Disclaimer: Naruto the anime/manga is property of Masahi Kishimoto. I do not own, nor do I claim right to, it or any of its characters or settings.

A/N: This chapter picks up at a two-year timeskip. I kinda wrote it out of boredom. So, Naruto is now 5 years old, to clarify his age for future reference. Also, I'm going to say that Kakashi became an ANBU after the Kyuubi attack.

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Chapter 3 – Bitterness and Fear
Upload date: 9/17/2008

Naruto determinedly battered the training dummy, fists pounding at it, muscle flexing to a surprising degree. He panted heavily, stepping back to run a hand through his hair. Kakashi was on a mission that he couldn't tell Naruto about, so Naruto was being taken care of by Iruka. The Academy-teacher-in-training (he supposed it was just the current teachers taking advantage of Iruka's eagerness to want to teach) was currently doing more paperwork (Naruto swore aloud when he saw the stack in the office – it wasn't as big as the one in the Hokage's office, but it was still rather large), so Naruto was trying to improve his taijutsu.

Tiny beads of sweat ran down his face. Naruto twisted his neck to the left and swiped his sleeve over them in order to somewhat dry his face.

In an effort to take out all the bitterness he had accumulated in his life, Hatake Naruto thrust his surprisingly muscular fists into the wooden post, causing splinters to scatter off of it. He winced, knuckles bleeding, and cursed softly. His adoptive father was always on missions. It seemed like Iruka was always closer by than Kakashi. Naruto loved his father, but he scarcely had any time to just lean on his shoulder and spend his birthday with him and hug him. It was a sore spot when he saw children hugging their parents at the academy where he was most of the time. He always winced while watching them when he was waiting for Iruka to finish the paperwork. His father was usually busy, from doing enough D-rank missions to support both Naruto and himself and keep their small home in one piece to going off on an A-rank assassination mission.

But tomorrow Kakashi was returning. Tomorrow Naruto could run to the gate and tackle his father, and hug his torso like he always did, and Kakashi would carry him home with a hearty laugh and ruffle his hair and Naruto would always remind him that he wanted a mask like his. Kakashi would always promise to buy him one, even though he never had yet. It was always the same, but Naruto tried not to be bitter because what we have can't always be what we want. Still, he couldn't help but feel lonely. Who would blame him? He got glares from everyone except his adoptive father's friends and a few select villagers like the "ramen guy" and his daughter (though, Naruto just called them Jiichan and Neechan).

--

The wind flared up for several seconds, bursting through the trees and rain with such force that it further compelled the rain to move more horizontally. As it was, it was at a 50 or so degree angle, sometimes closer to 20 depending how hard the wind would blow. It felt like they were trapped in a jungle, greenery everywhere. Unlike Fire Country – the red-haired man had been there only once, years prior – there were more ferns, and the trees were shorter. Tall grass erupted throughout the forested areas, heavily drenched and leaning with the weight. It was no wonder that it was named Grass Country. The entire forest, normally lush and bright with greens and random browns and greys of bark and the rare patch of earth, was at the moment saturated, and seemed to be more grey-toned than normal.

The man scowled, his expression hardly changing. He was glad his real body wasn't getting wet. He hated the rain. It was slick and easy to slip on and made the ground muddy and made everything humid and cold and...well, he didn't like getting wet. He didn't like to swim, either (he didn't know how to). Overall, he just hated water. It was so...wet. It had never rained where he was from. He was beginning to regret leaving, because anywhere else he went it either rained or snowed, and Kami knew he got thrown around everywhere.

The dark outer shell around him suddenly seemed to spring a leak. Water dripped onto his head, causing him to jerk back slightly in surprise before pulling out of his cloak what looked to be a bit of putty. He patched it over the leaking area, a joint where it appeared something would protrude to the outside.

A sudden voice made him stiffen.

"Don't tell me your precious defense sprung a leak already?"

"Quiet," the man growled irritably. The rain always left him in a bad mood.

There was an evil-sounding, hissing laugh. "Now, now, don't speak to me that way. You ought to get out more."

"Shut up!" He didn't care if he sounded particularly childish, because at that moment, the impatient man was at the end of his rope with the never-ceasing rain and his excessively annoying companion.

"Ku, ku, ku," the hissing voice continued, ignoring him. It always made him shudder when said companion did that. "Don't tell me you want to quit the mission, now, Sasori-kun?"

Oh, yeah. And he hated that suffix...especially on his name.

--

Light swirled through the trees, bright orange streaks enhanced for whatever reason, in spite of it being late fall, early winter. The Sharingan wielder suspected that the winter would be delayed, but last longer than normal. He didn't mind. The huge, sun-bleached, sandstone walls towered overhead. The gates were swung wide to the path, invitingly open and casting long shadows in the light.

"'Kashi-niichan!"

A sudden weight latched onto his middle, cheerful yell ringing in his ears. The silver-haired Jounin laughed and looked down at the young blond, affectionately ruffling his hair. "Yo, Naruto."

"YOU'RE LATE!" the whisker-marked boy suddenly accused. "You were s'pposed to be here an hour ago!"

"Sorry. On the way back, I found this bird with a broken wing and had to stop and heal it."

And, even though Naruto knew he was lying, he seemed to accept the answer. Kakashi scooped him up with one arm, chuckling light-heartedly. Naruto smiled and allowed himself to be carried in the general direction of their small home, with a damaged roof that needed constant repair. It was falling apart – Kakashi was mildly surprised it hadn't caved in on them yet. He knew it, too, but he didn't want or have time to move. He was normally just working to suffice for the repairs.

"Kakashi-san," came a respectful greeting, surprising Naruto. Kakashi turned, locking eyes with a somewhat friendly-looking Uchiha Itachi.

"Good morning, Itachi-san," Kakashi answered while Naruto just grinned. Both parties waved at the other neutrally in passing.

Several other greetings of "Hatake-san" or "Kakashi-san" were directed at him that morning, though they got to their home without excessive delay.

"Now, how've you been doing, Naruto?" Kakashi leaned down and set the youth firmly on the ground.

"Training-ttebayo!" Naruto pumped a fist on his chest. Kakashi still had no idea where "dattebayo" had come from, but it was funny and cute (he didn't tell Naruto that). The boy, dressed in simple tan trousers and a white shirt with a red spiral on the front and back, grinned a broad grin at Kakashi.

"In what?" the elder of them inquired.

"Well," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "You said I could train in taijutsu, since ninjutsu would exert my chakra more than my body could handle (even though I still don't know what that's supposed to mean), so I did."

"Good!" Kakashi smiled under his mask. Naruto puffed out his chest, pleased with the praise of the one whom he considered like a father or older brother. "Come on, you can show me."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, blond hair bobbing with his head, before bounding across the small den room to the sliding back door. He forced it open (it was somewhat difficult to get open due to the way it was built) and disappeared outside. Kakashi quickly followed after him, whipping out his book for no particular reason – mostly out of habit, he supposed.

Naruto was already standing in front of the training dummy that Kakashi had gotten for him to spar on. The boy's hands were bandaged, he realized, probably from over-use. In spite of this, Naruto began throwing punches, hard.

Kakashi watched him silently. He didn't want to press or force Naruto to learn when he wasn't ready, but he didn't seem to be doing very well. The power behind his punches would increase as his muscles developed, but if the training dummy could've moved, Naruto wouldn't have been able to hit it. His punches were sloppily placed and random and wild, somewhat like an animal. It wasn't that he wasn't strong, it was that he was fighting a stationary object. If he'd had a sparring partner, his taijutsu may have been better, but unfortunately most parents didn't want their children anywhere near Naruto.

Most of the kids didn't know why, as he seemed fairly normal, if not overly cheerful. He wasn't an orphan anymore, and no one knew he was adopted because Kakashi had changed the child's name. He tilted back his head, remembering the words of the Hokage after Naruto's near-kidnapped experience.

"Kakashi," the Hokage had said, "I believe that the assassins were able to track him due to his last name."

Or maybe it was the fact that he suddenly went under the radar and his perfect twin suddenly started following me around, Kakashi had thought, but only said, "So you want me to change his name to prevent it? Just who do you think is idiot enough to think that he isn't the same child?" He regretted the disrespect.

"It may not fix it, but it will help prevent outside assassins from tracking him to you, and will deter any villager or shinobi from attacking him or attempting murder."

"What about the two who tried to take him?"

"They will be serving time on charge of kidnapping."

"Kidnapping!" Kakashi still couldn't believe that they'd gotten off with that. "They would've killed him! Charge them for attempting murder!"

"I am sorry, Kakashi, but there is no evidence that they would have killed him. It would stir up the council and Danzo as well. They would be breathing down my neck again and telling me that the Kyuubi should be killed, not those who try to defend Konoha. We cannot pursue it further than kidnapping."

Kakashi sighed at the memories and looked back up. Naruto was panting and walking towards him.

"Am I any better, dattebayo?"

"Some. Not perfect, but better." Kakashi smiled at him under the mask, and Naruto returned it. "When you enter the Academy, we'll start working on getting you a sparring partner. You'll be strong when your muscles start to really fill out."

Naruto looked confused, and Kakashi sighed. "I'll explain it better when you understand."

"M'kay, dattebayo!" Naruto bounded up to him. "Hey! Don't forget to buy me a mask!"

Kakashi looked at him oddly. "Why do you want one, anyway?"

"Because I wanna be just like you, 'Kashi-niichan! Dattebayo!"

Kakashi chuckled and knelt down. "Why is that?"

Naruto puzzled over it for a moment before looking sheepish. "'Cos you're cool! And strong! And respected!"

Kakashi tilted his head. He'd never thought too much about it but he supposed he was respected and thought of as strong, and he supposed in Naruto's mind he may have been regarded as "cool". He smiled slightly and ruffled the younger's hair. "Remember this, Naruto: you don't have to be me, because you're you – Hatake Naruto, crazy, spiky-haired, loud-mouthed knucklehead of Konoha," he remarked, laughing slightly when Naruto jumped up and down at his approval. He had no idea just how much Naruto loved to know that Kakashi loved him and approved of him.

--

Sasori glanced down at his wrist. The joint was old and beginning to stiffen, probably due to the rain. Hiruko was sitting by his bed, and Orochimaru (thank Kami) was nowhere within forty feet of him. He looked at his wrist again, then out the window from the desk he was sitting at. He would need to replace the joint of his hand as soon as possible, because it was getting more difficult to control his puppets' movements. He regarded Hiruko for a moment, then the rain again, then his bed. He didn't need it, though, because he didn't sleep. Orochimaru was buying supplies that they actually had, but Sasori just needed something to get him away.

Why? Well, the first reason was that Orochimaru freaked him out.

The second? It was his birthday. It was the eight day of November.

He hated this day. It was the day that reminded him that he was still mortal, and could never fully be immortal. His body did not age, but his heart did, and it was becoming weaker. Not weak, but not as strong as it had been. And it scared him. It scared him to think of dying.

So he thought of other things. He thought of Leader-sama, whose name he honestly didn't know. He tried not to think of Orochimaru. He thought of Zetsu who he did not like. He thought of Kisame who was annoying. And he began to think that he was the only member of the Akatsuki who was remotely normal, even though he was an almost-immortal puppet-human thing who gave up the ability to actually live in order to live forever. (He envied Hidan, who was immortal but still retained his human form.) Orochimaru was just...well, his partner disgusted him. He would rather have been paired with Hidan or even Kisame (but not Kakuzu...he didn't like Kakuzu). Orochimaru just scared him more than the thought of death.

He remembered reporting to Leader-sama, two years prior. The mission had been to test Konoha's defense. He didn't really like traveling through the forests. They had posed as rogue ninja. One of the actual rogue ninja had been taken hostage, and the rest disappeared off the map. They didn't mind, because now they knew just where to strike.

He looked at his wrist again and sighed, forcing himself to stand up and retrieve a bottle of oil from his cloak, which was hung on the back of the door. It was a big black cloak with red cloud-looking shapes on it, outlined in white. The thick, coarse wool rubbed against his better hand as he dug among its folds. Tugging aforementioned bottle free from the inner pocket, he poised the funnel-like end at his stiff wrist. Several drops leaked out, and he shifted his wrist joint for maximum effectiveness. It was only temporary, but it should've held up until they returned to their hide-out where he had spare parts.

He was hit in the face with the door, which would have hurt like nothing else had he not been a puppet. Instead, he just stumbled back and glared at Orochimaru, who was holding food in hand.

"Baka," he muttered irritably, before turning back to sit and watch the rain more. He didn't mind watching it so much as being in it.

--

A/N: You guys are so awesome!! Sixteen reviews and over NINE HUNDRED hits! C2'd four times, favorite'd six times, and added to alert 21 times. The last fifty or so emails I've gotten were from FFN as alerts to them. I mean...wow. You guys are so awesome! SQUEE! Thank you all so much! And thanks to annoyinglyanonymous and Pance for the idea of 'Kashi-niisan. I went with "-niichan", but the only change was the level of formality. That won because the only other two votes I had were both for separate things – that was the only one that got two votes (plus, I think it's realistically affectionate and sounds like something Naruto would say...and it's sweet :D). I liked Kakashi-sama (or 'Kashi-sama) too, but now that I think about it it's just not something Naruto would say. Hmm, maybe refer to him more reverently in his mind because he's too proud to admit he looks up to Kakashi like that? (Now, that'd be something Naruto would do, like he did with Sasuke – he actually thought Sasuke was strong and though he would never admit it thought of him as a brother. It'd fit the canon better.)

Four pages long. I mean, it was like three words past four pages. I love how the first part where it introduces Saso-san and Orochi-teme turned out. I had so much fun writing that. Sasori is one of my favorites, so yeah. Orochi-teme didn't leave the Akatsuki until later. I'll get to that in two chapters or so. For those of you who don't realize what Saso-san was thinking about in the last segment, REMEMBER it regardless of your understanding, because it's important. Anyways, Sasori's thoughts about Orochimaru are fairly consistent with my own. I was tempted to make that a crack on Oro-teme, because the Akatsuki are SO fun to make fun of (especially Kisame and Orochi and MAYBE Deidara) but I decided to keep it serious for now. Later, I might rewrite it as a crack for your amusement because it's fun and I sincerely believe that, no matter how powerful Oro is, he's a gay pedophile underneath it. (Seriously...I mean, Kabuto...and Sasuke...ugh. Poor Jiraiya was his teammate, too.) I find it fun to write crackfics on him. If you like Orochimaru, then relax, I'm trying to keep this as IC as possible. Also, I don't actually know Saso-san's birthday, so yeah. If anyone does, correct me please. Anyways...

As for Naruto getting a mask, we've got some for and some against. I'm unsure myself, because yes, I picture him the type to want to be just like whoever he admires (in the canon, as I told several people, that was the Yondaime and Sandaime sorta), but I still can't picture him wearing a mask. It's weird. And yes, I'm making him have a particularly difficult time with placing punches and kicks properly. He'll work on it later on. His ninjutsu will also be held back because most of his Academy teachers treat him like dog crud, except Iruka who'll only be his teacher in the last two years of his time in it. Why? Because Iruka's too young to teach. In this, he was helping grade papers and finish paperwork because he decided he wanted to teach. (Just go with it. XD)

Happy reading. Show your friends, dattebayo.

- Nitro-sama (lulz! 2.0)

Edited (9/17/2008): Saso-san's birth date was wrong. Modified. LeafNinja (dot) com and reviewers know all. XD