Inauguration Day

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura yelled in unison; the former pointing an accusing finger on the culprit while the latter glared, arms crossed over her torso. Sasuke too was glaring in annoyance, although a small smirk was plastered on his lips as he witnessed the awfully familiar irritating scene playing out before his eyes. Some things never changed, he mused as his glare softened watching his teammates. Feeling a gaze burning into his being, he turned towards the fifth member of their little group.

"It was always like this back then," Sasuke explained.

"I thought his unpunctuality was just a rumor," Sai commented. Sasuke snorted in reply.

"Maa, maa, I'm sorry that I was lost in the road of life.." Kakashi said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Cut it," Sakura snapped as her eyes narrowed in anger. She stomped towards him, prompting him to take a step back every time she took a step forward. Despite being more than a head shorter, and far more petite, she still managed to look really intimidating. Kakashi idly wondered how on earth the woman who stole his heart because of her warmth and gentle-heartedness turned into the scariest woman he came to know. When he felt his back hitting something that prevented him to move further away from her, he raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "Now, Kakashi, you better have a good reason for making us, especially your pregnant wife wait five hours under the scorching sun and fifteen minutes late for Naruto's inauguration," Sakura's saccharine sweet tone did not match the murderous glint in her eyes, making Kakashi gulp hard and slouch further, making himself as small as possible and maybe small enough to slip past her and disappear..

"Sakura-chan," he began, his calm tone betraying the fear wrecking his whole being. Sakura had a short fuse, but he had never been the one to ignite said fuse. Sure he had irritated her before, but that was it, he had never angered her. Looking at her now, he knew that he was screwed, because he was positive that she was fuming. Now he understood why the boys ran and took cover whenever they pissed off his dearest wife. "I'm really sorry that I lost the track of time looking for Naruto's gift. If I had realized that I would be this late, I would have sent Pakkun to inform you guys about it," he finished evenly as he gave her his famous eye crease to placate her.

"The gift better be good," she threatened before stomping away from him and took her place beside her team mates to pout and glare at the Rokudaime. Kakashi's shoulder sagged in relief and he exhaled the breath he did not realize he was holding. He had heard that women became extremely scary during pregnancies, but he had always thought that they would spare their husbands from their hormone induced wraths, as he had seen with Kushina-san and Minato-sensei. He was really glad that this was the first time he pissed her off, unlike the other members of team 7 who were now sporting one injury or another because they had ticked her off.

"Well, I believe that the gift is good. I hope you like it, Naruto. This was given to me when I was promoted to jonin," Kakashi said as he took out a three-pronged kunai out of his back pouch.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, and with movement faster than Kakashi's eyes could register, the blond man charged towards him and tackled him in a bear hug. Kakashi's eyes almost bulged out of his sockets when Naruto's hand accidentally knocked onto his, driving the special kunai out of his grasp. He could only watch helplessly as the kunai slowly went over the bridge and into the rapidly flowing river beneath them. He let out a second breath of relief in five minutes, a new record even for someone who brushed with death too many times to count, when he saw Sasuke's hand shot out to save the kunai just in the nick of time. His relief was short-lived, unfortunately, as his back hit the hard wooden bridge flooring. A sharp, burning sensation radiated from his lower back, causing his face to be contorted into a grimace, and he wheezed out a pained yelp as the pressure on his chest drove all the air out of his lungs.

"Sensei, arigato. Hontouni, arigato," Naruto whispered with tears flowing freely down his face, soaking into Kakashi's clothing as he buried his face on his shoulder.

"You're welcome, Naruto. Now get off me, you're heavy," Kakashi rasped after he ruffled Naruto's short hair. Naruto promptly rolled off him and grinned widely as he wiped his tears away with the sleeves of his jacket. He jumped up gracefully and offered Kakashi a hand, which he gratefully accepted.

Sasuke rolled the kunai in his hands curiously, the weapon somehow looked familiar, but he could not pinpoint where exactly he had seen it. He spotted carvings on the handle of the kunai and his rinnegan immediately translated the fuinjutsu engraved. He smiled as he shook his head at Kakashi. That old man had never failed to one up everything they do.

"You know what it says, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as she peered over his shoulder to try to read the engraving. Sai, who stood at his other side was respecting his personal space and opted to invade his line of vision instead, gazing at him with question marks tattooed all over his face.

"Fuinjutsu, Hiraishin," Sasuke told them simply.

"Oh," Sakura gasped as she finally smiled at Kakashi, who was rubbing at his lower back soothingly, no doubt it had bruised when Naruto tackled him. Deeming that his present earned him his forgiveness, Sakura approached him and placed a green glowing palm over the sore area, instantly relieving him of his pain. She also placed a small kiss on his cheek, because his tardiness could easily be overlooked with a special gift like that.

"Arigato, Sakura-chan," Kakashi smiled gratefully at her. His smile turned evil as he saw Sakura approaching Naruto and clobbered him on the head while yelling 'Baka!'

"Your wife is really scary," Sai commented as he watched Sakura throttling Naruto. Sai winced as Sakura whacked Naruto's shoulder and rubbed his own. He felt really sorry for the blond, because he too was hit at the exact same spot by Sakura just a few days ago because he had said something that was apparently not socially acceptable. His comment caused Sasuke to grunt in agreement, making Kakashi chuckle.

Kakashi turned his attention from the boys to gaze lovingly at his wife. She was scary, but he still loved her, and more importantly, she loved him too. It was also a bonus that he knew how to get away from her wrath because he knew how played his cards right, unlike the rest of his teammates.

Looking at his teammates brought Kakashi down the trip of memory lane. He grinned as he motioned Sai and Sasuke to come over and went to separate Sakura from Naruto. Kakashi wrapped his hands around Sakura, hugging her to get her to cool down, while at the same time shielding Naruto from her. He then guided Sakura and motioned Naruto to follow him towards where Sai and Sasuke were standing.

Kakashi handed Sakura his cell phone as he slung his arms around Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura squeezed her way between the boys and while pulling Sai between herself and Naruto. After making sure that everyone was in position, she snapped a picture of them. As she inspected the picture, a smile of approval formed on her face. She grinned at her husband and handed him his phone back, causing Kakashi to beam as well, as he saw five happy faces on his phone screen. What made the photo more special than their previous team photo was the genuine smiles painted on everyone's faces, instead of just Sakura's; there were no scowling faces of two brats or a wry smile hidden beneath a mask. The boy who did not know what it felt like to smile a 'real smile' because he never had the reason to, was now sporting one as well. As he gazed at the photo fondly, Kakashi made a mental note to develop a copy and frame it before sending it to Naruto so that he could place it on the Hokage desk.

"I love you guys," Kakashi blurted out, still busy admiring the new team picture.

"Kakashi-sensei.." Naruto began hesitantly. "You know that I'm married to Hinata, right? Besides, you have Sakura-chan already!"

"Eh?" Kakashi asked in bewilderment. As he realized what he meant, Kakashi's face twisted into a frown and he took a step towards Naruto. Naruto squeaked out a panicked yelp as he backed away from the approaching Kakashi. "It's not like that, Naruto.." Kakashi sighed exasperatedly as he shook his head at his student. Sakura and Sai rolled their eyes and shared a smile as they recalled the incident with Hiruko.

"Baka," Sasuke mumbled.

"Teme! What are you calling me baka for?" Naruto sneered as he none too subtly hid behind Sasuke, using his best friend as a buffer between himself and Kakashi.

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke grumbled. Just how dumb could the blond be? Kakashi was obviously only romantically interested in Sakura, and when he said 'I love you' to the rest of them, it was because he saw them as his family, annoying little brothers to be precise most likely.

Sasuke's rather vague insults prompted the oblivious Naruto to throw him several foul words of his choice back at the Uchiha, thus igniting a verbal sparring session between them.

The two boys continued bickering as the five of them made their ways to the Hokage tower, where the inauguration ceremony was being held. Sai apparently had said something wrong, and Kakashi watched in amusement as his skin paled even further, a feat he did not know was possible, facing a furious Sakura. He winced and a shred of pity ran through him watching the boy receive a hard jab in the stomach. Watching his teammates made him laugh as he realized that no matter how old they get, they would never grew out of acting like the kids they once were, similar to how he sometimes acted around Gai when he accepted his friend's more ridiculous challenges.

When they finally reached the tower, Kakashi stopped his students. "Naruto," he called. "I have one more present for you."

"Another present? Really? Show me!" Naruto bounced excitedly, quickly forgoing the distance he had so carefully put between them. The word 'present' had apparently made him forgot about his misunderstanding. Kakashi's eyes creased in amusement as he motioned Naruto to come closer. The blond did so obediently, as he could not wait to get his hands on another present. Kakashi grinned under his mask as he quickly whipped a cone-shaped hat out of thin air and placed it on Naruto's head. As Kakashi did so, Naruto also felt something light being draped on his shoulder. Blinking in confusion, he took off the hat with his good hand and lifted the cloth on his shoulder with his prosthetic one. Tears began to brim at the corners of his eyes as he stared at his grinning team mates.

"Crying is not fitting for a Hokage," Kakashi teased.

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Congratulations," Sai told him as his lips curved into a genuine smile.

"Now go out there, Naruto! Everyone's waiting for their Nanadaime," Sakura encouraged as she gave him a gentle push towards the staircase leading to the roof of the Hokage tower.

Before taking a step up the stairs, Naruto turned towards his teammates. "Thank you, all of you, for always supporting me. I will make you guys especially proud of me; I will be the best Hokage Konoha had ever seen, 'ttebayo!" He exclaimed with a fist pump as he ran up the wall instead of taking the stairs. Cheers erupted as the four shinobi watched their blond teammate stood tall and proud on top of the Hokage tower's roof.

'Indeed, Naruto. You will be the best Hokage – at least until a successor take over that role. After all, the next generation will always surpass the previous,' Kakashi mused as he shoved his hands in his pocket. Now, all that was left to do for him was to enjoy his retirement with his lovely wife by his side, he thought cheerily.