Where is he?" Kensuki whined, plucking repeatedly at the grass by his feet. Team 7 and Naruto sat around the training ground, waiting for the perpetually late Jounin.

"Come on Senpai…I need to see what these kids can do…"

Naruto sat a little way from the Genin, back rested against a nearby tree. He had to say, he was pretty surprised that the Uchiha wasn't training already with the amount of times he had come back from night patrol and come across the child training with Katon Jutsus. He remembered being vaguely impressed at the power of the Jutsus the Academy student had produced.

"Did Itachi-Senpai ever teach him the-."

The Uchiha stood up abruptly, cutting the blondes' train of thought."Why should we wait for him?"

Sakura leapt to her feet, eager to agree with the dark eyed boy. "Yeah!"

Naruto resisted the temptation to roll his eyes; he was sure that if Sakura stood on her own two feet just once, she would be a more than proficient Konoichi.

"We should train…" Kensuki added, pulling himself from the patch of ground where he had been sitting. "But…" Sakura looked around the empty clearing "Perhaps Ninjutsu would be a bit too much, if anyone got too badly hurt…." Naruto gained a little more respect for the apparently air-headed Genin.

"Hn" The Uchiha was not amused.

"If I didn't know any better." Naruto grinned "I would have thought the Uchiha was annoyed."

"So Taijutsu then?" Kensuki asked, looking from Sasuke to Sakura.

"I suppose…" The Uchiha shrugged. Naruto saw the flicker of fear in Sakura's eyes.

"So I guess Taijutsu isn't a strong point for her."

"Sakura!" He called "Come over here and explain what they're doing!" She smiled, obviously grateful for the excuse to sit out, and ran towards the tree, sitting in the grass next to Naruto.

"Well Taijutsu is hand to hand combat…." He drowned her out, nodding every so often if he needed to. "…And Kensuki uses a style called 'Kabushi no mai." Naruto smiled…So Tora-chan had taught Kensuki her own style? It couldn't have been better.

"And Sasuke-kun…" She trailed off, a small frown on her face "I don't know…but it will beat Kensuki!"

The blonde sighed, but a smile was still on his were problems, but they would be easy to iron out. He understood why Kakashi had passed the team.

"Ready?" Kensuki asked, innocent eyes staring in the Uchiha's direction.

"I should ask you the same thing…"

Kensuki grinned, then sliding his right foot into stance, bringing his hands up into a defensive position. The Uchiha stood, staring. Sighing, Kensuki rolled his eyes.

"Do you ever strike the first blow Sasuke?"Kensuki covered the ground between them in a few seconds, fist poised ready for striking.

The Uchiha dodged to his left, avoiding the aimed fist with ease, before returning a blow of his own to Kensuki's rib , the younger of the two boys regained his breath, before sliding his foot back.

"Still not good enough…"

"Kensuki is a proficient Taijutsu user; his attacks are usually well aimed..." Kakashi had sighed "His style is lacking something..."

He added it to his mental list of things to do, but didn't take his eyes of the two Genin…there was something that just said that not everything was being shown. The Uchiha ran towards the other boy, and Naruto winced in pain as the Uchiha's fist connected, followed by a foot, and then a round house kick that sent Kensuki flying to the ground.

Spitting blood, Kensuki got back to his feet.

"It's getting a bit rough for Genin...isn't it?"

Kensuki forward, the smaller boy connected a hit, but the next was blocked by an annoyed looking Uchiha, who sent the boy sprawling for the third time.

The blonde under the tree realised there were two problems, one was Kensuki.

He was good at the style, but it had been invented for an Anbu by an Anbu, not for a Genin who didn't have enough speed or power to complete the attacks.
Perhaps he could teach Kensuki a different way to use the style…

The second was the Uchiha.

Did people just let him win?

It made his fists itch just thinking about it.

He hissed as Kensuki missed a valuable opening in Sasuke's defence, and was surprised when Sakura hissed too.

"She saw it?"

Kensuki laid back, stretching his bruised and battered limbs out on the grass.

"So you enjoyed it Naruto?" the boy asked the blonde.

"Yeah…it was cool"

Sasuke was stood still, waiting for their Sensei to arrive. Naruto frowned, Teamwork was important…Why did the Uchiha never join in?

"You remember Aunt Neruki?"He turned back to Kensuki, wondering where this conversation was going. "She told me about the Team she heard of…" He lowered his voice to a whisper "In Anbu."

"Oh no Tora-chan…please say…" Naruto thought.

Kensuki nodded sagely, like it was a top secret matter.

"Go on…" Naruto said, not liking the turn the conversation had taken.

"Well, she told me…about a young boy who was one of the elite, he was called-" He looked left and right "Kitsune."

"Tora-chan…you are so dead"

"And he was a really good ninja; rumour has it that he was next in line to be Hokage….and then he disappeared."

"Does anyone know what happened?" Sakura asked, interested.

"Aunt Neruki said that he lives in Konoha still…but as a normal civilian"

"He left?"

Kensuki nodded "Obasan said that Kitsune was the best she had ever seen…and Obasan is good"

"Kitsune…" Sasuke whispered, and Naruto's ears pricked up "I think…. I think I met him once"

"You did?! Oh wow Sasuke-kun! You're so cool!"

Kensuki looked a little deflated.

"When did you meet him Uchiha?" Naruto asked, hoping that the Uchiha wouldn't notice the edge to his voice.

"Why should you care?"

Naruto shrugged looking away "Just interested …"

There was a silence.

"He knew my brother…I think"

He hoped the Genin wouldn't press the topic any further…If the Uchiha remembered too much... Sure he had planned to give up the game at some point, but if the wrong people knew he was alive… It could end up very badly for a lot of people, not just for him.

"What was he like Sasuke-kun?"

"I don't really remember…he had a white mask, with-" he ran four fingers down the centre of his face "Four red stripes down the middle, and the usual Anbu uniform, I remember finding it odd that he was the same height as me"

"Curse all Uchiha's!" Naruto growled.

"He was the same height?" Kensuki frowned, wincing as the expression caused a bruise on his chin to flare up in pain "So was he just short…or was he young? Like…really, really young?" The Genin sat and or stood respectively, wondering silently about the identity of Kitsune, whilst Naruto sat, fuming. Not that you would have guessed from his expression.

"Yo!" Kakashi winced, as he looked into two murderous cerulean blue eyes.

"This…is not going to end well"

"You're LATE!" Kensuki and Sakura yelled, pointing accusing fingers at the extremely late sensei.

"I'll be more than late when Naruto is through" Kakashi thought.

"Hehehe." The silver haired Jounin rubbed the back of his head "I got lost…on the road of life."

The three Genin dead panned.

"Sure Sensei." Kensuki sighed "Sure."

The midday heat was stifling, but Team 7 had just rested under the shade of the trees.

"Do you know about Kitsune Kakashi-sensei?" Kensuki asked. Naruto suppressed a groan, what had the kid got against him?

"Well…I met him a few times" The older man admitted.

"Really, what was he like?" Sakura asked, and Naruto noticed that Sasuke also sat up a little taller.

"Well…he was certainly good at what he did-"

"But what did he look like sensei?" Kensuki interrupted "None of us know"

Naruto wanted the earth to open up and swallow him. "What is with these kids and their obsession?"

"I don't know either, I only saw him when he was very young," Kakashi shrugged "He is sure to have changed by now." Naruto let his breath out; completely unaware he had been holding it.

"How old would he be now then?" Sasuke asked, surprising the other members of Team 7.

"He would be…your age."

"What?!" All three members turned to Kakashi in shock "Our age?!"

The Jounin nodded.

"He was Anbu…before we even joined the Academy?" Kakashi nodded again.

"Does anyone know where he is?" Sakura asked.

"He still lives in Konoha apparently…" Kakashi shrugged "Not many people know where.

"Do you?" Sasuke said in words what the other two Genin were thinking, or on the verge of saying.

"Well…" The Jounin looked over at Naruto, who was glaring like a sharp battle ready kunai. But the Copy-Nin carried on as if nothing was wrong "Some say that he hangs around in the Forest of Death every full moon but that's just old gossip."

Naruto groaned as he realized that each of the Genin had the full intention of going to see if the rumour was true. The full moon was tomorrow. Yet the Forest of Death was dangerous to Genin, hell, even most Jounin were at risk from some of the things that inhabited that deadly forest.

Naruto waited until the Genin had gone home in order to vent his frustration.

"Why the hell'd you do that?!" Naruto yelled, his cerulean eyes no longer calm, but like a thrashing river, fists clenched. All memories of the time

"They need training, what better way?" he said off-handedly, Icha Icha book open, scanning pages.

"Look at me when I'm speaking to you!" the blonde hissed, wrenching the book from the Jounin's grasp, throwing it to the floor.

"Why should I?" the silver haired Jounin snapped, for once losing his legendary indifference, grey eye like steel "You're a nobody! By your own choice!"The two stood silently, facing each tension was almost palpable, and Kakashi had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before blows were traded.

He had absolutely no desire to test out Naruto's skills after two years of withdrawal from the Black Ops, since the blonde boy could have easily beaten him before. Sighing, he slouched.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun."

And he was, really was.

"No…It's alright…It was silly of me to overact Senpai." the blonde had his head in his hands.

Kakashi crouched and grabbed the orange bound book from its precarious position on the ground by their feet, placing it back in his kunai pouch, and then drew something out.
Naruto's breath hitched in his throat.

That?

"It's only for a night, but you can be Kitsune again…" Kakashi said quietly "It's nothing official…no missions just…" But all Naruto could hear was his heart pounding as he reached out for the all too familiar Anbu mask. Four red lines ran down vertically from forehead to chin.

Kitsune...

"The Hokage gave it to me…" Kakashi explained as Naruto took the mask from his outstretched fingers "He told me he remembered a time when you said that you would never take it off."

"I said that…?" "I suppose I did…"

He ran his fingers down the red stripes, there were too many memories he had forced himself to forget related to the mask. The porcelain surface was still as smooth at it had ever been, looking almost as clean as when he had first seen it, but a small fracture on the bottom length of the mask convinced him it was the original. The last time he had seen this, it had been discarded at the feet of the Sandaime, and its clean white surface had been covered with drying blood.

Flipping it over, he traced the faint lettering on the inside.

From Tora, Yama, Inu and Keii!
Good luck in ANBU Kitsune!

The faces flashed through his mind as his hands passed over each of the names.

Keii, Naruto doubted he would ever see his face again, Yama would never be teased by Tora again. Inu - but he was no longer Inu - Kakashi had moved on with his life. Tora was still Tora, the last of the four, her smiles still as vibrant, her teasing just as present as they ever were. Everyone had moved on. Why hadn't he? Had he been so focused on forgetting the past...he had become a part of it?

"Just once…" he whispered, his eyes shutting wearily, his hand dropping to his side. Without him, the Genin could die in that forest. He hadn't known any of them for that long, yet somehow they had just inserted themselves into his life. Twisting on his heels, he left the silver haired Jounin alone in the training ground. Kakashi turned, facing the Hokage monument…but instead of looking at the usual face, he turned to the Sandaime.

"See…I told you he would take it back." The Hokage had heard about Naruto's life since he had left the Black Ops, and had asked Kakashi help him.

He hoped that it had at least made a little difference.


All right Qs & As! This is important to me so that anything that I've not made clear in the story can be found here! Skip If you don't wanna read!

I'm just wondering if Sarutobi is going to live in this one, is Orochimaru gonna die? And what the hells going on with Akatsuki? Finally, is... Naruto... Gonna... haveapairing!? From Lord Ezra'eil

The answer to the first two *winks* now that would be telling! I changed my mind, no pairing…

NaruXNeruki? From LbcLostKid

Though I love Neruki-chan, she not quite right for Naruto...Though...that has just given me some inspiration for another story...but I'll have to finish this off first! ^_^

What level is Naruto around now anyways? From JNottle

Well after two years, he's forgotten stuff, but he can still kick ass! You don't really get much better than Hokage power do you? So even after two years, it's almost an instinct, so he'll need to retrain. ^_^ Fuel for more chapters!

Is Naruto going to go back to anbu or something? or just help out the team? From Arch Zell

*laughs* For the moment he's just offering to help Team 7...but we all know what Naruto's like...^_^

Can Sasuke get his ** whooped by Naruto? From rexr

Let's just say, if I don't get around to it...I'll write a one-shot where this happens, sort of like an alternate chapter...^_^

? From Sakushiro!

- When Naruto preforms the genjutsu, Sasuke only thinks he sees a hand seal, and who knows, maybe Naruto did it on purpose to play with Sasuke's mind? *giggles* He does still have a childish streak. ^_^

-Why does Neruki/Tora glomp people? The answer? She is insane, plus, glomping people is fun!

Any more questions you want to ask? Something you would like to know that I haven't explained properly? Feel free to ask questions in your reviews! You can never ask too many!