"No way," Yusuke said. "I told you from the start. I'm NOT learning any useless history."

"Too bad, brat, cuz you are learning it anyway." Anko replied casually, leaning against the tree beside the young man. "I'm not letting you drag Konoha down if you pissed off the wrong people."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "So happy to hear you care about my safety."

The female only smile sweetly in return as she said, "I try, Yu-chan."

'Yu-chan' nearly shivered at the nickname, but held it back instead and stayed quiet. He knew nothing would defer the lady from using it. In fact, if he protested, she would probably use it even more instead. It was better to ignore it. "Anyway, you don't need to worry about that. I'm not even a ninja."

The smile morphed to one of confusion at the teen's words. "You're not?"

"Not really. I agreed that I would answer to Jiji, and in return, he won't force me to do things I won't like. That's all."

"You sworn to him as Hiruzen Sarutobi-sama, or as the Hokage?"

Yusuke appeared to be bemused for a few seconds before the meaning dawned on him. Politics. "I said I would answer to Jiji," he replied in exasperation. "Not to the Hokage or the village. Just him."

"Ah, I see." Anko nodded in understanding. So all the missions Yusuke take would only be like a personal favor of some sort. He has no loyalty to the village, or anyone rank above him. This means if a officer order him to do something, he is not obligated to do it since he is not officially a shinobi, even if he has the power to be one. A shinobi in everything but name and rank. Since he only had an agreement with Hiruzen Sarutobi and not any of his titles like Hokage, it also means that if the Third retire again and another person becomes the Hokage, Yusuke doesn't have to follow him/her.

"Don't think that would get you out of this lesson though. On paper you are probably a civilian, but you are still part of Konoha. You represent this village, so you messing with our allies is equivalent to Konoha messing with another country."

Yusuke groaned. "Our country doesn't have this shit. We only represent ourselves."

"Different countries follow different rules," she lectured. "Now suck it up. You're learning it, whining or not." Anko smiled. "You can even consider this as a short break if you like."

"Fine," Yusuke conceded as he always does with Anko, the ever logical one when they are not fighting.

"Good," Anko said. She then began explaining complicated foreign relations Konoha have with other countries, only to somehow end up talking about Kyuubi when, to explain the why, she told him about previous wars, such as the Third Shinobi World War that the Fourth was in.

"It was a fox?" Yusuke asked, sitting straight up at the mention of the demon being sealed.

Anko narrowed her eyes at him for the sudden interest. "Yeah. What of it?"

"How many tails does it have?" he questioned. Maybe it was Kurama.

"Six," she answered sarcastically, "Because that is totally the reason why it is called Kyuubi."

"Nine," Yusuke concluded. He slumped back down against the tree trunk, not knowing if it was of relief or disappointed. On one hand, it was nice to know Kurama didn't get sealed and caged like some kind of animal (Kurama only had around four tails last he saw and he couldn't have gained five more in such short time) but on the other, it means he still doesn't have any hints as to where Kurama is. Damn it, Kurama. He looked up towards the sky. Just where are you? There was no answer. Yusuke let out a humorless laugh before standing.

"I'm going," he said. "I want to pick Naruto up since it has been a while since I've done that."

"Alright," Anko agreed easily. Normally she wouldn't let him go that easily, but she wanted to get away from the topic. The Hokage would never forget to tell Yusuke about the Nine Tails being sealed in the blondie, meaning the Sandaime purposely withhold the information. Anko shouldn't tell Yusuke about it either then, if that was the case. "Going to see if your brat graduated, huh," she said instead.

"Yea-," he began, only to cut his words off. "Wait, Naruto's graduating?"

Xxx

Naruto walked out of the building dejectedly, once again unable to pass the final exam. Dammit! He thought. He tried, he really did. But it was no used. He sat on the swing, away from all the others. Now he doesn't even have the guts to go back to Yusuke-nii. What if he finds out how dumb I am and decide to not take care of me anymore?

The thought of that was more painful than any other times he failed his final exam. He clenched onto the swing rope even tighter. Then, a very familiar shadow fell upon him. He was up before he knew it, rubbing the tears away as he turned to leave. He doesn't want to see Yusuke-nii's disappointed face.

"Naruto!" a sharp voice reached him. "I don't recall teaching you to become a coward during these two mouths."

What give! He was all depressed and the only thing his guardian does was yell at him? He turned around without another thought, not even consider pulling up his smiling mask. He never could, not around Yusuke-nii.

"Shut up," Naruto cried out, tears streaming down his face. "You don't know anything! I tried so hard, but I just don't get it! I-"

Naruto's whole body froze, tears, voice, just everything. Yusuke was embracing him, hugging him tight, so hard that he finds it hard to breathe (or is it for another reason?).

"Come on," he hears his nii-chan. "Cry, don't hold back. Yusuke-nii is here."

The taunt leash he has on his pain snapped and he bawled like he never had before. He cried and cried, so long and hard that even after every single students who passed that year (he was once again the only one that failed) left along with their parents, he was still there with tears pouring out his eyes. And all the while his Yusuke-nii was there, a stranger until the last two month, rubbing his back and just being there for him. It felt so painful, but at the same time so nice. Is this what people call bitter-sweet?

At last his cries became hic-ups and Yusuke spoke. "Naruto, why did you turn away when you saw it was me?"

"Because (hic), I thought (hic) that you would be disappointed (hic) in me," he replied, grabbing onto Yusuke's clothes. Yusuke pulled Naruto away from him so they were face to face.

"Naruto, I am disappointed in you," he said slowly, eyes scanning Naruto's face. The blue-eyed child recoiled as if he had been punched and looked ready to flee. "But not for the reason you believe," Yusuke hurriedly added.

"Wha?" asked Naruto, looking every bit of a child with his round blue eyes glimmering with tears.

"I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me about the final exam. I would have done something if you told me," Yusuke elaborated.

"B-But there's nothing you can do!" he exclaimed, pulling himself out of the teen's embrace. "You were so tired too… I didn't want to worry you." His eyes widen slightly as a thought came to him. "You're not going to beat the teachers up right?"

Yusuke let out a bark of laughter at the child's response. "No, Naruto. I wasn't going to threaten and beat up your teachers," he said, crossing his legs so he could sit on the floor. Glancing at his charge, he gestured for him to sit on his lap. He did. "But I would have studied everything you were learning and teach it to you myself if that was really what you wanted," he said.

Naruto turned to face him, eyes wide at Yusuke's words. "But… I thought you hate studying."

Yusuke grimaced. "Well, yeah. Can't deny that."

"So… you will do it even if you hate it?" Naruto asked, eyes burning. "For me?"

Yusuke nodded. "After all," he said, affectionately ruffling Naruto's hair. "That's what a family is for, right?"

Tears filled Naruto's eyes. "Yusuke-nii!" he cried, nearly toppled Yusuke over with his own surprise hug.

"Aw!" Yusuke bemoaned after regaining his balance. "You're not going to cry again, are you, kid?"

Naruto giggled (in a manly way, of course!) at Yusuke's words, burying his head into the teen's chest. "No," he assured him, shaking his head. The two stayed like that for a moment, etching it deep in their mind.

"Nii-chan," Naruto began, looking up at Yusuke with puppy eyes. Uh-oh. Why does he have a bad feeling about this? "Let's go get ramen."

"No way!" Yusuke shouted, quickly standing up. "You ate away almost all our money last time."

Naruto stood up. "You did too!" he yelled back, which was unfortunately true. Blame demon's high metabolism.

"Still, there's no way I'm going to buy you anymore. Not for another two weeks."

Older brother and younger stared at each other, both stubbornly refuse to back down. Finally the older one gave in, slightly.

"Come on," he coaxed. "I'll cook ramen for you if I can buy the ingredients."

Naruto jumped, staring at Yusuke. "Really?" he asked excitedly. It's been a while since Yusuke-nii cooked.

"Yeah," he replied, but Naruto was no longer listening, already taking him by the arm and dragging him down the streets.

"Come on, lazy nii-chan." Naruto said. "All stores would be close if you don't move faster."

"Hey, hey," Yusuke protested, stopping the kid. "Who said I am slow?"

"I did," Naruto replied impudently.

"All right," Yusuke said. He readied himself. "Last one to an open shop is a slowpoke." Then, he dashed.

"Huh?" Naruto asked dumbly, shocked by the turn of event. He looked at the increasing gap. "Hey, not fair Yusuke-nii!" He too began to run.

"You cheated," he shouted to his nii-chan ahead. "I demand a rematch. A rematch, you hear me!"

Yusuke laughed and inside Naruto, Kurama did too.

Politics: I don't know much about them but I didn't want Yusuke to officially become a ninja since that'll mean he'll have to follow rules, which he never does, so I kinda BS his way out.

The Sandaime purposely didn't tell Yusuke about Kyuubi in Naruto: Figured the law wasn't only to prevent Naruto from knowing the truth. It might also be since Kyuubi is such a potential weapon and everything, the Hokage might not want others to know who contains it so they won't kidnap him. He didn't know whether Yusuke was trustworthy at the time and therefore didn't tell him about it.