"Oh." Sakura yawned, eyes sagging as she walked down the stairs. She'd just woke up so even the gloomy light of the early morning seemed muted and dreary. Her steps were precise but slow, the girl knowing if she misstepped, she could end up taking a lethal fall. Her hands gripped against the banister of the stairway in an attempt to keep herself steady while muffled voices bounced around through the walls. While she could technically hear what they were saying, she was too young to really understand it.

"Shut the fuck up with your ultimatum bullshit Hayato. You're the one who told me to keep it, and now you're threatening to walk?!" A female voice shrieked.

"There it is. There it fucking is. Tbe Yuamochi blame game, tried and true."

"Fuck you- "

"It's never your fault, always mine or the literal child's!"

"I can't tell the fucking difference anymore."

The male voice the woman been debating with let out a loud laugh, obviously faked to make it seem like he was less invested in the argument then he actually was.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Seriously. Six years' worth of commitment and now you're telling me you're not feeling it, that's how a child thinks."

"I didn't know you were such a bitch at the start of those six years though."

"If you were as good on the pull out as you said, you wouldn't have had to stick around!"

"I am good on the pull-out."

"There is a living breathing example of you not up in her bedroom right now!"

Silence overtook the room with the crackling fire replacing any sign of dialogue. When the two voices did resume, they were lower in tone, significantly so when you realized just how loudly they'd been yelling at each other prior.

"Are you going to leave?" The woman asked, sounding more bitter than anything else.

"Maybe."

"Take the kid with you."

"Nope."

"What do you mean nope?"

"I'm going to live a sage lifestyle."

"You're going to get high on frolic and piss around at bars in Kiri is what you mean?"

"Maybe."

"Oh jesus, this is so fucking unbelievable." The lady's words became suddenly bogged down by the cracking of her voice. "It's such a you thing to do. Just because you've got a headband and an above-average education, you think you're smart. You're not, Hayato, you just fuck things up. You fuck things up so hard, you can't even resist taking everyone else down with you while you're fucking up! Now I'm a fuck up because I'm stuck carrying around your baggage for the rest of my life!"

The embers of the fire crackled more intensely as Sakura stayed hidden behind the wall. She wasn't cognitively at a level that let her understand even a little bit of the conversational context. Her six-year-old brain was simply smart enough to realize that if she walked in on mum and dad fighting, the fight would get worse. It wasn't until she heard her mother's footsteps echoing fainter and fainter that she felt it was okay to come out.

"Dad?" She murmured, rubbing her eyes as she waltzed out into the slightly cramped living room. Her father's eyes became filled with panic as he saw her, though he quickly converted that panic into a smile. As time went on, Sakura would grow to hate that smile.

"Hey, blossom. What are you doing up so early?" He talked in a whispery tone to avoid startling the obviously tired child too much

"I ran out of water." Sakura mumbled.

Her father was a lanky man, probably around 6'2 in height. His hair was an oddly vibrant pink that ran down into spiked bangs which covered his forehead (Keeping in Haruno tradition, those bangs needed to be especially long if they were to achieve this). His neck was constantly covered in a pink and purple striped scarf that was long enough to reach his waist should he not wrap it as well as he did. Sakura had scarcely seen him without it.

"Have you got your cup?" He asked, to which Sakura nodded her head and retrieved the small clay cup from her pajama pocket. The Haruno household wasn't the most financially stable one in the world, so the cup was tiny in an attempt to keep the utility bill low. Hayato grabbed it before taking Sakura's hand in his as he led her into the kitchen where the sink was. Her mother was sat at a small table, stewing to herself. Yuamochi was an attractive lady, who's fair brown hair split into a set of twin tails. Sakura was six, and children entered formal academy education at seven or eight, so it wasn't like she had anything to compare too but even just from the other families she'd see around the street, she could tell her parents were incredibly young.

The pair of adults seemingly refused to make eye contact as Hayato refilled the cup and handed it to Sakura, who earnestly drank a small sip. He led her back to the stairwell, attempting to send her back to bed.

"Come on blossom, you need to go back to bed."

"I know." She mumbled, still not entirely awake. Despite her drowsiness, however, she was still sharp enough to realize how Hayato was clutching his coat from the hanger next to the front door.

"Are you going somewhere?"

His expression turned to one of panic when he realized she'd seen his absentminded grabbing. He was quick to break out into a smile though, making sure Sakura wouldn't get suspicious. Slipping the coat over himself, he crouched down to meet her child-like gaze.

"I'm just going out to buy some smokes, okay?"

Sakura's sleepy brain made her pause, before her face turned stern. "Okay, but come back soon or mum's gonna get worried."

Hayato snorted.

"Right." He said, giving one final word to Sakura before turning around and walking out the door. The chill from outside immediately took her mind off her father and squarely onto wanting to get under the covers where it was warm. She rushed up the staircase, holding the cup of water in one hand and the rough wood of the banister handle in the other. She made it about halfway up before turning around to quickly see where her father was. His body was no longer in view from the height she was at, his last trace being the cap of his boot scraping through the ice of the frozen stones on the front path.

That was the last time Sakura saw her father.


"Oy, Sakura. Look at this" Sasukes monotone voice snapped her awake. Her teal eyes blinked a few times before she fully realized where she was. The river where Sasuke and Naruto usually hung out. They'd been assigned to patrol this area for the next few days, as Naruto and Sasuke had discovered someone had been growing frolic (a highly illegal drug) on the riverbanks. She doubted either of them actually cared about a potential Konoha drug ring, but the patch of frolic had been planted where the two usually planted their emergency stock of weeds for that raft game they played.

The mission itself had turned out to be fairly uneventful. Kakashi frequently went MIA to eat out while keeping the three of them stationed at the river. This usually led to antics that were somewhat amusing if not full on funny. Currently, Naruto was in the middle of cussing out three kids who had tossed a candy wrapper in the river while Sasuke watched with a full-blown smirk. From the way he and Sasuke had reacted to them. One of them, a boy, had a blue scarf, and brown hair, which was partially covered by a set of goggles. The other boy among them had thick rimmed glasses and what was pound for pound maybe the lamest bowl cut Sakura had ever seen. The last of them was a girl, who's ginger hair was stuck out almost like two bananas.

"Can it will ya? It's just a stinking wrapper." Konohamaru grumbled, showing little concern for Naruto screaming in his face.

"Oh yeah! What about when this river becomes more junk than water, how'd you like that?!"

"Whatever Naruto, why don't you go paint the Hokage monument or something?' The boy sneered, thinking that it was probably the funniest joke anyone had ever told. Naruto snarled in response, ripping a pad of paper out of his pocket along with a blue pencil.

"One more word out of you and I'll right you up Konohamaru, I swear to god." The Uzumaki boy barked, which earned an unintentional laugh out of the girl behind him. This laugh served as the newest target for Naruto's outrage.

"Oh yeah. Laugh it up, the three of you are going to jail and hell."

The boy with the glasses turned to Konohamaru, eyes wide with fear.

"Konohamaru, I can't go to jail. Mum said if I'm not home by three, I'm not allowed to have any dinner."

"Don't worry about him Udon. He can't right us up, their just genin." The ginger girl said, jeering outwardly at him.

"Actually, we can. Kakashi left us in charge so we can right up anyone we want." Sasuke said, having to somewhat yell to circumvent the distance between him and the group. It was clear he didn't actually care about the trio's minor discrepancies and just wanted to fan the flames. The girls face dropped at his explanation in the meanwhile, the realization that Naruto actually had some form of power over them slamming into her like a brick.

"B-but we're kids so you can't send us to jail!"

"Fuck around and find out then." Naruto growled, pulling out a notepad and pen. The click of the latter sent a surprisingly potent jolt of fear down the backs of the three children. Sensing he needed to act fast, Konohamaru frantically ruffled through his pockets and picked up a smoke bomb.

"Run! Run!" He screamed as it hit the ground, its cheapness meaning that it's actual smoke was barely thicker than the literal air that was radiating through the river. He and his friends bolted down the side, legitimate fear of god prominent in their eyes. Naruto waited until they were out of earshot to finally start laughing, walking back over to his friends.

"Good job Naruto. You really put that eleven-year-old in his place." Sasuke snickered, which only made Naruto laugh harder as he plopped himself down on the river bank. If they'd been more on-edge, they'd have noticed that Sakura wasn't laughing. Instead, her gaze was stuck fixated on the river like it had been before Sasuke had attempted to call her to attention. It was like she was in a different reality, eyes boldened with a thousand-yard stare.

It was today, wasn't it?


"Come on Kakashi-sensei, let us off early!" Naruto whined. The sun was setting on what had been a completely uneventful day outside of the altercation with Konohamaru. The copy ninja had returned from his venture out in the town with a folding chair that he'd placed directly near the river. The action was somewhat justified as Kakashi had to stay on watch for the frolic-planter far after the genin were dismissed and to stand up for all that time would be maddening.

"No way. What if the perp shows up in the next five minutes? I'll really need your help to apprehend him." Kakashi's bullshittery was obvious that even Naruto could tell he was having a laugh. This also meant that Naruto realized further argument was a lost cause. He curled his mouth up into a pout and crossed his arms, shuffling under the dirty riverbank. Team Seven had long since realized that with just how long they would have to spend patrolling the river each day that attempting to keep clean would be an effort in futility. It was better to sit down and rest your legs than to ware yourself out trying to save on laundry costs.

Trails on sunlight scattered through the trees, bigger chunks of it raining down through the clearing that aligned with the river itself. The bath of light that was descending from the sky created the illusion that the river was orange in color thanks to its reflective nature. It was as quiet as it always was, occasional chirps from the birds that fluttered around the scene only punctuating this silence. That was, until Kakashi began to move around his chair.

"So, how are you three feeling about the chunin exams?" He asked.

"Oh yeah! Aren't we supposed to be training for those?" Naruto asked, tone switching from positivity to confusion in a split-second.

"Mission quotas are a thing, remember? The rivers also right there if you want to get some water walking practice in." Kakashi said, before turning to face the three genin. "Although, I would think that after the amount of time we put into it last week, the three of you are more or less on an average level."

Naruto nodded, being the one who had put the most of his free time into trying to improve his water walking. His chakra control was still a problem, but he'd managed to get a decent enough handle on his chakra movement to the point where he could easily run on a stable pool of water. The other two didn't really have as many problems with theirs as he did so a run-down on them was unnecessary.

"Anyway, have we come to a unanimous decision on the exams themselves yet?" Kakashi asked.

"I want to do it." Sasuke said, looking up only slightly from the ground. Soon after, silence filled the area to give Kakashi enough cause for concern. Neither Naruto or Sakura seemed willing to speak, the former looking embarrassed while the later was just starring off into space.

"…Considering I need all three of you to agree to the exams before registering, it would be nice if I got more than one answer."

"Oh, Right. I'm still thinking about it." Naruto said, the vagueness of his wording making Kakashi want to slap himself. Sasuke immediately sprung back to life at his friend's uncharacteristic indecisiveness.

"You seem pretty lax about becoming Hokage."

Naruto immediately took the defensive. "Am not! I just don't want to go out there and end up looking like an idiot to all my future subordinates. Besides, it's not like there's some big link between the Hokages and the chunin exam."

"Every Hokage who could, took the chunin exam at their first chance." Sasuke pointed out. Naruto's attention immediately snapped to Kakashi.

"Is that true?"

"Technically. The exam wasn't around during The First and Second's youths and The Fourth was put into a single-teacher apprenticeship as soon as he left the academy so I guess "Every Hokage who could" is correct. Still, I wouldn't say skipping the exam the first time around would really hurt your Hokage chances."

Naruto smiled a smug grin back at Sasuke.

"What would hurt your Hokage chances is the fact that you're seemingly so scared of being looked down upon that you would miss out on an opportunity you considered yourself ready for."

That grin turned into a grimace.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Sakura, what about you?" Kakashi asked, question causing the girl to jump slightly in her spot. Her facial features initially puffed out in surprise before fading into an apologetic smile.

"Sorry sensei, I wasn't really listening. What was the question?"

"What's your verdict on the chunin exams?"

"I read up on it the other day. The mortality rate really creeps me out."

"It's only around seven percent." Kakashi recalled, oblivious to Sakura's true fears.

"It's still a mortality rate though."

"If that's what you're worried about, I question why you became a ninja in the first place Sakura." The remark was unexpectedly harsh, doubly so when you considered how lazily Kakashi had said it. Still, it seemed to have little effect on Sakura, who essentially waved it off.

"Right." She mumbled, eyes darting back to the ground. After a few seconds, Kakashi realized she wasn't going to give an answer which meant this whole conversation had given him essentially nothing in the way of information except reveal the foregone conclusion that was Sasuke's "yes" verdict. The copy ninja let out a loud sigh, further backing himself into the folding chair.

"We're still a month and a bit away from the deadline, so I suppose the decision can wait a little bit." He said, exposed eye lazily wandering down to the ground until the jolt of revelation brough him back to "teacher mode"

"Schools out. You three are free to go."

Naruto jumped to life with a sudden burst of energy that could only have been stored through several minutes of unwanted stillness. And when the phrase "jumped to life" was used, it meant he literally jumped onto his feet, kicking up leaves in his wake.

"Alright Sasuke! It's time for night patrol!"

Kakashi's eyebrow shot so far up over his head that it could no longer be seen under his headband.

"What's "night patrol?"" He inquired, tone showing that he already thought it would be something incredibly lame or incredibly dangerous.

"It's when we stay out late eating ramen, drinking soda and listening to shitty records from, like, a hundred years ago." Naruto said, as if Kakashi should've somehow known this all already.

"Right. Well I'd say don't stay out too late, but I doubt fatigue is really going to impact the mission much so stay out as long as you want."

"Alright!" The Uzumaki yelled, practically pulling Sasuke up with him as he raced to his feet. Despite his franticness, he still noticed Sakura's expression from the corner of his eye. She was, yet again, completely zoned out. It was honestly bordering on the point of annoyance how she had completely slipped into a trance yet again for reasons unknown to anyone.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, slowing his wild pace for the minute. Once more, Sakura made the same strange expression switch that happened when she was snapped out of the zone. "You wanna come hang out?"

Sakura simply smiled the same smile she always did when Naruto or Sasuke asked her this, one half-embarrassed and half-remorseful while her eyes shut cutely, leaving any trace of further expression blank.

"Sorry, I can't. My mum would kill me if she knew I was staying out after class."


"Snow falls, fire burns but my heat comes from the way you know I yearn- "

The music from Naruto's record player bounced through the rooftops, threading through the air and stretching its audibility down to the ground. For a regular citizen walking by, the sound of old-fashioned jazz would be just loud enough to be noticeable yet not enough for them to be able to accurately gage where it was coming from. Unless of course, they happened to catch Naruto and Sasuke noticeably slurping down their ramen from safety of the Konoha skyline. The two had found the building after they realized that sitting in Naruto's stuffy apartment every night eating, drinking and listening to music was lame. However, if they did the exact same thing but outside it suddenly had ambiance and class.

The building they'd chosen orbited around the outskirts of the more industrialized sects of Konoha. There was little in the way of houses or apartments around it, with its company mainly consisting of business that had closed for the day and one supermarket that closed at varying times every day. Judging by the few times he'd checked the place out, Sasuke would feel confident guessing that the people who planted the frolic near the river most likely worked at there. The building they sat on had been abandoned a while ago, being a seafood-store who had become a victim of frigid leaf/mist trade relations. Its insides may have been worn down from years of neglect, but its rooftop was surprisingly accommodating for the two boys needs. From the beaten down rusty railing that ran around it, Naruto and Sasuke could see the bustling lit up Konoha city streets and how their life faded as the night grew older.

Well, Sasuke could see them at least. Naruto was too busy scoffing down the contents of his brightly decorate ramen bowl to take in the sight. As part of an arrangement with Ichiraku, which was normally dine-in only, he and his friends would be allowed to get takeout on the condition that he washed and brought back the bowl the next time he was in. Naruto had quickly learned that the general store to the side

"You're such a slob." Sasuke chided, delicately stirring his broth around his chopsticks. Naruto didn't respond initially, still slurping down the almost-amber colored liquid of his ramen before setting the bowl down and turning to Sasuke with a small pout.

"That's how you get all the flavors stupid. You just pick at the scallions and then take the smallest possible bite of the pork."

"I'm getting a feel for the flavor profiles of each individual section."

"Yeah, and I get all of them at once."

"No you don't! You mix them all together like some ramen homunculus."

"Whatever dude. At least it doesn't take me half an hour to finish a bowl."

Sasuke shut up at this point because Naruto was completely vindicated in what he was saying. Often times they'd ended up staying out later then intended because Sasuke just refused to eat at the speed of a normal person. Silence resumed as the Uchiha boy stewed, while Naruto merely resumed slurping (this time on a can of soda). This lack of dialogue stayed put until the record player began to start hiccupping.

"I'll get it." Sasuke said, moving over to the machine. Shinobi record players were primitive but powerful machines, with a cranking lever connecting to the "arm" of it. The more you spun the crank, the more time the machine could play, its needle running over the engravings of the record. This system was somewhat flawed, as Sasuke demonstrated by having to re-spin the lever before they were even halfway through the record. In the midst of this tedium, his eyes glided over the slipcase that Naruto had sloppily discarded on the rooftop. Its design was nothing special, vaguely yellow in color with a pair of eyes staring back under big bolded font that read "Heart Attack". Smaller text underneath that read "Kakani Zumitsu"

"I know this guy." The Uchiha boy said, grunting slightly as he finally wound the lever enough to get the music moving again.

"Really?" Naruto said, slightly shifting his body over towards Sasuke.

"Yeah. He's a singer from Kumo, my father had all his records imported over here. The Fourth must've down the same." Sasuke mused, referring to Minato by his title only as to avoid another lecture by Naruto on how "he's not really my dad!"

"Is he any good?"

"His first two were. Then he got shipped out to the First Shinobi World War and when he came back, his music just became money-driven dribble with all the lyrics being essentially Kumo propaganda. That's what my father said at least."

From Naruto's expression (or lack thereof), Sasuke could immediately tell something in his ramble had not computed with his brain. The most likely target was probably the aforementioned village because Naruto had some of the lowest history grades in the entire academy.

"What's Kumo Naruto?" Sasuke asked quickly, causing small beads of sweat to start leaking from the Uzumaki's forehead.

"It's a c-capital village."

"Where?"

His level of sweat suddenly went from raindrop to waterfall.

"…The land of fire?"

"You live in the capital village for the land of fire Naruto so I don't think that's it."

"Yeah I know! Just tell me the answer!" Naruto's shaky tone went to full-fledged screeching so quickly it almost made Sasuke laugh.

"It's in the land of lightning."

Naruto crossed his arms and puffed outwardly; expression angered. This lasted for about two seconds until a sudden rebound of self-consciousness hit him and his features softened.

"Okay, thanks for telling me."

The voice was essentially whisper-level when compared to his usual tone, but that was to be expected when Naruto expressed gratitude. Sasuke had noticed it early on during their late-night stay-outs. It was strange, when they were around each other, Sasuke was always that much louder and Naruto was always that much quieter than usual. He tapped his chin inquisitively as Naruto continue to awkwardly shuffle around, the Uzumakis awkward posture only being halted when he noticed the lights to the nearby supermarket go dark.

"The lights went out." He idly murmured, prompting Sasuke to shuffle closer to the balcony's edge.

"That's early."

Almost all of the store was visible to the two from where they sat due to the markets low ceiling and the height of their own vantage point. The owner, who Sasuke had recalled manning the counter a few times before, stumbled out of the front door. His frame was lanky, with ratty brown hair and a green coat that was entirely too big for him. Naruto squinted, with the man being a mere blob in his vision due to how far away he was while Sasuke managed to view his actions thanks to the sharingan.

"What's he doing?" Naruto asked, noticing the red tinge in the Uchiha's eyes.

"He just walked into a lamppost. Now he's turning around." Sasuke commentated, watching as the man seemingly attempted to drag himself back from whatever dimension he thought he was in. It wasn't drunk-level stumbling, but it was definitely an amount of incoordination that should not have been possessed by a human being. The last thing Sasuke managed to get a visual on was the large bouquet of flowers that the man was for some reason holding, before said man began to stir once more. "Shit, he's coming this way."

Upon the realization that the man had actually been able to find some direction, Sasuke's sharingan snapped off. The Uchiha youth began to relax his posture, acting as if he hadn't just been spying on the mans dawdling actions. Between Naruto's tracksuit, the big-ass record player behind them and the target-like Uchiha symbol on the back of Sasuke's shirt, the pair was hard to miss even in the mans intoxicated state. Demonstrating exactly this, his beady eyes (that were also noticeably red) lit up as he saw them sitting on the building.

"Hey, what are you kids doing up there?" He said, voice indicating that his mind was not just up in the clouds, but up in a plane of existence that most humans didn't even know the concept of height could reach.

"We're just hanging out dude." Naruto casually said back, having to yell due to the difference in elevation.

"Well, have a good night and stuff. Don't fall off." The shop owner slurred, blinking strangely a few times before setting back out on his way. A few seconds past, as the two genin made sure that he was well out of earshot before the simmering backdrop of laughter boiled to the surface leaving both Naruto and Sasuke in hysterics.

"What a weirdo." Naruto practically cried through his fit of laughter.


Sakura gently placed her hand on the doorknob. Dread seeped through its brass base, freezing the kunoichi in place for the moment. Ten, fifteen seconds passed as Sakura stood there, frozen with anxiety as her mind became transfixed on what lay behind the entryway. This was not some kind of entrance to hell as her thoughts would make it out to be, instead it was the door of her home.

Realizing she had been standing in place too long, Sakura opened the already unlocked door and stepped foot into the house.

"Mum, I'm home." Sakura called, voice echoing through the cramped walls of the house. There was a light on in the kitchen, so she decided to head that way in lieu of the lack of response she received. In there, she found her mother sitting at one of the rooms mall circular tables. Even all these years later, she was still an attractive woman but also one who's stress was on clear display. Her once luscious brown hair bled into a mix of a dim grey and a washed out blond, while her face sagged slightly with a complete lack of the superficial youth that she used to radiate. The sight of her thin fingers lazily reaching into a bag of chips, absent-mindedly stuffing them in her mouth while flicking through a book's pages, only served to compound this. She turned slightly, noticing the sounds Sakura was making without enough care to realize her daughter was home. When she saw the living proof before her eyes however, it did little to improve her demeanor. In fact, she seemed exacerbated at Sakura's mere presence.

"Hey honey, how was your day?" She said, sounding like she was forcing herself to make conversation. Sakura headed for the cub board, untangling her headband from her hair.

"It was okay. The mission we're on is kind of boring though. We just have to watch- "

"Right."

Sakura stopped talking. She'd realized after she'd entered the academy that Yuamochi saying "right" when you were talking meant you may as well just be having a conversation with the wall because the same amount of actual listening was going on. She decided to save her words and focus on getting some food instead. However, this was also a fool's errand, as Sakura opened up the fridge with meager expectations only to be let down again. It was completely empty outside of a few fundamental ingredients that were essentially inedible without preparation. That is unless you thought eating a stick of butter whole counted as a snack.

She had been hoping for leftovers from something Yuamochi had made for lunch, or, and she knew it was a once in a blue moon event, actual dinner made specifically for her but of course these were pipe-dreams.

"Hey, mum, did you get anything at the market?" Sakura asked, hopes slightly rising. She had specifically asked for a few ingredients that were ridiculously easy to require. Hell, if she had the time or literally any money, she'd have just got them herself. Yuamochi looked up from the tabletop, teal eyes completely blank.

"Yeah, I got your stuff. It's in the cupboard."

Sakura opened the cupboard. Her stuff was not in there.

"Um, what shelf is it on?" Sakura asked tentatively, only managing to find shelves of vegetables and probably out-of-date baking products.

"The little container thingy to the right."

Sakura looked there as well. All that lay in it was a packet of salt.

"There's only salt."

"Yeah, that's what you asked for."

"No I didn't. I asked for black pepper and paprika." She said, attempting to make it sound like she wasn't angry. Yuamochi stared back at her vacantly, mind slowly having to go through the motions of "realizing she'd made a mistake". It was clear how this mistake had happened. Sakura had asked to her to get the pepper and/or paprika, which she had not been listening to at all. Her brain had taken a request for spices as a blanket want for "salt" and here they were.

For a brief moment, Sakura thought her mother was going to apologize. Then she said this:

"Well I got you salt, didn't I?"

Sakura tried to bite her lip as she sensed the sigh coming, but couldn't stop it from leaking out her lips (with a lot of force behind it as well)

"Oh, come on Sakura! Don't get mopey with me!" Yuamochi's expression finally shifted from blankness, and did so with a startling quickness. It was a quickness that was completely unnecessary, as before she'd even finished talking, Sakura had already begun apologizing.

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm sorry Mum."

Yuamochi shifted back to blankness as quickly as she'd blown up, though not before sneering and spitting on the "arguments" grave.

"Seriously, grow up a little bit."

Sakura had never gritted her teeth harder than she did in that moment. There was a small window of time where the containment of the insults on the edge of her tongue became nearly too much for the girl to handle, but she managed to keep them in for the moment. She had dinner to make after-all, even if that dinner was inevitably going to be some tasteless cabbage-based stew. She began ruffling through the unorganized shelves, in search of a pot big enough to bring to a boil. The one she ended up finding was big, big enough to make a few days' worth of serves and save her the effort of going through this whole song and dance again until she could get some proper spices. However, it was also dirty, which meant she had to wash it out which wasted further water.

Her mother had always been antsy about the water bill, so Sakura was locked in a perpetual state of dread when the tape was running. In this instance though, Yuamochi reserved her complaints with her focus returning to the pages of whatever awfully-written schlock her dumb-ass decided to-

Sakura placed the lid over the water as it ran towards a boil. Small flickers of flame danced up from underneath the stovetop. It would be a while before she'd have to start cutting things up, so she could hang out a little bit until then. Soon though, she realized that just standing around in silence while her mother was right in front of her made her feel…weird. It was like she was self-conscious about it despite the fact that there was no one else in the room to judge her for it. It pushed her to make conversation.

"Hey, mum?"

"Hm."

"This'll be quick." She said, making sure Yuamochi didn't slip back into "right" mode. "Some of my friends are going out tonight but their doing it, like, every night for however long we're watching the lake and it just kind of sucks that I have to turn them down every time they invite me- "

"I'm going to stop you right there. You're not going out with either of those boys on your team, the fox brat or the Uchiha psycho."

Sakura was taken aback by her mother's brazen insults, choking on her own words before she could even hope to muster a reply. The woman didn't seem at all like she wanted to have this conversation, and was intent to nip it in the bud before the tension in the room could spike any more suddenly. It almost made her want to just apologize and walk away, but the thought of Sasuke and Naruto having fun on the town and making jokes that the two of them would echo and then refuse to explain when asked managed to keep a little bit of fire lit under her.

"T-that fox thing's just a stupid rumor! Either way, it's not fair! I'm a teen, I should be allowed to go out when I want!"

Yuamochi became visibly agitated at the first sign of push back, eyes slanting in anger as she looked over at Sakura.

"Going out at night with two little demons like them means you'll be an alcoholic before you even hit the drinking age. I'm not going to be raising a fucking problem child, okay? It's hard enough as is, I don't want to see how I like parenting when you start becoming a junkie!"

The older woman's voice rang out across the room, hitting Sakura significantly harder than any jutsu could. The kunoichi froze completely under her mothers debilitating wave of anger, completely losing any cognitive train of thought in favor of standing silently and hoping that her parent lost interest in the argument. It didn't help that Yuamochi's gaze was absolutely wilting and she refused to let it up, as if she was daring Sakura to say something in defiance. No such words came out though, leading to an uncomfortable and tense silence in the air. Then Yuamochi started to move once more, clenching her first under the table.

"Sakura, go to your room. I don't want to deal with you right now." She said, anger surprisingly lacking in her voice.

"But- "

"No buts. I'll call you when the waters done boiling, go to your room." Okay, maybe it wasn't that lacking.

Sakura trudged past her mother, trying (and failing) to hide the frustration-bred grimace that was clinging onto her face. She was already ready to leap up the stairs when she heard one last shot of vindictiveness shot through her back.

"By the way, your laundry piles getting really high. Clean it by next afternoon please."

Sakura nodded before disappearing up the stairwell. The please was really unnecessary, as Sakura knew the rules. She either did it or didn't and then got bitched out to hell and back. Her aggravation and fury began to simmer much like the pot of water currently on the stove, having to passively resist the urge to smash the photographs that lined one of the shelves just outside her bedroom. When she was young, the photos would be changed every week, ranging through a cycle of different artistic shots, along with a family photo in the middle. That week would turn into weeks and those weeks into months. A few months after her father moved out, her mother stopped bothering to change them at all, marking the ones that were already as permeant. That meant that whenever Sakura walked to her bedroom, she had to stare at her father smiling that smug fucking smirk.

BANG!

She nearly threw her bedroom door off its hinges before slamming it shut and throwing herself down onto the mattress. Her room was cramped and stuffy. If she were to lay headfirst from one side, her feet could almost touch the other with the only source of natural light being a decent sized-window that rested high above her bed. The solace of her room did nothing to help her mood, if anything, it made it worse.

Sakura lay on the plush covers for a few seconds, just staring up at the window. The sun had long since started to set and it was just about getting dark now, meaning that the usual rays of light that she had come to take comfort in were nowhere to be seen. It was this tiny, simple little grievance that served as the straw fluttering towards the camel's back. Tears began to run down Sakura's face, the girl shivering and sobbing under their non-existent weight. She tried to wipe her face clean of them, but it was as futile as cutting off a hydras head. More tears began to flow, Sakura learning to just accept them as her hand was getting tired of trying to scrub herself clean.

She hated living here.

Well, strap yourself in and make arrangements babe, because you've got a WHILE before you're allowed to move out.

Sometimes she could swear Inner-Sakura sounded more like her mum then her.


"Two o'clock, two o'clock, two-two-two o'clock-" Naruto jokingly sung as he and Sasuke wandered through the streets at the aforementioned time. They'd dropped the record player back off at the Uzumaki's apartment but had decided they wanted to do a loop around Konoha before they went to bed. That loop quickly turned to two, which turned to three, which turned to four …you get the picture. To be fair, it was fascinating watching Konoha night-life die out as the night grew in age. They got a taste of it from the building top, but actually wandering around town and seeing the drunks and the clubbers gradually make their way back home as the street lights began to dim was incredibly interesting.

"When's your record dropping?" Sasuke asked with a smile, sipping from his soda. Ironically, in bringing attention to Naruto's singing, he also ended it with the blonde boy bursting into laughter at the Ucuhia's joke.

"I dunno. I think it'd be pretty good though; you can do all my backing tracks."

"Deal. What's it going to be called?" Sasuke asked, solemn tone fading by the minute.

"…Naruto, the coolest guy in the world, volume one."

Sasuke fucking lost it at this remark. If you were to play Naruto a recording of this laugh, he would probably have guessed it belonged to literally everyone else he knew before saying Sasuke. Just from pitch-level alone, the Uchiha boys voice was usually considerably lower than what his laugh indicated. It took a good ten seconds for him to settle down, but when he did, it was almost like his emotional pendulum had swung too far one way and was now trying to even itself out. He looked his eyes on Naruto's track jacket, physically distancing himself from his friend

"Naruto, your jacket's filthy."

"Huh?" Naruto looked down to see what he was talking about, only to look back up at Sasuke with a glare. "No! These are just food stains."

"Exactly, your jacket's filthy."

"Whatever."

"Do your laundry."

"No way. I realized, laundry is a total scam, it's just gonna get dirty again anyway."

"So, if someone goes and pisses on your jacket, your going to keep wearing it because it'll just get dirty again after you wash it?"

"No! I just meant that- "They seemed on track to get into another one of their ridiculous bickering matches, the consistent winner varying and the loser being time, but something had caught Naruto's eye. Then it caught Sasuke's as well. On the nearby sidewalk sat a large framed picture of Minato Namikaze, with several dozen bouquets set around it. Inscribed onto the frame in flashy, golden letters were the words:

"Lord Forth, gone but not forgotten. LONG LIVE YELLOW FLASH!"

"Naruto." Sasuke said, voice low.

"No! Shut up. Why the fuck is this here?! Seriously, what the fuck?!" Naruto yelled, loud enough that Sasuke was scared they might be on the receiving end of some noise complaints. "Why do it all, but also, why do it today?! He did nothing special today, except be a complete fucking loser but he did that every day, so it's still not special!"

"Naruto."

"Why is it specifically him anyway?! Where's old man third? He's actually doing the work for them all right now so it'd be nice to see him get a bit of respect!" He growled. "Or Lord First! He's the most popular ever right?! Why isn't there any lame-ass picture frames on the street for him?"

Sasuke would've pointed out that there was a statue of Hashirama not too far away from here but he suspected Naruto might actually punch him in the face. Instead, he settled for one last repetition, this one with more force behind it.

"Naruto."

This got the other boy's attention, albeit only slightly.

"Let's call it a night, okay?"

There was a long pause. For a second Sasuke thought Naruto was going to fully fly off the handle, but he was able to suck it up for the moment.

"Okay."

Sasuke and Naruto would go on to walk away from the tribute and return to their respective homes, but even as the distance between them and the picture frame increased, Sasuke couldn't help but notice Naruto continuing to look back.


It was early the next morning that Kakashi arrived on near the river in a rough mood. Seriously rough. Not since the land of waves had the trio seen such legitimate anger being emitted by the copy ninja.

"What's up with you?" Sasuke asked, rather rudely considering that he was addressing his teacher. Kakashi took no mind of it though, as if it was like he had been waiting to be asked that question

"Well, Sasuke, I was on my way here early this morning when I saw something unnerving. Now, last night, in celebration of the day Lord Fourth rolled out his exceptional "chakra biotic" healthcare innovation plan, a memorial of sorts was put up in the street. Nothing fancy or anything like that, just a picture frame and some flowers. Now, I was very happy about this because I am a big fan of the Fourth Hokage, but when I passed that same memorial today, I found the glass on the picture frame smashed and crude graffiti drawn all over his face!"

Sasuke shot a side-eye to Naruto, who may as well have decided to cartoonishly whistle from how obvious he was being. Luckily, Kakashi was so inexplicably mad that he didn't notice the winks Naruto was giving the other boy.

"Wow, that's awful." Sakura said, also smart enough to notice the link that essentially exposed the perpetrator.

"Yes, yes, it is." Kakashi said, voice somehow calm yet at the same time completely seething. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, before, in the same mixed tone, said very simply: "I'm going to get lunch. Naruto, wash your jacket"

It was ten in the morning, so both of those things were probably going to be difficult. In the meanwhile, Team 7 waited for Kakashi to move solidly out of earshot (and then waited for around five minutes after that, to make sure he was reallyout of earshot), before they spoke.

"Naruto, what the fuck?" Sasuke said, cutting to the chase.

"What?! How do you know it was me?"

"Because we went past that goddamn memorial last night and you went apeshit. It doesn't take a genius to realize you did a circle back after I went home." The Uchiha added, this revelation getting a groan from Sakura.

"Oh, come on Naruto."

"God, is this the special gang-up on Naruto session? Give me a break." He groaned.

"Naruto, you defaced a depiction of the Hokage. You could get in serious trouble." Sakura said, voice clearly concerned for her friend. Unfortunately, he didn't share that concern.

"Just don't grass on me and I'll be fine." He spat back, absent-mindedly leaning back against the ground while using his hands as a pillow. Sakura and Sasuke both shot a look to each other that basically said to drop the conversation like a rock. Naruto was right in that they were the only ones aside from Hiruzen who could possibly make the connection, and even if Hiruzen did, there was literally less than zero chance Naruto faced any real punishment for it. That didn't stop him from deciding he needed to lay the boots into Minato's reputation one more time.

"And who cares anyway? He's a loser deadbeat, it was a waste of a frame."

Sasuke wanted no part of that tangent, and chose to stay silent. Sakura in the meanwhile, began to silently fume. It was strange, she'd never done that before when interacting with Naruto despite him being the designated academy "annoying kid". She'd always found him at worst, harmlessly goofy in his mischief. Now, however, seeing him laying back talking about his "deadbeat" father without a care in the world, that made her mad. Minato Namikaze was not a deadbeat, Minato Namikaze saved the village from surefire destruction. Naruto had no idea what a real deadbeat looked like.

What a brat.