It had been Natsu's first day at the Ninja Academy. Sakura had sent him out the door with a smile and a "Do your best!" But when he came home...

Natsu ran up the stairs that led to the front door of the Uchiha compound, his black and pink hair blowing behind him as he ran. His small body was all scuffed up and many of his cuts and scrapes were bleeding. Tears squeezed out of his green eyes and trickled down his cheeks. Finally he made it through the door, yelling, "Okaa-san! I need help!"

Sakura came running out of the door to the kitchen, where she had been making dinner. His father followed after her from the study room where he had beentryingto reada mission report from Naruto's ANBU squad. When they saw their son all banged up like that, they dropped to their knees and asked him, "What happened?"

"Today we learned how to throw shuriken and we practiced throwing them at twees, and I hit the twee with all of my shuriken..."

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"Other kids got jealous and they teased me about stuff."

"Like what?"

"Like my hair," the young Uchiha said pensively, tugging at a strand of his black and pink hair.

"Why would they tease you about your hair?"

"Because they say no normal kid's hair is supposed to be two colors, and they said I dyed it or got, what was that word, highlights...and because my hair is long even though I'm a boy."

Sasuke had to laugh at that.

"Why are you laughing, Daddy? (if anyone could tell me the Japanese word for father, I'd be very happy)"

"Well...you see, you have an uncle, and he's had long hair for all of his life."

"Oh...how come I've never met him?"

"Because...he's far away. But you'll meet him sometime."

"Ok! What's his name?"

"Itachi."

"That's a cool name!"

"Hn..."

"But anyway, Natsu, how DID you get all those cuts and bruises?"

"The other kids were jealous because of the shuriken pwactice, and they purposely thwew shuriken at me, except that girl that lives next door, Mizuki. She was the only nice kid today."

"Oh I see." The inner Sakura was shouting and hopping around all over the place, and was telling her to go to the school's teacher, which was still Iruka Umino, and yell at him for not stopping the other kids.

"And the scrapes?"

"Oh...we also learned basic taijutsu today, and I did well in that too...but the other kids got even more jealous and they laughed when they tripped me when I was running..."

"Oh..."

Then Natsu just flung himself at his mother, and sobbed into her red dress. She patted him softly on the back, tracing the familiar Uchiha fan that was embroidered on all of the family's backs. Her mouth moved as she whispered soft words of comfort to her son, telling him that it would be okay, and that tomorrow might be better. Then she stood up slowly, and led him to the bathroom. Sasuke plugged his ears, knowing what she was going to do. She was going to use hydrogen peroxide on his wounds.

Several screams erupted from the bathroom and Sasuke could hear them clearly even though he had plugged his ears. Dear God, even Naruto, Hinata, and their daughter Mizuki could hear it next door. Needless to say, all the birds within a three mile radius flew away, and the people of Konoha doing their business stood still. That included Kakashi, Gai, and everyone else in Konoha.

Sakura and Natsu came out of the bathroom. Natsu had fresh tears in his eyes, but all his wounds were patched up.

"Here come on Natsu...we have dango."

Natsu's eyes instantly dried and brightened at the mention of his favorite food other than rice balls and tomatoes. He ran to the kitchen after his mother, not minding his wounds at all. Sasuke just smiled and returned to his mission report. He didn't shut the door, which was foolish on his part, because the second he had started to decipher again, he heard a pleased yell of, "It's multicolored!" which nearly deafened him.