A/N: Twenty thousand words! Again, a new achievement! (Baby's first smile…baby's first steps…baby's first twenty thousand words…lol) We're finally getting back to Kakashi and we've even got a flash of Sasuke in here, so be happy, my little ducklings. We might actually be starting the main story sometime soon. I think we can expect Itachi to be out of the hospital next chapter, too, so keep an eye out. This is also about four hundred words longer than the normal chapter, so be even happier and please remember just how much I love it when you guys review!

PS – I'm just four reviews away from the 50 review mark…so if you want a happy author… *hint, hint, nudge, nudge *…and a happy author means a faster updating author…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor anything associated with it, including foreshadowing...Can you find it in this chapter?

Breaking Point
Chapter Eleven

Of Insight, Cleaning, and Revelation

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Kakashi scratched his chin thoughtfully while he read, his feet traversing oft-taken routes throughout the town proper. Most of the time absent-minded walking like this lead to one thing – the memorial stone. The place where, day after day, he mourned his fallen comrades and teammates, friends and lovers, teachers and students. To this day, all had deserted him but one team and one group of students out of the hundreds of people he'd interacted with in that manner. He had created this psychological impasse with himself over a team; they'd either follow in the others' paths and die or catch the scent of a lucky clover and survive. He'd likened the situation to Tsunade-hime's cursed necklace; anyone it was given to died. Few could survive, and it appeared that Teams Assassin and Seven were those lucky people.
The two last surviving Uchiha, both wanted under S-class status by every great shinobi nation except their own; that had to count for something.
The top-notch interrogator who could make a victim spill their deepest secrets in a minute flat.
The jinchuuriki of the kyuubi; the abused demon child who was the acknowledged powerhouse of the team.
And the medic that could claim skills almost equal to Tsunade's; the no-name civilian-clan Haruno who fought harder to save her friends than anyone but her blond teammate, and in a vastly different way.

They were a select group, and one he greatly respected. He could work seamlessly with them, their teamwork melding together and supporting each other perfectly. They were of enormous importance to the village itself, making up the very structure of the ninja inside it. All knew of them, and they were comfortable in the lives they had achieved – although there would always be that one loudmouthed brat who wanted to become the Hokage.
They knew each other inside and out. They could laugh, cry, scream, and smile with each other and at each other.

But living in the same house as two of them for months and possibly years?

Oh holy mother of fuck, no way in hell.

Especially when the aforementioned two had been sworn enemies –one-sided, though – for ten years and had only just begun to accept the fact that they were allowed to be brothers again.

He could see it already; this was going to be awkward. Veeerrry awkward. Possibly more awkward than failing a D-class mission. Possibly more awkward than One Thousand Years of Pain.
Oooh, yes. This was going to hurt. Especially since one of the two would need to be babied.

Kakashi sighed, glad that it wasn't Sasuke who'd gotten the spinal injury. That boy was the most stubborn person he'd come across in his life – barring Naruto, because few people could beat the blonde in anything regarding emotions or friends – and if he had to be babysat for everything from eating to taking a bath…whew, Kakashi would have had his share of Uchiha Death Glares for a century. But Itachi would take it much more easily; he'd been hospitalized for severe injuries of the same sort before – as in, injuries where he couldn't walk or function normally and therefore needed help – so he'd be much more accustomed to this sort of treatment and therefore much easier to deal with.

Snapping his book closed and slipping it into his pouch, he stopped in his tracks toward the memorial and instead pivoted in the direction of….

Hmm. Where would Sasuke be on a fine day like this? Training? Eating with Naruto? Sulking in the compound? Reading in his apartment?

There was only one option. Naruto would be able to ferret out the Uchiha through sheer annoyance, if nothing else.

Pushing chakra to his feet, he leapt into the air and onto the roof of the nearest house. "Oh, Ichiraku…Where are you…?" Pinpointing the location of the popular ramen stand, he set off toward it, seemingly determined to break a personal speed record.

Plopping down into an unoccupied barstool, he turned to his once-student sitting next to him and whispered, "Boo."

Naruto bolted out of the seat and sprang onto the wall, cradling his half-full bowl of ramen to him protectively. "What? Kakashi-sensei! You know how I hate that!"

Watching the boy drop off his place on the wall and retreat back into his seat, he smiled cheerfully. "And that's exactly why I do it. Now, if you don't mind, I need to find your sweet black-haired stuck-up idiot of a teammate for a little heart to heart; I've been putting this off but-"

"He's in the compound, sensei. He's been there for the past three days trying to clean it up and shit. He enlisted Shikamaru and Kiba and me and we were helping but right now its lunch break so I'm here. The other guys went home for a nap."

Kakashi's eyebrow lifted. "A nap? They shouldn't be that tired after a little cleaning."

Naruto's expression soured as he contemplated a bit of noodle hanging off the edge of his bowl. "Yeah, that's what we thought, too…A little bit of cleaning, hah! That compound is enormous and it's filled with an ungodly amount of dust – the last time anyone was there was just after the massacre, you know. Kiba asked him why we had to clean over half of the compound if only he and his brother were staying there, but he gave us some obscure answer about needing some of the rooms for something and how the libraries and dojos should really be cleaned up…It's amazing how good a condition the houses and buildings are in, really – we all thought they'd be rotting away or falling apart from a decade without maintenance, but Sasuke told us that they were made with really good wood and how the guys who built them put seals all over the place so that they wouldn't be harmed unless someone deliberately wanted to destroy it and unlocked the protection seals." Naruto turned back to his ramen and slurped up the last little bit. "We should be done after today, though, since my shadow clones are helping and having a thousand and four people cleaning the compound is a lot more efficient than four. Miso, please!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes at the blonde's cheerful request and sighed. Off to the compound, huh…

---

Sasuke shoved the last slice of tomato into his mouth and stretched languidly, happy that he'd been able to coerce his teacher into buying the delicious red fruit for him yesterday. It had made his day…although the fact that they were almost done cleaning up the compound helped a lot. They'd taken down all the slashed Uchiha insignia and repaired most of the stands and stalls in the street, as well. He'd also noticed Naruto eyeing some of the rooms in the houses – it was no wonder, as the boy's own apartment was miniature in comparison – and took that as a sign from the gods. He'd get Naruto a good place, no matter what. The idiot deserved it after all he'd gone through.

Unfolding himself from under the low table in the kitchen, Sasuke turned as he felt a distinct chakra enter the house.

"Sasuke? It's Kakashi. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Sasuke padded toward the door and yelled a short response into the hallway. "Be my guest."

Kakashi caught up with his wayward student as the boy entered the family room. "Hey, nice job you've done with the complex. I was one of the ANBU on the initial cleaning crew after the…massacre…but we couldn't do that much without your consent, so it pretty much stayed the way it was, sans residents..." he trailed off. "Sorry. Memories, you know?"

Sasuke grimaced. "It happens. Go on. And I've already been informed as to the full truth of Itachi's mission, so there's no need to tell me about that."

Kakashi smiled. So far, so good. "Well…Tsunade hasn't gotten back to you about Itachi's condition, has she?"

A shake of the head was all he needed. The flash of worried eyes was just icing on the cake.

"Itachi will probably make a full recovery – well, as full as one can get after having your spinal cord nearly severed – anywhere from a couple months to a couple years. Our delightful Hokage told me to tell you that it was only by he grace of the kamis that you weren't enough of an idiot to kill him before he got medical help, by the way. But she decided that you probably have enough on your plate as it is, so she's assigning a fellow nin to help out with Itachi during his convalescence. Someone who knows him well enough to be comfortable around him."

Sasuke's eyes flashed dangerously. "You?"

The one-eyed jounin grinned meekly, scratching his head in a very Obito-like gesture. "Uh, yeah. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm stuck here until Tsunade pronounces him fully able to take care of himself."

Sasuke groaned. "Joy. You can put your shit in one of the other houses later and set up in one of the guest rooms here for the next few months. Now go away," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "This is too much to deal with; you're more of a pain in the ass than all my fangirls combined."

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Review Responses:

KakashiKrazed: My god, have I ever told you just how much I treasure your reviews?! You're amazing! Okay, blatant praise aside…Thank you! It's great to see that somebody caught that inkling of what's to come – he's definitely unstable, but just how much? You'll have to wait for a later chapter to see. Of course it affects them both! They're like twines! Except not. Oh well. I trust you know what I mean. Yeah, he didn't mind his mom too much because she did care for Sasuke, but he didn't really have a problem killing her either. Wow, thanks again. I've always had problems with characterization, so it's good to see that I'm actually doing it well here, where it actually matters. (After all, no one cares about English classes long past, right?) :D Hopefully you'll only have to wait for the next chapter or so.

Valitiel: Well, yeah. I don't think I wanna know what strange bodily fluids previous ninja have lost on that bed. Poisons, blood, stomach contents…you name it. Ew. Haha, thanks. Figured you'd like it.

deviline12.1: Uh…because he's the Second Coming of Jiraiya? (Yes, I meant that as an innuendo. It fits.) Hopefully this also made your day! …I question your sanity. Tomatoes that remind Itachi of bloodbaths are cute? Oh well. We all have our own reasonings… Yes, he's mean, and proud of it. Who needs a cookie?
Hey, at least they're not green. That would make them even healthier (and therefore yuckier.)

DarkAngelJudas: :) Thanks.

Thank you all for reviewing so consistently! See you in chapter twelve!