Oh my god guys I'm so sorry this is so late! I did not foresee my parents taking away my laptop for like a month so I made sure to do this quickly as soon as I got it back.

Tsuna sighed to himself, leaning against a nearby wall as he tried to take all of this new information in. His friends had just run off after the explanation; the two of them were adamant about starting their training immediately. Tsuna had a feeling it had to do with the easy defeat Squalo had handed them. But, he was still trying to wrap his head around everything with the rings. Though on some level he found it strangely easy to accept that a group of people were trying to find him and kill him for something he had (Stupid Akatsuki. He couldn't help but grumble to himself) though it was involving other people that he had a problem with.

He always had a problem with other people getting involved.

"Are you done grumbling, Tsuna?" Reborn was glancing up at him. "We don't have a lot of time for you to be doing this."

Tsuna huffed, about to snap back at him only for his mind to remind him – he finally had an excuse to get better training that focused on more than his Intuition. He nearly began vibrating, feeling like his young past-self going up to Pervy Sage to excitedly ask to learn a new technique.

"We're going to train now, right?" An antsy feeling prickled under his skin, wanting to move and go.

"You're eager." Reborn seemed to note, pulling out a gun, as well as numerous Dying Will Bullets.

Ah crap… He winced. That was the downside – getting shot. It wasn't at all like the feeling of getting stabbed. (He inwardly cringed, remembering the feeling of dying or being stabbed from the many clones he could create in the past. It was much easier to ignore back then as it was more of an echo of a feeling.)

"I'm not really…that eager." He stepped back, trying not to focus on the fact that the barrel of the gun was pointed right at his forehead.

In answer to his reluctance, Reborn merely began to squeeze the trigger.

"Please die."

The familiar sound of a gunshot rang down the street, and before Tsuna could hit the ground, a bright orange flame erupted on his forehead.

"REBORN! I will train as if I were to die!" He nearly growled before running off in whatever direction his flame-filled body was driving him, closely followed by the hitman who seemed almost amused at this.

"As long as those memories don't get in the way, he should be fine." Reborn muttered to himself, chasing Tsuna towards the forests near the end of town.

O~O~O

Hibari rubbed the new ring he had found on the table in the reception room – he hadn't bothered to throw it out mostly as he was sure no one would have left it so obviously. It was placed very noticeably right where he normally sits, so it was definitely for him, and he wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. It didn't seem to be anything that would actually hurt him, but at the same time he knew never to put his guard down.

Which is why he hasn't slipped it on his finger just yet.

The door to the room slipped open, and he looked to the side to see a man who wasn't at all familiar to him, with blonde hair and dark eyes. Next to him was another man in a suit, but he didn't pay much attention to him since he stood a step or two behind him and was very obviously not the boss in the situation.

"You're Hibari Kyoya, right?"

He narrowed his eyes, slipping the ring from in-between his fingers to the palm of his hand. Anyone he didn't know who knew himusually spelled trouble in the past.

"…And you are?" He asked carefully, watching the man's easy-going smile.

"I'm like Tsuna's big brother and also an acquaintance of Reborn," at Tsuna's name, Hibari's hand twitched. Faintly, he tried to remember anyone Tsuna's told him about who fit the description of the man in front of him. "I want to talk to you about the ring with the cloud symbol on it."

He should have known the ring would have something to do with Tsuna. Things always seemed to go back to him.

"Give me your name." He demanded, standing up. His hands slipped towards his tonfa. If he was an acquaintance of Reborn, then he might be as strong as him. And he couldn't help but itch for a fight against someone who could give him a challenge.

The man seemed surprised at the sudden demand, but gave him a small grin. "Dino."

For a moment, the name came as nothing but a blank to him. Then he remembered, faintly, how Tsuna once mentioned someone named "Dino" a while ago. Mostly in passing. He didn't seem to have anything negative against him either.

…hopefully he won't be mad if he bites him to death.

"Before you tell me everything I need to know about this ring…" He pocketed it, taking his tonfa instead. "I want to see just how strong you are."

He didn't seem that surprised about this, merely taking out his own weapon which seemed to be a whip.

"I was told you'd be a problematic kid…fine. This just makes things a bit faster."

Hibari smirked.

Then he lunged.

O~O~O

By time the Dying Will Flames wore off, Tsuna found himself climbing up a cliff with absolutely no idea how he got there. So, of course, his first instinct was to scream.

"HOW THE HELL?!" He felt the grip he had on the rocks slipping. The mittens were definitely not helping him.

"You came all the way here with your Dying Will." Reborn calmly stated from above him. Tsuna could swear from where he was that the baby had a small smirk on his face. "It seemed like you instinctively knew what to do. Now climb." Tsuna blinked, almost expecting that instead of Reborn, a silver haired man with most of his face covered was sitting there, reading a small book with absolute boredom.

He groaned, and tried to move, only to find his grip slip further.

Oh no.

The rock under his mitten-covered fingers broke and he let out a scream as the familiar sensation of falling came over him, before his flailing body hit the river and he was underwater.

He scrambled to swim to the top, wet, disgruntled, and coughing out a lung trying to get the water he had accidentally inhaled out of his body.

"You still have 100 meters to go." Reborn un-empathetic voice came from right next to him, on the dry rock. "If this goes on, you won't be able to fight the Varia."

"Fuck you, Kakashi-sensei." He grumbled, coughing out more water.

He expected a chuckle or a flick to the forehead in response along with a small scolding for his language, in which he probably would have pouted and whined to his sensei some more about how unfair he was being to him. Because even if he's a "kid" he's heard more curses thrown his way than an adult ninja has.

But that didn't happen. And his heart dropped in his chest as he realized instead of an adult man there was a baby in front of him. Staring at him with a frown.

"…who's Kakashi?" Reborn asked suddenly, the stare that followed was as if he was trying to read his mind. Tsuna was almost afraid he could sometimes.

"…no one." He looked away, the lie was bitter on his tongue.

He hadn't realized how much he missed his past.

"A-Anyway, let's just continue with training, right? I have to fight the Varia so…" He tried to stumble past the awkwardness of accidentally mixing the present with the past once again. Reborn seemed to take pity on him for the moment.

"We have two days." Reborn suddenly said, turning to the cliff. "You need to make sure you can climb that cliff in 2 days."

Tsuna blinked, looking from Reborn to the cliff, which seemed much taller than a second ago. Self-doubt hit him like a truck. Climb that? In two days? He was scrawnier than his old self; he doesn't run around and climb up to the top of buildings anymore. Yet Reborn wanted him to climb up that cliff?

Stop that. He scolded himself. If you could master Rasengan in a week, you can do this.

"…what does climbing up a cliff have to do with Dying Will?"

Reborn sighed before explaining, quite bluntly, how the first boss of the Vongola did the exact same thing, as he had used gloves to fight similar to the ones Tsuna had. So, he would be learning and training the exact same way.

Tsuna let out a sigh and winced when he felt the familiar prickling of muscle pain start to creep up on him.

"…how am I supposed to do this when I keep getting these annoying muscle pains?"

"Easy. That's what the bullets are for."

And before he could object to it, he was once again getting shot in the forehead, his Will forcing him to rest to fight off the pains.

O~O~O

Iemitsu trusts Reborn – really, he does. But, at the same time, he was still incredibly worried about his son.

So, that day after throwing on his hard hat and grabbing his pickaxe (trust him when he says they are very important to his overall disguise) he followed the duo out to the river and hid himself among the trees.

He had never seen Tsuna under the Dying Will bullet before, but he found it incredibly amusing how he went from mild to over the top in near an instant. A part of him wished he didn't have to get shot every time (the feeling of dying wasn't exactly painless after all) but it was a necessary evil at this point. Tsuna did need to get stronger.

Tsuna fell from the cliff and Iemitsu almost laughed, nearly missing how Reborn easily jumped down and ended up next to Tsuna, saying something to him. Tsuna seemed to have replied with something odd because Reborn, at once, froze, and stared at him.

Did he get another memory? He watched intently. Even Tsuna seemed frozen as he realized what he had done. But there was no panic attack. Nothing that showed distress – and so Reborn moved on. But Iemitsu couldn't help but grimace.

When Tsuna began to rest, Reborn slipped off to join him in the trees.

"Tsuna is definitely getting memories. He called me by a name I never heard before." Reborn said bluntly as soon as they were out of hearing distance. "His eyes were glazed over, and I think he believed he was somewhere else."

"What did he call you?"

"Kakashi-sensei." He glanced back to where Tsuna was laying, the Dying Will Flame still bright on his forehead. "…one time he called Kyoko another name; Sakura."

They were both names Iemitsu had never heard before. And by the annoyance in his features, it was obvious Reborn had never heard them either.

"…I'm going to keep a record of names." Reborn said suddenly. "And nicknames. Anything he mentions. Then you are going to research them, and see if they connect to anyone."

Iemitsu immediately agreed to this.

Maybe if they found out the reason behind it, they could stop Tsuna from getting any more memories.

O~O~O

Hibari loved a challenge. In this new life he welcomed it, because he found there were just too many people who couldn't hold a fight against him for more than a second. (He refused to count Pineapple in this, mostly because he hated him and he hated the fact that the first time they met he had used illusions)

Dino was practically a sigh of relief from the first moment they started to fight. He was fast, crafty, and did not pull back his punches. The whip he used was a far more valuable weapon than Hibari, at first, thought it would be (thinking back on his past, where a blonde man fought him using clay, he decided that maybe he shouldn't underestimate weapons as he usually does).

But Dino also seemed to be very adamant about training him.

After a short battle in which Hibari deemed him "not an herbivore, but not a carnivore either" (He had found amusement in the way Dino had sputtered in surprise) they had moved to the roof where Dino gave him a basic rundown of the rings, their significance, and their connection to Tsuna.

Almost at once, he wanted to say no. He would rather fight Dino again than go through training.

The last time he was trained was by a man who was more snake than human and the three years he spent with him was filled with pain and hearing screams at night and crushing his own emotions. Purely so he would stop wishing to be back with his sunshine and instead have the blood of his brother on his hands.

But now, there wasn't that. He didn't have to stay away from Tsuna for this training. He wouldn't have to feel unnecessary pain or hear it being inflicted.

Still he wanted a fight.

So instead of saying no, he told him he'd keep biting until he proved he could train him properly.

It seemed to please him, getting to train him in a roundabout way; and Hibari was getting the fight he wanted.

O~O~O

Iemitsu found he was too late to warn Dino about how problematic Hibari may end up being – they were already fighting on the roof of the school by time he arrived.

Despite knowing that he would learn nothing from watching, he found himself lingering anyway.

Hibari fought like a warrior, he realized very quickly. He fought like it was normal for his life to be on the line. He fought like he refused to be bored from a simple battle.

And Iemitsu was bitter to admit that he was definitely perfect for the position of the Cloud.

But he showed no signs of having different memories other than the way he fought. And in a way, Iemitsu found himself disappointed at that realization. It meant Tsuna was the only one suffering, only telling this violent boy his secrets and trusting him with them.

Iemitsu left them to their battle with a small frown.

They would focus on Tsuna then.

O~O~O

Tsuna was actually surprised at how well his training was going. It was repetitive – climbing, falling, and resting. He had grown a bit of a pain tolerance to the rocks as they had quickly begun to cut into his fingers. And he didn't always hit the river when he would fall.

Sometimes when he would climb, he wondered how his friends were doing with their own training. At some point, Haru came (she told him all about how Hana and Kyoko were hanging out with her more, and how pretty she found Kyoko. She kept blushing as she talked about how she and Kyoko had hung out for an entire day after doing homework together. He didn't really put together why) and at another, he ran into Gokudera while he was doing dangerous training, nearly killing himself in the process. At the very least Shamal seemed to have stepped in, and Reborn told him he was fine.

But he still hadn't heard from Yamamoto. All he had gotten was a text saying he was getting stronger from home and not to worry about him.

After the first day had gone and the sun was down, he had gone home and immediately headed up to his room to avoid his dad. The old man was asleep, so it was fine.

Hibari had shown up sometime around midnight, with bandages on and grumbling softly about a blonde who he was fighting (Tsuna figured he meant training, but wasn't going to admit it). They didn't ask each other about their injuries, they were both just relieved to get rest.

Once again, Tsuna was surprised to find the cuts were still there the next morning.

Out loud, he nearly asked a grouchy old fox why he wasn't helping.

It took him nearly twenty minutes to keep himself from dissolving into sobs a second afterwards.

(Who the hell is the "Fox?" Why can't I remember him fast enough?)

It took him until that afternoon to finally get to the top of the cliff, and he felt a huge sense of accomplishment once he did so.

"There. You passed the first step." Reborn had "congratulated" him as soon as he was there, barely able to catch his breath. "So, we'll move onto the second step."

"Let me rest a bit!" He bit his tongue from letting "Kakashi-sensei" from slipping out. His nonchalant attitude was very reminiscent of the man. He couldn't help but miss the warmth that was also usually there as well. Reborn was oddly cold in comparison to his other two mentors.

"We don't have time for you to rest." He said bluntly.

Tsuna opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when a familiar voice greeted him.

"Lord Sawada!" He looked up to see Basil, out of the hospital and smiling at him. "Impressive how thou hath reacheth the second step!"

"Basil-kun…" He couldn't help but internally let out a sigh at the strange old language he used. Still, he stood in front of him, offering the boy a smile. "Is your body alright?"

"Yes. Thanks to Lord Romario and Master's medicine, I feel much better."

"So…why are you here?"

"I've come to assist thou with thine training."

Tsuna immediately looked to Reborn for clarification.

"The second step is sparring. You'll understand the reason later. If you knock Basil out, you pass."

"What?"

Without much else explanation, Basil swallowed a pill and the Dying Will Flame appeared on his forehead.

"I request a match."

Ok…I need to knock him out. Ok. Easy. I've fought worse. Sure.

A gunshot rang out, and once again Tsuna yelled "REBORN!"

It was not easy.

Basil was very strong, and it had been a while since Tsuna last fought someone. His first time in this life was Mukuro. The last in his previous life was…was…

(Who killed him again?)

Fighting was distracting. Sparing was distracting. Dying Will was distracting; and honestly, at this point, Tsuna welcomed things that were distracting. Memories were starting to merge with reality like it did back when Mukuro was a threat. He hated it and he was pretty sure Kaka-Reborn was noticing. Sure, he had promised when this first happened that he and Hibari would share what was going on but…

He nearly didn't dodge a punch.

That night he went home tired, and covered in cuts and bruises. He was pretty sure since the guests didn't act like anything was wrong, his mom didn't either. But he did notice her glancing at his bandages more than once in worry.

Hibari did the same, but instead of just staring he kissed them and muttered something Tsuna couldn't make out, as he was too tired to try and decipher it.

Sleeping next to Hibari was another welcomed distraction.

O~O~O

The rings were fake.

The rings were a fucking fake.

Xanxus wished he had access to his full form (even if it would leave him unconscious for a long time) because he wanted to run to Japan and have an all-out rampage against those fuckers.

"Jeez, watch your fucking language, you grouchy old fox." Naruto's teasing voice came to mind, followed by his wide foxlike grin and loud laughter. He pushed it away. No matter how fucking long it was, it seemed that he would always be able to remember exactly how he acted and he hated it.

But the itch of his fingers to punch something or someone was still there, no matter how calm he seemed on the outside.

He called for Squalo.

If he was being honest, he didn't really have much against Squalo. It was just that his damn smirk was annoying sometimes with how it made him stare and his hair was too long because it made him look whenever he passed by. And his loudness could be heard wherever he was, not because he was listening for it, but he had heightened senses and it was just easy to hear.

And now this dumbass grabbed fakes and handed it to him as if they were real.

As soon as the asshole began to boast, he slammed his head on the table, finding some satisfaction when he saw his nose bleeding, and ignored the guilt right afterwards.

"What the hell!?"

"It's a fake." He replied bluntly, crushing the half of the ring in-between his pointer finger and thumb. He ignored Squalo's shocked look as he walked out of the room, cursing Iemitsu for fooling him like this.

It's been a long time since he's let hatred like this bubble and fill inside him.

(He ignored the disappointed but determined frown of Naruto staring at him. "Just wait for me." His voice said. "I'll be there soon.")

So I added a little Naruto headcannon in there about Naruto's clones. I mean, I know it was written in during Shippuden that Naruto gets the memories of the clones when they disappear (I will forever rant about how a 13 year old kid would notice if he's getting hundreds of memories even if he's supposed to be written as an idiot). But I began to wonder if he remembers how that clone "dies" cause there are some points where they aren't just punched they're stabbed by kunai or taken out by a jutsu (for example when Sasuke pretty much burned them all to "death"). So I figured Naruto would somewhat remember that pain of "dying" in such a way.

(Don't worry if you guys don't particularly like this headcannon. I believe it will only be mentioned a few times. Maybe even not at all since I find myself unpredictable with what I mention)

...By the way I hope you guys don't mind Xanxus (Kurama)/Squalo. I have a soft spot for that ship and I wanted to slip it in there. Along with the Haru/Kyoko that will be happening in the background.

Gosh well I apologize again for not getting this chapter to you guys sooner. I will make sure to update next week! See you then!