Chapter Title: Checkups

Words: 8732

Series: Naruto, Persona

Kakashi idly sat in the waiting room of the "eye doctor", wondering why he was forced to wait considering that they had escorted him to this room. If they were going to do that, why was he having to wait?

Of course, this wasn't exactly new. Kakashi knew that, outside of emergencies, doctors loved to waste people's time by not seeing you until two hours after your scheduled appointment. They somehow managed to be tardier than he was, but they never even got in trouble for it! Whenever he need a routine checkup, he could show up his usual three hours late and still be on time since he'd have to wait another hour or two for them to show up. It wasn't even out of revenge against his tardiness, either. The other people waiting around would be complaining about having to wait for hours on end, too.

Worse, still, were the times he was called in... and then he had to wait another hour as the doctor somehow got ready to give him a physical... and then all they'd do was fondle his testicles and then tell him to turn his head and cough. Really, what were the point of physicals? He was a shinobi. He knew when something was wrong with his body. He didn't need someone else to tell him that.

The door opened – and not the door where the doctors were, mind you – and several men stepped in escorting a short figure. "Just wait in here." They said, in the same way they had told Kakashi, and then they left. Standing there, looking irritated, was Sasuke, who glanced around the room briefly, his eyes finally landing on Kakashi.

Immediately, the boy tensed up, avoiding eye contact. "Hello, Sasuke!" Kakashi said cheerfully, and the boy gave a noncommittal grunt, shuffling over to an empty seat next to Kakashi. The boy knew there would be no getting away from the older man, and thus resigned himself to his fate. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Hn." Sasuke crossed his arms, looking pouty in Kakashi's eyes, but likely thought he was being 'calm'. "They say my eyes are special, and they want to do a basic 'eye exam'."

"Same for me, though that naturally only applies to my left eye." Kakashi continued with his fake cheer, making the raven-haired boy grow even more uncomfortable. "It's been a while since we've had some peace and quiet, no?"

"Hn." Yet another noncommittal response. Kakashi assumed he'd be getting a lot of them, so long as he didn't get to the point immediately. But... it was just too much fun to beat around the bush, what with the faces Sasuke was making.

"With all that's been going on – slavers and nightmares alike – we haven't had the time for peace and quiet." Kakashi continued, acting oblivious to Sasuke's growing discomfort. "Nor have we really had the time to sit and talk."

Sasuke sighed heavily, fidgeting with his sleeves as he did. "I already know what you're trying to do..."

"Oh?" Kakashi smiled innocently at Sasuke. "What am I trying to do, Sasuke-kun?"

Grimacing at the overly sweet tone of his teacher, Sasuke tightened his arms across his chest. "You're trying to get me to talk about what happened in the last world."

Kakashi chuckled slightly. "Perhaps I am. The conversation is bound to happen eventually. Why not get it out of the way now, hm?" Sasuke grunted, still trying – in vain – to hide his discomfort. "Of course, I don't know the whole story of what happened, so you'll have to fill me in on this particular story."

Sasuke groaned slightly, and after a moment of consideration, he opened his mouth. "I got pissed off at the situation, tried to learn how to use the technique so I could get back home, and then got caught and dragged into the nightmare realm. The end."

"That's not how you tell a story, Sasuke." Kakashi said with a smile. "Jiraiya would have a long list of criticisms about your poor storytelling."

"Like I care." He didn't even know who Jiraiya was. The name only sounded familiar in passing. "I did something stupid, which got us into more trouble than we should have been. That's it."

"Well, acknowledging the fact is a good first step." Kakashi admitted, deciding he'd stop teasing the obviously on edge Sasuke. "I understand that high pressure situations can lead to poor decision making, but I still have to say that I'm disappointed that you'd consider leaving your team behind in favor of your own personal goals."

"I'm not proud of that fact." Sasuke grunted rather loudly, and the few people in the waiting room along with them actually looked their way. Sasuke noticed that, growing uncomfortable and quiet. "I wasn't thinking straight. Between this whole damn situation, getting caught by slavers, and having no idea how to get back... I was angry."

"It's perfectly understandable to be angry. When I was your age, I no doubt would have been just as angry as you." Kakashi said, slightly wistfully. "Though I didn't have any particular, personal goal that would have spurred me to try to get back on my own, but if I did, I may have done the same in your shoes."

"Really." Sasuke said, somewhat blandly. "I can't imagine, what with how you go on about teamwork and friends."

Kakashi smiled down at Sasuke, his expression having little mirth in it. "There was a time when I didn't subscribe to that sort of creed. When I was your age, I lived only for completing a mission, nothing more. It wasn't until one particular mission that I realized living only for the mission was..." Kakashi paused, sighing after a moment of thought, "well, let's just say that it was a painful experience. You're lucky that things didn't end as poorly for you as they did for me."

Sasuke frowned at the sullen, far off look his teacher wore. It just didn't look right on his face compared to his usual lax, aloof expression.

There was an obvious question hanging in the atmosphere, but Sasuke refused to ask it. Not out of disinterest, but it simply didn't feel right for him to press the older man when he had little right to know. If Kakashi felt the need to answer the unasked question, that was another story, but Sasuke wasn't about to press for that information.

"Not going to ask me about what happened?" Kakashi asked, slightly amused. Sasuke was mildly relieved to see that the man's sullen look was no longer there, and that made answering him far easier.

"I don't really have the right to ask anything of you."

Kakashi chuckled, and he did something that made Sasuke bristle. The man reached over and ruffled his hair affectionately. "You're one of my darling students, Sasuke, so you have the right to at least ask. Me answering is another matter entirely!"

"Of course." Sasuke grumbled, trying to smooth out his hair.

"Normally, I wouldn't think to tell you anything about my past. It's not something I like to dwell on – there's no changing it, after all, and it doesn't do the mind any good – but I've had it all brought back to the forefront. With your recent actions that almost mirror my own all those years ago, I think it'll do us both some good for me to tell it."

Sasuke said nothing, watching his teacher as the man began to work out the words to use.

"Have you heard of the Konoha White Fang?" Kakashi asked lightly, and Sasuke wracked his brain for any recollection of it. Just like the "Jiraiya" from before, it seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint where.

"The name sounds familiar..."

"Well, he was a famous ninja of the Second Shinobi World War, his skill and strength comparable to the Third's cell – the Sannin. He was also my father." Sasuke nodded slowly, watching Kakashi's lax expression. "He also disgraced his name shortly before the Third Shinobi World War by abandoning his missions to save his teammates. A handful of shinobi agreed with his decision, but the vast majority of them – along with the very teammates he saved – ostracized him for his decision, and many still believe that his failure of such an important mission was what resulted in the Third Shinobi World War. Whether it had any impact in the matter, no one can say, but the result was an instantaneous drop in reputation. Not only did his skills waver in depression, but people stopped going to him for mission requests... even I, his own son, shunned him for forgoing his mission to save his teammates; not long after, he killed himself."

Sasuke exhaled quietly, watching Kakashi carefully as the man continued without so much as a change in facial expression. "After that point, I subscribed entirely to focusing on the mission. 'Complete the mission at all costs, even at your own life'. That was the creed I lived by. It wasn't until I had just become a jounin that I found myself in a similar situation to my father. It was during the Third Shinobi War; I was appointed as team-leader of a three man cell to destroy the Kannabi Bridge which was the main route Iwa's supplies were going through. I had everything planned out perfectly, but things never go quite as perfect as you planned. One of our numbers, Rin Nohara, was captured by Iwa shinobi, and knowing that the mission would be compromised by attempting to stage a rescue, I went ahead to continue to the mission."

"But...?" Sasuke asked, to which Kakashi smiled slightly.

"It's quite amusing to think about it now, but my second teammate, Obito Uchiha, refused to let that stand." Sasuke reacted minutely to the mention of his family name, but said nothing. "He said a lot to me that day, but there's one thing that stood out to me, and it's something you should know. I said it to the three of you after the bell test."

A statement Sasuke remembered. "'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.' He was the one who told you that...?"

"He was." Kakashi nodded. "It hit me more than I would have expected, and it made me think about a lot of things. Even though I set out to complete the mission, I couldn't get his words out of my head and headed back. The result was... well..." Kakashi rubbed the scar over his left eye, the action making Sasuke wince. "It ended poorly, to say the least. For a long time I wondered how things would have gone had I gone with Obito right off the bat – come up with an actual rescue plan instead of simply jumping into the fray with no idea what to do – but what's done is done. All I can do now is use the knowledge I gained from that experience to help prevent it from ever happening again. Which is why I want you – my team – to know the importance of companionship. To know that, if you're ever in the situation where your mission or your goals are on the line with the lives of your team, the lives of your team should be the most important one."

"Even if it meant failure?" Sasuke asked, dubiously. "Even if it meant never accomplishing your goal? Or if it meant everyone hated you?"

"Yes." Kakashi said without a hint of doubt of consideration to the answer. "Instead of thinking about your teammates, what sort of fate would you be willing to be subjected to if it meant the survival of your clan if that would give you a better idea?"

Sasuke flinched, knowing the answer to that one. "...I'd be willing to do a lot..." Sasuke sighed, shaking his head. "Alright, you've made your point..."

Kakashi chuckled lightly. "Things are always clearer in hindsight, as they say. You never quite realize what you have until you no longer have it." Kakashi said lightly. "I think you're already coming to see that, even if you don't realize it yourself. Of course, it's entirely up to you if you decide to put your teammates above all else, but I hope that you can come to see your team as your friends, at the very least."

Sasuke said nothing at first, stewing on his words for a long time. Then, softly, he said, "I make no promises about that... but I'll try, at least."

"That's all I can really ask for." Kakashi said with a smile. "I think you'll find seeing them as your friends will be easier than you think. Though I think the first step would be to apologize to them for what happened back there."

Sasuke grimaced, nodding his head stiffly. "I'll work on that..." he muttered quietly.

"It'd be best that you do that sooner rather than later. It's always best to get these sorts of things out of the way as soon as possible. Wouldn't you agree?"

Sasuke grumbled in response, saying nothing more. Kakashi smiled a little at his grumpy student, before likewise growing silent, taking small comfort in the non-awkward silence they were sharing. It made the wait for the doctor that much more bearable.

After having been bound by cast iron bindings for more than a day, being free was a greatly welcomed experience, especially after having been able to visit the rest of his team. Despite being separated from them once again, knowing they were fine was satisfying enough for him to sit in the hospital room without making a fuss about it. He wasn't about to sneak out again, not when he knew things were going to be a-okay. Still, that didn't mean he was going to just sit around quietly. No sir.

Instead of trying to escape, Naruto's primary goal was to start poking around in his room. There was a lot of stuff in the room that wasn't really standard in Konoha's hospitals(or at least what little he had seen of them). They had much fancier looking things to monitor a person's health, and the screens with color on them were really cool to just watch bounce up and then down, then up, then down... of course, it got boring to watch after a little while, so after that Naruto tried to find a way to turn the television-esque thing above the bed on. He poked it, he prodded it, even hit it to no avail. There were no knobs like the busted old thing he'd watch at his apartment, and Naruto honestly had no idea how to turn this flat looking thing on. If it could even be turned on. It was only by coincidence when he tried hitting it that it turned on.

Naruto sat in awe at what the screen displayed. It was in color! And it was so clear! There weren't any black parts of the screen like his old one, and it was actually moving smoothly. The sound also didn't sound like he was listening to it underwater. It was so cool!

There were some weird things on screen at the time, of course. It was like a... blue cat, or something, and it was doing stuff. Naruto wasn't sure, but it wasn't something real like a lot of the stuff back home. Thinking of the movies back home, Naruto felt disappointed in knowing he'd probably be unable to watch any of Yukie Fujikaze's movies on this awesome thing. He'd love to be able to see Yukie Fujikaze in a picture that was displaying stuff as good as real life! Well, he'd love to meet her in person, but that was kinda outta the question right now.

Regardless, Naruto fumbled with the television thing a bit more, and managed to get it to change channels. There were small little button things on the sides of the television, and when pressed would change the pictures from one thing to another. Naruto saw all sorts of different things on the variety of channels. He saw a bunch of people sitting around talking about boring things, with some of them being old, others being young; he saw pretty girls dancing in a way he'd have to remember for his Oiroke no Jutsu, and also saw some guys dancing in a cool way that almost looked like fighting and was actually pretty neat; he saw people who looked sad in a really fake way, and even some yelling and shouting at one another despite not seeming all that upset; he saw cool drawings flying around and fighting one another; basically, he saw all sorts of cool things!

"What the-" a voice sputtered, and Naruto turned his head to the door that had just opened, finding the slightly rude, white-haired guy from before standing there with a flabbergasted look on his face. He was staring up at Naruto from where he dangled upside down on the ceiling, having been watching the television completely upside down. It made it more convenient for him to change the channels, you see. "What the hell are you... how the hell are you..." The man slapped his face, rubbing his eyes roughly for several drawn out seconds. It seemed that finally allowed him to recover enough to ask the most pertinent question at hand. "How did you get out of your bindings, exactly?"

Naruto scratched his head, briefly debating whether or not he should answer truthfully or not. It was only when Aigis' words – that if someone discovered his 'freedom', to tell them that she determined that he could move freely – Naruto went with the truth. "Aigis-san let me out!"

The man's face twisted momentarily, quickly switching to an impassive expression. "Aigis, huh. Figures she would. Wouldn't even be surprised if Mitsuru told her to let you out..." with a heavy sigh, the man crossed his arms. "Get down from the ceiling, would you? This is a hospital, not a playground."

"But I can't change the channels from down below!" Naruto complained with a pout. The man made a face, walking over to the small table at the bedside where he picked up a small black rectangle thing. Pointing it in the direction of the television, he pushed something on the rectangle and the channel on the television changed. "Whoa! Cool!"

The man had a dubious expression on his face as to whether or not it was 'cool'. "Common technology sure is cool." He said, his tone slightly sarcastic. "Will you get down from the ceiling now?"

Naruto nodded, kicking off the ceiling, performing a pointless front flip where he landed with a spin right next to the man. Promptly, and without even asking, he snatched the remote from the man's hand and began mashing the buttons at random. All Naruto managed to accomplish... was turning the screen black. "Hey! Where'd it go?!"

"Give me that." The man grunted, snatching the remote right back. A couple button presses later, the screen was displaying moving pictures again. "If you want to change the channels, just hit these two buttons, okay? Just hitting buttons at random will get you to a different connection or something."

"Okay..." Naruto squinted at the remote, doing his best to remember the two buttons shown to him. Once he was satisfied that he completely remembered them, he tentatively pushed one. Lo and behold, the picture changed. "Cool!"

"Right..." the man said in a monotone, looking at Naruto as if he were crazy. "Why'd Aigis let you out of your bindings?"

"Cuz I said I wanted to see my friends, so she ripped 'em off and let me see them! It was kinda scary how she just tore through them, but it was also really cool! I want to be able to do that, too!" Naruto chattered excitedly, still pushing the button to change the channel. He kept on going through the channels, his attention almost solely on the television screen.

"I doubt you could-" the man cut himself off, briefly glancing to the ceiling Naruto had been standing upside down a moment ago, "then again, who knows... Mind telling me how you stuck to the ceiling?"

"Oh. Uh... I just pour some chakra into my feet and it lets me stick."

The man made a face, looking at Naruto oddly. "Chakra? Is that some sort of Hinduism stuff?"

"Whatism?" Naruto squinted, taking his eyes off the television for just a fraction of a second. "It's a ninja technique!"

"A ninja technique?" The man asked, expression dubious. Then he shrugged, looking as if he was lost. "Right... alright. Sure. I've been told weirder things before." Sighing, he gave Naruto a blank look. "Just come with me, will you? We're gonna run you through some tests."

Naruto wrinkled his nose, the notion of 'tests' sounding pretty terrible. "Do I have to?"

"If you'd prefer to be bound by the metal casts again over the routine tests, I can arrange that." The man said with the minutest of smirks as he walked to the door. Naruto paled immediately, tossing the remote control onto the hospital bed and rushing after the man. No way did he want to get stuck in those things again! He didn't think a nice, pretty lady would come and break them for him again!

Walking along side the man in the snappy business suit, Naruto couldn't help but sulk as he did. He hated tests of all kinds – and Naruto knew these tests weren't written tests, but those dang hospital 'tests' that stuck him full of needles and stuff – and he really wanted no part of it. Unfortunately, he didn't have a whole lot of choice. Not unless he wanted to stare down a 'gun' and hope he can dodge whatever it fired. He already had a warning shot fired at him once, and when it caused that vase to explode, Naruto didn't want to take his chances.

"So, uh..." Naruto scratched his cheek, "who are you?"

The man looked down at Naruto, briefly confused. "Akihiko Sanada. I thought I already told you that last time you asked?"

"Well, I kinda forgot." Naruto paused. "But that's not what I wanted to know... you're not some creepy, crazy doctor who wants to do experiments on us, right?"

Sanada rolled his eyes dramatically. "Do I look like a crazy doctor to you?"

Cupping his chin, Naruto thought about it, drawing back to the images he had seen of 'crazy scientists' on movies. "Well... not really. They usually have a long white coat with stains on it and stuff."

"Riiight... I think you watch too many movies, kid. The real crazy scientists don't look like that." Sanada said laxly, and it made Naruto inch away from him. Rolling his eyes, the man said, "Just so you know, I'm a boxer by trade, not a mad scientist, not to mention I'm working to become a police officer. I couldn't care less about science crap." That seemed to do the trick for Naruto, though he still kept some distance. "Look, the tests aren't that big a deal. Just a the usual blood draws and some x-rays and scans. Nothing serious."

"Are there needles?"

"Well, yeah. There is a blood draw." Sanada said, looking at the boy. "You never had a blood draw before?"

"I dunno. I never looked at what they were doing when they were sticking me with needles."

Sanada shook his head. "You should pay more attention when people are poking you with stuff, kid. Gotta make sure they're doing it right."

There was some truth in that, Naruto supposed. Still, needles were never one of Naruto's favorite things, so the idea of getting several... bleh. Sulking even more than before, he followed Sanada silently, throwing glances at passing nurses and patients to keep himself from getting too bored with the repetitive hallways.

When they arrived at the place Sanada was leading him to, Naruto entered the room to find Sasuke and Kakashi there, sitting on two different tables, a nurse drawing blood from each. Kakashi was still maskless, which was just weird in Naruto's book. He had gotten so accustomed to seeing him with his mask that he had to do a double take every time he looked at him.

"Come sit down." A male nurse guided Naruto to another table, sitting him down on it and readying the 'instruments' that would be poking and prodding him shortly. Naruto cringed a bit, and instead focused on Sasuke and Kakashi, both of whom looked completely impassive as they were getting their blood drawn. Naruto frankly didn't know how they could, since someone was sticking 'em with something, but at the same time Naruto figured Kakashi had had similar situations come up plenty of times.

Thankfully, it all went very quickly; they had them all do a few 'physical' like checkups(thankfully none of the 'turn your head and cough' variety; although Naruto never actually had that in any of his physicals. He'd just heard people complaining about that stuff while in the waiting rooms), and had them lie still as they ran a machine over their body, but that was about it. Once they were done, Sanada – who had been watching all of their tests with out hiding any of his boredom – gestured to them. "Come with me. One last check up. Don't worry, it won't be anything like what you just went through."

Naruto grumbled under his breath, and he heard Sasuke do the same, but they followed him all the same. The walk was quiet, which made Naruto antsy, but thankfully they reached their destination quickly enough.

"Ah, hello." A soft, polite voice said, and Naruto immediately looked up. Sitting in the room they were led into was a pretty woman with strangely mint green colored hair that was braided to the side and resting on the front of her right shoulder. Strangely, her eyes matched the color of her hair, albeit a slightly darker shade. Her face was small, and slightly round – save for the point her chin came to – and she wore a brilliant smile on her face.

"I'm Fuuka Yamagishi, and I'll be performing a small analysis of the three of you." She said politely, resting her hands on her lap. "Please, sit down." The three of Team 7 did as requested without complaint, wondering just what sort of analysis she was going to perform on.

"I'll wait out in the hall." Sanada said, nodding his head to Fuuka. "Just give me a holler when you're done."

"Thank you, Akihiko." Fuuka said, nodding her head in turn. Then, when he had left, she turned to the trio. "My analysis shouldn't be too big of a deal. No doubt the physical and other tests were more intrusive and annoying than what I'll be doing. I just want to ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer them as honestly as you feel comfortable doing."

"How's asking us questions an analysis?" Naruto asked, screwing up his face in confusion.

Fuuka shifted slightly, a hint of nervousness in her demeanor. "Well... since I want you to be honest with me, I'll be honest with you," Fuuka took a deep breath, before saying, "I have an extrasensory ability that allows me to gleam aspects and traits of a person just by focusing on a person. Now, I don't necessarily need the answers to the questions I will be asking to get the picture I want, but it helps when I'm not directly using my Persona."

"Persona?" Naruto repeated the word, frowning in confusion. Sounded like person. She used a person? He looked to Kakashi and Sasuke for answers, but they didn't seem to have them, or if they did, weren't going to give it to him.

"Never mind that." Fuuka said, dismissing the question. "Now, I'll ask questions, and I'd like it if you'd answer them one after the other."

"Why are we answering them together?" Kakashi asked curiously. "Won't that interfere with your 'readings'?"

"No." Fuuka smiled somewhat timidly at him. "As far as my analysis goes, I can easily tell my readings apart from different people – it's one of my strengths – and it'll go quicker if I ask the three of you together than one at a time."

"Interesting..." Kakashi nodded. It must be some sort of ability like the Yamanaka had, although potentially stronger if she didn't need to create a direct link to use it. "Go ahead, then."

Fuuka nodded, picking up a notepad from her lap. "First of all, you three and the girl – whom is unfortunately not here – came through a white wormhole a week ago. You are not from this world, are you?" She pointed to Kakashi with a pen, likely telling him to go first.

Sheepishly, Kakashi smiled somewhat stiffly. "No, not really." The pen turned to Sasuke, who glanced away. "No." Then Naruto. "Uh... no." Naruto scratched his head nervously, trying to shrink away from Kakashi and Sasuke.

"I see." Fuuka looked pleased with their answer. "Then, can you tell me where you are from?" Kakashi was the first pointed at again – likely because he was the only adult of the three.

"Well, it's another world entirely..." he trailed off, unsure if he should give more information or not. Would it ever be used against them? Fuuka stared at him for a moment, before turning the pen to Sasuke.

"It's definitely another world." Sasuke grumbled, looking incredibly grumpy to admit it.

Naruto wasn't sure if he should stray from what they said, but... his honesty got the better of him. "It's another world, though I dunno what it'd be called or anything like that. We come from the village of Konohagakure, though!" Naruto reached for his forehead protector to show it off, only to remember it wasn't there right as his fingers brushed against nothing. His hand dropped to his lap in a heartbeat.

"Konohagakure..." Fuuka wrote the word down, humming. "I assume there's a reason you withheld that little bit of information?"

"Old habits." Kakashi said with a hollow smile. Fuuka shivered slightly, nodding her head.

"Very well. Next question: according to what you said to Kirijou-san, this isn't the first time you've crossed from a wormhole?" This time, she pointed to Naruto instead of Kakashi.

Nervously, Naruto shook his head. "Uh, there was the first time when we left our home which was my bad, then the second time when we were escaping from slavers, and then the third time when we were escaping the creepy Sleepers and tentacle guys."

Fuuka blinked, turning to Kakashi. "Naruto is more or less accurate. The first time was an unintentional travel through the 'wormhole' where Naruto used the technique without thinking about the repercussions, the second time was out of necessity – and the vain hope we'd end up back home – and the third time I wasn't awake for, and only recall a little about 'Sleepers' and tentacles. More the former than the latter, really."

Finally, Sasuke. "What they said." He grunted irritably.

"I see... then the wormholes transport you to... other worlds? Alternate dimensions?" She was asking the question pointedly at Kakashi, who merely shrugged.

"I'm not entirely sure myself. The technique used was... unfinished, and I haven't had the proper time to look it over myself. Naruto was the one to use it, but like I said, he didn't consider the repercussions of using it." Naruto looked very put off by the comment, but said nothing. "I'm unsure if they're so much 'alternate' dimensions or other worlds as they are different galaxies and dimensions entirely. So far, nothing we've encountered even resembles what we left behind – be it technology, environment, or even the people and creatures inhabiting them."

Fuuka seemed very interested in that, nodding her head. "I'll have to inform Kirijou-san of that... ah, anyways! My last question for you is..." Fuuka held up a photograph, displaying it for the three of them to see. It wasn't a great picture, being from a bad angle and somewhat blurry, but what they could tell was that it was of a gaunt, bearded man with beady golden brown eyes, jet black hair that reached his shoulders, and a scar over his right eye that was not unlike Kakashi's, only it was rougher and larger. "Do you know this man?"

"No." Was the unison response from the trio, and Naruto said, "He looks like a creep. Probably a closet pervert, too."

Fuuka had no comment on that, instead, seeming satisfied. "Well, I can tell that the three of you have told the truth up to now. The recent events that have been happening around here have nothing to do with you, or your arrival, by my guess."

Sasuke frowned, looking at her suspiciously. "Are you saying that this wasn't an 'analysis', but a truth test?"

"Something like that." Fuuka smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the whole truth, but we had to be sure that you're not a part of recent events before we could do anything about releasing you." With that said, she quickly added, "I did do some analysis of the three of you, however. It's nothing serious, but I was able to determine the Major Arcana which the three of you belong."

"Major Arcana? What's that?" Naruto asked, to which Fuuka shook her head.

"It's not particularly important, and I'm not the best person to explain the concept. There's someone more suited to that task than me." Fuuka said, standing up from her seat. "You'll probably get to speak with her, once Kirijou-san comes back." She went to the door, opening it. "Akihiko, you can take them back."

"Pretty short analysis..." Sanada muttered, stepping into the room. Ushering the three out of the room laxly, he looked at Fuuka and said, "I'll come get the results once they're back in their rooms."

"Alright." Fuuka said, smiling as she did.

With that out of the way, the three of them were guided to their respective rooms and it returned to the way it was. Naruto was a little disappointed he didn't get to hang out with Kakashi(or even Sasuke), but hopefully he'd get out soon so he could do just that. At least he wasn't bound anymore, and the TV was still on to amuse him in the meantime.

Akihiko couldn't help but regard Mitsuru somewhat oddly as she walked. After months of her being in less than stellar moods, seeing her walk with an almost imperceptible bounce was frankly unusual and out of place in her normal reserved gait. However, knowing her as long as he had, it must have meant something had cheered her up. "Uh... did things go well in America?"

"Very well." Mitsuru responded with a smile and nod. "The demon expert in America had a great deal of insight into the method of travel for demons, and with the information he has given, we should be able to trace our attacker's hell gate locations in no time."

And like that, Akihiko decided to pin Mitsuru's good mood on that. "Good." Akihiko popped his knuckles, unable to keep the grin off his face. "Can't wait to get my hands on that bastard!"

"Don't do anything foolish, Akihiko. Regardless of your skills as a Persona user and a boxer, he is still a devil summoner. He won't be an easy foe to best, even with your skills." Mitsuru said seriously, the smile from before gone with nary a trace of it left. "Don't underestimate him."

"Relax," Akihiko said, rolling his eyes ever so slightly, "I'm not one to underestimate my enemies. You know that much, at least."

Mitsuru's smile returned in a heartbeat, her head nodding ever so slightly. "Yes, I'm well aware of that." Shaking her head, she kept on smiling. "What of our 'guests'? I presume the tests and analysis from Fuuka have come back with some information?"

"Yeah, they did." Akihiko shrugged laxly. "Fuuka says they've got nothing to do with Zhan, and I'm inclined to believe her. Nothing seems to get past Juno, these days." He scratched his head. "The doctors are a bit confused by some of the findings, though."

"Really? How so?"

"Well, the doctors found stuff in their blood that differs from ours. It's similar to ours, but not quite. Then, the blond kid supposedly has a bunch of weird stuff in his blood – some technojargon I didn't understand – that they call 'superior' to most humans. Then the other kid and white haired guy shared some unique stuff in common too. Not like a family relation, but certain anti-bodies or something." Akihiko shook his head. "I'm not good with that stuff, so you'd best look at the report. Still, the doctors also found some pathways in their bodies that don't exist in the rest of us, or some such. They've already stared talking about whether or not they're a subspecies of homosapiens, or an entirely different species of the genus homo. I don't really care about any of that. Just as long as they aren't a threat."

"Interesting..." Mitsuru looked thoughtful. "What of Hatake's left eye? The red one."

"Apparently from the optical tests they did, it's something like ten times as good as a normal eye. The guy gave some information about it: called it "Sharingan". It's supposed to be a special eye that enhances visual clarity, gives crystal clear photographic memory to anything it sees, and allows him to see muscle movement to the point he can determine the trajectory of someone's attack before they even do it." Akihiko snorted lightly. "Sounds like a bunch of crap to me, but that's what he said."

"It's always a possibility. You can see certain movements just by subtle shifts." Mitsuru pointed out.

"Only when it comes to boxing, and that's out of experience. I can't see that sort of stuff if I'm not accustomed to it." Akihiko shrugged. "I'm not saying he's lying about it – the black haired kid's got them too, and he can turn them on and off, which I saw in person – but I just can't wrap my head around the idea. Seems ridiculous to be able to see that well. Sounds better than a damn eagle's eye."

Chuckling at the comment, Mitsuru asked, "Did Fuuka discover anything else about them?"

"Well, she ran her 'lie detector' on them, and found out they were telling the truth about coming from another world. Said the white haired one was more evasive and less forthcoming – mentioned something about him having 'bad habits' with withholding information – but that he did tell the truth. His emotions fluctuated a lot according to her, but they were very subtle and he showed no actual signs of it outwardly. The blond was more open about everything: Fuuka called him an 'open book', and any emotional shift was displayed clear as day on his face. The other boy seemed to keep everything inside - to the point she called it unhealthy - and seemed to prefer to talk as little as possible."

"I could tell that much myself from speaking to the two of them." Mitsuru said, nodding her head. "They're in my office, correct?"

"Yep. Waiting for you to 'release' them."

"Then I won't waste any time getting there. Coming up with terms that'll satisfy them as well as the Kirijou Company shouldn't be difficult." Mitsuru said, coming to a stop near an elevator. "I'll head there now. Anything else pressing that I should know?"

Akihiko shrugged. "Nothing really stand out that isn't in the report. Your secretary should have it ready for you." Mitsuru nodded lightly, stepping into the elevator. "Don't take too long settling matters with them, though."

Mitsuru's brow quirked upwards, and she gave him an inquisitive glance. "And why is that?"

"I wanna know what you found out in America." Akihiko said, grinning. "The sooner we can take the fight to Zhan, the better."

Mitsuru chuckled, shaking her head. "Don't worry, I've already sent the information to the respective departments while I was still on the plane. I've heard they're already hard at work on it."

"Great. Then I'll head to the gym for some training. See you, Mitsuru."

"And you, Akihiko."

Naruto couldn't hide the obvious nervousness he felt as he sat in the office that was all too fancy for his liking. It was nothing like the Hokage's office, which had a sort of homey feel to it. This one was just... elaborate, fancy, and showed whoever designed the place had extreme, expensive, and somewhat gaudy taste. Naruto could imagine there were far worse looking offices around, but this one was the worst he'd seen personally... considering he had only seen about four, that wasn't saying much.

"Naruto, stop fidgeting." Kakashi admonished slightly, sitting very calmly in the middle highback seat. Naruto looked at his teacher, finding that he was sitting far too laxly for his liking.

"I can't help it... I'm nervous!" Naruto muttered, trying to get comfortable in the comfortable chair, but his nervousness was just making all his joints ache in worry.

"Your fidgeting is only making us all feel nervous, so just calm down and sit still." Kakashi said sternly, but not harshly.

Sasuke snorted at the comment. "Like the idiot could ever sit still..." he muttered, just loud enough for Naruto to hear. The blond's mood immediately shifted from nervous to angry.

"Oy! I could too sit still if I wanted to!" Naruto retaliated, sounding everything like the twelve year old he was in that moment.

"Pfft. I'd like to see you try." Sasuke scoffed, and the moment the words left his mouth, the sides of Kakashi's hands rammed down on both his and Naruto's head.

"Stop it, both of you. We're in this whole mess because of that sort of talk, remember?" Kakashi asked sweetly. "You don't want to make our current situation any worse, do you?" Balking, the two boys shut their mouths and sat deathly still. "I didn't think so!" Shortly after he had said that, the door to the office opened, and the red haired woman – Mitsuru Kirijou – stepped into the room.

"I apologize for the delay. I hope you haven't been waiting too long." She said politely, taking a seat at the desk, setting a binder of papers down heavily on its top.

"Not at all." Kakashi said politely, ever the diplomat.

"It's not like we'd be able to do anything with our time, anyways." Sasuke grumbled under his breath, this time quiet enough so Kirijou wouldn't hear... but he underestimated her hearing.

"I suppose that's true, and I apologize for that." Kirijou said genuinely, but it did little to alleviate Sasuke's ire. "Regardless, from what I've seen in the reports, I believe you're fit to be released from our 'captivity' – at least for the most part. There will be stipulations, naturally; you are people from another world entirely, and letting you walk completely free would have potential problems tied to it. Both for us, and for you. Not to mention one of your companions is in no condition to leave, at the moment."

"So we'll still be locked up, huh?" Sasuke asked with a huff, and he could feel Kakashi's sideway look after having said those words. Settling himself down, he focused on Kirijou, who seemed unperturbed by his comments.

"Not locked up, but kept under watch for the moment. I presume you'll be wanting to return to your own world, correct? Yamagishi's report states that you have yet to fully examine the power that got you here, thus we will enable you to do that. However, there will be restrictions, simply for our own safety as well as your own."

"We understand." Kakashi said before any protests from his rowdy genin could be made. "Thank you for at least giving us this much."

"It's no trouble. I request that you stay mostly together, and I'll be issuing an ASSW to monitor you in the instance where you need to operate separately."

"ASSW?" Kakashi repeated, unsure of the term, but the door to the office opened and in stepped a familiar blond woman.

Although the term woman perhaps could only be loosely used. Both Kakashi and Sasuke immediately noticed the difference in her appearance from the last time. This time, she was not wearing any sort of business suit, nor any genuine clothing at all. This revealed a mechanic body that they previously had not noticed. Not fully, anyways. Her joints were a bizarre arrangement of brass metal plating, covering the inner gears and mechanics inside. She had no feet, but iron hooves, and her legs, arms, and her entire torso and pelvis was covered by some sort of spandex – something that served only to cover some sort of internal mechanisms.

All in all, she was not a woman, or even a human, but a machine. Her face, however, was very human in appearance.

Naruto, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice any of this; his face splitting into a wide grin at the mere sight of the one known as Aigis. "Aigis-san!" He beamed cheerfully, and the woman blinked momentarily at the greeting, nodding her head.

"Naruto-kun." She said politely, with a ghost of a smile on her face. Then, to Kirijou, she stood up straighter and saluted. "Aigis, Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Unit 'AGI-7' reporting for duty, ma'am."

"No need to be so formal, Aigis. We've known each other too long for that." Kirijou told her with a smile. Then, to the three, she said, "I understand that the three of you have already met Aigis, so there's no need for formal introductions. She'll take you to where you'll be staying, from now on – all your belongings are already there, though we still have your weapons in confiscation. For security reasons."

"Naturally." Kakashi said neutrally.

"Oy, oy..." Naruto spoke up, unable to sit still any longer. "When can we see Sakura-chan?"

"In due time. Yamagishi is attempting to do a psyche profiling of the girl to determine the stability of her mind, last I heard. If all goes well, you should be cleared to at least visit her." Kirijou told him, and Naruto nodded dejectedly. "Aigis, go ahead and take them now. I have other business I need to deal with at the moment."

"Right away." Aigis gestured to the three, saying, "Come on. I'll bring you to your room." The group followed after Aigis, remaining quiet the entire way through. It was only then that Naruto realized Aigis was no entirely human when he noticed the 'weird clothing' that she was wearing, and saw the big gold(actually brass, but Naruto knew nothing of that) plating at her joints. It didn't necessarily surprise Naruto much, but it did blow his mind.

"So, so... are you an android, Aigis-san?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto blankly. "What the hell is an android?"

"I dunno, but I heard it on TV the other day, and they were talking about a metal person that looked kinda like a human but wasn't."

"Why would you ask someone if they're something you don't even know the meaning of? What if it was an insult? Moron." Sasuke scoffed, and Kakashi withheld a sigh as a new argument was ready to spring up. Couldn't they go more than a minute without snipping at each other? Apparently not.

Aigis, however, diffused the situation expertly – though unintentionally. "An android would be a relatively close description of what I am – a synthetic human with mechanical parts. However, my official designation is 'Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon', which isn't the intent of an 'android'."

"Huh..." Naruto squinted, rubbing his chin. "What's that even mean? Anti-shadow? Suppression weapon?"

Aigis glanced back at him, tilting her head slightly. "I am a suppression weapon designed to combat Shadows – malevolent creatures spawned from the darkness of human hearts."

"It's strange that someone would design weapon to have a personality." Kakashi said, recalling the countless shinobi who were raised to kill their emotions, their personality, all so that they could become ruthless, cold, efficient killing machines. The notion of someone creating a weapon designed to have a personality was ironic to him, and one many in his world would certainly scoff at.

"If I did not, it would make it difficult to fight Shadows." Aigis said, nonchalantly. The shadows, presumably, being the 'malevolent creatures spawned from the darkness of human hearts'. Perhaps emotions were needed to fight them, then? The universe was filled with stranger things than they could have realized.

"We're here." Aigis announced as she came to a stop outside a particular door amongst a hall with a decent number of them. Opening it, she revealed a sizable room with three beds(genuine beds, not those hospital beds), a large window to the outside world, a desk and chair, several dressers, and a nice, huge television. Additionally, there was a door to a closet, and another door that likely led to a bathroom. It was a rather nice living space, all things considered. "This will be your temporary housing location. All that we could find on your person are on the bed there."

Sasuke was the first to go there, grabbing his folded clothes and shifting through the pile of stuff for his pouches and pack. Not all of his stuff was there(and he realized, yet again, that most of it had been taken by the slavers), he noted with irritation, but he took what was there and set about getting changed. Didn't seem to particularly care about doing it in front of everyone, either.

While Naruto grabbed his stuff(of which almost all of it was there, only missing a small kunai pouch that he couldn't recall losing), Kakashi searched for the scroll that got them in this mess to begin with. It was tucked messily into his pack(which had been Naruto's doing, although it had been slightly jostled around from Sasuke pulling out his tent) and unrolled it. Wasting no time, he poured himself over the scroll, his full undivided attention on it.

"Ne, ne..." Naruto looked to Aigis, scratching his chin. "Can we get some food? I'm really hungry!"

"I can arrange for some food to be delivered." Aigis said with a nod. "What would you like to eat?"

"Ramen!" Naruto responded immediately, something that caused Sasuke to roll his eyes.

"Anything but ramen." Sasuke grunted, yanking his shirt on with deliberate irritation.

"A few bowls of Miso Ramen will do." Kakashi said without looking up, and his word was the final say. Naruto pumped his fist and lorded the fact he won over Sasuke, the raven haired boy simply sulking but knowing better than to say anything in complaint.

"Very well, I'll arrange for ramen to be delivered." With that, Aegis left the room, a small click at the door signaling that it was locked.

"Didn't she say we wouldn't be 'locked up'... tch." Sasuke scoffed, shaking his head. "That's being locked up, isn't it?"

"I guess." Naruto scratched his head, squinting around the room in search of something. His eyes lit up when he spotted what he was looking for, and he quickly rushed over to grab it. It was another remote control, one presumably for the big ol' television. With his new found knowledge of all the buttons(that a kind nurse explained to him), Naruto turned the TV on, hopped into one of the beds, and began watching with the biggest grin on his face. There were some awesome stuff on the TV, and Naruto was going to enjoy the much larger screen he now got. "But I got this TV, so I'm happy!"

Sasuke was staring at him blankly, and then he stared at the TV blankly. Grumbling, Sasuke took a seat on his bed and pointedly ignored the television. Stuff like that simply did not interest him – television and movies were just a complete waste of time. He wasn't going to stoop to the level of laziness in watching them.

A/N: Something of a transitional chapter where not a ton happens. Thus I don't have a whole lot to say about it. Admittedly, I have a feeling Japanese doctors are more punctual about visits than American ones. Hell, I have a feeling most doctors around the world are better about being punctual than American ones. Still, the irony of having Kakashi forced to wait on people less punctual than him is funny, and it gave me an excuse to have him and Sasuke talk about what happened now rather than later(where there won't be a whole lot of them talking one-on-one).

Little bits of info on what's going on the Persona world, and there's a bad devil summoner out there doing stuff. What sort of stuff? Evil stuff, I'm sure. But anyways, like I said last time, it's gonna be a pseudo-amalgam of the SMT series, hence a devil summoner. It's almost more akin to the first two Persona games, which had cameos and references to the earlier Devil Summoner games in their own right.

But in the end, it's mainly just an excuse for me to put a genuine Jack Frost in here. Hee-ho!

Until next time. Ja ne.