It was nearly two hours later before Shadow led her pups through the doors of the Uchiha compound. Naruto was still sleeping away, snuggled up against her shoulder, and a clone had Sun-Dance cradled within her arms. Two more were, once again, supporting Iruka between them; the man barely staying conscious and being almost dragged into the house. Moon-Fang and Sasuke veered towards the living room as Shadow and the clones took the others to bed.

As she tucked the blankets around him, Shadow carefully ran her hand across Naruto's blonde hair. She had to cut off nearly 8 inches to get the locks back to looking healthy. A sigh escaped her as she thought about it and counted herself lucky her pup had remained asleep throughout the whole thing; she remembered the fuss he made the last time and chuckled as she moved from the bed and closed the door behind her.

As she made her way towards the living room, Shadow ducked in to check on Iruka. The teacher had been settled in her room, covers pulled up to his shoulder. He was asleep as soon as he'd been laid down upon her bed. Hana had looked him over as well and had ranted at him for some time about how "she is a vet!" and "she heals animals! Not stupid humans who refuse to go to the hospital!" It'd been a very amusing sight.

She also peeked into the room her other pups shared and smiled as her daughter snuggled closer to the stuffed duck Naruto had gotten for her one birthday. Fortunately, Hana saw no need for a cone to keep her from her bandages, so she was curled comfortably under her light blanket. She would have to remain off her leg for at least a week, otherwise Hana said it should heal just fine.

Shadow didn't even try to suppress a yawn as she walked into the living room; arms above her head as she stretched out her back. Moon didn't seem to be faring much better. Sasuke had sat himself down in a chair, and Moon had promptly sat himself down on the floor next to him and fallen asleep with his head resting on the raven's leg.

"How are you holding up, Sasuke?"

He didn't look to be doing much better, though you wouldn't know it from the emotionless expression on his face. At this point, Shadow already had a couple years to study the boy; it took very little to see how tired and worried he really was. she had to hand it to him, though, at least his eyes were still open.

"I'm fine." He idly carded his fingers through the fur of Moon's head as he turned his gaze towards her. "Naruto?"

"Still asleep." He nodded and turned to gaze at nothing in particular. She watched him for a few moments before turning her eyes towards the direction of the kitchen.

"I baked quite a bit before Iruka came to get me." She commented; smiling as he turned back towards her. "How about I get you something to eat?"

She already had herself turned towards the kitchen, but she didn't miss his small nod or him muttering, "Tea too?"

"Of course."

Shadow had barely made it a foot into the kitchen, before a shocked laugh shook her shoulders. Kon and Fent had, apparently, decided to visit after she had left and had no trouble finding the sweets and other baked goods upon the counters. Several platters had been completely cleared and crumbs and powdered sugar nearly covered everything. They hadn't touched the 'still in progress' baking at least, but they had eaten so much, they looked akin to furry, sugar-coated, little balls sleeping atop a half eaten platter of cookies. Her laughter startled them awake, Kon nearly toppling forward on to his face and Fent knocking a couple cookies to the floor.

"Stocking up on food a bit early aren't we?"

"Evening, Shadow." They both gained a guilty look that only lasted 5 seconds. Kon continued as Fent picked up a half-earen cookie and shoves it into his mouth, which the thought that he still has room surprised Shadow. "We showed up nearly three hours ago and we got a bit peckish."

"So what do I owe the ransacking of my kitchen to?" That made them flinch, which Shadow felt was punishment enough. She tried to clean up at least most of the mess as the twins settled in for their tale.

"Well, we were hanging out in the Hokage's office like we usually do."

"Which, by the way, he gave us a new bit of cloth for our hideaway; it's really nice and I think it's black."

"That's not really important."

"Don't give me that. You were just as excited about it."

"Anyway, we were there during all the commotion involving Naruto."

"Yeah. The Hokage all but burst into his office, blood drying under his nose for some reason."

"Couldn't tell ya why, but he did bring out his cool crystal ball thing to watch what your boy was up to."

Shadow was busy preparing tea and something small for Sasuke to snack on as she listened to them, nodding along as they spoke. They were able to tell her everything that happened before she found Iruka and in-between until they found Naruto and Sun. She was thankful they hadn't gotten into too much detail pertaining to when her pup was injured, keeping that part relatively vague. They didn't get really excited until they came to the part of they're tale when Naruto took down Mizuki.

"Y-You should've seen the l-look on Mizuki's face!"

"H-He went so pale at the sight of all those clones!"

"W-We had to hold on for dear life, w-we were laughing too hard!"

The two chipmunks had started giggling, clutching their side with mirth as they recalled the scene; or at least trying to with how big they'd gotten on sweets.

"He's got a mean right-hook, doesn't he?" Shadow commented as she poured the hot water she boiled into her favorite tea pot. "I appreciate you informing me on what I missed, but none of your story explains why the two of you came for a visit."

It didn't look like the twins' laughter was going to abate anytime soon, but at least Fent had enough of a mind to point towards the other end of the counter. It took a moment before Shadow saw what the chipmunk had been motioning towards. There, nestled between two cake pans, was a brand new Genin headband that was still carefully folded and without a crumb on it.

"The Hokage asked us to deliver that here for Naruto." Kon finally got out, still wheezing a bit from laughing so hard, but at least he could speak again. "He said he was impressed that Naruto was able to learn such a high level jutsu."

"Yeah," Fent added, laughter finally ceasing as well. "Said he wasn't even mad anymore that the pup stole it in the first place."

"He figured Iruka was going to change his mind about letting Naruto pass."

"Once he heals, anyways."

"So he decided to give the teacher one less thing to do."

"I knew he'd pass." Shadow smiled as she carefully arranged a tea tray with snacks and the heavy teapot, before she reached out a hand to the twins. "Would the two of you like to move into the living room?"

"Yes, please." They both waddled their way on to the edge of the tea tray and Shadow couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped her at the sight of them as she exited the kitchen.

And there we have another chapter! Yay!

I haven't gotten any replies to the question I asked three chapters ago, so I'll just ask it once more! :3

Please let me know if you'd like to see anyone in particular as the third member of team Kakashi.

Until next chapter!

TTFN!

Taric