:Okay… so, inspiration totally hit me. I don't know why it took so long… anyways, here's Chapter 10.

:I still don't own Naruto, but it rocks all the same.

Chapter 10: Conversations

"So tell me… how'd you get a catch like blondie over there?" Kankuro said, as he and Kiba had found a room where they could talk without anyone overhearing.

"Uhm… well…" Kiba said. Should he tell him? Wouldn't he sound like a total asshole or something?

"Seriously, I didn't think you had it in you." He said again, apparently proud of his friend.

"We aren't… together… exactly." Kiba said, sighing.

"Oh. I get it. So you're just getting there and-" Kankuro said.

"Actually… we already 'got there' but-"

"Ahhh… you lost her then." He said, nodding and finally understanding what the letter from Konoha was all about. It's time to play his part in the story. "You should've never let her go… Girls like that don't come by that often."

"I know." Kiba said. "Don't remind me."

"I bet she can kick some serious ass now right?" Kankuro asked, not really wanting an answer.

"Yeah."

"Well then… you know what you have to do right?" he said.

"Yup. Move on… find someone else…" He smiled a little, thinking he did the right thing.

"Don't act stupid dude." Kankuro said. "What you want to do… is get her back."

"She… she doesn't… we couldn't-" Kiba said, trying hard to explain. "She deserves more than me."

"To hell with 'deserving'! That doesn't mean a thing." The puppeteer said, looking Kiba in the eye.

"Oh yes it does." Kiba said, and he began telling him the story from seven years ago, which is when they met, and that night four years ago, when everything went wrong, up to today… he reduced it a bit, but it still took about twenty-something minutes.

"I see." Kankuro said, nodding again. "That was really stupid, what you did. But then again, who can blame you?"

"Now you know… I don't deserve her." Kiba said.

"Were you deaf or something!?" He said, getting annoyed. "Deserving has nothing to do with it!"

"But… didn't you hear what I just told you?"

"Look at you're friends… do they look like they deserve anything?" he said. "Wait, don't answer that question."

"What are you getting at!? If this is about your sister and Shikamaru again-!" Kiba said, getting annoyed with everything. He was never the type to talk about 'feelings' and that stuff. It was so sappy, so boring, so… ugh…

"No… this isn't about the lazy-ass. I can't do anything about that even if I tried, they've got like two kids now. Even I can't deny that." Kankuro said with a sigh. "Let's try this again…"

"Lets see… uhm… Naruto." He said slowly. "He's a bumbling idiot that was the dead last of his class. But, he still got that white-eyed Hyuga girl to fall for him."

"What does that have to do with anything? Hinata's had her eyes on Naruto since the Academy!" Kiba said.

"Listen. What if we try someone else…hmmm…" Kankuro said, with his hand on his chin, thinking. "Sasuke… he's a bastard who betrayed the village and put loads of people in danger. But that pink-haired girl is now his wife."

"SO?" Kiba said.

"Heh." Kankuro said. "Still can't understand?"

"I get it!" Kiba said, standing up and thrusting his fist in the air. "It doesn't matter what I've done… it's how I make up for it that matters!" Kiba said.

"Eh… I was actually going to say that you just forget about 'deserving' anything, and just try to get the girl to fall for you and act all sappy and say sorry and stuff… but you're idea sounds way better." Kankuro said, shrugging. "Now, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to… to… uhm…" Kiba said. "I don't know! But I'll get her back for sure." Kiba said. "…maybe I'll think of some way to make her hate me less… hmmm." "Wait a second… why are you the one that's giving me this advice? I don't see you with a girl or anything."

"That's none of your business Inuzuka." Kankuro said, giving him a sharp look. "Besides, I'm busy being advisor to the Kazekage…"

"Okay then… whatever you say." Kiba said with a smirk. "See yah." And with that, he left.

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"So, if something bad happens to me, Kakashi will be replacing me as Hokage eh?" the Godaime said.

"Yes. He is clearly the obvious choice for the sixth Hokage." Homura, one of the elders of Konoha said.

"Even I can see that." Tsunade said. "That actually seems like a good choice… but…"

"You don't agree? Remember, as Hokage you have to put the safety of the village first." Koharu, the other elder said.

"I am fully aware of that, and I trust in Kakashi's ability and loyalty… but somehow, I think that he won't accept it…" Tsunade said, smiling a little, thinking of a certain loudmouth blond-haired shinobi. I won't retire until Naruto's ready to take over.

"I still have a few years left in me. But I agree that when we do have to make a choice for the sixth, we should get Kakashi's opinion." Tsunade said. "He'll say Naruto should be the Hokage, for sure."

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"Ahchoo!" the masked jonin sneezed.

"Kakashi-sensei… you should really take care of yourself better. You aren't as young as you were when you first trained us you know." A pink-haired kunoichi said while pouring some hot tea for her former sensei. "…wait… why am I pouring him tea? It's not like he's going to take off that mask and drink it… oh well…"

"It's noting… I don't have a cold." Kakashi said, giving that one-eyed smile through his mask.

"Sasuke-kun is picking up Fugaku from the Academy, he'll probably be back in a few minutes." She said, taking a seat.

"Fugaku? Ah… how has he been doing?" Kakashi said with a smile. "…Another little Sasuke, another smaller version of me."

"Top of his class." Sakura said, beaming.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from the blood of the great Uchiha clan and Konoha's best medic-nin." Kakashi said. "…and with Naruto to becoming Hokage… I guess I didn't mess up as much as I thought I did… even if they are my first and last team."

"Please don't say that Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura said, sighing. "There's too much pressure on him already."

"Sorry." He replied. "Is there something wrong?"

"Sensei… it's just that… Sasuke… ever since you two went on that mission to get Madara Uchiha… he's been acting… different…" she said with a sad expression on her face.

"How so?" Kakashi said, taking out another copy of Icha-icha.

"He's always quiet, and seems to be thinking deeply about something… like he was before… before… you know." She said, tears now flowing from her eyes.

"I see. What can I do?" he said as he put down the book.

"…he really tries to hide it… especially when Fugaku is around, he smiles and acts happy and all that… but when he's alone… I see it Kakashi-sensei… and he doesn't tell me anything… you're like an older brother to him… maybe, you can?" she said, looking at her former sensei's face with her tear-soaked eyes.

"Okay Sakura… I'll try. Everything's going to be okay." He said reassuringly. "Don't worry."

Sakura then wiped the tears off her eyes.

Just then, the sliding door opened, revealing Sasuke and Fugaku, who were breathing heavily.

"What happened to you two?" Sakura said.

"Fugaku had some… unexpected company." Sasuke said, eying his son.

"You should've seen them mom! So many girls… so annoying… they're creeping me out!" Fugaku said.

Sakura smiled and turned to give a confused look to her husband. Kakashi just had an amused look on his face.

"Uhm, let me put it this way… remember those days when we were at the academy?" Sasuke said.

"Oh… I get it." Sakura said, almost laughing. "Don't worry Fugaku-kun… it'll get better when you get a genin team… you'll only have one of them to annoy you."

"Don't you mean worse?" Sasuke said, smirking.

"Hey! I wasn't that bad!" Sakura said, pouting.

"Yeah… you weren't." Sasuke said, smiling as he took a seat next to his wife.

"Okaasan! Otoosan told me he would teach me a fire-jutsu!" Fugaku said, beaming as he sat down too.

"Fire-jutsu?" Kakashi said. "ahh… the famous Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu… I haven't seen you use that in a while Sasuke."

"Well, I've been using my lightning based jutsus more frequently these days." Sasuke said.

"Don't you mean MY lightning based jutsus?" Kakashi said. "I did invent the Chidori after all…"

"Yeah…yeah… but you haven't seen what I can do with it." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Okay, okay…" Kakashi said.

"Can I ask you a favor Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke said.

"Sure." He replied.

"Do you have any more of those elemental chakra papers?" he said.

"Here." Kakashi said, taking out three sheets of paper from his pocket.

"Thanks." Sasuke said, and he turned to Fugaku.

"Now, Fugaku… this is a special sheet of paper that can detect a person's chakra element. There's fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind. Now… if you focus you're chakra into it like this…" he said, and the paper instantly crumpled up. "Something happens. If the paper crumples up like this, you're a lightning type. Like Kakashi-senpai and me. But most jonin can use two or more elements… like how I can use fire for example. Most Uchiha are fire types." Then he handed the paper to Fugaku. "You try."

Fugaku shakily took the paper from his father's hand, somewhat nervous. "…I have to be a fire-type… or a lightning type…" He focused his chackra into it… and…

The paper burst into flame.

"Wow! I'm a fire type! Yosh!" Fugaku said, jumping happily in the air.

"Great! Kakashi-senpai… would you mind helping me teach him?" Sasuke said. "You won't be teaching at the academy anymore… but… well… I can't think of a better teacher."

"Wow. No problem then." Kakashi said.

:There we go… what's Kiba gonna do? What's this Hokage business? What's up with Sasuke?

:I'm sure you guys can guess what's going to happen with this Hokage thing. It's obvious really.

:Thanks for reading! Please review!