Title: Crisis Reverted
Series: Naruto
Rating: T
Genres: Drama, sorta-angst, adventure, romance.
Warnings: Crack, swearing, shounen-ai, shojou-ai, het, time bending.
Verse: Canon Redeux.

DHC: Another chapter for you fans! I also posted up a new fic called The Difference Between. Why don't you all check it out and tell me what you think of it? I'd appreciate it! That said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

The next day there were whispers and murmurs as Sakura walked down the street. People were pointing once she had passed, there were muted words, but she ignored them all. Let them talk, she told herself. It meant nothing. She held her head up high with shoulders squared back as she made her way to the Chuunin exam stadium. She met Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto at the entryway with a smile.

"Now you look like the Sakura we know and love with that seal." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke snorted softly. "He's right. You didn't look like yourself without it."

She brought her hand up to the seal, smiling widly. "It doesn't mean I'm getting married, though." She replied wryly.

"What, no wedding bells?" Naruto feigned a hurt look.

Sakura lightly smacked him. "Dummy,"

Sasuke chuckled. Kakashi cleared his throat, just now turning his attention to the girl and observed her seal for a moment with a raised brow. "A branch seal? That's rather odd... They just usually place a knowledge seal on those containing information on the Hyuuga... Why a Branch seal?"

Sakura looked down thoughtfully. "Well... Hyuuga-sama asked me to help train Hinata and Neji. I think it was special treatment. Besides, with a Branch seal, any more knowledge you gain will just be sealed upon your death. A knowledge seal just seals away the knowledge you know about a certain thing, right?"

Kakashi looked all the more thoughtful "Hmm... I suppose so."

"You're gonna train with Hinata and Neji? That's so cool! You'll be able to perfect your Jyuuken again!" Naruto positively beamed at his friend.

The pink haired girl blushed shyly, looking to the ground. "Yeah... I'm excited."

Sasuke wanted to poke some fun at the girl, but he refrained. She was embarassed enough as it was.

Before anything else was said, the rest of the rookie nine and team Gai showed up.

All of them looked surprised at the seal upon the girl's forehead.

"Neji! Isn't that..." Lee started to ask.

"...The same seal you have?" Tenten finished.

Neji had his arms crossed. He glanced at the seal on the girl's head before nodding. "Yes."

"But why would Sakura-chan have a Hyuuga seal placed on her?" Ino questioned.

"Did she do something bad?"

"You know," Sakura cut in, gritting her teeth.

"It's rather rude to talk about someone when they're standing right here. If you want to know, just ASK me!"

The majority of the group looked taken aback by her anger. Shikamaru mumbled a quiet 'mendoukusai' at everything, leaning forward to rest his head on Sasuke's shoulder, since he was standing right behind him. Sasuke only snorted at the action.

"Well.... What happened?" Kiba finally dared to ask.

"Because I know the secrets of the Jyuuken and Kaiten, Hyuuga-sama placed a branch seal on me after asking me to train with Hinata-chan and Neji-kun."

Lee's eyes burst wide with sparkles raining down everywhere. "You get to train with them?! How honourable! The bloom of youth is surely with you!!"

There was a murmur of shock amongst the majority of the small group.

"No way..." Ino breathed.

"You're so lucky!"

Hinata was blushing brightly and Neji rolled his eyes.

Tenten once again was jealous of the girl, but didn't speak up.

"It's time, everyone." Sasuke interrupted before anything more was said, sparing the pink haired girl some annoyance. She gave him a thankful look.

Without further questions or outbursts, they entered the building and made their way up to the stands.

All their Jounin instructors were there. All of them seemed surprised at Sakura's Branch seal, but didn't inquire to her about it. She sighed heavily to herself inwardly, her Inner Sakura raging in indignity about the lack of respect and how she'd beat them all into the ground, which made her feel a little better.

Sakura sat with Neji and they watched several of the matches together, picking apart the genin's strategies and talking about how to nullify them.

Sasuke watched boredly, with Shikamaru's head in his lap, the other genin sprawled out on the bench, mumbling about how troublesome these fights were.

"Hey, Kakashi." Asuma murmured lowly to the other Jounin.

The silver-haired male glanced up from his book. "Mm?"

"What's with your student and the Hyuuga seal she has?"

Kurenai and Gai had closed in as well to hear the Jounin's explaination.

"Well... Apparently Hiashi-sama has seen her to be special and asked her to train with Hinata and Neji. Since knowledge about the Jyuuken and Branch moves are secret, I'd assume the seal was placed because of that." Kakashi replied airily, before going back to reading his book.

"Is she really that special?"

"I thought she was just an average girl. She didn't even score that high in the Academy..."

"Kurenai-chan! Surely you don't underestimate the bloom of youth! She must be a hard worker to achieve such praise from Hyuuga, Hiashi!"

Kakashi sighed. "Think what you will of her, but my students are definitely special in their own right."

"I'd assume so, you've got an Uchiha, the Yondaime's son, and now you've got a Hyuuga-affiliated genin." Asuma replied wryly.

"Her will was already special, the fight yesterday was spectacular! She has a natural charisma. She will make a fine medic-nin once her aspirations come to fruition." Gai praised.

Kurenai frowned a little, but she knew she couldn't put up an arguement. She turned and looked towards the pink haired girl that was currently talking to both Neji and Hinata. The shy Hyuuga heiress didn't look so shy and reserved, and didn't seem to be stuttering so much as she spoke. Neji held a more content expression rather than the carefully schooled blank expression.

In effect, they both seemed different when talking to the Haruno truly wondered what she had done to cause such a change. She had no idea that Sakura was just being Sakura. 'Maybe she has a hidden kekkei genkai...' She thought to herself, before she shook the idea away.

"And the next fight shall be..."

All of the Genin that had not participated yet glanced towards the board, as did some of the ones that already had, for they were interested in the next fight.

"Mendoukusai." Shikamaru said simply as he stared at his picture on the screen. His opponent was some Genin from Sound, their name was Tethys. Thankfully, it wasn't one of the ones Sasuke, Naruto, or Sakura encountered. Nevertheless, Sasuke placed a hand on Shikamaru's arm, gaining his attention.

"Shika, be careful. The Sound are stronger than they look. They like to use aural techniques and are shady at best. Whatever you do, don't prolong the battle, because your odds will decrease."

The other looked at him thoughtfully, meeting his eyes. He gave a nod and a slight grin. "This is such a pain in the ass. Thanks for telling me."

"You'd better win, dammit." Sasuke threatened playfully.

"Will the competetors please enter the arena?" The proctor asked.

Sasuke gave the other a push. "Go."

"Yes, mother..." Shikamaru mumbled, jumping the rail before Sasuke could smack him.

The other landed in the arena a few seconds later. It was a girl. She had long red hair to her ankles, done down in three beaded wraps and at the end of each wrap was a bell. She was scantly clad at best. She wore a short black skirt with fishnet underneath that went down her legs, and wore a black midrift top with fishnet as well. Bangles glittered her arm and she wore anklets too. Each bangle and anklet had bells on them and around her neck was a black collar with a bell as well.

She had mysterious looking green eyes, they were cloudy as if she were in a trance. She had musical note earrings dangling from her ears, and her fingernails were painted black and purple in an alternating colour pattern, In her hands she held a long purple scarf in the same colour as her nails.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head. "Great... I have to fight a girl... Mendoukusai..."

"This match," The girl spoke softly, her voice thickly laden with mist. "I foresee it will be over in ten minutes."

Shikamaru blinked. Well, he was definitely not expecting that. "How do you know?"

"Talk means little... The music has spoken to me." She replied, a little cryptically.

"Hajime!" The proctor announced.

Shikamaru leapt back, launching a barrage of Kunai and Shuriken at the girl.

Slowly, she began to sway side to side. Once they were close to approach her, she began to rock and move, the bells on her body began to softly chime. She nimbly dodged each projectile gracefully with a series of twirls and rhythmic sways.

Tethys twirled around again, throwing the scarf up before whisping it around in a circle before opening it with both hands and shook it, all the while still moving, the bells chiming.

Out of nowhere, Kunai and Shuriken shot out from the scarf and flew directly at Shikamaru. Eyes widening, he barely had any time to react, he dove to the side just in time as they continued past and embedded into the wall behind him. She continued to sway, creating a musical rhythm with the jingles of the bells before she earnestly began to dance.

Her hips swayed, her hair moved in an elegant swirl with her and the red, purple, and black began to mix into one.

Shikamaru tried to shake the dizziness from himself, but failed. He just seemed to be getting drawn deeper into it. Sasuke's eyes had widened in recognition. 'Genjutsu...' He thought.

Before Shikamaru could react, Tethys's long hair drew up like tentacles. They reached out and grabbed him by the wrists, pulling him closer in. She had a smile on. Before he could register what was to come, his eyes widened with a gasp.

The third wrap of her hair pierced completely through him like a spear. He made a gurgling sound, blood dripping from his mouth. The bells continued to chime, but had begun to sound more like a funeral dirge than the light, jingly sound they had been.

Finally realizing that he was in a genjutsu, he brought his hands together and formed the seal. "Kai!"

The illusion wavered before disappearing around him. He collapsed to the ground to catch his breath.

Tethys didn't look too happy at her genjutsu being disrupted. She picked up the pace of her dancing, the bells now jingling at an irritating rate that had begun to give him a headache. She twirled around again, raising her scarf above her head and once again, a hail of shuriken and kunai came out of nowhere from it and he was forced to perform a rapid series of rolls in order to avoid them.

"I told you not to prolong the battle, you moron..." Sasuke mumbled to himself as he watched from above.

Naruto sat beside him, snorting. "Your advice is so underappreciated."

"Shut up, dobe."

"Whatever, teme."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "At this rate, he will lose. She's good. But if this is just her minor attacks, she must be pretty powerful when she gets serious."

Naruto frowned. "I guess we'll find out."

----

"She's a Genjutsu specialist," Neji observed, using his Byakugan.

"Her chakra network weaves in a certain way that genjutsu users do. But there's something weird about it, I can't put my finger on it. There's something off."

Sakura wished she had the Byakugan at this moment, it would have been easy to identify what it was.

Hinata activated her own Byakugan. "I-I see it, too. Her chakra's... There's a strange colouration to it. It also has a different 'feel' to it...."

Sakura blinked. "How does it feel?"

"Malicious, sinister. The colour is a sickly looking purple." Neji replied, getting a nod from Hinata to confirm his words.

Sakura recognized it at once. She was one of Orochimaru's. She wanted to go tell Sasuke, but there wasn't anything they could do, even if she did. Plus, it would worry Sasuke all the more if she told him.

She chewed her bottom lip.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" Neji askedm picking up on the disturbance in her.

"I recognize what you describe, it's the same evil energy that the guy we fought in the Forest of Death had. It was sickly feeling, not normal. Maybe she's one of his followers."

Hinata chewed her lip as well, wringing her hands. "W-will Shikamaru-kun be okay...?"

Sakura looked down into the arena, watching as the two had began attacking with ninjutsu. "I'm not sure, but I think he can hold his own. He may be lazy, but he's smart, all he has to do is figure out her weakness and he'll be able to form a strategy to beat her."

"If he can last that long, he's getting physically tired from dodging her projectiles. Those things seem to be neverending--wait... It's her scarf! The scarf is her weakness. She channels her chakra to the scarf and is able to perform her ninjutsu and use projectiles that way." Neji stated, staring at the scarf.

Chakra was readily emitting from it with each pulse and wave of ninjutsu and projectiles and all of it seemed to happen in time with her dancing.

"It's not just the scarf. It seems she has to constantly keep moving in her dance in order to channel the chakra continuously to it." Hinata observed with a nod. Sakura wrung her hands, really wishing she could see what they did, but now that they pointed it out to her, she could see it physically.

"Check the bells on her, they may be some sort of chakra amplifier." Sakura responded, standing up.

"Where are you--"

"Just do it. Please,"

Hinata nodded and looked directly at the bell around Tethys's neck. She gasped aloud when she noticed the seal on it. Sakura understood it and began to move.

"Where are you going?" Neji asked.

"To tell Sasuke. Chakra amplifiers are illegal in matches. If Sasuke can get Shikamaru to notice, then he can expose it and she'll be automatically forfeited." She responded, already making her way to Sasuke.

----

Sasuke was on the edge of his seat with anxiety watching. He had already pieced most of what Sakura, Neji, and Hinata had, and Naruto had one hand firmly on Sasuke's shoulder to keep him sitting down.

"Calm down, you getting worked up won't help anything." Naruto soothed.

Sasuke bit his lip. "I know, but..."

"Sasuke!" Sakura came running up to them.

"Sakura? What is it?"

Sakura breathed. "She's one of Orochimaru's. And... She's using Chakra amplifiers. Sasuke, you have to get Shikamaru's attention turned towards it. If he can even get one of them off, he can expose her and she'll be automatically forfeit."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Naruto's jaw dropped. "That despicable, low down bi--"

Sasuke got up and ran down to the rails.

"Shikamaru!" He called loudly.

Shikamaru's attention was diverted from her to Sasuke's voice. He was barely able to dodge her next flurry of projectiles in time.

"She's cheating!" Was all Sasuke could say. He wasn't allowed to interfere with the match.

His eyes widening, he wondered how the hell she could be cheating. He already figured out her scarf was enhanced with chakra and that she had to constantly keep moving, so how was she cheating?

Tingle. Tingle. Tingle.

The bells chimed again and he dove to the ground once more. "Oof!" He grunted painfully as he pulled one of the kunai's out of his leg. One just managed to hit him.

Wait... It had happened the exact moment the bells went off. Was that it?

He had to find an opportunity to use his Kagemane to find out.

He ducked and rolled back into the shadows. She, thankfully, hadn't moved much from the wall. The shadowing provided some shelter from her projectiles and strengthed the reach and power of his shadow.

He waited for a moment when she was open and vulnerable. When she hurled a volley of projectiles at him, he dashed to a different part without being seen and knelt, quickly forming the seal. Out of the shadow came shadows from three sides, and attached to her. "Kagemane success."

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now, let's see..." Shikamaru moved his hand up, Tethys's hand unwillingly moving as well. he ripped the bell off of her collar this way and turned it around for all to see. In a glowing red, was a seal. The proctor caught sight of it.

"Chakra amplifiers are illegal in the Chuunin exams! By default, the winner is Nara, Shikamaru."

"NO!" The girl screeched. A sinister purple glow surrounded her. She broke free of Shikamaru's shadows with a loud scream.

"I will kill you!"

Tethys charged for the shadows, her hair splayed out, the bells on her sounding like a deep 'boom' now.

Shikamaru was too dazed from his shadow being shattered to react.

Sasuke took the moment to shove off of the railing and slammed into the girl, preventing her from reaching Shikamaru.

In that moment, several Anbu appeared and apprehended her before she could recover.

Sasuke turned and went over to Shikamaru, helping him stand.

"Thanks for the tip..." Shikamaru wheezed.

Sasuke snorted. "I told you not to drag the battle out."

"I couldn't lay a hit on her, as you noticed."

Shikamaru slumped against the Uchiha. Sasuke merely sighed and helped him out from the shadows and the medic-nins checked him over and healed the mark from the kunai before Sasuke escorted him back to the stands and sat with him once again.

The battles progressed throughout the day, Ino faced a Grass nin and lost, Chouji won his battle against a Rock nin barely. Kiba lost to a Sand nin, and poor Hinata was put against another Sound nin. She, thankfully, through sheer luck, managed to win. She collapsed into tears against Sakura afterwards from fright and anxiety.

Finally, the next match was announced.

Sasuke stared at the board in disbelief.

Likewise, Tenten did as well.

They both looked at one another. Tenten swallowed a little, wanting for a moment to forfeit, but at the same time, wanted approval of her teammates and wanted to prove that she, too, was a Kunoichi of the Leaf like Sakura had. She slowly stood and hesitantly made for the arena.

Shikamaru mumbled a quiet troublesome against Sasuke before he moved and allowed the other to stand.

Sasuke sighed, but retied his hitai-ate on securely before going down to the arena.

"Tenten," He spoke softly once they were there.

"Yes?"

"Don't hold back. Give me everything you have. Give it your all, and don't hold any regret. That's what will make you a Kunoichi of the Leaf."

The girl looked stunned for a moment, before she nodded. "Got it."

Sasuke dropped into his typical stance and Tenten brandished her collapsable bostaff/nunchaku.

"Begin!"

Sasuke lept forward, a kunai in each hand as he slashed and stabbed at her in a flurry of swift moves.

Tenten deflected each hit by rapidly spinning the staff around in her fingers. She took a jab for his middle section, but he twisted away at the last second, swinging his leg around in an axe-kick, straight for her head. The other brought their staff up and blocked the kick.

With a mild grunt, she pushed all of her weight onto the staff to send the Uchiha stumbling back and she took the opportunity to begin a barrage of jabs and thrusts with the end of her staff, aiming for all the vital points on his upper body.

Despite being knocked off balance, Sasuke still managed to avoid being hit even as he felt himself falling backwards. Tenten took the opening to swing her staff down, going in for the kill. Bringing one hand back, Sasuke arched his back, flipping up onto the hand, swinging his body around to aim a kick at her which connected to her side and sent her staggering off to the right. Using that time, he recovered, flipping himself back upright.

His hands became a blur of seals.

"Katon: Goukkyaku no jutsu!"

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled, and a large stream of fire shot out in a huge ball towards Tenten.

She stabbed her bostaff into the ground, before she swung herself up it.

"Heaven's Divine Sky!" She cried she vaulted herself up over the giant flame, and threw a barrage of kunai and shuriken at the Uchiha prodigy.

Sasuke saw it coming. Channeling chakra to his eyes, he carefully manipulated the lenses in his eyes to be able to adjust more rapidly like the Sharingan as he watched them come closer. It was hard not to just let his Kekkei Genkai activate, but he had to keep playing along with the ploy that his eyes hadn't developed. Instead, he worked around with a handicap that was the next best thing.

He dodged and deflected all the weapons that were hurled at him with ease thanks to the now-rapid movements of his lenses. Tenten landed, twisting her bostaff so it collapsed back into a long-bodied Nunchaku. She whipped it around, before taking another stance. Without warning, she rushed at him, sending the weapon flailing for him.

Sasuke saw it coming and ducked. He immediately had to twist to the left to avoid the way it flailed back towards him. He grabbed it, and yanked, pulling the girl off balance. With another yank, it was wrenched from her hands. He twisted it, it snapping back to a bostaff easily. He twirled it between his fingers before he took a stance. He had, during his years in his prior lifetime, trained with other weapons. The staff being one of them.

Tenten took the moment to leap back. She reached down and pulled her Kai from its pouch on her leg, the long chain clanking as she gripped the chain with one hand, the other carefully swinging the weapon around. Sasuke made the first move as he leapt for her, striking with precise strikes, aimed to disable her arms. It was difficult, considering the nature of her weapon, but she managed to block each jab with a swing of her Kai.

Sasuke lept back, breaking the offensive as he took another stance, giving the weapon mistress a small grin. "Impressive, Tenten."

She gave him a grin in return. "Thanks, you're not bad, either."

Taking the girl off guard, he stabbed the pole into the ground before he all but shimmied up it in a twist, using his arms to push himself into a flip. "Rising Phoenix!"

He yanked the pole out of the ground as he flipped and brought it down in an arc as if he was swinging a sword, aiming straight for her. Her eyes widened. How did he know that style, she wondered. She swung her Kai hard, wrapping the chain around the bostaff and yanked as hard as she could, successfully diverting the attack and Sasuke missed her and instead hit the ground next to her.

He yanked the weapon back, untangling the Kai from it. He began another attack, similar to the Rising Phoenix, but at the last second, as she braced to swing her Kai again, instead of flipping, he swung his body down around the pole and used the momentum to go into a powerslide along the ground. "Rising Phoenix: Fall!"

His foot connected to her leg and sent her off balance as there was a small popping sound of her leg being hyperextended. Not wasting time, he braced one arm under himself and kicked off to swing his body around, swiping the bostaff around in an arc along the ground, sweeping the girl clean off her feet. "Rising Phoenix: Sweep!"

He made it to his feet, pole pointed out towards her form, readying to strike the final blow in the combination. "Rising Phoenix: Crush!"

Tenten rolled out of the way of the strike that was aimed for her ribs. She got to her feet, ignoring the pain in her one leg. "Not over! Now, here comes my ultimate!"

She jumped high into the air, pulling two large scrolls out. She unraveled them and they spun around her. "Twin Rising Dragons!"

Biting her thumb, she spread her blood along the scroll and in what looked like a whirlwind, tons of projectile and other types of weapons came raining down, she had chakra-strings and ninja wire connected to all at once as she directed their attack straight for the Uchiha.

His eyes widened as he began to once again channel chakra to his eyes to make the lenses focus repetitively. He looked like a dancer with the way he began to move around the arena, spinning the staff and effectively blocking volley after volley of Tenten's weapons.

When she swung her arms, all the weapons arced from their deflection and began to come at him once more.

Sasuke channeled chakra into the weapon. When the weapons closed around him on all sides, he began to spin the weapon quickly, it becoming a blur. One by one, in every direction, the chakra strings and ninja wire snapping and severing Tenten's control over them. Once the proverbial dust settled, weapons were scattered across the arena floor.

They both were breathing heavily by this time.

"I didn't think..." Tenten started.

"That you would be able to deflect them all... Especially without the Sharingan."

Sasuke snorted. "I don't have to rely on a Kekkei Genkai to become a good ninja. That's what makes me special. I refuse to resort to the easy path out of things. Now, I'll finish this match."

He took another stance. Tenten took another stance, biting her lip. Her reactions were slowing, she wasn't sure if she could defend against any more quick-succession combinations from the Uchiha.

Sasuke exhaled slowly before he channeled all hisn chakra to his legs and arms. He dashed forward in a swiftness that was as fast as Rock Lee, before he began to jab with the bostaff. She managed to block the first five hits, but he managed to get one to connect to her abdomen, and after that, it went downhill for her.

He struck her chest, ribs on either side, both shoulders, before rearing back and performed another Rising Phoenix: Sweep, knocking her to the ground once more. When her back hit the ground, she spat out a mouthful of blood from the internal damage she recieved from the blows. Sasuke stood over her, holding the staff directly over her chest, and she could see the chakra strings lining it, his other hand in a seal and he seemed to be holding his breath.

It was then that she realized that he had a Katon jutsu ready, and the strings would direct the fire directly to the tip and all he had to do was jab her with it to end everything.

She closed her eyes and exhaled a shaky breath, letting herself go limp in defeat.

"Winner: Uchiha, Sasuke!"

Cheers rose from the crowd, especially from the Konoha side at how the number one rookie of the year beat a senior genin.

Sasuke released the jutsu and the strings, pulling the staff back, before leaning forward and reaching his hand out to her.

She looked at him with wide-eyes, before she shakily reached up and took his hand and he slowly pulled her to her feet, so as not to agitate the blows he gave her.

"I didn't think you were well versed in the Phoenix style, Sasuke-kun..." She said after a moment.

Sasuke gave a slight smirk. "There's a lot about me people don't know. I've trained with many weapons, but I prefer the katana myself. I just used what I was given for the fight... But you know, your Twin Rising Dragons... If you train harder in using chakra strings, you can make it almost impossible to sever the link. I had a hard time breaking them. It is a good offensive and defensive manouver."

She blushed the slightest at his words, but nodded, a little shyly. "It was an honor to fight you. And...you're right. You don't need the Sharingan to be a good ninja. I just assumed you would use it. Neji's always throwing his around."

Sasuke snorted. "I'm not as arrogant as that Hyuuga. Besides... My Sharingan hasn't awakened yet."

She looked a little shocked. "Really?"

"Yeah... It takes a near-death experience or anger, or a lot of training with your eyes to get it to activate. I've not been that interested in developing it. What's the point in a Kekkei Genkai that can copy jutsus? I would rather learn them on my own."

The medic-nins had come over and they healed Tenten up. They also healed the scratches. and nicks that Sasuke had recieved from deflecting Tenten's barrage of weapons.

He held his hand out to her in offering. "I would like to fight you again once we've both trained hard and improved."

She looked surprised again, her brows having risen. But after another moment she took his hand and gave a smile. "Sure! I'd like that."

They shook before they each turned and exited the arena through seperate doorways.

Shikamaru was leaning against the wall in the hallway and gave the Uchiha a lazy look. "You show off."

Sasuke snorted lightly, going over and leaning against the other tiredly. "Not really."

Shikamaru put his arms around him and they just stood there like that, at least until they heard Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi's approach.

Sasuke reluctantly pulled away, though he didn't want to leave the warmth of the other, he knew he'd be mauled one way or another.

And true to it, Naruto mauled him with a huge glomp, followed by Sakura latching on as well. "That was awesome, Sasuke!"

Kakashi gave his one-eyed smile. "You did well."

"I didn't know you could use the bostaff, Sasuke!" Sakura gushed.

"I trained with other weapons than just the katana," Sasuke mumbled with a roll of his eyes.

"I just prefer swords the best. I'm adequate using a bostaff, zanbatou, scythe, sai's, and a flail."

"As I said. Show off." Shikamaru mumbled lazily.

Naruto laughed. "He is,"

"Definitely." Sakura agreed.

"Hm," Kakashi hummed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Don't everyone take my side now. Geez."

"Well, since all of my team has passed the preliminaries, why don't we go out and celebrate? It's on me."

"Yatta!" Naruto cheered.

Sakura smiled. "Not Ichiraku's though, Naruto."

"Aww... Okay."

Sasuke glanced at Shikamaru who only gave a shrug in return. He nodded. "Let's go to that steamed grill, I hear their barbequed chicken is good."

Kakashi considered that for a moment before he smiled again. "Sure. Come on."

Sasuke gave a small wave to Shikamaru who only raised his hand in response before turning his head to watch the next match.

The four of them went out to said grill and they definitely weren't disappointed. Yakitori, steamed or grilled veggies, barbequed pork, chicken, and beef to their hearts content called to them.

"Sooo good!" Sakura moaned.

Naruto nodded. "I think this had become my second favorite place."

Sasuke snorted as he ate a bite of tomato that he had plucked off from his kabob.

Kakashi watched them all with a smile. Despite knowing that they were really older mentally, he couldn't help but still see the adolecence in them. And while the meal cleaned out his entire paycheck, he didn't mind so much, because he felt so much more connected to his students, and the three of them had realized it, too. He wasn't as aloof and distant as before.

"Ne, ne, sensei, aren't you gonna eat?" Naruto asked.

"Well..."

"It's not as if you're hiding anything with that mask. We've already seen your face in the other timeline." Sakura replied, smiling before she took another bite of her yakitori.

Sasuke nodded. "We also know the reasons why you hide your face, but we won't ridicule you for it."

They were already sitting in a pretty dark corner of the small restraunt and not many people were inside of it. So, with a small sigh of defeat, Kakashi slowly brought his hand up and lowered his mask.

It made all three of his students smile, seeing that he really did trust them as much as they did him.

Naruto offered out a stick of barbequed pork, to which Kakashi took and began to nibble on as well.

Satisfied, they turned back to their own meals.

-----

Mikoto scooped all three of them up in a hug once they made it to the Uchiha district, she had met them at the gates.

"I'm so proud of you all!" She gushed, beaming widely.

"Thanks, kaasan." Sasuke mumbled, smiling faintly.

"Yeah!" Naruto beamed for all he was worth.

"Thank you, Uchiha-san." Sakura responded with her own smile.

"Congratulations, otouto, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan." Itachi spoke as he had silently slid up behind his mother.

"Thanks!" Naruto and Sakura chorused.

Sasuke felt the pride in his heart blossom even further at his brother's praise. This was what he had always wanted and he was so thankful to Naruto now for giving him this second chance. He lit up with a radiant smile that he hadn't shown in so long.

"Come inside, I've made you all some treats!" Mikoto announced, beginning to urge and usher the three inside.

It was with happiness on all three's parts that they followed after the two older Uchiha inside the estate.

TBC