Team Konohamaru, Reunited!

At the entrance of the village a wave of nostalgia hit him immediately, as everything resembled last year's memories he had. Even at night, the village was bright due to all the street lights and skyscrapers, but also its people. They usually had a genuine, positive aura around them which in no way resembled what Otogakure inspired.
He wasn't even thinking about the lack of a homey feeling back at the hideouts, but rather the domain itself. It was usually just the 7 of them, if he counted Yamato. In rest just nature. Vast forests with all sorts of trees and flowers you could only find there; and even though at first it may sound and look like a fairy tale, once a person is in the middle of it, they actually feel small, inferior, an outcast, like they have to run away as soon as possible. To Mitsuki, it stopped being scary and started being a bit fascinating but it still wasn't the place he wanted to live.
Konoha was right in front of him, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. Soon enough, this would be the place to actually be his home, no lies and no pretending.

The boy went straight to his apartment with the intention of taking a fast shower and going to sleep. He was lucky to catch the train, even though it was just a one hour ride from Oto to Konoha.
Much to his surprise and displeasure, he felt a cold wind coming from the living room. As soon as he took his shoes off, he hurried in to the room to see if anyone broke in through the window. He found it open, but no one else was to be seen. He inspected the room carefully, looking for clues. It didn't take him long to spot some light brown hair on the floor. Mitsuki smirked.
"No need to hide, ChouChou, but please just use the front door next time, and maybe crash by only when I invite you."
"But it's no date, Mitsuki, the situation is rather urgent so I allowed myself to get in, with the help of my beloved teammates," the girl revealed herself, along with Shikadai and Inojin. The brunet held some files in front of Mitsuki and told him to take a look at them. Ignoring how he wasn't properly greeted, besides ChouChou's teasing, yet typical remarks, he took the papers and sat down, starting to inspect every word.
"Why should I read your report from Suna? Plus, I thought you were supposed to spend more time there."
"The mission was cut short because of another diplomatic visit from Iwa. We could have stayed there to finish other small issues but honestly, the weather in Suna is such a drag. The last part is what you might find interesting."
After he went through pages and pages of "we went there, did that, discussed about that, engaged in combat with these people", Mitsuki finally got to the last paragraph, which began with the bolded word "Kusanagi".
"Oh, how convenient," he thought.

"Kusanagi. 4:26 p.m.
A scroll which is labeled so, was found by Nara Shiakdai, Akimichi ChouChou and Yamanaka Inojin on the west side of The Land of Wind, near Sunagakure. At 4:45 the team brought it to the Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, to be inspected. Upon opening it, he could come to no conclusion, as the text is cyphered. The only recognisable characters are the kanji for "snake" and "moon". With the Kazekage's approval, we, as Konohagakure chuunin, took the scroll back to deliver it to Uchiha Sasuke, person nominated by the leader of Sunagakure as capable of voicing his thoughts, opinions and knowledge on such scroll.

6:10 p.m. - End of the mission

Author of the report: Nara Shikadai, chuunin of Konohagakure."

Orochimaru had lost the sword when Itachi battled with Sasuke. Better said, it disappeared. Its former owner asked Kabuto and Team Taka about it, but neither parties knew anything about it. After the war, finding the Kusanagi became his main obsession. He travelled through all the lands of the shinobi world and gathered as many clues as he could, yet he didn't find anything at all.
He then had to drop the search, once Log came back to Otogakure and encouraged Orochimaru to take on the Synthetic Human project again, as he offered to be his right hand. He created Mitsuki, and the satisfaction he got from the boy and his abilities made the Sannin forget the grief of losing the katana. For a while, at least.
A year ago, when his son came back to Oto for more intensive training, they both started looking for the Kusanagi, nearby the village and in the Ryuchi cave. No results during that period of time, either.
Only then Mitsuki had a clue about the sword; when he read the report. How could it slip from Orochimaru, such precious information?

He did not show any emotion, though. The boy obviously knew how much it meant to his father, so he had to put on an act, in hopes of finding out more. Still, what Gaara and the teens in the apartment knew did not help Mitsuki's case; that small piece of information pointed specifically towards him for some reason, despite the sword existing even before his father had been born.

"No need to hide anything, Mitsuki. We know it's about a sword. Your parent's, to be more precise."
"It's not like I know anything. I'll try my luck and ask you, however, if you could show me the scroll."
The three teammates exchanged hesitant looks.
"Only if he says you can," responded Inojin, with a slight smirk on his face. "Kazekage's commands. Gotta do what he says first."
"Makes sense."
"Till then, let's light up a bit, shall we? Since we basically broke into your apartment, we bothered to get some food, at least, and thought of sitting down for some chit-chat and a cards game. You up for it?" ChouChou has always been a thoughtful friend and even in such shady situation, she thought it was more important that Mitsuki came back and probably was tired, just like them.

The four of them had some burgers, soda and played cards. Occasionally, they would complain a bit about their families, each of them for different reasons.
"Mom won't shut up about how I have to go on a diet! I am very confident in myself and also I am healthy, thank you!"
"Mom is getting angry with dad for working overtime... but I have a feeling it's he Hokage she wants to murder."
"Mine keeps scolding me for not practicing the Yamanaka techniques, even though I have enough potential, or something like that. Honestly, they only come in handy in teamwork."
"Aunt Karin and dad argue so much over any small thing in my life but never really ask for my opinion."
They continued discussing about what else they did while Mitsuki was gone, from missions to silly gossips and plans for the close future. What was about to come next for each of them sounded quite promising.

He couldn't sleep at all.
His friends had left after some hours. Shikadai only showed him the scroll, but didn't let him open it. What he saw resembled something his parent kept in one of his gigantic storage rooms. Mitsuki assumed that it was probably another copy of said scroll in Otogakure. Why would there be another one, though? This made the teenager feel uneasy, drowned in thought.
He tried falling asleep but there was always something wrong; the bed was uncomfortable, there were too many pillows, he would be too cold, or too hot. In reality, it was just the thought of the scroll, and he knew that as well. But what was with the "snake" and "moon"? It was the Chinese kanji as well, used for his name, but why? Was it just a coincidence? It must have been, he had never once touched the sword. And why were those characters the only ones that were not cyphered, besides the title?

After what seemed like hours of restlessness in bed, he got up around 5 a.m. He still tried to adopt a positive vibe. He was going to meet with Boruto and Sarada today, have a great time and not even think about bothersome subjects that could possibly remind him of the sword or his father's sneaky behaviour and questionable way with words. It would be only about them.
He couldn't help but notice the bright sun rising from behind the Hokage rock and the skyscrapers. It was as if the blinding orange light was melting them. A magnificent, yet typical sunrise in Konoha.
"I really missed this," he found himself talking alone.

A bit later, he texted Sarada and Boruto to meet him in the park.

"I told you the millionth time, Himawari! This is a team reunion, I don't understand why you would want to tag along with me!"
"Because I also missed Mitsuki-kun! He's not just your friend or Sarada's!"
"But you're not our teammate, Himawari!"
It was just another noisy morning at the Uzumaki residence that consisted in a fight between the two siblings. Hinata tried to interfere, but it was useless.
"Boruto, I don't think Sarada or Mitsuki would mind if she tags along…"
"But mom, that means I have to look after her!"
"I can take care of myself! And I am 15, don't think that I am just a child!"
Both of them stopped when their father. He entered the living room, clearly in a hurry. Naruto was determined to end that stupid quarrel ASAP.
"Now, now, you two! Boruto, you should understand that you can't just tell Himawari what to do."
The girl gave her older brother a huge evil smirk that pissed him off.
"Therefore, Hima, you can obviously go if you wish; I'm sure nobody will mind it," she let out an enthusiastic "yes!" while Boruto just groaned.

The Hokage left immediately, saying goodbye to his family. Shortly after, the siblings made their way to Sarada's house, to pick her up.

As they got there, Boruto and Himawari were greeted by Sakura, who was very happy to see the youngest member of the Uzumaki family. Sarada appeared immediately at the door, and had the same reaction at the sight of Hima. As they hugged each other, the youngest girl threw Boruto a glare that made him clench his fist.
On their way to the park, it was like Boruto didn't exist; they just seemed to ignore him completely, with the purpose of making the blond angry. Served him right for coming uninvited in the Uchiha house and for thinking that his little sister was helpless. He had no choice but let things be.
He thought of how Mitsuki had been doing in the past year; sure, they had still texted each other and met on special occasions (not for long, though), but you don't get to realise via these actions how much a person could change after a period of time spent in another place with other surroundings and different kinds of people. Did that message he gave to Sasuke have to do anything with his friend? He was worried about the worst that could happen because he didn't have to see Orochimaru more than once to realise that the man was no good, despite Mitsuki venerating him with every given occasion. He would think sometimes that the kid was brainwashed or something.
Boruto looked at Sarada for a second. He realised that she herself was in distress as well, even though she appeared to have a good time with Himawari. There was no doubt she had the same thing on her mind. It was quite irritating, for a reason, to see even the smallest trace of sadness in those big, black and hypnotising eyes. He ended up staring into them for God knows how long, without necessarily realising.
"Boruto, is there something wrong?"
"What? Uh, no, nothing…" he just turned his head away, slightly blushing. His younger sister noticed that right away, and grinned.

As soon as the three members of Konohamaru Team met in the park, silence fell between of them. After a minute of awkwardness and staring at each other with open mouths trying to get something out, but without any success, they got closer and hugged each other as tight as possible. Himawari was pleased to see them like that, yet a tad emotional.
"I missed us," mumbled Sarada.
"Getting emotional?"
"Boruto, we can feel you sobbing," remarked Mitsuki.
"Oh, shut up!"
When they broke away from the hug, the three of them were smiling. Mitsuki also turned to greet Himawari.

They were good friends. Every time the blue-haired boy visited Boruto, he would always end up helping the brunette with her homework and occasionally help her practice Taijutsu. The three of them also hung out quite a lot, in an attempt to help Himawari learn the village. She always outstood to people as smart and sharp, probably a bit more than her brother. Mitsuki didn't fail to notice those traits in her. He was impressed with her strength and ability to learn difficult notions of ninjutsu.
A few months before leaving, they started hanging out without Boruto, but usually only for training. Of course, they would also deviate and discuss other stuff and slowly, they actually got to know each other.

This time, however, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, and how bright her blue eyes really were. He found himself stuck with words.
"Good to see you back, Mitsuki!" she grinned.
"Glad to see you again," he could barely be heard, but she got the message alright.

The four teenagers chose to spend their time at Ichiraku's, eating ramen. Boruto was proudly talking about his progresses and how strong he managed to become with Sasuke's help, and revealed that his speciality was none other than Rasengan. Sarada started off as usually with her ambition of becoming Hokage. She showed enthusiasm when she saw Mitsuki's Yin seal. However, she was a bit envious since she was also training to achieve it. Himawari mastered most of the Hyuuga techniques and succeeded in combining the Kyuubi chakra with the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists. It was, indeed, impressive, that at her age she could achieve such skills.
Mitsuki preferred staying silent and not talk much about the experiences in Otogakure.
"Another bowl here, please!" Himawari called.
"Right away!"

"Uh, Himawari, how come these two are not yet together?" it was a sudden question of Mitsuki, but it made the girl laugh almost maniacally. Mitsuki could be such a tease at times.
"Right? It's so obvious they love each other so much but maybe my brother is too scared of uncle Sasuke and Sarada is a little tsundere. Aren't they hopeless, Mitsuki?" Sarada and Boruto had at that point their faces as red as tomatoes. They had nothing to say in their defence, either. Hima's tone was so innocent, yet it felt like a knife in the back to those two. Mitsuki only responded with a chuckle. He wasn't even surprised, it was just like them.
But those two also had something up their sleeve as well.
"And, dear sister, who is the lucky one, eh? I bet there must be a guy you're crazy about-ttebasa."
"Mitsuki, you surely traveled a lot in this year, so where is the girl from? Suna, Iwa, Kiri?" Immediately after, the Uzumaki and the Uchiha quickly exchanged sights and then looked again at the other two, speaking simultaneously: "Or is it something between you two?"
There was a moment of silence that made even the waiter that brought Himawari's dish wonder what happened.
The girl was too smart to give them a reaction that would satisfy them, such as aggressively denying or laughing out loud. And even though it was more than clear that up until that moment it would've impossible for Mitsuki and Himawari to exist as a couple, her reply was still an interesting one.
"Who knows?"
Boruto and Sarada looked at Mitsuki, who played along with a smirk.
As the youngest girl of the group finished the other bowl, she broke the awkward silence.
"It's such a nice thing, to see you all three like that again. You guys have a special bond, maybe a stronger one than the one between my dad and Sarada's parents. Or at least just as strong. It really makes me joyful! I really think you should pay Konohamaru-sensei a visit as soon as possible; he would also be very pleased, I am sure!"
Their smiles were undoubtedly genuine and Himawari's words were surely needed. Boruto and Sarada were sad when Mitsuki left, even though he promised he would come back and would never give up on their friendship. So to Sarada and Boruto, those words and Mitsuki's comeback made them remember about how he kept his promise.

"Not denying it! Here we are, Team Konohamaru, reunited!" These were Boruto's words, as he put his arms around the other three and pulled them closer.