A/N: Well, I hope it's come as quite a surprise to you that this is the first of my stories updated--it certainly has to me. To anyone reading either my Artemis Fowl or my Miles Vorkosigan fic, yes, there are chapters in progress--no, they're not mostly completed. They'll probably take a while to update, but no guarantees. To anyone reading March to the Empire, I'm most of the way through the eight chapter--six and a third pages of size twelve Times New Roman. The problem is, this chapter ends at a specific point; I can feel it. To end it either sooner or later would be wrong, in a way I can't really describe. So I'm stuck trying to make it long enough, but not just make it boring filler. However, some progress has been made and it should be updated soon--again, no guarantees.

As for the length of this chapter--it's longer than the last one, but not by much. I'm giving up long chapters for this story, at least for now, as it seems to want to be written in short blurbs.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. I didn't own it yesterday, I won't tomorrow. The only way I could see my way to getting my hands on it would be if some giant disaster wiped out all humans except me, in which case I'd probably have the best legal claim to it. Though I can't imagine why such a thing would happen...*Rubs hand gleefully with gleeful cackles*

Kakashi, Discussing

Kakashi stood on a rooftop, considering his options. He could go home, get drunk, and hope that everything was a—well, not exactly horrible, but really weird—dream. He could continue with life as normal and ignore the situation. Or he could follow the Hokage's suggestion and look for Gai and Asuma.

While the first option certainly had its appeal, it probably wasn't very practical: he wasn't dreaming—unless…

A thought occurred to him, and he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it sooner. He took his kunai and, carefully, made a small cut on one finger…

And winced, before sticking the kunai away. Alright: he could hurt himself, which meant it wasn't a genjutsu. Damn.

All right. So he wasn't dreaming, and it wasn't a genjutsu. And while ignoring the situation didn't look bad either, he couldn't take that risk: he didn't really believe that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were threats to the village, but—he'd been wrong before. Very wrong.

Which left following the Hokage's suggestion—always a good idea. Oh, there were other things he could do, but they mostly amounted to ignoring the situation.

Well, except…

He wasn't frightened by the idea of spying on his students, he told himself firmly. That wasn't it at all. He paused a moment, staring off into space as he tried to think of a reason not to spy on Naruto and his teammates…

Aha! He thought, brightening notably. They spotted me before, didn't they? What if they do again? If they do, they'll be on guard. So there! That's a perfectly good reason! He thought at himself triumphantly.

I'm sure, he replied sarcastically.

Oh, shut up, he retorted.

He shook his head, clearing it of the strange mental conversation, and focused his thoughts on the task at hand. Where would Gai and/or Asuma be at this time of day?

Knowing Gai, the training grounds. All right. He'd start there, and then search for Asuma.

He launched himself at the next rooftop, traveling to the training grounds as quickly as he possibly could.

As it turned out, he didn't have to search for Asuma: the man was right there, talking with Gai, who—miracle of miracles—wasn't training, but merely chatting with Asuma.

He hopped down besides them.

"Hello, Gai, Asuma," he greeted cordially. "What're you talking about?" He had a hunch, but he didn't really want to bring the subject up himself.

"Hey, Kakashi," said Asuma. "We're talking—"

"Kakashi, my eternal rival!" shouted Gai gleefully. "We are discussing the spring of youthfulness that has recently appeared in our students!"

Asuma rolled his eyes, but confirmed Gai's statement: "What he said," the Hokage's son agreed.

Kakashi nodded. "My students were behaving…well, really oddly. They look up to Naruto. As a leader. Can I just express how weird that is?"

Asuma nodded. "Tell me about it," he agreed. "Well...I don't know that I have anything quite as odd as Uchiha and Haruno looking up to the—to Uzumaki, but yesterday, my team seemed to think that teamwork meant 'squabbling'. Now, they're as close as any team I've seen, closer than most...Not to mention Ino's maturity increased exponentially overnight. Oh, and Shika—he was already very, very intelligent—appears to have grown experience in actual battles overnight. Chouji...well, there's no apparent outward change, but he's colder, more like a veteran."

Gai beamed. "I have the most joyous news of all! Neji has realized that he is Lee and Tenten are his equals in inner strength! He has reached his Springtime of Youthfulness and is considerate towards others! He was late today because he was helping his cousin!" At Kakashi's curious cock of the head, the man added, "Hinata. One of Kurenai's team?"

Kakashi blinked. "Hin—he was late because he was helping Hinata? Hyuuga Hinata? As in, the clan heiress? I thought he hated her!"

Asuma waved his cigar, indicating agreement.

Gai was still beaming. "Springtime of Youth!" he intoned.

Kakashi traded glances with the smoking Jounin next to him. Riiight, said both their glances.

The conversation continued in this way for a few minutes, each sensei talking about the differences in their students. It would no doubt have continued longer had Kurenai not showed up.

"The Hokage suggested I come talk to you. Any ideas? I have no idea if this is a dream come true or a nightmare?"

Asuma looked concerned. "What? Why?"

"Hinata's confident—enough said. As for Shino and Kiba...well, they still bicker, don't get me wrong, but it's clear they'd die for each other. I'd be pleased if it weren't so...creepy."

Kakashi shrugged gloomily. Jerking his head at Gai, he said, "His Hyuuga no longer believes he's the center of the universe. Ino's maturity has improved—I believe exponentially was the word used, eh, Asuma?" At the man's nod, he continued, "As for my team...Sasuke and Sakura look up to Naruto. As a leader. And they look to him for orders. It's all making my head ache."

Kurenai nodded. "Tell me about it," she agreed. "It's just...bizzare."

Asuma sighed agreement, and even Gai looked like he was coming down from his cloud of youthfulness enough to agree.

Kurenai sighed. "I don't know what to do. They're so different—but at the same time, they're still them, if you know what I mean. I'd swear that those were my team, just in, oh, twenty years—having gone through thick and thin together, if you know what I mean. It's really, really weird, but they're not doing anyone any harm. And I don't think that their spies. I mean, any spy would be a complete idiot to change so completely."

Asuma and Kakashi nodded agreement; Gai bounced his head up and down as if it were attached to a spring.

All four Senseis sighed in unison and then, again in unison, wandered off.

Kakashi arrived back at his apartment and took a look around, then sat back and began to plan. He had a meeting with his geni—well, students, anyways—tomorrow, and he was not going to arrive unprepared.