Chapter 4 – Draw him Smiling

"Sakura-san."

"Mmm…"

"Sakura-san!"

"What?" Haruno Sakura groaned and dug her face further into the wonderfully soft pillow of the bed in her hotel room, trying to ignore the voice that was waking her up. She stilled as she felt a hand on her arm.

Within seconds, she was up. Her other hand came to grip the one on her arm and she flipped around, pinning her assailant to the wall above her bed with one hand to his throat. Sakura's eyes widened when she recognized pale skin that was clear even in the dim moonlight.

"Sai?" She asked hesitantly, loosening her hold on his neck.

The pale boy nodded and massaged his throat, giving her a bland smile. She shifted aside and allowed him to slip off the bed and stand next to it. The moonlight of the large window in the room illuminated his form and allowed her to see him more clearly; he was still dressed in his shinobi clothing, and he held a cloth bag in one hand.

"I collected the hundred-thousand ryo," he reported as she settled down to sit cross-legged on the bed in her striped pajamas, "in fact, there is probably around one-twenty in here." Sai held up the bag.

Sakura grinned widely, noting the bulging cloth, "that's great, Sai! How did you do it?"

Sai seemed to brighten at the praise. He set the bag onto the bed proudly, "I paid a visit to some of the civilian traders. Quite a few of them had savings hidden in their houses, and they were relatively easy to find."

Sakura stilled, and gave him an incredulous look.

"There is no need to worry," he told her, mistaking her shock for worry, "I left no traces. I originally planned to visit the houses of the council members, who are also quite rich, but there was the possibility that they had shinobi guards near my level."

"You…stole it?" She squeaked.

"Well of course," he replied, as if it was obvious, which it was.

Sakura groaned and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head vigorously, "no, no, no! This is not right…" she mumbled.

"In our profession, not many things are not right," Sai pointed out, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"It's not," she stressed, "it's just…not."

"And it was not not right to cheat civilian men out of their money by using chakra-enhanced strength?" Sai asked again.

Sakura glared, "that never happened. Never. I still don't remember what happened that night and I don't think I want to."

There were a few moments of silence.

"They were very rich traders," Sai tried, "I'm sure they will earn it back in a few years or so."

"We can't do this…" she muttered, "if Kashi-sensei finds out about this…"

"He doesn't need to. I am perfectly capable of remaining silent."

"That's not the point!" She snapped, "listen, here's something to add to your social norms book. Shinobi never steal from civilians."

He looked completely unconvinced, "many of our missions involve stealing from civilians. The daimyo is a civilian. We steal from foreign daimyo all the time."

"…unless it's for a mission," she conceded, "that's…different."

Sai paused in thought, "so what should I do?"

"Return it. I'll help you, if you need," she stated, swinging her legs off the bed. She grabbed the bag, wincing at how heavy it was. Sai had really done his best, but they couldn't take this.

"Then how will we make the money?" He questioned.

"I'm sure sensei and Naruto are willing to spend another day in there instead of ruining the livelihood of dozens of civilian families," Sakura replied, "we can always find other ways."

Sai seemed utterly confused, "…should I attempt to collect funds from the Suna jonin instead? They aren't very rich, but maybe if we visited many of them…"

Sakura groaned.

When Naruto woke up the next morning, he was relatively warm. He still had a few goose bumps, but at least they didn't have their own. He was lying with his back to the wall, where he had evidently turned over sometime during the night. In front of him was Kakashi, who was still thoroughly asleep. Somehow, their legs had gotten into an interesting situation under the sheets.

The window was allowing some light to filter through. Naruto figured that it would probably be shower time in a few minutes. He tried to move, but found that he couldn't. Instead, he reached out and poked the man's cheek, "Oi. Sensei. Wake up." His morning voice came out slightly rough.

Kakashi remained asleep. His eyelid twitched, but that was all.

Naruto sighed and put his finger at the one end of the jonin's lips, drawing it up into a half-smile. He grinned widely at what he saw.

"Sensei! You have a dimple!" He paused. "I have to make sure to tell Sai about it when he draws you," he went on absently, "he's going to draw you smiling."

The jonin groaned slightly and shifted his head to the other side, away from inquisitive fingers. Naruto huffed when he took some of their sheets with him, but the morning was warm so he didn't mind. He propped himself up on his elbow, still struggling slightly because his legs wouldn't budge, and studied the other man's grey hair.

"Sensei, you're always smiling when you have your mask on, but you don't smile at all when it's off," he pointed out, "am I making you sad? Sorry…this is a gloomy place, and there's only enough happiness for me."

"Shhh Naruto…" Kakashi mumbled, trying valiantly to hold onto his sleep, and particularly to one of his few better dreams. Memories of loud snoring keeping him up all night now flooded his mind. Well, at least he had been a warm insomniac. He couldn't deny that Naruto pretty much radiated body heat.

"Hmm? I didn't hear that," Naruto leaned closer, trying to make out the words.

"Quiet…" the mumble came again.

"What?"

"Shh," Kakashi said a bit louder, "sleep…"

Naruto paused, "well, I would get up but your leg is trapping mine, and I can't move it. You may not be squishy, but you're still heavy, sensei."

Kakashi's eyes flew open, and his face took on a rather shocked expression as he realized exactly how his legs were positioned. He skillfully maneuvered his limbs away from the other boy's right leg, and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, all pretense of sleep now gone.

"Sorry about that," he muttered, drawing back as far as he could on the bed. Trying to keep the mortified expression off his face was difficult. "You were rather warm, I think."

Naruto shrugged, sitting up in the sheets, "well, this is kind of the point of sharing body heat, I suppose. You said you did it all the time during the war, right?"

"Yes…" Kakashi trailed, swinging the sheets off his form, "the sheets were rationed, and they were the first things the enemies took, apart from food."

"Who'd you share with?" He asked, slightly curious.

Kakashi wondered why he was answering, "my teammate, Nohara Rin."

Naruto stilled, "woah, you slept with a girl? How on earth did she let you? I mean, if I ever tried to share with Sakura, she'd beat me half to death! Especially if I woke up like that." He paused, looking slightly miserable, "I mean, she'd probably rather freeze to death." He sat cross-legged on the bed, loose grey shirt hanging slightly off one shoulder.

"Rin was our medic," he replied, trying to forget exactly what position he'd been in with his student, "skilled medics were rare, we couldn't afford to let anything happen to her. If we were attacked I was the one who would have been able to protect her while Minato-sensei took them out." Plus, he had slept like a dead body during those days.

"How come you've never introduced us to your old team?" Naruto questioned, "and they were the students of Yondaime-sama too…I wanna know who they are!" He cocked his head to one side, "and I bet Sakura would want to know about Rin-san, if she was a medic."

Kakashi paused. He slowly turned and swung his legs off the bed, turning his back to his student. "She's not around anymore," he explained.

"Oh? Where is she?"

"I don't know." He wasn't used to lying with his face, but his voice was skilled in the area. As long as Naruto saw only his back, it would be fine.

Naruto frowned. It was strange that his sensei would so easily distance himself from his team; as far as he was concerned, Sakura would be a part of his life whether she liked it or not. Even if she never agreed to go out with him, he'd never forget her. And once Sasuke came back, they would be close friends until they were old and grey. "What about your other teammate, sensei?"

"He's not around anymore either," the grey haired man replied, still looking at the opposite wall. He reached out with his arms, stretching widely, "and you shouldn't ask me where he is too."

"Well, even if you didn't keep in contact with your old team, I'd just like to say that you're stuck with us," Naruto told him matter-of-factly, "When I become Hokage, I'll make you and Sakura-chan my advisors, cause I don't need those old farts anyway, I don't know how Tsunade baa-chan can stand them. Sasuke can be my anbu commander, cause he would be good at that stuff."

"Sure. Of course." If he had turned around, Naruto would have seen his slight smile.

"Oji-san?"

The guard bit his lip, and slowly counted down from ten before turning to the blond prisoner now walking beside him on the way to the showers, "what is it, one-ninety-five?" He shot a pleading look at Kakashi, as if silently asking him how to make the boy shut up. The jonin shrugged. Naruto just wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't have enough verbal energy to contest Maito Gai himself.

Naruto clasped his hands behind his head, "aren't there any girls in this prison?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Do we ever get to see them?" He went on.

Taji raised an eyebrow at him as they entered the mess hall, "you're not allowed," he said firmly, "we're worried about certain inappropriate things happening."

Naruto reddened, "I wouldn't do anything! I'm a perfect gentleman!" He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, "I just haven't seen anyone else but a bunch of big, hairy guys who look like they want to kill me."

Kakashi winced.

"Kid, a lot of those women are lifers, and for some rather interesting reasons, too. We're worried about your virtue." Taji replied dryly, "if your 'sensei' over there can wait two weeks for the pink haired girl, you can wait too." They walked through the mess hall, and their footsteps echoed off the stucco walls.

"Do you get to visit them?" Naruto asked, slightly curious.

The guard sighed, "if I could take a break from work and get myself a love life, I'd be right on it. But you two bastards are keeping me busier than ever. Guess it's my fault for being the strongest jonin-guard on duty; they give me all the hard ones." Neither of the two Konoha nin couldn't tell if he was boasting or complaining, and his voice gave nothing away.

When they reached the doors of the showers, he turned to give them both apprehensive looks. "Ok, this didn't go so well the first time, but the guards are patrolling in there today. Go in, get a towel, find yourself a stall, scrub, and get out. Don't get killed, and try not to kill anyone. Got it?"

"Maa, don't worry," Kakashi told him, waving a hand absently, "I fight perfectly well in a towel, and I know all the non-lethal spots to hit." With that, he turned and steered Naruto in with a hand on his shoulder, leaving the sighing guard behind.

When they entered the large stucco room this time, not a single eye was on them. In fact, everyone was trying very pointedly to not look at them. The benches through the centre were absolutely packed, and every other prisoner seemed to be attempting to take up as much space as they could. Naruto looked around, noting all the steam that was coming out of the shower stalls. Konoha's prisoners all took cold showers, but Suna didn't exactly have any lack of hot water.

"There's only one shower free," he commented, "want to go first, sensei? I'll stay outside and make sure that no one tries anything." He glared around the room. There was no doubt that many of the 'occupied' showers were actually free and had been set to run, but the last thing they wanted to do was run into dozens of naked men while trying to find out.

Kakashi sighed, more worried about what his student would do to them. But he realized that if he left him out after the tension had escalated, it would only be worse. "Alright, then," he grabbed a towel off the rack behind them and swung it over his shoulder, "I'll be out in a minute, Naruto. One minute. It'll be the shortest shower I've ever taken. You can last at least that long without fighting, can't you?"

Naruto grinned, "I can't make any promises, sensei. You always did teach me to stand up for my teammates, right?"

Well, he couldn't argue with that. The grey-haired jonin shot one more apprehensive look around the room and then stepped into the stall to strip inside since all the bench space was taken.

When he heard the water inside running and saw grey clothing being swung over the top of the door, Naruto leaned back against the wall beside the curtain, looking across at the men sitting on the benches and talking in low voices. It was curious; he couldn't imagine hating anyone the way these people hated his sensei. He couldn't imagine hating anyone the same way most of the Konoha villages used to hate him. Sasuke had told him that it hurt more to have something taken away than to never have it at all. Maybe he was right.

"Hey." He yelled out.

Immediately, every voice in the room was silenced, and every eye was trained on him. They had already learned to associate the loud blond boy with the younger Hatake, and those eyes were now looking his way.

"You trying to start something, brat?" The man who had first recognized Kakashi, the one with an interesting scar across his forehead, asked in a low voice.

"No," Naruto told him, "I'm not." But the familiar urge was building up inside him, the urge to do something to make them look differently, "I just wanted to ask exactly what he did."

"What he did?" Another prisoner spoke out. The man stood up from his bench and made his way over until he was standing only a meter away, "you must be pretty young if you really have no idea."

"It was a battle," he pointed out, "people die in them. That's how battles work."

A small wave of laughter rose up among the prisoners. Naruto narrowed his eyes at them, unsure of whether to feel insulted or confused. He knew he'd never been in a war, but these people probably didn't look at all the other Konoha shinobi that way. Why was it only Kashi-sensei's father?

"Kid, that wasn't a battle," the first man told him with a hint of malice in his voice, "it was a massacre."

Naruto paused, feeling slightly uneasy. He didn't know what to say to that, and the eyes were still watching him. Finally, he crossed his arms over his chest and glared back, stepping forward towards the man who had said it. "Yeah? Well think what you want, but sensei doesn't have anything to do with what his father did. We'll be out of here in two weeks anyway."

At that, most of the prisoners paused.

"Two weeks? What kind of sentence is that?!"

"That's not a lot of time..."

"He deserves over two years!"

"Gotta act quickly if we wanna do something."

Before he knew it, Naruto was seeing stars. He ducked down to avoid another blow from the man who had crept up behind him and clutched his head. But at that moment, another two prisoners came up in front of him and shoved him aside, headed for the stall Kakashi was in.

Naruto watched them go and didn't make any move to stop them. Sensei would take care of those ones. He straightened and glared at the two guards patrolling the far side of the room. Unfortunately, they were middle-aged. They didn't seem willing to help unless their lives were in danger. Naruto turned back to the prisoners.

"Aren't any of you man enough to face us one on one?" He yelled, "if you think we're nothing without chakra, then prove it!" He held out one fist in the taijutsu stance he had once stumbled through in the academy. It wasn't a very practiced style like Lee's or Neji's, but it was thoroughly unpredictable and he used it perfectly.

"Hah, right," another man shouted, "bet you're cheating somehow, kid."

"I would never cheat! I always fight fair!" His trick during the chunin exam fight with Kiba didn't count.

"What is going on?"

Naruto turned around at the tired voice behind him. Kakashi stepped out of the stall in only his grey pants, with his shirt swung over his shoulder. Behind him, two prisoners were nursing their heads under the running water of the shower. He turned to look at his student.

"One minute. Just one. One small minute." Kakashi sighed. But there was no actual anger in his voice, only exasperation. His grey hair was dripping wet and plastered to his head, and his towel was discarded on the floor of the stall behind him, thoroughly wet from where he had dropped it during the fight.

Naruto was momentarily distracted by the fact that his sensei was a shinobi of Konoha and was built like one.

The prisoner directly behind him made use of his distraction to aim a punch at the back of his head. Kakashi reached forward and grabbed Naruto's arm, pulling him out of the way.

"We have to get out of here," he said quietly, "don't bother fighting."

"What-" Before he could speak, Naruto was being dragged away from the crowd of prisoners and towards the door that led outside. Kakashi pushed the door open and pulled him out of the shower room, slamming it closed behind him. The angry yells continued for a while, but none of the others were brave enough to follow them and risk being seen as escapers, since that would only land them in the inner cells without anything in return.

"Naruto, I completely understand that they're not the most…cooperative of people, but this needs to stop," Kakashi turned to look at him, "we don't want to provoke them any further."

"But they hit me first!" Naruto exclaimed, "go yell at them."

His sensei paused. "Oh yes, of course," he said dryly, "I'm sure a strict word or two will discourage them from pursuing revenge. It certainly worked with Sasuke, didn't it?"

"Well, the least you can do is try," the blond boy grumbled.

Kakashi sighed, "I'm glad that my students are following my lessons, but I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself."

Naruto paused, wondering whether to tell him that those looks couldn't be defeated with taijutsu. But he knew that his sensei was strong, both physically and mentally. It was horrible, but he could stand it. They leaned back against the outside of the door, looking to either side of the long, oddly silent hallway. Running footsteps approached from one side, and they both breathed sighs of relief at the familiar sight of their personal guard.

Taji skidded to a stop directly in front of them, and took in Kakashi's lack of a shirt, Naruto's dry clothes, and the muffled yelling emanating from the shower door behind them. It built a good picture of what had happened.

"Well, there goes my break," he sighed, "I came running when I heard the crashes. Geez, I only have one hour of free time a day and I have to spend it getting you two out of trouble…"

Naruto gave him a sheepish look, "sorry, oji-san. They're not very nice prisoners."

"I'm willing to put down the fifteen million ryo I don't have that you provoked them," Kakashi muttered. He ran a hand through his wet hair and noticed that his grey shirt was no longer present on his shoulder, "ah…must have dropped it in the rush…" He gave the guard a mournful look.

Taji raised an eyebrow, "I'll bring you another one later," he told him, "no one will notice one shirt missing from the stock, and it's pretty warm out anyway. Let's go back to your cell, then. I'll get special permission so that from tomorrow, you can shower after the other prisoners are out."

Kakashi looked rather uncomfortable at the thought of going that long half-naked. Seeing that he had covered every inch of himself since he was five, it was a strange feeling. His student, on the other hand, was giving him curious glances as they followed their guard down the hall.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked, "the prisoners said that what your father did was a 'massacre'. What did they mean?" He made a conscious effort to not seem too interested in the fact that Kakashi really wasn't squishy. At all. Not one bit. He then gave himself a mental punch and told himself that with a few more years of training, he would be like that too. Hopefully.

But then again, all his sensei ate was healthy stuff. If he had to choose between ramen and being perfectly sculpted, then he would happily agree to be as fat – chubby – as Chouji.

"Yeah," Taji spoke up, "what did your old man do?"

The jonin wondered again why he was bothering to answer, "our war was against Rock Country," he explained, "Konoha was the one that started it, at the paranoia of our council. My father was sent to…sabotage a peace treaty between Kumo and Iwa, and…some things happened that led to Konoha's involvement being revealed. While we were distracted by our war with Iwa in Rain Country, the Yondaime Kazekage wanted to make use of it to strike."

"But what do the things your father did in Kumo and Iwa have to do with us?" Taji grunted, "I didn't pay much attention in history. Too boring, you know? I mean, we could've been out there killing people, who wants to read at a time like that?" They entered the mess hall on the way back, and their voices echoed through the empty stucco room.

Naruto nodded vigorously, "I know exactly what you mean, oji-san. I didn't pay much attention in history either."

"You didn't pay much attention in anything, Naruto," Kakashi pointed out, determined to one day instill some love of knowledge in his students. So far, Sakura was the only one who took after him in that area.

He turned to the guard, "it's not about what he did in Iwa," he went on, "Konoha's council eventually decided to take Suna out in one blow since Iwa was the larger threat, and they outvoted our Hokage. Since my father was…responsible for starting the war, he agreed to their plan to finish off the Konoha-Suna front in River Country because he was determined to do anything to make up for his mistakes."

Kakashi paused, remembering days when his father had ambled around the house absentmindedly, not knowing what to do. He had been so confused at that time, and everyone in the village looked at him as a coward. Hatake Sakumo's will had been utterly shaken, and the council members had jumped to make use of his weakness.

"At the time, Suna wasn't a very prosperous or strong nation and my father was Konoha's White Fang, one of the strongest shinobi of our village," somehow, it didn't seem like he was boasting, "the people of Suna called it a massacre."

Hatake Sakumo had died one week after that event. Looking back, Kakashi couldn't help but understand why.

Taji stopped walking, and turned to face the other jonin, "the…River Country massacre?"

"Yes," Kakashi tilted his head to one side, "remembering something from history lessons?"

"No…" the guard trailed, an unreadable look on his face, "it's nothing."

Many kilometers away, the two other members of Team Kakashi were seated on the floor of Sakura's luxurious hotel room. Sai had set up his small drawing stand beside the bed. His hand held a stick of coal and his face held an expression of thorough blankness.

"This," Sakura told him, "is how people make money the proper way." She sat directly behind him, looking over his shoulder at the blank paper.

"We're going to sell my artwork?" Sai asked blankly, coal held delicate between his fingers.

"Yes," his pink-haired teammate nodded, "you're pretty good, Sai. There are lots of rich people with too much money on their hands who like buying nice drawings to hang up in their rooms."

"I do not like realism," he stated, "my work is all abstract."

"Well I'm sure there's a market for that too," Sakura said confidently, "we can ask for a table at the art show happening in two days. Suna is known for its culture, after all. They'd like foreign-looking artwork, and we can easily price each piece at ten-thousand ryo. Prestige pricing, and all that." As the daughter of a clothes store owner, Sakura knew business well.

"But…what must I draw?" He turned to give her a questioning look.

"Anything," she told him, "I have somewhat of a good eye for art, and everything you come up with looks very skilled even though it's abstract and I don't understand anything..."

Sai didn't know whether to acknowledge the praise or speak his mind. His social etiquette book really didn't cover these situations. Instead, he turned to stare blankly at the paper.

A few minutes went by.

"Should I leave?" Sakura asked, "I mean, you usually draw alone…" She bit her lip, wondering what had gotten into the boy who usually reserved every speck of his enthusiasm for art.

"No, no. That is not the problem," Sai told her, "I just…cannot." He put the stick of coal down in defeat and shifted around to face her, ignoring the blank paper behind him.

"I…don't understand," Sakura tilted her head to one side, "why not? You love drawing."

"I…draw for myself, Sakura-san," he told her, "my drawings are mostly personal, and no one other than you, dickless, Kakashi-san, Yamato-taicho, and my brother have ever seen them. I cannot do this."

Sakura's heart melted slightly at his mournful look. She sighed and stood up, brushing herself off and trying to look determined.

"Well, that's ok, then. I mean, we can find other ways. There's only…nine hundred forty thousand ryo left, right? That's…um…we can do it! We just need…ideas!"

Sai continued to stare at her blankly.

"I'm…starving," Naruto breathed, "at this point…give me any of that gross Suna food. I'll eat buckets of it. Willingly." He turned around on his bed to lay on his stomach with one arm hanging off the sides, and turned his head to give his cell-partner a mournful look.

Kakashi watched him from over the top of his book. It had been almost eight hours since the guard had led them back to their cell, and he hadn't shown up since. So far, they'd gone breakfast and lunch without any food being brought to them. More importantly, he still didn't have a replacement for his lost shirt, and was trying to make up for it with his blanket.

"And you haven't spoken a word in around three hours now," Naruto went on, "this is…torture…" He slowly pushed himself up from his bed and ambled over to sit next to Kakashi.

The jonin looked across at him warily, thin sheets draped over his shoulders, "what do you want to talk about?" He asked.

"Um…did you always eat healthy stuff?" The blond boy asked, "I mean, I was just wondering…"

Kakashi sighed. Typical Naruto. His student didn't like talking about too many serious things, and asking about his father seemed to have emptied his seriousness for the day. "You've seen me eat ramen," he told him, "but I'm not as obsessed. A shinobi must pay attention to health." He decided to conveniently forget about his days in the anbu, when only Gai's prodding could get him to eat anything other than ration bars.

Naruto gave a long and world-weary sigh, "well then I suppose I'm going to look like an Akimichi in a few years." He paused. "And I don't even have their cool jutsu…"

"Maa, with your energy you can eat whatever you like," Kakashi told him, shifting his book out of the way, "what brought this up?"

A slight red flush spread across Naruto's face. "Nothing," he mumbled, "it's just…hey I know what we can do! Read Icha Icha, since you…um…conveniently have one in your hand!" He eagerly leaned over the other man's blanketed shoulder.

"I thought we went over this," Kakashi shut the book.

"I thought you agreed with Sakura-chan," Naruto pouted, still reaching over for the book, "that a perverted me is better than an insane me. And I won't become a pervert, I'm immune to perverts. But I'll definitely go crazy."

Kakashi paused, trying to think of a different type of conversation. He really didn't want to share an Icha Icha book with Naruto of all people. The only person he had ever shared with was Gai, and there was an interesting story behind that one. Finally, he slid the book under his leg, and the blanket slipped off his shoulders. "I'm worried," he said bluntly, "something might have happened to our guard."

True to his short attention span, Naruto paused and then settled back in his spot, "maybe he's trying to make up for the break he missed. He looked really overworked."

"That's possible, but for eight hours?" He discarded the blanket; it was warm enough in the midday sun anyway, "we'll have to wait until Sakura and Sai come to see us."

"Yeah!" Naruto brightened, "Sakura-chan won't let us starve! And maybe Kankuro will come with them this time!"

"The boy who Sakura healed, wasn't he?" Kakashi sat back, swinging the sheet off and piling it on the bed beside him, "he'd better bring some food with him. Dinner seems rather far away at this point."

Naruto frowned, "yeah, and you have to deal with those stupid people too." He suddenly brightened, "oi! Don't think I've forgotten about Icha Icha Violence! I wanna see if Ero-Sennin's writing is as bad as Tsunade baa-chan says…" He leaned over again, putting one hand over his sensei's bare shoulder.

Kakashi sighed, wondering if he would be able to read his book properly anytime during their sentence. It remained firmly pressed under his leg, and he winced at the fact that some of the pages might have crumpled. "Alright then," he said smoothly, "feel free to test how long my sense of responsibility lasts. I'd like to know myself, actually."

Taking that as permission to continue, Naruto leaned over further, scratching against the side of the jonin's pants for the book hidden underneath. But he was suddenly distracted by a new discovery. From his position, he looked down at the waist of Kakashi's loose, low-riding grey pants, which revealed a few silver strands at the base of his stomach.

"Aha!" He exclaimed, pointing down, "so you are a natural grey!"

Kakashi wordlessly reached down and pulled the waist of his pants up as far as it could go.