A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys…I got lost in the road of life...that and I got a little busy with my school works and had gotten sick because of it...but anyways… I finished school and I'm alright now! So here's the next chapter. Hope you like it…or still like it, if you've read the last two chapters already… Enjoy!


Hatake Sakumo was born a genius. He was powerful. People feared him. He was well known for his high IQ that's almost on par with a Nara. His skills are near legendary, especially his tracking skills. He had been part of the ANBU tracking specialists and had been regarded as the best tracker. He's not as excellent at sensing chakra from afar like one of his team mates, but he was quite good enough. He was extremely good at close range combat and kinjutsu – even famous for his custom made tanto. He was pretty much known as an all-around ninja but the Hokage won't just let anyone who is more suited for defense and offense like him to handle gennin. Though someday, he hoped for a team of his own. He moved based on his instincts, making it hard for him to commit real mistakes. And if he did make mistakes, it was kept to a minimum and almost unnoticeable. He does what is right. He was considered as one of the best shinobi, in fact, he was the best shinobi in his generation, and almost – ALMOST- overshadowed the three new sannins at some point. He was a loyal and honest man and trusted by his comrades and his Hokage. But it seemed that today, the Hokage, though trusted him greatly, doubted his report…or rather, his sanity.

The aging village leader looked at him incredulously and probably thought he was crazy. After a few seconds of uncomfortable stare from the man behind the desk, he shook his head and waved a hand at him saying: "Hatake, you must be tired from the mission. I'll expect a…hmm… More accurate report. Report back to me tomorrow, first thing in the morning…", and as an afterthought, when he was finally on his way out the door, the aging leader called him back and called one from his several hidden guards stationed around the office, before turning to him. "On second thought, ANBU, please escort Sakumo here to the T.I."

He was immediately sent to the T.I. quarters for a little psych exam and some mind walking session with the Yamanaka's. The psych exam was fine and was finished quickly. The results was that he was perfectly sane... at least as sane as any other veteran ninja… Come to think of it, he was way past the shinobi life expectancy of 14 years. So he may be a little insane. Probably…what with the amount of bloodshed he'd seen and some, even personally made by him- any person would be slightly off…but that's another story for another time. Even the genjutsu detection team said he was clean. What came next was a different story.

The session lasted for about an hour…or two, he wasn't sure. It was kind of hard to tell the time when the people who were invading your mindscape –Sakumo knew it was the new one, a teenager by the name of Inoichi who went strolling around his memory lane before the young man dragged in his father- repeated the mind walk for more than three times, and each time, it always ended with an equally incredulous look on their faces, like with the Hokage. It gave him one hell of a headache after that… But the next thing he knew was that he had been dragged back into the Hokage's office - the elder Yamanaka, with his son in tow, plus him. The blonde man barged in through the door, pulled them in, and placed a privacy seal on the door before proceeding to lock it before turning to the Hokage.

The Yamanaka had all but trudged over to the village leader's desk enthusiastically and before the village leader could ask what his business was about, he had spoken. "Hiruzen-sama, please forgive me for sounding crazy, but is there any way for a pseudo-kyuubi to exist?"

The Hokage shot him a glance before he turned back to the Yamanaka senior. "In all honesty, it would be impossible. Though, the possibility that what Sakumo-" He turned to him again. "-had seen South of Konoha, may be a product of genetic experimentation. We also have those kinds of mutation within the Fire Country – Training ground 44 is full of those mutated animals."

Well, now that he thought of it, he had seen what creatures live within that particular training grounds. All of Konoha shinobi would know about them. It would be possible that the fox was- just as the Hokage said – a genetic experimentation.

But his guts had never been wrong before. He knew that it wasn't just another creature resulted from an experiment. It was something far more…naturally dangerous? Malevolent in nature? No. He just couldn't explain it.

"But sir, what of the girl and the beast's chakra?" The younger Yamanaka piped in.

Silence hung in the room for a moment before the aging leader turned his gaze back at him. "Are you sure that this was not a genjutsu?"

"Sir, we did a thorough check up as requested. There was no evidence of tampering in his memories either… Hatake-san is clean."

"Hatake Sakumo," He perked up at the sound of his name. "I know you have travelled far and I know that you are exhausted, and I also know that your boy will be waiting for you…but, just this time, I'll have a mission for you."

Sakumo schooled himself. "Hai."

"Gather your old tracking team."


Kakashi was torn between actually believing everything that had transpired that morning. Everything! From the heart crushing pain in his chest, and Obito, and his chakra, his ninken, and her presence… Although, for some mysterious reason that hung, maybe in the Konoha air, he went to seek out his answers without too much complaint. And sure enough, he got his answers. She was there. Right outside the ramen booth, he stood frozen. The warm feel of her chakra, though suppressed, was enough to make his thoughts fly out the window. He could almost reach her. But his feet refused to move a step closer and his heart won't stop hammering against his ribcage and it was not because of the furious running he had done. Heck, he could've made an excellent impression of a statue if it weren't for the hand that squeezed his shoulder briefly before he was dragged forward by his shirt.


Obito watched the silver head closely from the moment he took the lead to find his master. He seemed fine, relaxed even, when they ran across Konoha – even if that whole episode was running like hell from place to place, sniffing everything. But when they dropped down from the roof, the guy all but stiffened. Obito frowned. He understood how Kakashi felt. The ma- boy! He meant boy – had been in love with the girl and now, he had a chance to be with her. He was thrown into the world Obito created for his master and they will get the happiness they deserved. Obito didn't actually know why Kakashi could remember him in the first place… Although, he did make him stronger for a purpose. This new world needed protectors. Maybe the bijuu knew and set their fates up. Maybe, he longed to spend more time with his friend, get to know him and really, just be friends, that's why the Hatake was here, and maybe, just maybe, he will find his own happiness here with them, but that story is for another time.

He dropped a hand over his friend's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. Kakashi needed a push. Otherwise, who knew for how long he was going to stand there like an idiot? He walked past him and grabbed him by his collar, dragging him in through the booth's entrance.

She was sitting there, a good three feet away from them, shaking, with her eyes hooded by her fringe as she ate. He could feel her now –her chakra, humming under her skin. Any farther than this, he couldn't feel her at all. Maybe it was the effect of almost disappearing along with everything after he had successfully deleted everything else from the original dimension? Obito noted that one hand was tense on her leg, her knuckles were turning white gripping on her pants leg. He sighed inwardly. He knew how she felt. It was exactly the way he felt when he accidentally found Kakashi and thought that he wouldn't recognize him. He grinned and drew in a breath as he proceeded to drag the Hatake towards their Hokage, stopping less than two feet from her. He smiled.

"We found you, Naruto-chan~…" he whispered, barely audible for untrained ears. He knew she heard him loud and clear because the girl whipped her head so fast, he feared that it'd snap. She stared at them in horror. Briefly, he felt Kakashi raised a hand and gripped his shirt from behind. Her cerulean orbs wide as she took their appearance in. Her eyes glazed over, a million questions swimming in them as he took it as the cue to plant his butt on the stool beside her. He dragged Kakashi along- the Hatake just followed suit and sat next to him, only stealing glances at the girl who seemed to be frozen in place as the other. But Obito knew the guy was shaking. He smiled at her and mouthed "I'll explain later…" before an orange fluff made itself visible from somewhere behind her.

The instant his eyes settled on the creature, he realized two things. One, it was a fox. Second, it was the tailed beast. Recognition sparked in him as the fox stared at him, scrutinizing him for a few seconds. It cocked its head to the side and narrowed its eyes on him, as if asking him about what he was doing there.

"H-hi there, Kurama." He said nervously, raising a hand in an awkward wave. "They insisted that I find you guys. Got Kakashi here to track you down…he's with me - I mean uhh…us." Obito stuttered but gave him a genuine smile. The Kyuubi miniature's eyes widened a bit then turned to his jailor and jumped to her lap.


Her heart was pounding against her ribs when she finally felt Kakashi's chakra signature outside the booth. Even more when she felt it come nearer. What she didn't expect though, was Obito. She didn't sense him. It was almost like, he was blank. She expected one person. Not two. Which scared her because she didn't know how to deal with them because of several reasons. One, the people here don't know her and expect the two new arrivals to be the same. They didn't know her. It hurt. Especially with Kakashi. Two, she felt lost. Horribly, horribly lost, in the place she had called her home and she had nowhere to run or no one to turn to. She gripped her pants leg as she ate, silently observing from under her bangs. She could sense their eyes on her.

'Kit,' she felt Kurama's voice echo in her mind. She looked at him as he hid himself under her arm. 'I didn't sense the Uchiha prick's chakra as well. This is unnatural. Something is strange…'

'Strange? What do you mean?' She asked him but he only replied with a rumble that resembled a laugh and a 'Maybe you are in for a surprise…' before he cut their connection. She glanced at him nervously and was about to send another telepathic message when she heard someone speak. She knew that voice. He knew that tone. Even if it was for a few moments before she came here, she knew his voice. It sounded rather like a child's, but it was there. It was Obito.

"We found you, Naruto-chan ~" It was a whisper. Faint and barely audible to untrained ears. She snapped her head toward the sound and froze. She was face to face with an orange goggled kid. She remembered how her Kakashi-sensei described a young Obito. He wore a navy blue jacket with orange collars and orange trims. There was no mistaking it. It was Obito. But…that aside… 'Did he just-?' Her thought was cut off when she saw him mouth something that sounded so much like "I'll explain later" before he stepped forward and trudged to the seat beside her. She was distracted from her shock when she saw something. From the corner, she saw his hair. Standing in its silver glory, behind Obito. 'Kakashi…' Her heart wrenched in her chest. She wanted to reach out to him. But she was afraid. She was confused. She was happy yet she was sad. Happy to see him…yet sad that maybe he doesn't know her at all…

She missed two black orbs looking at her. It, however didn't go unnoticed by her companion.

'Kit, relax…Remember what I told you? You may be in for a surprise.' She felt Kurama's voice in her head again, but she was far too distracted by the shock she was experiencing. It was a miracle that she was not yet hyperventilating like crazy.


He knew that something was definitely strange. From the moment he got a whiff of the masked fur-less ape's chakra, and the frozen form of his jailer, he knew something was up. He knew that the air stirred when the masked one did not move. He knew that there was something…or rather, someone else was there. And that was confirmed when he heard two sets of footsteps. He didn't recognize the presence at first and it was as if there was nothing there...which was strange for a chakra beast like him... He just had to see for himself. He wedged himself under her arm, looking at the new arrivals… It was then he realized… It was the Uchiha.

It wasn't long before he heard him spoke up in recognition. He made his presence known and stared at the people who had just came scrutinizingly, particularly at the orange-goggled brat, surprised as they looked no less than mere children despite the power lingering underneath their skin. The Uchiha brat greeted him and explained that he was sent there by his siblings. He saw the masked monkey gaze longingly at his ward. He felt her shake within her very being. Happiness and Sadness filling her eyes with the salty liquid.

"Kit," he jumped down at her lap, effectively drawing her attention for a bit. "They are here for you, for real."

It was then that he noticed the tears streaming from her eyes. Eyes that held so much trust for him and hope for the people near them. 'Kurama…' He heard her thoughts echo in his own.

"Go ahead, Kit." He nodded knowingly. He knew her thoughts. Happiness. And she smiled. On the inside, he smiled too.


Obito saw her tears. They weren't the ones she cried before coming here. It was because she was no longer alone. Then she wiped them all away and turned to them.

"Hi…Obito, Kashi." She said quietly with a genuine smile gracing her features. She still had doubt but it would all be fine. She grinned at her before looking at the distressed and slightly panicked supposedly jounin to his left. The silver haired man-turned- boy looked at him with a pitiful glance he'd want to remember and probably laugh at when they get a little older.

"Hey Kakashi, wanna trade seats? I know you wanna sit beside her."