Beta-ed by Jenny-Cat-Miaow.

Chapter 8

"It's hard, isn't it?"

Sasuke turned around, surprised to see Kakashi-sensei walking towards him.

"To face the demons of your past." Kakashi continued, tilting his head towards the abandoned Uchiha district Sasuke was staring at. A light wind fluttered the yellow tape across the entrance that Sasuke had never bothered to remove.

"Hai. For me, it was Itachi's joining of ANBU that ultimately pushed him to kill my clan." Sasuke muttered, not about to tell Kakashi-sensei the truth. Neither of them were ready for that. The truth of the matter, was that Sasuke didn't want to remember how ANBU had taken Itachi from him, merely by giving him more and more missions. He didn't want to say, how the mask, that anonymity, had given his brother a sense of freedom, something he never had while in the clan or being Uchiha Itachi.

"I see. Does wearing the mask hurt that much?" Kakashi asked quietly.

"No. It's just a reminder I did not need." A reminder of how I failed my brother the first time around. Sasuke sighed, turning away from the fluttering yellow tap across the entrance, away from the buildings that were too new to truly represent the Uchiha history due to their relocation after Naruto's birth. "Come on, we have a team photo to get to."

There were aspects about the Uchiha's demise that he didn't like to think about, the fact that it could have been prevented was one of those things but in general, his home was no longer within the gates of the compound and he didn't much care for the run down blood splattered buildings he'd inherited. He'd heard they'd wanted to make it a shopping district. He'd surprised a lot of people when he stopped that notion in its tracks. Hence the buildings still stood.

Perhaps one day he'd be able to live there again, but that day was not any time soon.

.0.0.0.

In the end Naruto had arrived in his normal Shinobi clothing for the team photo. Only, he'd left the bandana around his arm and he'd shifted his headband so that it mimicked Kakashi, except it went over his right eye rather than his left.

Sasuke and Sakura had left the bandana's on as well, deeming them picture worthy and upon seeing their blond teammate, they had hesitated only a moment before copying him with their head bands.

So they posed, Sasuke standing in his typical Uchiha pose with his hand on his hip, left eye directed at the camera so that an activated Sharingan could be captured. Sakura stood in the middle with her hands by her chin in a mockery of her original pose only this time three diamonds of stored chakra were visible on her head much like Tsunade's single gem. Naruto was grinning wildly with his hair longer than what it had been the first time around, bordering on looking like Minato, but he'd kept his headband tied over the blond locks unlike the Yondaime who'd left them to drape over the blue cloth. Lastly, Kakashi stood with his hands in his pockets, Icha Icha book suspiciously absent.

What the jonin didn't know and couldn't account for was the split second action on Naruto's part, pre-planned with his teammates of course, to create two Kage Bunshin who dived at the Copy nin, one pulling up is head band to show his own Sharingan and the other henging into Icha Icha which Kakashi had to catch on reflex. The second Kage Bunshin had been tempted to pull down the Jonin's mask but that wouldn't be capturing the essence of their team.

The Bunshin had been dispelled before the camera had flashed, leaving Team 7 with the most accurate team photo to ever be taken. Each person displayed their core, their every strength and weakness. It had perhaps been a risky move that revealed far too much but it was needed. For them at least, they had needed it. Kakashi-sensei would appreciate it only later. The extremely personal connotations the team photo had would be something they could reflect upon later. For the 'genin' it would be their measuring stick so to speak, to see how far they had come when they needed the assurances most.

Only five copies would ever be made, one for each member of the team, and one for the Hokage's records.

As they walked away, Kakashi's headband had been replaced, Sasuke's Sharingan was deactivated, Sakura's genjutsu was up and so was Naruto's henge.

Kakashi didn't say a word about the Kage Bunshin and they didn't comment either. They waved to the aged photographer far too used to Shinobi antics to even bat an eye.

"Who's up for dango?" Sakura offered, and they all silently changed direction to head to the dango stand.

.0.0.0.

They followed a simple routine over the next two weeks. Their Kage Bunshin, as they were all capable of creating at least one, went on petty D-rank missions, while the original Team 7 in their Asahi ANBU uniform would go to their designated areas and read all the records. That's all they had scheduled for the moment, to simply read all the records, learn what the past held so that they may correct what came in the future.

Naruto understood that they were going to coincide eventually in their individual areas and were going to have to work together. In Finance alone Naruto was going to have to consult all of his teammates and his Taichou so that he could direct the correct funds to the correct places.

ANBU and ROOT were very closely linked and as such Kakashi and Sasuke found their own missions clashing often but Sasuke didn't mind. Kakashi taught him how to walk and talk within ANBU; how to play their games.

Torture and Interrogation linked with Intelligence, the Hospital and Cryptanalysis.

The Orphanage was linked to the genin and the genin were linked to the jonin.

The Ninja Tool Research Facility was linked to all Shinobi.

The Aviary was linked with Intelligence, Cryptanalysis, ANBU and to some extent Torture and Interrogation.

So their paths and their bonds crisscrossed in ways they had never linked before. Kakashi was their Captain, their sensei as well as their comrade.

They in turn were his genin, his subordinates and his comrades. He trusted them and they him. They did not hold back when in his presence; they did not lie.

But he never asked them anything that would lead to the direct truth. A part of him wasn't ready to understand and to know just yet. He feared that the truth might take them away from him and he wasn't ready for that yet, maybe not ever.

Slowly but surely they were filling out their Hokage's request.

Sometimes, they'd be given a single mission, a mission that an ANBU squad was to complete. At first Kakashi had been hesitant to allow his team to go on it. It was S-ranked and it was assassination. His fears stayed with him right till the moment Sakura had been the one to deliver the final silent blow and her words soothed his fears. "We're a team, Kakashi-sensei, and we won't abandon you. Not now, not on our first dangerous mission, not ever."

The three 'genin' appreciated the fact that the clones actually went through training. Naruto had tried to create a seal that made the Kage Bunshin survive more than a single hit but had only partially succeeded. But all the same, the Kakashi Clone tried to teach the 'genin' Clones jutsu, well mostly the theory behind it, and how to be stealthy like real ANBU. He took time to teach them ANBU hand signs, and ANBU code words.

He actually took the time to train them all equally.

And that was something all three treasured, even Sasuke. His time with the jonin before the chunin exams had not been personal one on one training like so many thought. Kakashi had simply instructed Sasuke to copy what he'd seen Lee do while Kakashi himself had focused on his own training.

So with the Copy-nin actually training them, they were not staying at the level of skill they had previously been at before falling under the Jonin's command once again. They were growing, expanding their area of expertise.

In two weeks they had learnt more than what they had in three years when first under Kakashi's care (a few months for Sasuke but no one dwelled on that fact, least of all Kakashi since he didn't know).

.0.0.0.

Sasayaku fiddled with his fingers nervously. He was going to have to go see the Nara clan head but that was a test in itself. The man was sure to figure out who they were but Okami had expressly forbid the discovery of their true identity and now Sasayaku had hit a snag.

Just go in, be professional, get what you need, and get out.

He tried to make it sound simple and took a deep breath before shunshinning silently into the room, like any real ANBU would.

It seemed he had interrupted dinner but only one person was truly surprised and that wasn't even a full on jump. Shikamaru's chopsticks sort of did a weird dip on the way to his mouth and that was the only indication that he was startled.

Perhaps they were used to visits from the ANBU.

"Sasayaku, correct?" Shikaku drawled, not even pausing in his meal.

"Hai." Naruto responded, trying to keep his voice as dead as possible and not give away his nervousness.

"Hmmmm, it seems to me that you're a smart one, Asahi ANBU-san but you should probably work on cloaking your voice. It's no good cloaking your chakra if your voice gives away your age. It makes figuring out who you are so much easier." Shikaku suggested casually and Naruto paled under his mask.

"Taichou will not approve of my incompetence." He managed to squeak out in reply. "It would greatly aid me if you did not continue to ponder the truth of my identity."

"That is like telling me not to breathe Sasayaku-san." Shikaku chucked. "That aside, what is it that I can do for you? I've been expecting a visit."

"Your presence and your expertise. It will be requested of Sandaime-sama that you join our ranks. Masked or unmasked would be your choice. Taichou feels your addition will do two things - aid in our mission greatly as well as aid in our desire to remain anonymous. He believes that your own presence within the ranks would sate your curiosity as you are the one who is most likely to figure out who we are if you haven't already done so." Sasayaku explained.

"I will remain unmasked. Should I choose to join. And believe me, boy, it is a choice. However, I don't think you were given much of one. None of you were. Your Taichou has never questioned orders and he would not have started now. Don't doubt that I already know who you are, because I do. I just haven't been able to figure out why." Shikaku finally turned to look at him and Sasayaku suppressed the urge to shudder. That man was just too damn smart. "Sit." Shikaku offered, waving a hand towards the opposite end of the room.

Sasayaku tilted his head in the direction that had been indicated to him, not moving towards it. But Shikaku was getting up, pulling a scroll from a shelf as he passed it.

Sasayaku reluctantly went over to where Shikaku summoned a Shogi board onto the floor, waiting for the ANBU to seat himself across from him and play the game.

"I am not well versed in this pass time, Nara-san."

"As a twelve year old, I did not think you were. But as the Hokage's personal ANBU you have to have some sort of skill."

That had all been signed to him in the ANBU code. Chancing a glance at Shikamaru he saw that the boy was pouting slightly, possibly having not yet figured out the ANBU code for himself.

Sasayaku ended up staying over three hours, trying to beat the other in a game of Shogi. He was hardly adequate and he had the distinct impression the Nara was playing with him but he refused to give up.

Until Okami shunshinned into the room.

"Taichou." Sasayaku gasped, dropping the Shogi piece he'd been holding.

"Ah." Was the only reply he got for his greeting. "You've lost six moves ago Sasayaku. It is perhaps time to go home." Okami continued, his tone surprisingly gentle. "Perhaps I shall teach you the basics of Shogi. You almost won three times."

"Hai, Taichou." Sasayaku didn't need to be told twice. He knew a dismissal when he saw one.

Okami didn't even watch the boy shunshin away, turning his attention to Shikaku. "As you already know who they are, I trust you know the importance of not revealing that to anyone. They are what is most precious to me and I do not wish for them to come to harm, Nara-san."

"I gathered as much. What exactly did you need me for? The boy would work well enough. His strategic methods are unpredictable and it's only sheer reaction and experience on my part that prevented him from winning." Shikaku stood, walking away from the Shogi board so that he could face Okami.

"They believe you to be more competent. All three of my subordinates wish for your participation." Okami shrugged. "I could but only ask."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Okami-san. I do not know why this ANBU division was necessary but I do know that it would not exist if it wasn't needed." Shikaku sighed. "I will answer when the Hokage calls."

"Hai." Okami inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Just so we're clear, I could have ordered you to do it anyway, and so could the boy. He's just stubborn about free will and whatnot."

Then Okami was gone, leaving Shikaku to ponder his parting words.

.0.0.0.

"Tazuna."

"What about him?" Naruto asked as he walked the Uchiha home two nights after having visited the Nara residence.

"Would have been a c-rank mission. Which Chunin do you know would be able to handle Zabuza, let alone Zabuza and Haku?" Sasuke continued.

They both turned to Sakura who was happily working on small earth manipulation exercises that could double as chakra control as she pushed a small pebble around without actually touching it.

She didn't turn to them, simply opened her mouth and screeched towards the general tree their Clone Sensei had taken to lounging in. "Sensei! We want to take a real mission. One that goes outside the village!"

A muffled. "I'll see what I can do." Was their reply.

.0.0.0.

"Jiji!" Naruto suddenly yelled.

"Yes Naruto-kun?" The Sandaime sighed with a puff on his pipe. He did notice that these little genin were not wearing the bandanas meaning they were the real ones and not the clones.

"We want a real ninja mission! We're tired of doing chores."

Normally, Iruka would have yelled at Naruto for his rudeness among other things but something about the way they were all acting made him pause.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with the dobe." Sasuke muttered.

"I'm game for anything Sasuke wants so yeah, D-ranks are boring." Sakura quickly agreed, and a tad bit too enthusiastically.

"Genin do D-ranks. You just got out of the Academy Naruto-kun." Sarutobi replied but there was far too much hidden amusement in his tone and gaze.

"Genin can also do C-ranks. We want the old man that just asked for a squad." Sasuke interrupted, crossing his arms defiantly.

"Why him?" Iruka asked despite his inner decision to remain out of Team 7's affairs.

"Well, he's a little old man who probably wants an escort back home. He isn't much of a mission in terms of skilled chunin. It's more than likely that we'll end up with that mission anyway." Sakura surprised them by answering instead of Sasuke.

"What say you, Kakashi-kun?" Sarutobi asked, turning his attention to the amused jonin.

"You already know my thoughts, Sandaime-sama." Kakashi replied, his eye smile widening.

"I see. Very well then. Bring Tazuna-san back in." Sarutobi nodded to the chunin by the door before replacing his pipe to its comfortable spot between his lips.

"Tazuna-san!" Naruto cheered. "You're my very first C-rank client!"

Again, Kakashi got the distinct impression that he was missing the inside joke when both Sasuke and Sakura bit their bottom lips to stop from snickering. He knew that Naruto had done plenty of other ranked missions as Sasayaku but for some reason the genin separated the two lives as though it were another person entirely. So this was a different kind of inside joke.

"Naruto-kun, it's not nice to tell clients how many missions you've done." Iruka chided.

"Oh." Naruto replied with an overly exaggerated pout. "I just thought he'd find it interesting that this is my very first time outside of Konoha."

Again Sasuke and Sakura had to fight back a snicker.

Kakashi had to remind himself that time was what it would take to get them to trust him. Time, he needed time and patience.

Sarutobi however, merely chuckled at the antics. "Tazuna-san, meet your protection detail. They requested you specifically. This is Haruno Sakura, the best female Kunoichi of her year. Uchiha Sasuke, the last member of a well-respected clan in Konoha. Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's resident prankster as well as all round ball of energetic innocence (Several snorts at that) and their Jonin sensei, Hatake Kakashi."

Interestingly enough, Tazuna shifted almost guiltily at the introduction but he took a swig from his sake bottle and all signs of guilt was lost in his borrowed, liquid courage.

Kakashi filed the information away for later though. For now, Naruto was asking a rather interesting question.

"Jiji, let's say hypothetically that we run into other ninja on this mission." Naruto began, sounding entirely innocent in his enquiry but Kakashi knew better than to assume that's all there was to it.

"It's a C-rank, Naruto-kun. The chances of other ninja are slim to none." Iruka replied, tilting his head slightly in curiosity.

"Ahh, but should you run into any enemy ninja you'll have to kill them of course." Sarutobi answered anyway.

"And if they were missing-nin and I kind of liked them, then what? What is Konoha's policy on accepting non-Konoha Ninja into their ranks?" Naruto continued.

"Their intentions would obviously be questioned. But remember Naruto-kun, they're missing-nin more often than not because they don't want to follow a Kage. There will also always be a trust issue as they have already betrayed one Hidden Village. They have no true loyalty." Kakashi replied, rather than the Hokage.

"What if their reasons were justified in leaving?" Sasuke asked with a frown.

"Such as?"

"No, just what if they were." Sasuke shook his head, his statement not making much sense but to his teammates it was his way of saying I don't want to talk about it.

"Then it would be a decision for the Hokage." Kakashi shrugged. "Konoha isn't known for accepting missing-nin. Missing-nin never last long either. Between hunter-nin and bounty-nin, they're quickly disposed of. And if they're strong enough to survive that then, like I said earlier, they usually don't want to be under a Kage."

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura absorbed his words with the most solemn expressions before each nodded gravely.

"Alright. That clears thing up, thanks sensei, Jiji!" Naruto yelled happily.

The three moved to the door, after Kakashi told the client where to meet them seeing as his genin didn't have any more questions.

"See you in about two weeks Jiji. I'll bring Zabuza-san and Haku-kun with, kay. They can totally stay at my place!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder with an absent wave at the village leader. Sarutobi didn't say a word about the fact that the mission was only supposed to be a week long at the most.

With Naruto's questions and parting statement, Kakashi concluded he better pack the heavy artillery. This seemingly easy C-rank they'd specifically requested had a far deeper meaning. He was sure of it.

"Kakashi-kun." Sarutobi began, just before the jonin followed his genin out the door.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied.

"I just wanted to wish you luck. One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist was named Momochi Zabuza, the Bloody Demon of the Mist. He is currently a missing-nin for hire, so have fun." Sarutobi answered cheerfully. "Our Asahi ANBU have been monitoring the actions of our neighbouring villages and they have flagged a situation in Wave to be of minor concern. That tag changed two days ago to be a more serious threat as a man named Gato hired Momochi. What their intentions are, were not clear."

Kakashi would have groaned, in another life time. But in this one, he had been pushed into training once again by Sasuke and Naruto's accusations that he could not protect them from forces outside the village. The words had struck deep and he'd taken them to heart, once again beginning the training regimen he'd preformed while in ANBU.

While he wasn't at peak condition, he was a lot closer to it today, than what he'd been the first time around. Only Kakashi was entirely unaware of that fact.

.0.0.0.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked, his tone going up several octaves just to be a nuisance, thoroughly annoying all those around him.

They knew, that this mission would have to be hurried more than usual. Their ANBU counterparts would be missed, so they had left clones to delay the Asahi ANBU's absence and would send clones ahead upon their return. It wasn't fool proof. But it would have to do, for now.

"Naruto?" Kakashi hummed.

"Duck." Naruto elaborated, not very much though.

Kakashi did duck, dodging the ninth kunai of the morning. Honestly, the efforts of the Demon brothers were quite pathetic.

"Aren't you going to take care of that?" Tazuna squeaked.

"Take care of what?" Sasuke drawled.

"Yeah, I don't see any bandits." Naruto yawned. "This is only a c-rank mission after all."

"I wonder what Ino-chan is doing right now." Sakura mused while Kakashi turned a page in his book.

They all saw Tazuna flinch but he didn't argue any further.

This time, when the Demon brothers jumped out and attacked from their genjutsu puddle, Sasuke had cast a genjutsu of his own, leaving the two brothers to stumble around in confusion as they wondered if they'd perhaps mistimed their grand entrance and missed their target.

Kakashi, from that point on, figured that somehow, his cute little genin knew more about this mission than what they were letting on, and the possibility of meeting Zabuza along the way was highly possible. Even if the information they'd garnered as Asahi said as much. There were just little things, as Iruka has said, things that they just knew.

Also by this point, even Kakashi knew without a doubt that Tazuna was lying about the mission but no one said a word about it. They didn't even try to get him to admit it. There wasn't any use because whether it was stated out loud or not, the mission would still get done, mostly because they were Konoha-nin and they wouldn't have abandoned the man, no matter if he had lied or not.

Then was also the small but rather significant fact that they were the Asahi ANBU. Zabuza was going to be in for one hell of a ride if he did decide to attack.

It was in that moment that the Demon Brothers decided on another direct attack. Kakashi very nearly choked when the two boys kept walking, Naruto nudging the client, while Sakura stayed behind, smiling very sweetly at the two ninja who were trying to decide whether to kill her first and go after Tazuna, or kill Tazuna and ignore her.

"Sensei?" Sakura began, "What are things like in Kiri at the moment? They seem to have an awful lot of missing-nin."

"Well, they're either currently under or were recently relieved from the command of their Yondaime. He isn't a very nice Kage." Kakashi shrugged, wondering if he should step in but also curious to see what the girl would do.

Sakura pondered his words for a moment before pulling out a scroll and summoning a small tea set in the middle of the road.

"Would you like some tea?" She asked politely to the stunned Demon brothers. "We can talk all about it over some nice muffins."

While she spoke a steady stream of potent killing intent filled the air, yet her smile never faulted. What was the killing intent for? Scaring the brothers away or scaring them into accepting.

"Sakura." Sasuke had paused to drawl over his shoulder. "We don't have time for tea. That brat Inari wants his grandfather back, alive."

Kakashi was amused when the old bridge builder choked on that last one. Just another mystery to add to the ever growing pile.

"Walk with me, if you don't mind. I know a Yamanaka, and they're sort of like Konoha's therapeutic ninja clan. Whenever anyone feels like they need to get something off their chest, they go to the Yamanaka and everything is all better." Sakura continued, reluctantly sealing away her tea set.

For the life of him, Kakashi couldn't figure out why Sakura was the one interested in the brothers and not either of the two boys. He'd have thought they'd be interested in fighting the brothers.

Sakura's polite conversational ramble cut off when one of the brothers, evidently having had enough of the pinkette, tried to divorce her head from her shoulders.

Sasuke didn't take much of a liking to that, and promptly walked over to the ninja and swiftly kicked his backside. Just like that. No fancy jutsu, no flashy words. Only a kick.

A powerful one at that.

"You will show my teammate some respect, insolent mutt." Sasuke ordered imperiously while the ninja both gapped at him in surprise.

Sakura was ignoring all this, examining her pink strands that had gotten nicked as she'd moved out of the way. The long hair, while beautiful, was rather unpractical in Kakashi's opinion. He'd said as much once and he'd received a glare worse than anything Sasuke had ever given him as well as a snapped "Kurenai-sensei has long hair and so does Jiraiya of the Sanin."

Practical or not, Kakashi could not fault her in her logic, glad that she hadn't tried to bring Tsunade into that either.

The days were indeed pitiful when he, a genius of levels not seen before in Konoha, was bested by a twelve year old kunoichi. He could count on one hand the number of people that were above him in skill. One hand!

But he as thinking that perhaps, it was time to start working on his other hand.

.0.0.0.

In the end, they'd crossed over into the Land of Waves with the Demon Brothers in tow. Kakashi seemed to be the only one who was watching them like a hawk. His genin weren't concerned at all, even going so far as to treat them civilly.

Tazuna, who was quite wide eyed by now, leaned over to the jonin to whisper, "Are enemy ninja always so friendly to each other?"

"No." Kakashi replied simply. "That's just my team." He shrugged. "Besides, if you watch carefully, you'll notice how Naruto poisoned them some time ago. Nothing lethal I imagine, but it does appear to be giving them hallucinations. See how they're twitching ever so slightly, their pupils quite large? They also react to seemingly nothing and Naruto and Sasuke are way too cheerful with the two." Kakashi explained quietly for the civilian client who seemed to become even more terrified than what he already was. The poor man had probably bargained on a nice, normal, possibly quiet team of ninja.

Naruto paused suddenly before lunging at Kakashi, Sasuke yanking on Tazuna muttering about fluffy white bunnies as he ducked to the ground.

"Neh, Sensei, you alright?" Naruto asked from his position atop Kakashi's chest.

"I'll feel loads better when you get off me." Kakashi replied with a slight wheeze. He was a lot lighter in his ANBU terror days when he was five. Now he had far too much equipment.

He hadn't missed the sword that had whizzed through the air, narrowly missing Sakura and Naruto's heads as they'd taken the longest to get down.

"Let me guess." Kakashi began drily. "That was Zabuza's blade?"

.0.0.0.

When the team returned to Konoha, Kotetsu and Izumo nearly choked when not four but eight ninja walked through the gate.

It started with Sakura, gently patting an unknown ninja's arm with a sympathetic, "There, there." While another unfamiliar ninja was sobbing onto the first ninja's shoulder.

Then came Naruto, chatting happily with a ninja they weren't sure was a girl or a boy. Either way, the Shinobi wasn't a Leaf ninja and they exuded power despite the polite smile on his or her face.

Then came a smug looking Sasuke, balancing a large broad sword on his shoulder as easily as though it were a twig with a moping Jonin following him making soft barely heard whimpers. The jonin made a move to get the sword back but the moment he did, Sasuke smacked him on the head with the flat of the sword, tsking softly and saying "Bad Zabuza. Your time out has been lengthened."

Lastly, came an entirely unaffected Kakashi, nose stuck in a book and emitting a perverted giggle as he turned the page.

Kotetsu and Izumo gapped with wide eyes at the whole thing, sorely tempted to ditch their shift and head over to the Mission Room just to see how well this would go down.

But a look from Hatake and they knew that they shouldn't even dare try it. And it looked like it would've been so much fun too.

.0.0.0.

To say that the Sandaime was surprised wouldn't have been entirely accurate. He was mostly expecting the outcome of Team 7's mission and was now faced with the decision of what to do with the four missing-nin from Kiri that Kakashi's little genin had decided to drag home like strays. He was a little surprised with the manner in which the ninja were presented to him. In fact it was comical. But with the power that those three 'genin' possessed it was hardly out of the ordinary. All ninja developed their quirks.

"Haku-kun can stay with me!" Naruto immediately volunteered.

"Of course Zabuza-Sama must be allowed to stay as well." Haku stressed at the blond.

"These two traumatised Shinobi should be seeing a psych-nin, Hokage-sama." Sakura insisted, gesturing to the two quietly sobbing Demon Brothers.

Sasuke perked up at that. He had up till then, been teasing Zabuza about his sword while Zabuza muttered how much he hated the Uchiha under his breath.

"Allow me." He stated cheerfully before he swung the sword at the two brothers, fully intending on decapitating them.

Sakura stopped the blade with one hand and a glare directed at the Uchiha who instantly backed off.

Sarutobi remained unaffected, much the same as Kakashi, while he wrote down his final say upon a scroll before throwing it at Kakashi.

Kakashi caught it and read it before nodding and directing his attention to the Demon Brothers. "Despite my cute little Kunoichi's attachment to her new pets, like any parent I must insist upon putting my foot down. Sakura-chan has yet to learn the discipline it takes in order to properly care for a pet. As such, you two may stay the night in Konoha and then leave whenever you feel up to it. But you will not be joining Konoha's ninja ranks."

The Demon Brothers, for some reason, looked utterly delighted. It might have been the fact that whenever Sakura wasn't looking, the two were forced to endure Naruto and Sasuke's boredom. Or it might have been their utter terror of Sakura, who despite her good intentions, was completely horrible at making someone feel better.

"As for Haku and Zabuza, if you so wish, Hokage-sama has agreed to allow you into our ranks, under Naruto-kun's responsibility. You'll be staying in his complex and will have to rely on him to get you sorted." Kakashi continued. "Sasuke-kun has also graciously agreed to help you get settled."

Zabuza stiffened at that last bit, but both of them were quite happy to stay in Konoha, for the time being. Naruto had mentioned a renegade group in Kiri, attempting to overthrow the Yondaime and Zabuza was instantly all about listening to them, rather than Gatou, whom he happily killed. He seemed rather delighted in fact, that he wasn't going to die at the hands of genin after he'd been thoroughly beaten by Naruto and Sasuke, and was being offered a chance to see his goal come to fruition. He had even thought about leaving for Kiri but Yondaime was still in charge so Haku was at a disadvantage there.

Still, this arrangement was better than what he'd been expecting and truth be told he was just grateful he was alive. Sharingan no Kakashi seemed to be awfully attached to his genin team, obliging their every whim no matter how absurd it was.

"Sasuke-kun, give Zabuza-san back his toy. It's not nice to take from others." Kakashi stated in a mock paternal scold while the genin in question pouted, an honest to Kami pout, before handing over Zabuza's sword.

Things were going to be interesting to say the least. Perhaps he and Haku could use this opportunity to train. Something they hadn't had much time for while on the run.

.0.0.0.

"Sasuke-teme." Naruto was breathless as he raced into the Uchiha's house via his slightly open window.

Said Uchiha had just gotten back from his Asahi ANBU shift at the ANBU headquarters and was just about to crawl into bed.

"What, Naruto-baka, what do you want?" he snapped moodily while Zabuza groaned in annoyance from the next room down the hall. The newly instated Konoha Jonin was quickly finding out that Kakashi's genin were anything but genin. For one thing, they never kept regular hours, not even regular ninja hours.

"I just realised, WE HAVE OUR FIRST KISSES AGAIN!" Naruto screamed, eyes wide and showing just how serious he was.

Sasuke, instead of yelling at the blond for his stupidity, cocked his head in consideration before nodding once in satisfaction. "Yes, because as far as we're concerned that other incident never happened and . . . in all technicalities it didn't. These lips are once again virginal. Ha!" Sasuke rubbed his hands gleefully. "Kabuto won't be able to tease me about it this time."

"Who says Kabuto's teasing you about anything." Naruto growled.

"What, it's a possibility." Sasuke replied innocently.

Naruto gave him the "I'm watching you." look before slowly turning away, eyes leaving Sasuke last with a final flick of two extended fingers towards the Uchiha and jumping out the window again. He decided for the sake of his sanity he would assume that Sasuke was working on 10 percent right now since he'd just come from a shift at the ANBU Headquarters.

However, any more mentions like that and he was personally going to hand the Uchiha over to Danzou for conditional training.

.0.0.0.

"Kakashi-kun, your team will have to be in the next chunin exams." Sarutobi stated suddenly, during a meeting, one that truthfully neither had been paying much attention to.

"What!? Whhhhhy?" Kakashi whined, having picked up far too many habits from his team. He hadn't been planning on nominating them, merely because they would pass and he didn't want that. Not yet.

"A report from the Asahi ANBU state that this chunin exam is going to hold a lot of powerhouse genin. Your team would benefit Konoha greatly, Hatake-san." Shikaku interrupted.

"And what about Shikamaru?" Kakashi deadpanned at the Nara.

"That is up to his sensei." Shikaku replied, indifferent to the jonin's pout.

"And what if I feel my genin are not ready!" Kakashi was now arguing for the sake of arguing. He knew, the Sandaime knew, and Shikaku knew, that Kakashi had no leg to stand on when it came to those particular words. Shikaku was in the know as much as Kakashi was but apparently not as much as his genin and the Sandaime. Those four knew something that Kakashi and Shikaku just could not figure out.

"Hang on . . . Just who are these Asahi ANBU and why was that division created." Chouza asked quietly.

"That is ss-rank information, Akimichi-san." Sarutobi replied. "As for why they were created, well there was a need."

That was a vague answer if ever there was one and Kakashi was glad he was in the know because he sure as hell would have hated an answer like that.

"Not even my operatives could find anything." Danzou muttered, low enough for only Kakashi who had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting next to him, to hear him.

Well at least their identities were secret. That was good. Naruto's seals were doing their job amazingly well if even Danzou couldn't figure out who they were.

"Are we at least allowed to know their skill level?" Inoichi asked.

"If you think knowing their rank will help you figure out who they are then you are mistaken. Their skill and their rank do not match so I could tell you that they're all S-rank but it's not going to help you." Sandaime replied casually.

Kakashi on the other hand choked.

S-rank?

What the hell?

He'd never even guessed as much. He'd been betting on high chunin, low jonin. Very low jonin.

Across the table he could see the usually calm and stoic Shikaku having a similar reaction.

"S-rank?" Kakashi managed to squeak out, still trying to clear his airways.

"Well Kakashi-kun, you wouldn't think I entrusted such a task to a bunch of genin, would you? Just try to imagine Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura attempting that which my Asahi ANBU do."

That was rubbing salt into the wound.

Now he had to wonder, how long had they been at s-rank because that would mean, they'd beaten Itachi and himself when it came to that department. What did Sarutobi know about those three?

Wait . . . . those brats had guilt tripped him into training again! They'd said they needed him to protect them from their enemies! What enemies? The fuzzy teddies in Sakura's room! Because it sure as hell wasn't Itachi!

"I'm still not nominating them for the chunin exams." Kakashi pouted, fuming silently.

"Hatake." Sarutobi began warningly. "That wasn't a request."

"No!" Kakashi replied childishly.

"I will confiscate your Icha Icha collection." Sarutobi threatened.

"N-No." Kakashi's reply wasn't as adamant but still pretty determined. Most were confused as to how Kakashi's genin would make all that much difference in the chunin exams. It was only one team, and a team that held the dead last as well.

"Hatake–" But the Sandaime's words were cut off as three genin puffed into the room with a loud chorus of "Sensei! We brings you a present."

Glaring at the silver haired jonin was a hog tied Tenzou, ANBU mask balanced on the side of his face. He probably would have said something, had he not been gagged.

Naruto hopped up onto the table in front of Kakashi, crouching down and smiling at the jonin in a creepy imitation of the infamous eye smile.

"We know how bored you get in these meetings so we brought you something amusing. He wiggles a lot though, and he tried to escape far too many times. So we paralysed him." He informed Kakashi cheerfully, as though genin taking on ANBU was an everyday occurrence.

"We remembered to feed him." Sakura stated sweetly, before pulling out a watering can and pouring some water on Tenzou's head. "See, I'm learning responsibility."

To Kakashi's surprise and utter amusement, a tiny tree sprouted on Tenzou's head. He'd never remembered that happening before. Was there something special in that water?

Kakashi noted that this time, the brats now had the bandanas tied around their necks rather than their arms. His gaze slid over to Sasuke who was rummaging around in his pouch for something. Deciding that he probably didn't want to know what the Uchiha was looking for, he shunshined over to Tenzou and smiled down at the ANBU.

"Need some help there, Ten-zou?" He placed special emphasise on the man's name, knowing how much it annoyed him. Tenzou only glared at him in response.

"Sensei!" Naruto screamed happily, the only warning he got before he found himself being glomped by the blond. "I learnt how to make miso soup today." Naruto informed him with a dopy smile on his face from his position on Kakashi's back.

"And I was trying to get Sasuke to let go of his tomato fetish. No luck." Sakura sighed, carefully 'feeding' Tenzou again, who was looking less and less amused by the second.

"Ah HA!" Sasuke yelled, dramatically whipping out a scroll. He unrolled it with a flourish before biting his thumb and summoning something into the room.

When the smoke cleared Kakashi found himself presented with the largest puppy eyes he had ever seen and a steaming bowl of what smelled like miso and eggplant soup. Was this Naruto's cooking?

"We brings you another present." Sasuke stated innocently, holding out the bowl and the puppy dog eyes widening.

Kakashi took the bowl because really, who could say no to that.

"Well, sensei, we have to go. There's that D-rank we're having trouble with and we thought that if we came to see you, inspiration would hit us. So far, all I have is chakra wire and timed exploding tags." Sakura stated mournfully, 'feeding' Tenzou one last time before grabbing Naruto and shunshining away. Kakashi tried not to imagine what sort of D-rank mission would require those items. He honestly didn't want to know this time.

Sasuke gave him one last wide smile before following them out the room.

It was utterly quiet for a moment and Kakashi took the second to put the steaming bowl of soup down where he was supposed to be sitting. Then there was a puff of smoke and he found himself under a pile of genin who were giggling and he was pretty sure Sasuke was trying to convince Naruto to make Kage Bunshin.

"Now that's a proper good bye." Naruto yelled before they disappeared again, leaving their sensei sprawled on the floor with a stupid smile on his face.

"I'm not nominating them for the chunin exam." He whispered quietly. How could he? When he'd lose all that.

Tenzou managed to finally free himself and walked over to him with a pout. "They were strangely hard to say no to when they asked me to comply with their elaborate plan to amuse you. That's all they were aiming for, amusing you. Naruto even asked me to teach him how to cook just so that they could bring you lunch as well." Tenzou paused. "It was strangely Sasuke's idea to have the tree." Then he grinned and held out a hand to the jonin. "I like them, Senpai . . . though, they keep calling me Yamato-Taichou."

"I'm definitely not nominating them for the chunin exams." Kakashi nodded to himself as he accepted Tenzou's hand and moved to his chair, ignoring the open mouthed gapes of disbelief.

But mostly, he ignored the Sandaime's look of regretful pity.

Taking a small spoonful of the soup, Kakashi had to conclude that Naruto's cooking skills were on par with his mother's. He'd happily eat anything that boy deemed to cook . . . well, most of the time. Something told him Naruto wouldn't always cook something normal.

.0.0.0.