikoto at his heels. "Naruto, you're a fun, loving child," she said kindly, wiping off bubbles in his hair with the towel. "Even though Sasuke seems to bring out your terrible side, you bring out his lively side."
"Listen, Sasuke's mum," Naruto said with an annoyed voice while she pestered him with a towel, "I'm not a baby. I can handle myself."
She smiled unconcernedly and patted his head.
"She reminds me of how my mother used to be," Kakashi commented to Itachi and Shisui. They watched as Naruto continued to groan in protest. "She died when I was really young, so the only memory I have of her was that… she was the perfect, loving mother."
"That's the best way to remember her as," Shisui said firmly. He never knew his parents, so he couldn't relate to losing them like Kakashi, or having them like Itachi. But Shisui had his surrogate family: his aunt and uncle and his younger cousins. Additionally, he has Itachi and his family, and many friends.
"Who do you think is the most motherly?" Kakashi suddenly wondered, glancing back and forth between them and Itachi.
When they both stared at Itachi, he put his hands up. "I'm an ANBU shinobi," he stated defensively. "Literally meaning of the darkness. I make cold decisions and erase all my emotions while on duty. I am the toughest ANBU shinobi working for Hokage-sama."
"But you're really just a softie," Shisui teased, putting an arm around his shoulders. "You've softened up. Then again, you were always a kind person ever since you were a kid. I remember you cried back when-"
Itachi slammed a hand over his friend's mouth. "Don't you dare," he hissed.
"Hey, no fair!" Naruto shouted and pointed a finger at them. "How come you all get to fight but I don't?"
A/N So here begins the start of a new story! If you haven't already, please check out the prequel to this one, "The Vigilante", which serves to set up some of the background to this story. As you can tell, things will not be canon to the anime/manga, but that doesn't mean I'm going to neglect any it. Please feel free to point out what you think would have been a major change vs. a minor change to the Naruto-verse.
Leave a review with comments and where you think this story will be headed!