Um... Hm. Sakura and kekkei genkai. Just... Chill. I got this.

But feel free to guess what it is. THIS IS AU. Anything can happen.

"Itachi! You're home!"

After three days in the plains surrounding Hidden Grass for reconnaissance, Itachi was tired, sore, and covered in no small amount of mud and grass. His hair was greasy and limp and he felt sticky from the layers of perspiration he'd collected throughout the mission. More so, there was still a leftover ringing in his ears from the headset his team had been using to communicate, and Sasuke's high pitched voice didn't particularly help it.

Still, the sight of his little brother hurtling down the hall for a hug couldn't help but put a smile on his face. Itachi crouched and caught the boy in his arms, receiving a tight hug around his neck in return. "Indeed. It's nice to be back."

Sasuke gave him a bright grin, reserved for his big brother only, and then a kiss on the cheek. Immediately afterward, however, he scrunched up his nose and pulled back. "Ew. You stink." He gave his brother a very solemn look. "I think you need to take a bath."

Holding in a snort, Itachi set his brother back down. "I agree, Sasuke. Why don't you go tell okaa-san that I'm home for dinner tonight?" As the boy scurried off, Itachi continued to his room, idly entertaining the thought that his brother had some sort of Itachi-sensor in his body. How else had the boy managed to greet him, unfailingly, every single time he made his way home since the boy had learned to walk?

After quickly showering and changing into his casual clothing, leaving his hair loose behind his neck, Itachi padded his way towards the kitchen, from which he could smell his mother preparing dinner for the family. As he was passing the sitting room, however, a hard voice stopped him in his tracks: "Itachi."

Closing his eyes, Itachi sent a brief prayer for patience up to Amaterasu, then closed off his expression and entered the sitting room. He knelt in front of the low table where his father was browsing several documents, and waited for the man to acknowledge him. At the forty second mark, he made another silent prayer to his patron god, this time asking for his father to get over himself.

He didn't expect that prayer to ever be answered, but in something of a compromise, Fugaku finally set down his scroll and looked down his nose at his oldest son, despite the fact that the boy was quickly approaching his height. "How was your mission, Itachi?"

"All objectives were completed within the specified time frame, Father. There were no complications," the stoic ten year old answered as respectfully as he could. Underneath the table, however, his fists were clenching. 'What happens in ANBU stays in ANBU,' the first rule he'd learned upon joining went. His father had no right to ask about a classified mission.

But that's why I tell him nothing of use. His hands relaxed. Itachi really had no reason to stress himself out when he should be relaxing.

"Very good," Fugaku rumbled out lowly. "Has anything of interest occurred in the past week?"

"No, sir." Not that you haven't asked me that every day that I've been home. The answer was always going to be no. He restrained himself from rolling his eyes.

"Hm." The brown haired man eyed his son, taking in the ramrod straight posture, his perfectly blank face, and his eyes that never strayed from the wall to the left of his head. If he didn't know that his son was always this way, Fugaku would've thought the boy was irritated, or at least uncomfortable. "I presume you'll be continuing your guard duty tomorrow." He sneered out the words. Even our prodigy is restrained to guarding some fool politician. The Uchiha cannot remain this powerless!

Itachi didn't react to his father's tone; if the man knew who his team was guarding, he wouldn't be so dismissive. "Yes, sir."

"I see..." Fugaku straightened himself, then leaned forward, staring his son directly in the eye. "Good. Remember, Itachi, your are the pride of the Uchiha clan. All of your actions reflect upon us, the missions you take, the people you converse with; even the restaurants you frequent. You must uphold the honor of the clan in everything you do. Always strive to better yourself..."

Why the fuck is he telling me this again? Itachi thought in frustration as his father continued on his rant, which he'd been hearing since he was eight years old, and as such, could repeat in his sleep. Nothing grated on his nerves so much as these 'pep talks' that Fugaku liked to give. Perhaps they made the man feel important...

It took all of his considerable amount of self control to walk out of the room instead of leaving at a dead run, but somehow, the boy managed it. As he continued on his original path, he passed another room, and paused voluntarily this time to peek in on his younger brother. The boy had his eyes closed as he slowly worked through a set of hand seals, mumbling under his breath, 'definitely gonna do it better than stupid Naruto.'

Feeling his good mood return at the sight, Itachi left the doorway, and finally made his way into the kitchen, as he'd intended to half an hour ago. "I am home, okaa-san," Itachi announced himself as he stopped by the counter.

The woman didn't jump; she'd likely sensed his every movement since he had arrived home. Turning away from the stove, Mikoto smiled at the sight of her eldest son. "Welcome back, Itachi-kun." Walking over, she pressed a light kiss to his forehead; Itachi had stopped giving her hugs about a year ago, for some inane reason that only a young boy would find prudent, so she settled for showing her affection in other ways. "How are you?" She asked, gently leading him to sit at the table.

"I'm fine, okaa-san." He gave her a wan smile. "No injuries. All I need is food and rest." He felt relief wash through him when she simply nodded at him and returned to preparing the meal. His mother was probably his most favorite person in the clan, behind his little brother. She was possibly the only person who understood and respected his normal personality, and as such, she was also the only one who simply gave him space when he needed to cool down.

Watching as she checked the pot, however, Itachi sensed that it wasn't only for his sake that his mother remained silent. In fact, as he watched her shift from foot to foot, moving to one side of the kitchen and another, he was fairly sure that she was working on auto-pilot. She had something big on her mind. "Are you feeling troubled, okaa-san?"

Pausing, but not turning, Mikoto blinked. Then she continued adding to her dish. "I'm thinking of a mistake I made, Itachi-kun. A mistake that I am trying to correct with each passing day." His silence was her comfort. She shared an odd bond with her oldest son, but she wouldn't give it up for the world. "I think you know of Sasuke-chan's new friends."

Itachi raised an eyebrow that she couldn't see. "Haruno Sakura-san and Uzumaki Naruto-san."

A smile crossed her face as she sliced up more beef to add to the meal. "I can always trust you to watch out for Sasuke-chan..." A small laugh escaped her, but soon, her smile faded again. "Yes. Sakura-chan is a very smart little girl; curious and observant. Exactly the type of daughter I would wish to have. And Uzumaki-kun is..."

So his name is no longer demon? That was something that Itachi could smile for.

"...He is a quiet little boy, who does not share himself very easily," Mikoto finished after a moment. She turned around to look at her son. "My mistake is not realizing that until very recently. I allowed my logic to be clouded by emotions..." She trailed off, but she knew her son, and it was easy for her to tell that he understood the meaning underneath her words. Again, she smiled. "Luckily, I can now correct this flaw in my character."

His mother turned back to cooking, but watching her, he could tell that some of the weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It was interesting to see; he and his mother were very much alike, and yet still fundamentally different. Watching his mother was like getting a glimpse into what he might be in the future.

His ears caught her next words even as his thoughts drifted: "Yes... Sakura-chan truly is a curious little girl," Mikoto chuckled to herself, seeming introspective. "If not for her questioning, I might never have recognized that blemish in my self..."

Curious, indeed, Itachi thought as his mother began humming. Your sister seems to be something else, Haruno-san...

Just something else for him to take note of.

She was dreaming, but knowing that didn't stop the images from playing across her mind's eye. Sakura was six years old and dreaming of being eight, ten, twelve, older... Her conscious mind recognized that the dreams she'd been having were necessary. They were the memories she could no longer recall so clearly without help, the people she would never see again as they once were, the things she had to see then because she never, ever wanted to see them with her waking eye again.

The memories paused, and changed. In her bed, Sakura's face scrunched up and tiny whimpers escaped her throat as she watched an empty casket being lowered into the ground. This was one of the memories she hated the most, the ones she would work the hardest to stop from happening. It was also the memory that she saw the most often. No matter how many days passed, every morning that she was able to wake up and see her brother felt like a blessing of the most divine sort.

Mint green eyes snapped open abruptly, and for a moment, she just laid there, shivering and looking at the faded stars sticking to her ceiling. Sakura didn't want to dream, but she needed to. Dreams kept her from being complacent. Being a child again was fun and relaxing... But she couldn't get used to it at the expense of her mission.

With a bit of effort, she slid out of her covers, then carefully climbed down from her bed. Reaching up to open her bedroom door was still strange, but she was getting used to it. Stifling a yawn, Sakura exited her room into the dark hallway, instinctively avoiding patches of moonlight. She stopped not to far from her blue-painted door, at a green one this time, and entered.

"Mmm, princess?" Came the tired mumble. "Close the door... Too bright..."

"Kay, nii-chan," she whispered, doing as told. A sleepy looking smile crossed her face, and Sakura toddled over to the bed against the far wall, where one of Jinya's cat-like eyes peered at her from the messy cocoon of blankets he always wrapped himself in to sleep.

Without saying anything else, Jin shifted around until part of the blankets could be tugged from under him, and with almost no effort, pulled his sister's tiny form up and onto the bed. As soon as she was situated, he closed the cocoon again and curled around her. "Night, princess," he yawned out.

"G'night," she mumbled back, burying her face into his chest. Somewhere deep in her mind, Sakura felt a bit embarrassed for climbing into her brother's bed because of a bad dream, but it wasn't hard to recall the cold nights after he was gone, when she would sit in his empty room and the only thing she could do was pretend that he was there.

With his baby sister in his arms, Jinya didn't even consider falling back asleep until her breathing evened out and the tight grip she had on his nightshirt loosened. He kept his eyes closed, but while his body rested, his mind was fully awake. This makes eleven times. Eleven nightmares since the first. What happened to you...?

It troubled him that she couldn't sleep without waking up at least once, yet he recognized that there wasn't much he could do about it except be there when she came wandering to him in the middle of the night. She didn't seem to be suffering from sleep deprivation, and her nightmares were never as bad as that first that left her shaken for days afterward, but... It didn't make sense. He wanted to know what started the nightmares in the first place.

He would stab who or whatever it was to death if he could, and probably enjoy it as well.

But no. His only comfort was that despite a certain Uchiha's suspicions, Sakura was still his same little princes, quiet and easy to startle, and rather impossible to get any real secrets out of. The girl hid things better than a storage seal when she had the incentive to. Not that such a thing would stop him from investigating.

Mentally, he sighed. Just go to sleep, Jin.

Today was October 10th, and to Uzumaki Naruto, that meant a lot of different things. It meant that he had no school, because it was a holiday, and even the administrative chuunin got the day off. It meant that he could sleep in, because who needed to wake up at six thirty in the morning when they had nowhere to go? And since he had nowhere to go, it also meant no watchers. Today, he probably wouldn't see Crow, or Neko, or Bear, or Wolf, even though he never actually saw the last one anyways. Wolf was sneaky like that.

It was also a festival day. If he looked out of his windows, he would see banners, and stands, and large groups of people dressed up as prettily as they could. And even though he wouldn't see Crow, or Neko, or Bear, he would see lots of people in masks just like them, so maybe it was a good thing he had no watchers that day. He would hate to confuse them.

And one couldn't forget his sixth birthday, even though truthfully, almost everyone did. Even Naruto did. Having a birthday didn't matter if nobody celebrated it. Tomorrow, though, he might get presents from the people that he didn't see today, so he supposed it was nice enough.

Finally, October 10th meant that just for that day, when everyone and everywhere else was apart from him, he would get to spend the day with Inu. If there was one reason for him to like the day, it had to be because he would be able to go and hang out in Inu's office.

As if summoned by the thoughts, the door to Naruto's room opened, and a familiar dog mask with wild gray hair poked its' way in. "Good morning, Naru-chan!" the voice greeted cheerfully.

Naruto grinned brightly. "Morning, Inu!" he chirped, bounding over to the door. "Can we go now?" The blonde asked, bouncing on his toes.

"Maa, maa, slow down Naru-chan," the tall man replied, crouching and still having to look down to see the boy. "I have some crayons and a nice big puzzle for us to work on once we get to the office, but first, I have to deal with a syphilis infected cross-dressing troglodyte."

"...Uh?" Naruto stared at Inu blankly.

Inu seemed to blink behind his mask. Oh yeah. Newly six year old. Forgot. He decided to elaborate. "I have to meet some old guy named Danzo and scare him away from you. You remember not to tell Hokage-sama when I say things like that, right, Naru-chan?"

"Uh-huh! What happens in ANBU stays in ANBU," Naruto recited, nodding enthusiastically. The phrase was practically burned into his brain after so long living in the ANBU dormitories. He was proud to say that he was one of the best secret keepers ever.

The grin was audible when Inu replied, "Good job, Naru-chan. Now, until I get back, you can have these."

The whiskered blonde couldn't contain a gasp when a wrapped box with a large paper bag on top appeared in Inu's hands, even though he was positive that the man's appendages hadn't moved once. "Ramen for breakfast!" He cheered loudly, distracted from the thought as he caught the scent coming from the bag.

"And a birthday present!" Inu cheered as well, handing the gifts over to the grinning blonde. "The ramen is a gift from Ayame-chan and Teuchi-san, and my gift is under that, alright?"

"Yeah! Thank you, Inu!"

"Alright!" With everything clarified, Inu stood, waved to the boy, and then exited the room. As the door closed, he watched a tiny, almost unnoticeable pattern of inked seals crawl along the threshold of the door until all the edges were covered. With a nod, he used the a shunshin to return to his office.

It hurt to smile so much, especially after months of gray feelings, Kakashi couldn't help but think. But the tiny blonde made it easy for him to remember happier times. You would be proud of him, Minato-sensei, he thought to himself. I haven't provided the best life for him... But I'm trying.

Part of 'trying,' it seemed, involved regularly visiting the Hokage for the sole purpose of talking down his old teammates and long time rival. He'd never met a man so hell-bent on turning humans into weapons throughout his entire life. With a sigh, the gray haired man realized that the more time he spent stalling on the meeting, the less time he would have to spoil his old teacher's child for the day.

"Here we go..."

The eleventh of October was a Saturday, and per habit, Sakura was awake at seven in the morning to 'help' her mother cook; in reality, she only set the table and stole the best bits of food when her mother wasn't looking. Recently, however, her morning ritual had included something else: "Did grandma reply yet?"

Having expected the question, Nadeshiko simply chuckled and continued cooking, easily shuffling around Sakura as the small girl stood by the counter. "Patience is a virtue, Sakura-chan."

"But I don't want a virtue. I wanna know when we get to go see grandma! You said it would be soon, okaa-san!" For some reason, Sakura reminded herself of Sasuke with the whining she was doing, and the thought had the pink-haired girl fighting to hold her pout instead of snorting with laughter. Being six years old was amusing.

With more chuckling, the redheaded woman cast a glance at her daughter, who was tugging at her dress and looking up at her pleadingly. "Well, I suppose I did say it would be soon. And you know what? A messenger left a scroll for us a bit earlier. Why don't you go ask your papa to open it and read it for you?"

Haruno Daisuke cast a look at his wife from his seat at the table, where the half-asleep man was nursing a mug of black coffee. Still, he made room on his lap for his young daughter to climb up, and reached for the scroll that they had yet to open. "Well, let's take a look," the man half-grumbled out.

Maa, otou-san is so slow to wake up in the mornings, Sakura thought, watching as her father untied the string around the scroll at a painstakingly slow pace. His fingers appeared to be shaking slightly. "Hurry up, otou-san!"

"Okay, okay, Sakura-chan," Daisuke mumbled. He ran one of his shaking hands through his hair while the other one extended the scroll to its' full length. He skimmed it. "Ruriko-obaa-san is very excited to hear that you're going to be a shinobi, like Jinya-kun, and the rest of the family is as well. She's decided that instead of waiting another few years..." This is exactly what I never wanted to hear, the man found himself thinking, "...We will have the full family reunion at the New Years. Since so many of your cousins have also decided to become shinobi recently, she wants to have everyone together for a little while."

"Oh!" Nadeshiko turned from her cooking to look at her husband in surprise. "Really? I figured that we wouldn't have another full reunion until Sakura-chan was a genin, at the very least. But it has been a while. How exciting! I can't wait to see all my baby sisters together again for once!" Her smile was bright enough to light the whole room. "What else did okaa-san have to say?"

As her father continued summarizing the letter, Sakura wiggled off of his lap, then tore out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She fully intended to jump on her big brother's bed, multiple times if possible, so that she could wake him up and share the news. A full family reunion! Wow! The last time her entire family, had gathered in one place had been before she was born, and before Jinya was old enough to remember. Sakura was excited at the thought of meeting all the people she'd heard of but never seen in her life, since the Wave branch of the family had been decimated shortly before the reunion was originally scheduled.

But something bugged her.

Why did otou-san look so unhappy about it...?

In a darkened office, an elderly man with more bandages than skin visible sat at his desk, contemplating a meeting that he'd had the day before. Not for the first time, Shimura Danzo had been denied the right to access and train the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. He'd attempted to get his hands on the boy and his enormous potential so many times that he couldn't even be properly angry over the latest dismissal. Still, if the Hatake boy weren't so useful to the Leaf...

His thoughts shifted back to the present as he heard a series of short raps outside of door. "Enter," his gravelly voice called out. Danzo's one good eye remained locked on the form that entered, and as he recognized the face, his mind began racing. What could you possibly have to say to me? "Give your report."

"Their plans have changed, Danzo-sama. The family plans to gather in one place at the New Year. They intend to base the gathering in Wave country with the main branch."

His eye widened. "That would be three years early. Explain."

"Many of the children in the family have made the decision to become shinobi. I believe they wish to train all of them together and find ways to keep contact with the less reachable members. The matriarch also wishes to address any less than favorable situations that some branches of the family are involved in and lend support, if possible."

"Hm..." His thoughts worked faster. This was an unprecedented stroke of good luck being given to him, but could he afford to take it? It was a matter of numbers, and more importantly, skill. So many possibilities...

After nearly four minutes of pure silence, Danzo looked up at his agent again, a small smile covering his features. "This is invaluable information. Keep me updated on the situation."

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

"Hm... They're still young, aren't they?" Danzo questioned rhetorically. "So many children could be quite useful... We shall see. Dismissed."

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

What to do, what to do...

Lol, I'm having too much fun with this. Questions?