Chapter Two: New Friends.

Thanks for the reviews and faves/alerts, everyone. This story is mainly about finding oneself…and showing that everyone can find acceptance somewhere under many circumstances. So please enjoy~

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I own nothing,

And neither do you.


Naruto poked his head out from behind his guardians legs. He gaped openly at the person standing before the him. She had short brown hair that swished whenever she moved and two pieces of…was that…tape on her face?

"Kashi, who she?" as Naruto spoke his choppy toddler language, he tightened his grip on the elder man's pants.

"Rin. Her name is Rin. She was my teammate." he told the tiny blond gently while patting his wild hair.

"She good?" He whispered, as to not inform the woman that he was questioning her morals.

Kakashi nodded in conformation and looked to the brunette. "Rin, this is Naruto."

Rin winked at the Cyclops and bent down to Naruto's level, "Like your daddy said, I am Rin. I hope we can play together some time." Her voice was even and had no hints of that awful baby talk he disliked so much. He liked it when taller people treated him with respect.

He flashed her a dazzling, fox-like grin and stuck out his pinky finger- proposing a promise. She smiled right back and locked her pinky with his before whispering "I promise."

Suddenly, Naruto looked at her confused. "If he daddy, are you mommy?"

The two Jonín burst out laughing as though Kami himself had ascended from heaven wearing a pink dress and a tiara. Hurriedly, they explained that they were not married, nor did Kakashi have a wife. Naruto just nodded giving them a sad, sorrowful look. Though he was only three, he was pretty smart. He could pick up on the tension thickening the air.

Naruto suddenly giggled like a little school girl. An amused look crossed his young, scarred face. He grinned up at the two adults without a care in the world.

"Naru' do you want to go to the park?" Rin asked the boy.

"Paw-k?" Naruto tried the funny new word out, frowning at the way it seemed to get stuck on his tongue.

"No, no; the park. You know, the place kids can play?" Naruto nodded in understanding and grabbed Kakashi's hand. He tried to drag the adult outside but it was in vain. Kakashi pulled the kid up onto his shoulders and walked out the door, but not before locking it.

The trio arrived at the park within a few minutes. Naruto immediately sniffed out the messiest thing he possibly could-the sandbox. Naruto's face lit up and he made an all out sprint towards the box. Kakashi watched as the young kid jumped into the sand, kicking it around in glee.

At closer inspection, he spied two other kids in the sandbox. The bigger of the two was a young boy. He had his hair up in a ponytail atop his head; it sort of resembled a pineapple. His shirt was a grayish blue. Kakashi instantly recognized him. The boy was the child of Shikaku Naru... What was his name... Shikamaru.

The small girl had her bangs cut in a hime style. The back of her hair was almost as short as a typical boy's. She was wearing a thin Kimono, seeing as it was a rather hot summer day. Her hair had a blue-ish tint to it but her most stunning feature was her eyes. They were like a pale moon. She was a Hyuga. She was Hinata Hyuga.

Kakashi looked around for the other children's parents. He easily spotted Hinata's mother conversing with another Hyuga but Shikaku was no where to be found. He was rather lazy, though... He was probably lying down somewhere, gazing at the clouds.

Naruto eagerly talked to the other kids. He told them a lot- his favorite food, color, place, et cetera. Kakashi smiled down at his boy and went with Rin to find an empty bench, nearby of course.

"Naruto, you talk a lot," Shikamaru puffed up with his superior speech skills. Though he wasn't annoyed by the blonde, he did sure talk a lot. He passed Naruto one of the buckets of sand he was hoarding. Hinata sat quietly, only occasionally saying something. The group sat there for about an hour talking about what ever came to their young brains.

"Sorry, never played before," Naruto showed his soon to be infamous foxy grin. He liked these kids; they were actually nice to him and their parents didn't seem to care either. The trio went on to build not just a castle but a whole town. It was actually pretty good for a few three-year olds with only two buckets and a wooden shovel.

"N-Naruto-Kun, Shikamaru-kun, my mommy is calling me." Hinata bid the two boys farewell. She quickly hid behind her mother's lilac dress when Naruto flashed her a dashing smile.

"Bye Hinata-Chan!" Hinata could be seen whispering to her mother. Naruto caught what she asked her mom. She asked if they could come again. Her mother smiled and told her they would ask Hinata's father.

Then it was just the boys and both were staring off into space. Surprisingly it was Shikamaru who broke the silence, "Ever play shogi?"

Naruto, being the hyperactive knucklehead he was, looked like a fish with out water. What was this shogi thing? Shikamaru just walked over to his playing set, motioning for Naruto to follow.

And with that, the day went on. Shikamaru explained the game to Naruto and the two boys spent the rest of the day playing it. Of course, Shikamaru won every game. Naruto was getting a bit better though. Shikamaru bid his new friend farewell as the sun was setting. Magically, his dad showed up just at that moment. Of course, he just used a transportation jutsu.

"Naruto, have you ever swung?" Rin spied the boy watch his newest friend go. His looked up curiously. 'Man, this kid doesn't know anything does he?' she thought to herself.

"Come on, then! Me and Kakashi will push you!" The two ran over to the swing set. Naruto sat down and Rin pushed his small frame on the swing. Naruto squealed with laughter. Eventually Kakashi joined in on the fun. The trio played until the sun was nearly gone over the horizon. Rin giggled when Naruto told her it was time for bed.

Kakashi walked Rin to her house and took Naruto, who was sitting on his shoulders, back to their humble abode. Naruto's stomach rumbled viciously when Kakashi put a bowl of tomato soup in front of him. Naruto gulped it all down, whimpering when he burned his tongue.

Kakashi pat his head. Naruto ran to his room and quickly slipped into a pair of footy pajamas…that had a hood. Naruto ran back into the small living room with his hood pulled up. Kakashi took him into the bathroom to brush the youngster's teeth. After fighting with Naruto, Kakashi finally managed to get Naruto to lay down.

Once he was sure the boy was asleep, Kakashi left his house. Inside he left a few ninja hounds for protection.

He crept along the streets, making sure to keep quiet until he reached his destination. The Hokage Monument. He scaled the building like it was nothing and stepped through the window.

"Kakashi, it's nice of you to make it…even if you are a few hours late." The Hokage had a slightly irritated twitch to his eyebrow.

"You know I couldn't bring Naruto." Kakashi was completely serious. "I'm here now so, what is the news?"

"Well," he huffed. "I want you to try to take a team for once." The Hokage stated.

Kakashi nodded with little hesitation. He would initiate them with the bell test as Minato once did. "When is the test for the genin?"

"One week from today." Kakashi nodded and left without another word. He didn't really want to leave his boy home alone. Things could go wrong. Terribly wrong. With a shudder, he sped up.

As quietly as he could, Kakashi took a shower and went to his bed. He turned on his bedside lamp and picked up his book. It was written by one of the Sanin. Jiraiya to be exact. It was a pretty good book. It was called The Tale of The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. It wasn't like his other books but, it was, nonetheless, a good read.

A few hours later the man was asleep, the book propped on his heaving chest.

The next morning Kakashi was, again, awoken by a hyper blond sitting on his chest. Only this time he was trying to pry off his mask. The small child screamed when Kakashi opened his eye.

Kakashi decided to start a morning schedule with Naruto. When they woke up he had Naruto take a bath, then ate breakfast, and went to brush their teeth.

This went on for the rest of the week until Kakashi had to start training his team. The night before Kakashi had told the three to meet him at six in the morning. He, of course, would arrive at eight.

He roused Naruto from his sleep. Naruto went with Kakashi to watch.

"Good morning," Naruto and Kakashi greeted when they arrived.

"You're late sensei!" the girl spoke in a modest fashion. She had brown hair tumbling down to the middle of her back and was wearing a light pink martial arts outfit.

The boy next to her had the same colored hair that stuck out to one side and covered one of his eyes. He donned a white T-shirt and ninja shorts.

The last member, another boy, had dark red hair. It was longer than his other male teammates and straighter. He too was wearing a white T-shirt.

"Okay. Tell me your names, dislikes, likes, and dreams." He pointed to the girl, who was sharpening a kunai. She startled at being called first, but threw on a grin.

"I would be Rindou and I don't like enemies of the leaf or the word rural. I like sharp weapons and watch movies. My plans for the future are to become either an Anbu member or a medic." She smiled softly towards Naruto, who smiled back. He had no idea why she was looking at him, but she seemed nice.

Kakashi pointed at the next person- rhe boy who looked similar to her.

"I'm Yuki. And yes, Rindou is my sister. I don't like people asking questions about my name or immaturity. I like clouds and muffins and I haven't thought about the future much." The kid looked bored. Kakashi inwardly scoffed.

"Hiya! I'm Senji! I don't like jerks or bad guys. I really, really like tomatoes and hot springs I want to eventually have a family and start my own clan." The redhead had a huge smile plastered on his face.

Kakashi sat in silence for a second. "I'm Kakashi and I have things I like and dislike and my dreams are to raise this little guy." He motioned towards Naruto, who jumped at the chance to speak.

"I'm Naruto and I like ramen and I want to be Hokage!" The blond happily stated. Kakashi looked at the kid in surprise. Hokage? Interesting...

Kakashi motioned for his team to sit down. Once they had, he joined them.

"See these bells?" he held up two small jingling items but didn't wait for a reply. "If you can get them away from me, you pass. If you don't, I will tie you to this log and you will go with out lunch. Oh yeah and go back to the academy. You have 'til noon. Go!"

The three disappeared in a matter of seconds. Naruto looked around; amazed. Kakashi smiled at the boy and gave him a few toys to play with.

"Time to go find my team and test them." Kakashi thought to himself as he walked into the heavy forest that covered most of Konoha.


So was this chapter okay?

I wanted to add a bit of something in there so I thought of the team. Please review and tell me if you want me to have them pass. I'm not yet sure...

Please check out my poll and tell me who to pair Kakashi with. I have plans with him... Hope you enjoyed R&R and stay gold~ Anything to say Nee?

Sasu- Naruto is so freakin' cute.

I can't handle it.