A/N: Before I post this, I just want to say Echoes of Light has finally reached 100 followers on here. Thank you everyone so much for enjoying it so far! I hope this story keeps entertaining you!


Chapter 26


"Dreams are fascinating things. Sometimes you can go straight from watching a movie as a passive viewer to directing it and the action. You don't question the logic in them while you're asleep, you just enjoy them as they unfold. It's too bad you usually forget them when you wake up."


"Well sensei, I think I finally got it all figured out, and I gotta say—it's pretty ingenious."

Jiraiya spread a map on the Hokage's desk with a dramatic flair, Hiruzen scrutinizing it with a keen eye. Unlike the one painted by Ryoko, this one looked far simpler, little more than basic outlines of the countries with various symbols dotting the empty spaces. Yet even so he could tell that it had been hand painted rather than purchased from a store, the brush strokes clearly defined and varying in thickness—not to mention it had a network of seals bordering it.

"At first I had trouble figuring out Ryoko's seal," the Toad Sage began. "I got the seals on the borders, but something seemed to be missing. Then after looking at her painting more closely, I realized that the map itself contained a seal."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "You mean she incorporated a seal into the actual map?"

"Try the other way around," Jiraiya responded with a cheeky smirk. "The fancy paint job's a distraction from the fact that the outlines of the countries are directly connected to the seal bordering it. Hell, I could spend hours trying to explain it all to you, and I dedicated a few pages to it in my final report. For now though, what matters is this."

He pointed at the seals bordering the top of the map, and when Hiruzen squinted he noticed it had the kanji for "Map" in the center. "On Ryoko's map, she wrote the kanji for 'world' there. I found it on the seals inside her little gifts to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, too—and by the way, that foresight still really scares me," Jiraiya added casually as he bounced the purple coin purse in his palm, "But anyways, I realized this little piece right here is the variable that specifically links the map to the companion seal.

"So," he continued, dropping the coin purse and pulling out a thick, yellow wrist brand, "I changed the variable to 'map' and made my own little charm." As he spoke he handed the wrist band to Hiruzen, who inspected it thoughtfully. A white tag sewn into the side carried the kanji for "Test", and when he reversed it he found a series of seals inscribed on the inner side of the fabric.

"I see," Hiruzen murmured, nodding sagely. "And it works?"

Grinning, Jiraiya slapped a hand on the center of the map and the seals on the wrist band lit up. Hiruzen fed it his own chakra in response, and sure enough the seals bordering the map flared to life and a gold light rippled through it. As they watched part of the glow suddenly veered away from the border and surged through the lines inscribed on the map, causing a bright yellow light to appear over Konoha with the kanji for 'Test' next to it.

"Impressive," Hiruzen declared once the demonstration ended. "I must ask, can it be made on a smaller scale?"

"It can," Jiraiya confirmed, pulling another roll of paper and spreading it on the table. This one showed a basic layout of Konoha, but unlike the other one it had the kanji for "World" at the top once more. Raising an eyebrow, Hiruzen glanced at Jiraiya pointedly and the Sannin produced a small, leaf green pouch. "For this one, I decided to use Ryoko's original seal, since she already graciously prepared at least four companion seals for us, and probably a hell of a lot more than these if we're being honest."

As he spoke he flared his chakra into the pouch and the seal on the map flickered to life, a bead of green light appearing over the Hokage's tower with the kanji for 'Oil' next to it. "As you can see, Ryoko-chan helpfully incorporated a feature to send a distress signal so that we can signal the map ourselves in case of an emergency. All of which would have been so wonderful to know back when she first gave me this stupid thing."

His smile twitched a bit at the last remark, a bit of irritation slipping into his jovial tone. Hiruzen arched an eyebrow. "To be honest, I'm surprised she didn't tell you. I understand she had reasons not to trust me towards the end, but you... She greatly respected and trusted you."

"I swear," Jiraiya sighed, letting his smile fall as he folded his arms. "That girl caused me no end of troubles. Even after dying she still finds ways to surprise me. One day I'm just traveling around when suddenly, whoosh! That little coin purse she gave me suddenly lights up like it's on fire." Shaking his head, he grumbled, "Protective wards my foot. I should've known better than to believe she laced it with something so simple as fireproofing and waterproofing it."

"At least it gave you a reason to return," Hiruzen commented wryly. "I've been trying to contact you anyway, so it works out fine for me."

"Of course it does for you," Jiraiya grumbled. He sighed again, his irritation sliding from his face and replaced by a more solemn air. "I think about it a lot and frankly, I'm still not sure if I could've done anything to make things turn out better for her. Ryoko had it pretty rough from the start, it might've been too late by the time we met."

"It very well could have," Hiruzen agreed, mirroring his former student's somber demeanor. "You at least did a good job teaching her fuinjutsu. Perhaps if we're fortunate, she left some notes on her other research," he added, allowing a small smile to slip through.

Jiraiya just snorted and rolled his eyes. "Fat chance. She was the most paranoid kid I ever met. I'm still trying to crack the seals on a couple of the books she left me in her will—and that is another scary moment of foresight," he added with a small grimace. "The topics she picked... I'm seriously wondering if her Sharingan let her see the future. I half expect to open them up and find some super-specific warning, like, 'Orochimaru will appear in Kiri on June 11 wearing a floppy sunhat, be sure to take Anko and thirty dango dumplings because she'll be the key to victory.'"

"You know the Sharingan can't actually see the future," Hiruzen remarked lightly, faintly amused by the description his student conjured.

"Of course I know that," Jiraiya replied, and leveled a calm gaze on his teacher as he casually added, "The regular Sharingan has no precognition abilities." Hiruzen's eyes narrowed as his smile faded, recognizing the underlying message:

'But another stage might.'


He sat in the tea room across from Ryoko, legs folded beneath him on the cushion as he watched her pour tea. "Chamomile tea is wonderful for nerves," she commented idly. "It tastes so sweet, too. Perfect for a couple of sugar lovers like us!" She set down the pot and poked his nose, and a feminine giggle passed his lips.

"Thank you, mom!" a familiar voice chirped, and small hands reached out to lift the cup, fingers curling around so each one tapped one of the gold and red leaves painted on the sides. Lifting it to his mouth, he sipped it delicately and gave a satisfied sigh. "It's so sweet."

"Be sure to drink it all," Ryoko said, her hands folded on her lap as she watched. A small hum sounded and the cup lifted again, the golden-orange liquid quickly draining and leaving a strong aftertaste of honey in his mouth. Setting it down, the hands folded atop a familiar lap and his vision dipped briefly.

"Thank you for the tea."

"Don't... mention it." Her voice had an odd snag to it, and he straightened with a frown. Ryoko's face lolled forward with a gentle smile on her lips, her eyes closed. As he watched something sparkled at the inner corner of her eye, and a line of tears suddenly slid down her cheek.

"Mom?" he asked in alarm, his voice overlapping with the familiar one, and Ryoko sucked in a sharp breath, her smile never fading.

"I love you so much, Akari," she whispered, and her eyes opened to reveal the bloody red irises of the Sharingan.

Masaru jolted awake with a gasp, his eyes snapping open. Rolling over and sitting up, his gaze slid to the mirror on the dresser next to the bed and he saw glowing red eyes staring back at him. Something sparkled on his face beneath them, and he rubbed his eyes and pulled his hands away to note tears staining his fingers.

Every now and then, he'd dream about that day. He had no doubt he watched from Akari's eyes as she sat in the tea room, listened with her ears to his mother's rhythmic voice. Such dreams had happened even before the massacre, just little moments from each other's day randomly playing out in their sleep. It had been an absolutely normal phenomenon for them and had occurred for as long as they could remember, and their mother fondly called it "twin telepathy" when they told her about it.

He breathed a small sigh through his nose, quietly climbing out of bed and padding towards the window. Dark clouds still shrouded the sky, but he could glimpse shreds of pale blue through them, signaling the storm had ended and would soon pass altogether. He surmised dawn to be relatively close, and a glance at the clock hanging on the wall confirmed only an hour remained before the planned wakeup time. Gaku still slumbered peacefully, and Masaru decided to just take a few minutes to stew in his thoughts.

He could still feel phantom traces of the tea's flavor from his dream, feeling thick and syrupy on his tongue and coating his throat with a sweet flavor like honey. Wanting to distract himself from it, he quietly slid open the window and inhaled the breeze that swept inside, letting his eyelids flutter shut. Storms calmed him and he enjoyed listening to harsh rain pound against the walls and window panes, but he especially liked the time after a big one. Humidity still hung heavy in the air and he could taste the lingering traces of rain, the smell of damp leaves drifting to his nose.

"Masaru?" Gaku's voice sounded quietly behind him, and he turned in surprise, offering a small smile.

"Sorry sensei, did I wake you up?"

"Ah, no, it's fine," his teacher mumbled, rubbing his eyes and giving a big yawn. "What time is it?"

"Five..." He flashed his Sharingan to read the clock in the darkness. "Thirty-four."

"Close enough," Gaku decided, rolling back the covers and slipping out of bed. "Let's do some stretches." Masaru nodded and joined him on the floor, copying the strange acrobatic poses his sensei did and feeling the kinks in his back pop with satisfying cracks.

"Sensei?" he asked as their backs curled, their limbs stretching into the air. Gaku rolled his head to look at him, his black eyes seeming larger than usual in the dark.

"Yes, Masaru?" he prodded, and the boy hesitated, the question he wanted to ask dying on his lips.

"What's the schedule for today?" he asked instead, and Gaku stared at him for a long moment before answering. The entire time his original question echoed in his mind, lingering like the storm clouds outside.

'Why wasn't Akari at the hospital that day?'


When the group set out later that day, the storm had passed to leave a clear blue sky. As they walked along the adults idly discussed the storm which led to exchanging some fun stories about various misadventures in finding shelter on missions. Gaku strangely had little trouble with finding suitable accommodations for reasons he wouldn't divulge other than "luck," but Genma had the craziest experience.

"Big escort mission that passed through northern Wind got waylaid by a freak blizzard," he declared flatly. "No shelter for miles around, just endless desert. We ended up using Katon and Futon jutsu to melt the snow into ice and shape it into a small shelter."

"That would have to be pretty far north for an escort mission from Konoha," Baki commented. "What was your destination?"

"Some small town near the border of Earth," Genma replied briskly. "The clients wanted to peddle goods to an eccentric noble who'd moved there."

"Ah, you must mean Lord Henjin," Baki murmured, wincing sympathetically. "He is quite... unique." His tone sounded carefully measured, making Masaru wonder just what kind of man Henjin must be. He couldn't ask though, as the two older Sand Siblings had accosted him and started peppering him with a steady stream of questions.

"So this is your first time leaving your village?" Temari asked disdainfully.

"I never had reason to leave in the past," Masaru replied politely, still all smiles.

"Then does that mean you haven't even been in a fight?" Kankurou challenged, and Masaru somehow refrained from gulping at the predatory gleam in his eyes.

"I have yet to fight any bandits, if that is what you mean. I do spar regularly with one of my fellow genin though, she is a year older than me and quite skilled."

"She?" Kankurou snorted, sounding unimpressed, and then yelped as Temari sharply elbowed him in the ribs with a harsh glare. At that point Masaru's polite smile broke into a more genuine one, snickering at the older boy's misfortune. This earned him a cold glare from the dark-clothed boy. "What're you laughing at, kid?"

"Nothing," Masaru replied, the smile vanishing in an instant and replaced by a serene look of innocence. The abrupt shift made Kankurou falter slightly, his eyes narrowing as he stared at him perplexed.

"...The hell? I thought you only had that creepy robot smile."

"Only when stressed," Masaru replied easily, feeling a bit more relaxed now. The small bit of sibling bickering had eased his prior tension a bit, and he smiled faintly as he glanced at the canopy of foliage above them. Raindrops still clung to the leaves, glistening in the sunlight, and he knocked on a tree trunk to watch the drops shimmer to the ground in a miniature downpour.

"That's pretty kiddish, don't you think?" Temari commented. Masaru merely shrugged, not looking at the Sand kunoichi.

"Maybe? I don't really care though. It reminds me of my sister."

"Your sister?" Temari echoed, sounding genuinely curious. Masaru hummed in response, his wistful smile never fading. Akari loved shaking the trees and watching the water fall. They used to chase each other around after storms while hitting trees with training kunai to try to drench the other.

"You never mentioned you had one," Kankurou remarked. "Are we gonna meet her when we get to Konoha?"

Masaru's steps faltered, his eyes lowering to the forest floor as his smile grew even fainter. "...No. She died. When we were eight."

An awkward silence fell, and he heard a small smack followed by Kankurou grunting in pain and Temari hissing, "Idiot."

"How?" Masaru almost jumped when Gaara suddenly spoke, his voice slightly gravelly and raspy as if he never used it. He didn't look back at the redhead, his right ear suddenly throbbing and his smile fading.

"...My clan's heir went crazy and killed almost everyone," he replied quietly, his eyes trailing to the ground.

"And he spared you?" Gaara pressed, and Masaru hesitated, his hand ghosting over his side and pressing against the scar hidden beneath his shirt.

"...Not untouched," he murmured, his fingers grasping the fabric tightly, and then sped up to fall in step beside his teacher to avoid any more questions. Only a few hours before they returned, and then he'd be home free.


Breathing through her nose, Sakura raised her hands and began running through seals, her face screwed in concentration as she murmured under her breath. "Ram, Tiger, Snake, Dog, Rat, Ox, Horse, Rabbit, Tiger, Boar, Snake..." Flashing the final seal, she yelled, "Doton: Practice Brick Barrier!"

The earth around her instantly shifted and pillar-like protrusions erupted, forming a short wall in front of her that barely reached her waist. Her hands fell to her sides with a groan, her head hanging in shame. "It's so short..." Kakashi placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, smiling at her reassuringly.

"Don't worry, this is a pretty good start," he told her. "This is your first time using this technique after all."

"Yeah, that's super-awesome Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered. "Kakashi-sensei, teach me that jutsu too!"

"Er, I would, but... I'm pretty sure you're not a Doton user."

"How would you even know that!?"

"...Just a hunch," Kakashi demurred as he thought back to Minato and Kushina, ignoring Naruto's grumbles of protest. Earlier that day Sakura had approached him to reveal she'd purchased Chakra Induction Paper and discovered she had an affinity for Earth. He appreciated her initiative, but from what he could tell Sakura didn't have the proper reserves to be a ninjutsu specialist. Her style would instead most likely depend on her chakra control and taijutsu.

"I don't think most doton techniques suit you anyway," Sasuke commented to the kunoichi, as if reading Kakashi's thoughts. "I checked out a couple scrolls at the library after activating the Sharingan, and most of the low-level ones involve burrowing underground for surprise attacks. I don't know, it seems too indirect for you." He shrugged lazily, though Sakura seemed to be thoughtful now.

"But... I'm definitely the weakest one here—physically anyway—so... wouldn't indirect attacks work better?" she mused aloud.

"You're physically weak now, but you're getting stronger," Kakashi noted. "That strength training has been paying off. That said, personally I don't think you should focus on learning elemental jutsu until you've built up your stamina a bit more. You've been reading books on medical ninjutsu, right?"

"Oh, yeah," she confirmed, nodding vigorously. "I borrowed a couple from Masaru. Ryoko-sama left some really detailed notes in the margins, it's... kind of intimidating, to be honest." She scratched her neck as she spoke, her eyes flitting to the side. "Half of her notes actually don't have to do with medical ninjutsu as much as chakra control. I think she was trying to reverse-engineer Tsunade's fighting style—"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and stopped listening at that point, too busy imagining Sakura shattering trees with her bare fists. It seemed oddly fitting given her somewhat violent tendencies and short temper, but could the world really withstand another Tsunade?

"—I haven't had any luck convincing a medical ninja to show me the Mystical Healing Palm, so I can't actually heal anything yet," Sakura continued when he zoned back in, sounding a bit sheepish. "But I've studied all I can about human anatomy, and I figured out some good vital points to aim for that most people wouldn't expect. Back in Wave, Haku let me practice with some of his senbon while we waited for the bridge to be finished, and he gave me one of his old books on poisons so I've been looking into that too."

"Poison?" Naruto squeaked, his face paling, while Kakashi looked at her with renewed interest.

"Fast acting? Slow? Paralytics?"

"Not sure yet," Sakura responded with a shrug. "I managed to gather the necessary plants for a slow-acting paralytic, but I think I should probably have supervision when I make it?"

"Definitely," Kakashi agreed without a second's hesitation. "How about we try making it tonight after training?" His student's face lit up with excitement as she eagerly voiced her agreement, and he smiled at her before turning to the other two. "Naruto, Sasuke, how about you two? Any major improvements you want to share?"

"Yeah! I totally beat up teme in yesterday's spar!" Naruto cheered, and Sasuke scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Shut up, dobe. You got in a couple lucky punches. Meanwhile, I still managed to pop ten clones with a single fireball." The whiskered genin squawked in offense and began arguing with him angrily, making Kakashi huff a small sigh. He'd assigned the two to keep sparring outside their usual training sessions since they'd challenge each other, not to mention it would help them build a stronger connection. Rivalry could be an amazing motivator, after all.

Beyond that, he'd also started giving Naruto some special one-on-one training to help hone his taijutsu skills a bit. Thus far Naruto's Shadow Clone technique seemed to be his signature technique, so Kakashi expected they would be even more useful if they could throw proper punches. The sessions also cut down on his complaints about favoritism in regards to his special training sessions with Sasuke and Masaru to use the Sharingan.

In all honesty, his current level of hands-on involvement in his students' training surprised Kakashi. When he got assigned Team Seven, he hadn't expected to become this involved with all of them. However, after what happened in Wave, he realized he couldn't slack with their training any more.

Strong opponents existed, and he wouldn't always be there to help. Naruto and Sasuke in particular would be highly-coveted targets, given Naruto's jinchuuriki status and Sasuke's Sharingan. Team Seven seemed to be cursed after all. His own team had whittled down to just himself, while Minato's team had also suffered its fair share of tragedies until only Jiraiya remained.`

Looking at bright-eyed Naruto, fierce and determined Sakura, and quiet but heavily motivated Sasuke, Kakashi felt his heart clench at the thought of them encountering the same sort of tragedies he did during their career.

Team Seven's already suffered enough, he thought grimly. Let's make this one a lucky number.

As he reflected over this Naruto gave a small cry, jumping and racing away from the clearing with an eager wave. "Masaru! You're back!" Sasuke and Sakura immediately turned in the direction their blond teammate ran, and sure enough the familiar brunette trudged towards them, relief clearly sparking in his eyes at the sight of them. Kakashi turned just in time to see the Uchiha boy greet Naruto with a tight hug, catching his student by obvious surprise.

"Thank you for being awesome and loud all the time and not glaring at everything," he mumbled, squeezing the startled blond. Naruto just stood in tense silence, looking mildly disconcerted by the sudden embrace, and it occurred to Kakashi he might need to work on getting him adjusted to friendly physical contact. Sasuke watched the exchange with a slightly bewildered look, while Sakura just snorted in amusement at Naruto's clearly lost expression.

"Uh, you're welcome?" he muttered uncertainly, awkwardly lifting his arms to return the hug. Masaru smiled as he pulled away, giving a sheepish shrug.

"Sorry, the team I had to escort has someone really scary on it so I'm just really relieved to see some friendly faces." As he spoke he turned to glance at Sasuke, who instinctively stepped back as if fearing another sudden embrace. It occurred to Kakashi he might need to work on the friendly contact thing with all of his students. Granted, Sakura probably received plenty of hugs from her friends and family, but her rough nature hardly made her likely to give one.

Deciding to rescue Sasuke from a potential public display of affection, Kakashi casually joined the conversation with a thoughtful hum. "Oh? Someone scary, you say? Hmm... You had to escort the team from Suna, right?" Masaru nodded and Naruto frowned, his features screwing in confusion.

"Huh? What're you talking about?" he asked, scratching at his whiskers. Next to him Sakura suddenly gasped, clapping her hands in realization.

"The Chuunin Exams! They're next week, aren't they?" Her teammates instantly perked to attention, their eyes immediately shifting towards to Kakashi. The jounin huffed a small sigh and slouched in resignation, realizing he'd dug himself into a hole on that one.

"Well, I was hoping you guys would forget, but it looks like I sabotaged myself by asking this time."

"We're entering," Sasuke told him firmly, earning vigorous nods of agreement from his teammates.

"...Maybe," Kakashi demurred, and his three adorable genin growled in irritation.

"We've been training our butts off!" Naruto snapped, angrily swinging a fist in the air. "Like hell we're not entering!"

"Masaru, you've met one team," Sakura said, getting the Uchiha boy's attention. "Tell us about them. We'll probably go up against them at some point, so the more we know about them, the better."

"It's a bit early to scope out the competition when you still haven't confirmed you're entering," Kakashi muttered, but they chose to ignore him and focus on Masaru. The brunette frowned, his eyes squeezing shut in thought.

"...They're all siblings, two boys and one girl. The oldest one is the kunoichi, Temari, she's confident but I don't know what she does. You'll recognize her because she has blonde hair in four pigtails. The middle one is Kankurou, he dresses like a kabuki stagehand and has purple face paint. You can't miss him. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing he uses puppets?"

"Puppets?" Naruto repeated, blinking dumbly.

"That's pretty common in Suna," Sakura murmured thoughtfully. "Makes sense with the kabuki theme, too."

"Last one?" Sasuke pressed, and Masaru hesitated, a flicker of apprehension flashing through his features so briefly Kakashi nearly missed it.

"...Gaara," he replied after a moment. "Red hair, thick black rings around his eyes. Gourd strapped on his back." He paused. "He... has the kanji for 'love' on his forehead, above the right eye."

"Like, a tattoo?" Naruto asked, and Masaru frowned.

"No. A scar." The three genin stiffened, their eyes widening in surprise. Masaru's eyes flitted to Kakashi, and sensing his unspoken request the jounin stepped closer and crouched next to him. The boy cupped his hand around his mouth as he whispered into his ear as softly as possible, "Gaku-sensei, Genma-san and Raidou-san said they think he's a jinchuuriki."

Kakashi's eye widened in surprise and he quickly pulled his head away, straightening up with a contemplative expression on his face. "Is that so," he murmured thoughtfully. He knew Konoha already suspected Gaara to be the jinchuuriki, but for Tenzo to voice his agreement made it almost certain in Kakashi's mind. His presence in the Exams might pose some unexpected trouble...

Noting the curious looks his genin shot him, he paused and his eye crinkled in a smile. "Sorry guys, but Masaru just told me some rather... sensitive information. I'd prefer not to share it with you, since it might alter your perceptions a bit too much if it's correct."

The genin groaned in annoyance and grumbled various complaints, but Kakashi chose to ignore them, turning back to Masaru. "In any event, thank you for letting us know. On an unrelated note, I'm glad you're here today, because I have something very interesting to share with you all and it actually relates to you."

His genin instantly stopped complaining as they snapped their gazes to Kakashi with full interest, even Masaru looking at him curiously. "Do you all remember the map in Masaru's room?"

"Hell yeah," Naruto confirmed, snickering. "Teme's butt started glowing and everything."

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke growled, smacking the blond on the back of his head.

"We really could've used that back in Wave," Sakura moaned tiredly, hunching over and massaging her forehead. "It would've saved us so much trouble if we knew we had a distress signal to send Konoha." Kakashi hummed in agreement, feeling a similar twinge of annoyance as he recalled the events that unfolded there. Considering he'd been forced to stay on bed rest for eight days after a nonconsensual medical procedure on his transplanted eye, he really wished they had access to one.

"Right... About that." Kakashi reached into his pants pocket and produced a familiar dark blue omamori, as well as a small violet pouch with a cherry blossom charm attached and a black wrist band with an orange swirl. The genin instantly perked up at the sight, Sasuke looking relieved to see his amulet, but Naruto and Sakura focused on the coin purse and wrist band with startled looks.

"AH!" Naruto yelled. "That's the stuff that weird talking cat gave us a couple weeks ago! I thought Ero-Sennin took it!"

"Well," Kakashi began, but paused as he processed Naruto's words. "Wait, Ero-Sennin?"

"It fits," Sakura declared flatly. Masaru and Sasuke just stared at them quizzically, wondering what happened. Secretly Kakashi agreed with the nickname, but he had too much respect for Jiraiya's abilities to openly state as much.

"Anyways," he coughed into his fist, though the mask somewhat dampened the effect, "They have the same seal Sasuke's little charm has connecting them to the map. Based on our speculation, most likely Ryoko-san—Masaru's mother—prepared these back when you guys were still in the academy and left orders for her ninneko summons to deliver them later. They don't live in another dimension like most summons and can wander freely, she just made a contract to summon them when necessary, so her death wouldn't restrict their movements. With these, you guys can send a distress signal if you ever encounter trouble, which may come in handy if you enter the Chuunin Exams."

"Wait a second," Sakura cut in with a frown. "Are you saying she somehow knew our future team assignments and made something just for us? And that... that she wouldn't be there to give it to us personally?"

"Actually, upon further investigation we discovered a good chunk of your graduating class received a little gift. Most of them got it indirectly, like how the wrist band left in Naruto's room, but Kiba reported one ninneko ambushed him outside the Inuzuka compound and spit out a necklace before turning tail and fleeing."

"...Why?" Sasuke asked, unsure how to respond to any of that.

"Ryoko had... issues," Kakashi responded carefully, glancing at Masaru to gauge his reaction. His deadpan stare seemed to indicate it would be safe to continue. "She had a somewhat short but, ah, highly eventful career that left her with rather severe anxiety and paranoia, and tried to plan for every scenario possible as a result. We suspect she made something for every student in her children's class in anticipation of them getting a team. She probably left her ninneko orders to deliver them to all the successful graduates in the event she died, most likely after we finally noticed the map had the seal."

"But... she didn't make me anything," Masaru interjected, his mouth curving into a dejected frown. "Why not?" The fact she prepared something for everyone else—even Kiba—left him feeling particularly melancholic. Kakashi just hummed, offering him a thoughtful glance.

"I don't know. But I personally suspect she did make something for you. In fact, knowing her, she definitely did. We just haven't found it yet. Anyways, we've finished examining these so you can have them back." Turning to his team, he passed out the three charms to each genin who took them with varying amounts of gratitude.

"...Kakashi," Sasuke said suddenly, looking at his omamori. "Why is there a drop of blood on the back?" Kakashi paused, blinking in mild surprise.

"Ah. That must have been from when Master Jiraiya, er, had a minor nosebleed." He coughed awkwardly while Sasuke visibly stiffened, as did Masaru and Sakura, both of whom shot the Uchiha knowing looks.

For once, Naruto didn't miss this subtle interaction. "Huh? Why are you guys looking at teme like that? What's going on with the charm?"

"Uh, well," Sakura mumbled, while Masaru sucked in a sharp breath.

"If either of you tell him, I am not speaking to you for a month," Sasuke deadpanned.

"I am terribly sorry I cannot tell you Naruto," Masaru informed Naruto blandly with a deep bow.

"Sorry Naruto, you heard him," Sakura said with a dismissive shrug. The blonde squawked in dismay, looking at them in betrayal.

"What!? No fair! Why can't you tell me! What's the big deal!?"

"Hey, I just got Sasuke-kun to talk to me! No way am I setting it back a month by blabbing to you!"

"I have to live with him. A month of the silent treatment gets really awkward, even for us."

As the genin began bickering Kakashi huffed a small sigh, but his eye clearly glinted with amusement. His genin really were too cute.


Later that night Sasuke woke up to notice light seeping through the crack under his door, a faint flowery aroma wafting through the door. Yawning tiredly, he climbed out of bed and trudged to the door, quietly opening it to peek outside. Masaru sat at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of tea, heavy bags under his eyes. The sight hardly bothered him, it seemed almost every week at least one of the Uchiha boys would end up at the table late at night.

Masaru didn't look at him as Sasuke trudged out of his bedroom, slipping into the chair next to him. "Bad dream?" he guessed tiredly, and his cousin shrugged, eyes still focused on his tea. Golden dragonflies decorated the white porcelain cup, each one's wings painted with unique ornate patterns so that no two matched. Ryoko's hand-painted teacups had been among the few belongings the two Uchiha boys had opted to bring to their new apartment, the sentimentality too powerful to ignore.

Twisting in his chair, Sasuke eyed the ingredients scattered on the kitchen counter before his gaze slid to one of Ryoko's many notebooks open. Squinting, he lifted from his seat slightly and read aloud, "Chamomile tea?"

"I just wanted to try it again so I dug up one of mom's recipes," Masaru mumbled tiredly, and Sasuke hummed.

"Is it good?"

"It's... flowery. Kinda mild, maybe a little biter. It washes down really easily. I'd probably like it, but..."

He trailed off, and after a long moment of silence Sasuke pressed, "But?"

"...It doesn't taste like the drink from my dream," Masaru replied softly, and quietly rose from his seat and treaded back to his room, sparing no final glance towards the cup. Sasuke watched him depart with a mild frown, wondering just what that meant.