Hey guys! Here's the latest chapter! I hope you all enjoy-and try and remember that Sasuke is just a kid who's been through a lot, he's being an asshole right now but he's got a lot going on and he's struggling with it all as will be elaborated on later.
In the hours until Kakashi returned from the preliminaries with Sasuke in tow Gaara had allowed Sakura to heal the injuries to his head, and he'd relaxed somewhat.
He was still not entirely comfortable but he trusted Naruto and Sakura, and Rin was also a Jinchuriki and it was hard not to feel safe with her.
By the time the door opened and Kakashi let himself and Sasuke in the five of them-Karin included, were sat in the kitchen waiting, and when the door swung open Naruto leapt to her feet, rushing towards Kakashi and Sasuke-the latter of whom brushed past her and stormed up the stairs-making Kakashi wince slightly.
"What happened?" Naruto's brows furrowed, "Did he not get through Kakashi-sensei?"
"He did." Kakashi shook his head, "He go the bye-"
"He... oh." Naruto blinked, "He didn't get to fight."
"He's not happy." Kakashi shook his head, his gaze moving to Gaara. "Gaara-san, how are you doing?"
"Fine Hatake-san." Gaara's voice went slightly stiff, polite. Kakashi might have supervised their training sessions but they hadn't talked really and Gaara was understandably weary, Naruto and Rin had only had it easy-comparatively anyway, because they were Jinchuriki, and Sakura had managed to gain some of Gaara's trust during their training, given the fact that the pink haired girl didn't give a crap that Gaara was a Jinchuriki.
"Good. Your siblings said they'd meet you back at the hotel-they seemed very concerned."
There was a flash of surprise in Gaara's eyes, before he nodded and stood up from the table "I will go, they'll wish to know how I am."
"I can walk you back to the hotel." Sakura offered, "I don't live too far from there and my parents are gonna wanna know how I did soon anyway."
"Come over tomorrow and I'll tell you who your match is against." Kakashi ordered, "The third exam is in a months time, so you have a month to train and prepare-"
"I'll clear my schedule, I did book in a few shifts at the hospital but they can be rearranged." Rin offered with a wry smile. "Otherwise Kakashi's going to be trying to juggle training you and Sasuke at once-"
"What about me?" Naruto pouted and Kakashi snorted.
"Naruto-chan you don't need training to pass these exams, not that Sasuke and Sakura need much but it'll help. You however are capable of going toe to toe with Orochimaru, I really don't see you losing."
"I love the faith in me." Naruto laughed as she watched Gaara and Sakura stand.
"I'll see you guys soon-"
"Likely not before the exams." Sakura pointed out, "We might end up facing each other it'd be smart to avoid letting us see each others tricks."
"Sakura-san is right." Gaara gave Naruto a very faint smile, "I will work on controlling myself-"
"Gaara it was an accident, you panicked-"
"I lost control. I cannot allow that to happen again."
"I... okay." Naruto sighed, "Just don't beat yourself up, Lee-san will be fine right Kakashi-sensei?"
"He was hurt but nothing that won't heal up nicely." Kakashi agreed, "And all things taken into account I'd say he got off fairly lightly, at least Gaara-san wasn't actively trying to kill him."
"I am trying not to kill anyone unless I have no choice." Gaara confirmed, "I... am trying to be more like Naruto-san."
"Not too much like her though." Rin's voice was playful, "She's a terror-"
"I haven't even been that bad lately." Naruto pouted, "This is just bullying-y'know what just 'cause you said that I'm gonna pull a huge prank."
"Oh Kami no. What have I done?" Despite her words Rin didn't sound guilty, though Kakashi let out a heavy sigh.
"Whatever it is say nothing about it in my presence." Kakashi decided, "I want plausible deniability."
"Now that's just rude. I won't do anything that bad." Naruto paused. Well, maybe, the Anbu uniform could do with a splash of color... and for that matter she wanted to terrorize the Hyuga a little bit.
Sure she felt a rather immense dislike towards Neji but that didn't change the fact that the clan system was disgusting and they deserved to be tormented-just a little.
Sakura clearly caught the look on Naruto's face because she cackled, "Oh this is gonna be so much fun-please tell me you'll involve me."
"My team are evil." Kakashi groaned, "Rin-chan what did I do to deserve this?"
"Well..." Rin laughed, "Maybe it's karma for the trouble we gave Minato-sensei-"
"But that was mostly Obito-"
"Oh you provoked him!" Rin shot back, "You knew exactly what you were doing."
"I was the younger surely he should-"
"By a couple of months!" Rin shot back, "And you were already a Chunin when we became a team you should have been the more mature one." the light hearted bickering made Naruto grin slightly as she looked at Sakura, clearly team seven was always an interesting one.
"Are they really both professional Shinobi?" that was from Karin, who raised an eyebrow, "I mean.. they're not being mature-"
"Eh." Naruto shrugged, "That's just mom and Kakashi-sensei. They were on a team together when they were kids so I guess they bring out the childishness in each other-"
"Hah." Rin snorted, "Kakashi-kun wasn't ever that childish as a kid. I swear, Obito used to say he had a stick up his ass-"
"Of course he did." Kakashi rolled his eyes, "Just because Obito was a permanent child." despite his words he was smiling fondly.
"You always got so annoyed when he was late-"
"He was never on time."
"The excuses." Rin laughed, "What was his best one? He was always helping old ladies carry their groceries home-"
"Wait." Sakura's eyes widened, "Wait but that's one of Kakashi-sensei's lines-"
"What?"
"Did I not tell you mom?" Naruto blinked, glancing at Kakashi who-was he blushing? "Kakashi-sensei is allergic to being on time. He's always coming up with excuses."
"I..." Rin turned her head to look at Kakashi, "Did you-did you literally adopt Obito's bad habits as your own after I... left?"
"I wanted to keep a part of him alive." Kakashi admitted sheepishly, "And now it's habit."
"You..." Rin shook her head, smiling fondly, "You're almost as ridiculous as he was you know that Kakashi? What do you do just not leave."
"I talk to him." Kakashi admitted, "At the stone."
"Oh." Rin blinked, "Oh.. Kakashi-kun I..."
"And that's our cue to leave." Sakura spoke loudly, grabbing Gaara's arm, "Because it's about to get emotional and we so shouldn't intrude." she almost dragged the startled looking Gaara out of the room, the boy just managing to call out;
"Goodbye Naruto-san!" before they were out the door and the door was clicking shut behind them.
"Quick." Naruto grabbed Karin's hand, "Let's get upstairs before they drag us into their bickering-" which was getting progressively louder as the two adults bickered back and forth-though the fact that both of them were trying not to smile betrayed the fact that they weren't actually angry at each other.
"Okay." Karin laughed, letting the blonde drag her out of the room and up the stairs, laughing when they made it up, leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs, both of them giggling.
"Welcome to the crazy town." Naruto joked lightly, seeing the look on the red haired girls face, "I imagine it's been pretty peaceful here while we were gone-"
"Your mom's super nice." Karin was grinning as she straightened up her glasses, "It was all calm and peaceful until you guys came back." she didn't seem too bothered by that fact though-Naruto was glad about that.
She could understand that their slightly crazy little family would scare some people off but Karin wasn't even phased.
"Yeah it's like that." Naruto admitted, "I'll have to go back down there soon, gotta find out who I'll be fighting during the next exam-"
"You'll do great." Karin declared quickly, "Rin-san said we could go and watch you during it-"
"That'd be so cool!" Naruto grinned, "Having family supporting me while I kick butt will be awesome. So you're happy here?"
"Of course." Karin laughed, "It's... back home... it wasn't nice I didn't like it." Karin rubbed her arm, "I... when people bite me my Chakra heals them-"
"What? Oh I remember... you made me bite you after I fought Orochimaru didn't you... I almost forgot... it's a pretty cool gift." Naruto declared with a wide light-hearted grin.
"I... it is I guess." Karin's smile was hesitant, "I always hated it. My mom could do it too... she.. they told her that she could stay and be provided for if she let them use her to heal their shinobi-"
"Wait." Naruto frowned, "She didn't want... they made her heal them just to survive."
"It killed her." Karin's voice went small, "And then they just moved on to me-"
"They what?" Naruto's expression became furious, "They... oh my god." "Is it bad that I'm tempted?" "No, you should do it. Death, destruction, they hurt your kin, it'd be fun." "Will do 'Rama."
"You know brat you could be there and back before the exams." Kurama purred meaningfully, "And I'm sure that in three tails mode we could do a lot of damage."
"So, so tempting. But no. That could cause problems."
"Fine, but if you do change your mind just remember to let me have some fun."
Naruto took a deep breath, laying a hand on Karin's shoulder, "No matter what else happens I'll make sure no one ever uses you like that again Karin-chan. You're my cousin now... well, kinda cousin, I dunno what our actual relation is but from now on I've decided that you're my cousin okay?"
"I... yeah." Karin's expression was soft, a slow wide smile on her lips. "Thank you. For... for everything. For just deciding that-"
"You're family and that means we gotta stick together." Naruto spoke up, tucking her hair behind her ear, "Everyone deserves somewhere safe and secure. A home."
"And I guess I have one now." Karin nodded, "They're gonna be real annoyed."
"Well I promise you that you'll be safe." Naruto said firmly, "We'll look after you."
"I appreciate it, Konoha seems so ni-" before Karin could finish her sentence the door of Sasuke's room opened.
"Hey Sasuke-" Naruto paused as her eyes focused on the dark haired boy, who was carrying a big bag, "What are you doing?"
"Going home."
"But this is your home." Naruto frowned, brows furrowing, "Where-"
"No it's not." Sasuke shook his head, "My home is the Uchiha compound-"
"But-"
"I'm leaving and going home. I can't be around people who are trying to keep me from getting strong-"
"Sasuke you know that's not what-I didn't-"
"I know what I'm doing."
"But-"
"I need to get stronger and you just knocked me out." Sasuke snapped, "You can't make choices for me Naruto. You don't understand I have to get stronger-"
"You don't need Orochimaru to do that!" Naruto protested desperately, "Sasuke-"
"You want to be the strongest you want me to stay weak! I need to get strong and you're in my way! I've seen stupid, letting myself get too attached to you-I don't need a team, I don't need friends, all I need is to get strong enough to kill my brother."
"Sasuke please-" but Sasuke didn't listen, he shoved past the blonde, taking the stairs two at a time and rushing down the hall and out the door, slamming it shut behind him before Kakashi and Rin had even emerged from the kitchen.
Naruto stared helplessly after the Uchiha as Kakashi and Rin rushed out into the hall, the latter's eyes instantly shifting to Naruto.
"Honey what happened?"
"He left." Naruto's voice was tight, "He just... he just left."
"He might be cute." Karin laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "But that guy is a total asshole. Are you okay Naruto-san?"
"I-I thought..."
"Oh honey." Rin rushed up the stairs as Kakashi rushed out of the house to go after Sasuke, and then her arms were around Naruto, who let out a pained noise.
It felt the like odd little family she'd been working so hard to build was falling apart right in front of her eyes.
