Chapter Eight

Naruto sighed heavily as he watched his team sleep, contemplating how they would explain everything to Kakashi and Sakura without traumatizing the former and alienating the former.

Just as things had gone Before, their trip to Tazuna's home was relatively peaceful barring his heightened paranoia and the remnant of fear clinging to their third teammate and their client.

Upon arriving at the bridge builder's home, they'd been welcomed with gratitude by his daughter and scorn by his grandson, the former of whom had welcomed them to get Kakashi settled in one of the home's two spare bedrooms, as she made dinner for them all.

Dinner had been the same as well, the stress of the day's battle wearing on them all even as Inari, Tazuna's grandson, glowered at them, his youthful features twisted into a hateful sneer. It was painful to see, even if this Inari wasn't the one he'd known. The little brat that had grown into a respected man of the Wave, who had rallied them together to fight as Madara's puppets swept through the nations destroying everything they held dear. This was a child, a child suffering under the weight of his hero's death. A child disillusioned with the world.

He wanted to change that.

Yet, for the moment, he'd done nothing. He'd followed his team up the stairs and smiled his faux little smile as they'd separated into their assigned rooms. He'd managed, with great difficulty, to hide what he was feeling from his mate, who's worried gaze followed his every move, even as they set out their futons to sleep.

Only once Sasuke's breathing calmed into the soothing patterns of sleep, the lines on his face easing, did he allow it all to show.

Blue eyes darkened with pain and uncertainty, cupid's bow lips pursed as plans flew through their owner's mind at speeds that would shock most, crafted and discarded at a maddening pace.

"Go to sleep."

He jolted, blinking as he found himself staring into Sasuke's hazy dark eyes instead of the sleeping face he'd been watching moments previous.

"Sasuke, I-"

"Go. To. Sleep." The older male repeated sternly, reaching out with one hand and pulling him onto his futon and under the blanket.

He shivered, burrowing deeper into his mate's warmth, purring when the other's arms wrapped around him.

Unbidden, his eyes began to slide closed and he relaxed. Moments later, he was fast asleep.

Sasuke smirked slightly, pulling his master closer.

"Works every time."


'I hate chakra exhaustion.'

Kakashi thought, groaning as he woke to the familiar pains and aches that came from over usage of Obito's sharingan.

It was one of the things he hated especially since it put his teams at risk when he did it on missions.

Speaking of…his eye narrowed as he took in the unfamiliar ceiling above him and the blankets wrapped snuggly around his body.

The soft snores and low breathing coming from the side with his sharingan told him that there were two other people in the room with him, both of his male student's if his nose was to be believed.

But that left one student unaccounted for.

His, well, weakest student.

Forcing his body into a sitting position, he turned to wake his boys and paused.

"Definitely, dating." He murmured, smiling.

His two male students were piled onto one futon, the other messy but not slept in. Sasuke, the bigger of the two, held Naruto like he was the most precious thing in the world, the young jinchuuriki's head buried in the Uchiha's neck as he snored softly, one hand clutching the other's sleep shirt.

It was the most relaxed he'd seen either of them, their guards permanently up even at the best of times.

One onyx eye slid open and glared at him, even as the glaze of sleep left it fogged.

"I just got him to sleep. Wake him and I'll murder you."

He chuckled. "Maa, Maa, no need for that. Where's Sakura? Where are we?"

"The room across the hall. The client's house."

Naruto shifted in his sleep, whimpering and Sasuke turned to him.

"Sh, you're fine. Everything's fine." He whispered and the younger boy calmed.

Kakashi's eyebrow rose.

"How long has this been going on? According to the academy reports you two hated each other."

Sasuke stared at him then sighed.

"We all need to talk. There's a lot we need to tell you. You and Sakura both."

He looked back at the boy in his arms with regret lining his very being, then shook him awake.

Naruto blinked up at him sleepily, then yawned.

"S'suke?"

"C'mon, Dobe. Up."

"Y' said sleep." The blond responded, frowning, a pout pulling at his lips and his mate smirked.

"Kakashi's up."

His frown deepened but he sat up, blue eyes clearing as he looked Kakashi over with an experienced gleam in his gaze. After a moment, he looked up at Sasuke, resigned.

"Fine. Get Sakura so we can get this over with."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the command, knowing that his eldest student didn't really respond well to being told what to do but, to his surprise, the raven nodded and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with Sakura trailing behind him, her confusion palpable in the air around them.

"Boys?" Kakashi rumbled cautiously, one hand discreetly reaching for his weapons pouch while he used the other to gesture for Sakura to get behind him.

Naruto didn't respond, watching them both impassively even as he spoke to the only person in the room still standing.

"Lock the door, and place the seals."

Sasuke obeyed, and Kakashi's single visible eye narrowed as he noticed that the seals were the same as the ones the ANBU captains and Kages used when discussing S-Rank missions or higher.

How did his genin, barely fresh from the academy know those seals and why did Naruto know about them? For a moment, he entertained the idea of the two being imposters but he knew that wasn't likely. No other being in the world carried Kyuubi's unique scent under their own. Only jinchuriki had that scent.

So, what was he missing?

He met Naruto's gaze head on, watching as Sasuke took a seat to the blonde's right.

"First things first," Naruto began, his entire posture straight-backed as he stared them down like they were children or subordinates. "Introductions."

"But we already know you." Sakura argued.

The blonde chuckled slightly. "Yes, well, we haven't been entirely honest with you both."

"Explain." The jounin barked, liking this situation less with every passing second. Naruto sighed.

"Alright. But I'm warning you, the tale is a long one, and, well, unbelievable really. So, I have to ask that you suspend your disbelief for now."

Both Kakashi and Sakura nodded.

"Alright, but introductions first. Sasuke?"

The raven nodded. "My name is Namikaze-Uchiha Sasuke, I am the former ANBU taichou of Rokudaime's forces and former head of His Highness Royal Guard."

Dread built in Kakashi's stomach at the words, especially when the boys scent gave no lies.

Naruto when next. "Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, Former Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato and current King of Makai."

No lie.

Kakashi's dread grew. "Boys what's going on?"

A low, rueful chuckle left Naruto's throat, sounding way older than his petite twelve-year-old form.

"As you both know, twelve years ago the Kyuubi attacked our village, however what even fewer know is that it was being controlled."

"The man in the swirling mask." Kakashi murmured, remembering the one who attacked his sensei that night. His student nodded.

"He hated Konoha, the result of brainwashing and watching the woman he loved die at the hands of his former rival, as well as untreated PTSD. At the time, he was going by the name Uchiha Madara. The attack ended when my father, Namikaze Minato, sealed the Kyuubi away."

He paused, glancing at Sasuke who took over the explanation. "After the attack, and the subsequent sealing of the Kyuubi, most of the blame fell on the Uchiha clan. They were placed under watch by the ANBU, and unknown to the Hokage, the Ne as well. As time passed, my clan grew to resent the village, angered by the lack of trust they were shown by those they'd protected, so my father and the elders began to plan a coup. They sent two spies to become integrated in the village and serve as their main eyes and ears. Their names were Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi."

Kakashi's eyes widened and a dark picture started to form in his mind. He'd known both Itachi and Shisui and had been very fond of them both. They'd become the younger brothers he'd never gotten a chance to have and those feelings hadn't changed after Itachi's defection and Shisui's death. Instead, he had shoved them aside, angry at himself for not seeing the insanity that had caused Itachi to betray the village. It was horrifying to think that all of it had simply been a ploy to help his clan take the Hokage's mantle.

"Itachi had a different plan, though. He knew that a coup could lead to a civil war within the village and even more so, another great war if the other nations discovered our weakness, so he informed the Hokage of Tou-san's plans." Sasuke's gaze darkened.

"He became a double agent, feeding information to both sides while trying to thwart Tou-san's madness and Shisui helped him. A while after he became taichou, he and Shisui came up with a plan to stop Tou-san but it failed and Shisui committed suicide s that Itachi could achieve the next state of the sharingan, the Mangekyō."

"What's that?" Sakura asked and Sasuke shuddered. "It's one of the two rarest forms of the Sharingan, gained by the Uchiha clan's ever-growing curse of hatred. It is powerful but to achieve you have to go through extreme trauma." His eyes flashed and Kakashi felt his dread worsened.

"Do you have it?"

"I do."

He didn't elaborate and they didn't ask, allowing Naruto to take over the story. "Following Shisui's death, Itachi met with the elders and was given the mission to eradicate the entire Uchiha clan, His only allowance was that Sasuke was allowed to live. And so, that is what happened. He, with the help of 'Madara', killed his entire clan and fled the village to join an organization called the Akatsuki as a spy for the Sandaime."

"What does any of this have to do with what's going on?" Kakashi growled, confused. For once his genius seemed to be failing him, for he could not make head or tails of what he was being told, nor could he figure out how it pertained to the changes in his students and their current situation. Nothing they were being told was making sense and yet, he could sense no lies from them.

"Everything." Naruto replied. "It was these events that led to me and Sasuke being here. These are also the events that lead to the Fourth Great War and the end of Konoha."

TBC…