Let's start this from the beginning

Season of Change

The earth beneath her feet shattered when she pushed herself off the ground, but Tsunade ignored that in favour of keeping her eyes focused on her opponent. She was used to it anyway considering that was a natural occurrence whenever she fought, so it wasn't as if she needed to heed it any attention.

It was only because she hadn't let him out of her sight for even a second that she caught Jiraiya sneakily forming hand seals with one hand when he thought his body blocked her sight.

"Katon: Endan!" (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)

If she hadn't been aware of the attack in advance, the projectiles would have forced her to stop her attack and fall back in order to dodge them, but as things were now, they barely slowed her down as she weaved her way through them. Judging from the minuscule widening of his eyes, Jiraiya hadn't seen that coming. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from avoiding her fist with a smooth backflip, and although she came close enough to graze some of his stray hair, the attack ultimately missed.

Instead, her fist shattered the ground and created a shockwave of dirt and dust that quickly swallowed the entire battleground.

When it cleared up a few seconds later, the two stood facing each other from a safe distance, both of them ready to move at a second's notice if necessary. Then, after a few moments of inaction, Jiraiya began to speak:

"Hey, you didn't really try to hit me with that, right? I could have died y'know?"

"Really? And here I thought I was holding back enough! Are you sure it isn't time for you to retire if you can't even take this much anymore?"

The exasperated look he gave her almost made Tsunade break her façade and chuckle. "That comment would have had a lot more bite if you weren't panting so hard, Tsunade."

Well, he isn't wrong about that, she thought. In her defence, however, they had been training for several hours already. Considering she had only begun to train seriously again about a year ago - bringing Konoha's medical corps back in order and dealing with her hemophobia took its time, after all - while also being limited in whom she could effectively spar with, she would go as far as to say that she was making steady progress. She even almost scored a win against her sensei during their last match until that old geezer decided to go all Enma on her!

Besides…

"Big words coming from someone who so miserably tries and fails to hide how hard he's wheezing himself," she replied with a somewhat cheeky grin that got a laugh out of her opponent.

It was true, too. While she admitted that she was clearly more exhausted than he was, Jiraiya's breathing was ragged as well, and judging from the slightly hunched way he stood, one of her previous attacks must have done at least some damage. Not surprising, of course. She was proud to say that her attacks hurt even when she barely even grazed her opponents.

"Ha, fair point! What do you say about ending things here? I think we have been going for long enough and there are still a few other things I have to do today."

"Fine with me," she shrugged before stretching her limbs only to wince at some burns between her shoulder blades. I better heal that soon before it becomes even more annoying. "I haven't checked in on the hospital yet either and I want to get that over with as soon as possible."

"You don't need to breathe down their necks every day, y'know?"

"And you don't need to peep at women every day and yet here we are. Besides, you have no idea what mischief they get up to every day. I'm almost convinced they do half of the crap they do just to mess with me."

"Well, if you say so," he relented with a shrug as he slowly made his way towards her, wisely choosing not to fight her about how she led her hospital. "By the way, would you mind healing this?" Jiraiya pulled up his top to expose a not insignificant bruise that stretched from his navel to his shoulder and covered most of his left ribcage. "You really got me good with this one."

"You should have tried harder to dodge, then." Even though she said that, Tsunade immediately got to work to heal it. Her own burns could wait a little bit longer. "Anything else?"

"Only a few scratches here and there," he replied easily before wrinkling his nose with a downward glance at himself. "Though my clothes are ruined. Really, couldn't you have gone a bit easier with your jutsu? I know you don't even like them!"

Tsunade snorted. "There would be little point in training if I didn't improve all of my skills, wouldn't there?"

It was true that she generally avoided using Ninjutsu and focused primarily on smashing her opponents into pieces with her fists, but that didn't mean she couldn't use them. It's just that she generally didn't need to. She could at the very least keep pace with pretty much every opponent if not outright outspeed them, and all it took was one single hit to end most fights. She didn't even need to worry too much about getting hit herself due to her healing abilities. Unless she was done with one single hit, she usually could get up sooner rather than later. However, one never knew when that suddenly wasn't enough anymore and Tsunade wanted to be prepared for that eventuality.

"Then maybe you should improve your dodging next time," Jiraiya said, referring to her earlier comment while giving her a suspiciously scrutinising once-over. "Judging from the state of your attire, you need some new clothes as well. Not that I would mind if-"

"You better think very carefully whether you really want to finish that sentence, Jiraiya."

For once in his life, he actually listened to her and shut his mouth with an audible 'snap'. Wonders never cease, huh?

Tsunade would never openly admit it, but as annoying as he could sometimes be, there was something reassuring about seeing him act like he had always done. There were few constants in the world; the sun rose in the east and set in the west, shinobi fought and died, and Jiraiya acted like the pervert idiot he was. It was something that she had known for decades now, from the moment she had first met him, and with how everything in her life seemed to slip through her fingers and out of her reach, having this one steadfast constant was reassuring in a way that was hard to put into words.

That didn't mean she would let him ogle her, however.

"You said you had some other things to do today," she spoke up, remembering his earlier words. "Were you serious or am I just going to find you at the hot springs later?"

He chuckled at that, but she recognized that it lacked some of his usual merriness. "Unfortunately, duty will keep me away today. The ladies will need to survive without me for the time being, I'm afraid."

"Something you can share?" she asked, ignoring the second part of his comment. "It must be something big if you actually complain about it to me."

"No, nothing big. At least not in the traditional sense. I will meet up with Naruto later, you see."

"Calling it 'unfortunate' to spend time with your godson is hardly appropriate, Jiraiya, and you never seemed to mind before."

"Yeah, well…" He let out a tired sigh, making her raise an eyebrow in wonder at what could possibly cause such a reaction. "Sensei and I decided that it's time to tell him about the Nine-Tails. We don't know how he's going to take the news, so I want to stay with him for at least the rest of the day afterwards."

Now that would explain his attitude, I guess.

She had known that this would happen soon. The initial plan had been to tell him when he graduated from the Academy, but when the time came, it had been decided to wait for another month. Sensei had apparently been wary about the possibility of the news noticeably affecting him and consequently disrupting the bonding process with his new teammates- or at least the one he hadn't been friends with for years at that point, that is.

They didn't know when exactly Naruto had learned about his status as Jinchūriki before, but from what Itachi had observed in the other timeline regarding his control over the Nine-Tails' chakra, it had probably been around this time as well.

Not that Tsunade was entirely sold on the entire time travel business, mind you. She tentatively believed his tale simply because the evidence so far appeared to support that claim. The only other way he could have known what he knew was some kind of foresight ability which wasn't necessarily more believable but… well, at least there were tales about such abilities. Nobody put any faith in these stories, of course, but at least they existed! Time travel, on the other hand, was such an odd thing she had never heard about even in fiction.

Not that it mattered in the end. The information so far had been correct, so regardless of whether the Uchiha had simply gone mad as could sometimes be the case with members of his clan or he had truly travelled back in time, they would continue to work with them.

"Just be there for him," she said, speaking more softly this time while trying to ignore the image of Nawaki that flashed through her mind. "That's sometimes all you need to do."

He acknowledged her words with a low hum but didn't reply otherwise. Tsunade didn't mind, though. She could feel how nervous he was, so she could forgive him for being deep in thoughts.

Besides, she was no different right now, so judging him for that would be ridiculous anyway.

Naruto will be fine. He's not the kind of person to let something like that bring him down for long.

That, she believed with all her heart.

Anko let her head drop on the table with a grown, uncaring of the papers she threw to the floor in the process. She understood the necessity of all this theoretical work, she really did, and she had done it for years now, but it never became any less annoying. She was made for action! For fights! Sitting at a table in a dusty study all day simply didn't suit her dammit!

The fact that she had reached a roadblock with the seal she was currently working on probably didn't help either.

I should probably seek out Jiraiya-sama, she thought without much motivation. He said I can come to him if I have any questions, right? Last I heard, he will be in the village for a little while longer, so it's worth a try. Maybe he sees something I don't.

Not today, though. She was thoroughly tired of Fūinjutsu for one day.

I wonder if Itachi is free today. We could get some training in, and maybe I could finally meet his team.

Both of these possibilities sounded good to her. Anko hadn't trained as much as she would have liked to in recent times as way too much of her time was focused on her research. She still made sure to keep in shape, of course, and she had also continued to improve herself in order to compensate for her bad left arm, but she was confident she would be much further along already if it weren't for that damned cursed seal on her neck.

On the other hand, meeting the kids Itachi had been settled with would certainly be amusing. She imagined that he made sure to always act mature and professional when with them, and the kids were almost certainly in awe of him due to the stories that circulated in the village, so watching their reaction when she teased him was guaranteed to be great!

"Anko! You have to hear this!"

She blinked before lifting her head to owlishly look at the figure of her friend that had just stormed into the room. "Shizune, what-"

"The facility is ready!" she interrupted her with a big grin on her face as she excitedly hugged poor -or was it lucky?- Tonton to her chest. "They just finished the final installations an hour ago!"

The facility…? Anko's eyes widened and she was suddenly wide awake. "It's done?" she yelled, jumping to her feet. "But I thought they would need at least another month?"

"They apparently misjudged how difficult some of the instalments would be and finished ahead of schedule. Do you want to go and take a look?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

Anko didn't bother getting her coat or any of her other stuff. Instead, she simply started running, Shizune hot on her tails.

The facility they were talking about was a research laboratory built on Training Ground Ninety-Eight, one of the grounds the furthest away from the village that was surrounded by rarely used training grounds that almost always were empty. There were some experiments Tsunade judged as too dangerous and volatile to be held in the celling of her hospital, so after getting the approval of the Hokage, the work on a new facility at a safe distance from the village had begun.

There, far away from possibly innocent casualties, experiments and research could be carried out without worrying about accidentally blowing up parts of the village and killing civilians.

The facility wasn't only for them, of course. Other research teams would be transferred there as well, some temporarily while their own facilities were updated and modernized and some permanently.

However, none of that mattered to Anko right now as this transfer meant she could finally carry out two specific experiments she had been sitting on for months now!

The preparation would need a while, sure, but some progress was better than no progress at all.

Now this is exactly the kind of distraction I desperately needed!

The Chūnin Exams were one, if not the biggest event a village could hold. While there were a number of events each year that were technically merrier, like for example the ones that celebrated the anniversary of the Yondaime's victory over the Nine-Tails or of the village's founding, none of them resulted in nearly the influx of foreign guests as the Exams did.

Consequently, it made only sense that the security during them would be at an all-time high. Apart from many important and noble guests whose safety needed to be guaranteed, there was also always an increasing number of spies that tried to use the chaos to infiltrate the village during that time who needed to be dealt with. Even common petty criminals were much more of a nuisance than usual during this period.

Consequently, it only made sense that the police force would have to work overtime as well. Even though they were already working closely together with the ANBU for the time being, there was no doubt whatsoever in Fugaku's mind that he wouldn't get much rest during the Exams. There was simply too much to do even with both their organizations working together.

Especially because the Sandaime insisted on adding additional security to this year's event. Fugaku understood that some of the Plans - yes, with a capital 'P' - his leader had mentioned during the last council meeting would require more security measures than usual, but in his opinion, even that didn't justify the demands he had made.

Alas, there wasn't much he could do about that. If the Hokage ordered something, it had to be carried out.

That didn't stop him from speculating about his reasons, however. Fugaku might not have any proof, but it didn't take a genius to realize that the Sandaime knew something the rest of them didn't, and while he would have liked to be included in whatever it was, he realized that the Sandaime probably had a reason for keeping him in the dark. Besides, he was reasonably sure that the rest of the council was also unaware of what was going on, so it wasn't as if it was just him. He could live with that.

Well, Shikaku might know something, he acquiesced. Hard to say, though. He always liked to pretend to know more than he actually did.

In the end, it didn't matter. All he could do at the moment was to do his duty.

"Usually, new cadets need to go through a strict training regime before we allow them into active duty, but the skills you displayed during your presentation were - as expected - more than adequate and far above what we require. You will still have to attend the theoretical training section, of course, but given your undeniable abilities, you will also be allowed to accompany more experienced members on patrols already to learn from them. Congratulations."

Izumi straightened. "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir."

Fugaku would never admit it out loud, but having one of his son's friends whom he had known since she was a little girl act all professional with him was indeed weird. Not that he would allow her to act any different, mind you. He was still her superior. However, getting used to it would certainly take a while.

"The correct form of address would be 'Captain'," he corrected her, probably a tad gentler than he would have done with other recruits.

The slightest blush formed on her cheeks. "Understood, Captain."

You don't have to address me by that title in every sentence either, he thought but didn't say out loud. In all likelihood, she found this situation just as awkward as he did. Maybe even more so. Once she got used to it, she would probably calm down.

Regardless of any initial awkwardness, having Izumi join the KMPF was a great boon. Especially with the aforementioned increased workload ahead of them, every additional member in and of itself was great, but someone of her calibre in particular was a gift from heaven.

Most Uchiha actually joined the police fresh out of the Academy. They always made sure that a certain percentage still joined the regular roster, of course, but that was a comparatively small number. However, even many of those joined the KMPF sooner or later, usually not too long after they became Chūnin. After all, while the Nidaime might have had questionable reasons for putting them in charge of the police - not that there was any proof of that, but the Uchiha weren't stupid - all these years ago, it was still the task they had been entrusted with, meaning they would do everything in their power to fulfil their duty to the best of their abilities.

With that in mind, having a Jōnin join them was as rare as it was useful. The fact that she had reached her rank at such a young age was proof of her skills, and he was sure that within a few years, she would be able to rise high in the ranks of the KMPF as well. Moreover, in the short term, her abilities would surely come handy during the Chūnin Exams.

It was a shame that Itachi didn't seem to have any interest in joining as well.

It technically wasn't a rule that the head of the clan would also be the captain of the police force, but so far, that has been the case ever since its founding, and unless they were utterly unsuited for the position, no one would ever complain about that. However, as Itachi made clear, he didn't plan of following that tradition.

His own father wouldn't have taken 'no' as an answer, but Fugaku had long since decided that he didn't want to be like his father. He wanted to actually take his children's opinions into consideration. As long as it wasn't absolutely necessary for the clan or the village, he would allow them their freedom as much as he could. If they didn't want to join the police, then that was fine with him.

It's good that at least Sasuke seems interested in joining, though, he mused. It would be a shame if neither of them would follow in my footsteps.

After all, while he would accept it if none of his sons chose to join the police force, that didn't mean he wouldn't be happy to teach them the ropes.

At the end of the day, he too was only a father.

Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe before focusing once more on the files in front of him.

While a Hokage had always paperwork to do, it was usually more than manageable. It was only during times like these that it became a pain. The Chūnin Exams were still a bit over four months away and yet the workload was increasing by the day.

He was used to it, though, so he was still able to work through it at a good pace.

What occupied him at the moment wasn't anything related to the Exams, however. Instead, it was the file of a particularly talented young kunoichi that had recently caught the attention of his ANBU commander and whom they now wanted to initiate into the organization. It wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. While it was rare that the commander recommended someone themselves instead of leaving that their to him or one of their recruiters, Hiruzen dealt with such matter regularly enough.

No, it was the identity of the kunoichi in question that made him hesitant about how to approach the matter.

Haku is definitively talented enough, he admitted. However, I wonder if it would be worth the trouble…

The girl had been adopted into the Uchiha Clan in all but name, and the only reason they hadn't done that as well was that it would have caused problems with many others in the village. After all, a clan that already possessed a Kekkei Genkai adopting an orphan with another bloodline would cause feelings of envy, and that was something they wanted to avoid.

Furthermore, Hiruzen was also sure Itachi might not be too happy if the girl truly joined the ANBU.

The young man was understandably protective of those close to him, and as he knew first-hand what would await her if she indeed joined, he might not approve of her being transferred there. Hell, judging from some of Itachi's comments in the past, he wasn't happy with Shisui being there!

That wouldn't stop Hiruzen if he really wanted her to join, of course. He was still the Hokage. The true problem was that he wasn't sure whether she was actually suited for the ANBU. While there were a few departments that didn't have much to do with things like assassinations, it was impossible to avoid such missions entirely, and from what he knew about her, Haku might have problems with that which in turn could easily become a problem for him.

With a sigh, he took a pen and wrote a comment on the request before putting it aside again.

Let's wait a bit longer with that decision and first observe how she will hold up during the coming Chūnin Exams. That should also be more than enough time to get a more detailed analysis of her character.

He was just about to reach for the next document when the door swung open.

"Ah, sorry for being late, Sensei. Tsunade and I kinda lost track of time and then I still needed to find the brat, you see."

Hiruzen waved Jiraiya's apology off. He was only five minutes late for the time they had agreed upon which was much better than he had dared to hope, so it hardly mattered. "Never mind that," he said before directing a warm smile at Naruto who followed after his Godfather into the room. "It's good to see you, Naruto. It has been a while."

Usually, the boy seemed always excited to meet him, but he appeared to be rather annoyed right now. "Well, what is it, old man? Kakashi-sensei finally agreed to teach us all a new jutsu! Do you have any idea how long we needed to beg him for that before he agreed? Why did you want to talk with me now of all times?"

I'm sure most people would get a shock if they heard him talking to me like that, Hiruzen thought with a touch of humour. He had probably spent a bit too much time with the boy over the years if he could act this rude towards him without fear of being reprimanded. Well, as long as he doesn't act like this when others are around, I guess I will let it pass. At least this time. There are more important things to talk about, after all.

That mental reminder made all sense of humour disappear. He had known that this day would eventually come, ever since the day Minato and Kushina died and left behind their son, but it had always felt so far off. One would think I would have learned by now how fast time can fly, huh?

"Naruto," he said, and from the way the boy stiffed, he must have heard from his voice that the matter was indeed serious. "Please, take a seat. We have much to talk about."

Let's hope that all will go well.

"Oh, don't pout, Sasuke! What will all the girls think if they see you like this?"

His brother shot Shisui a dark glare. "I'm not pouting," he said. "And I don't care what they think!"

"Now don't be like that. It's alright to be sad, y'know? I'm also sad that Itachi is moving out!"

"Why? It doesn't even make any difference to you!"

"It does! Usually when I visit you guys, I get some of your mother's cooking. Now I have to settle for Itachi's food! He isn't a bad cook, sure, but it doesn't come even close to-"

"Shisui," Itachi finally decided to chime in. "Sasuke. I'm grateful that you're here to help, but I would appreciate it even more if you would actually help instead of only standing in the way and talking with each other."

The two gave him more or less sheepish looks, Shisui's being obviously fake while Sasuke simply didn't seem to be in the mood to be apologetic. However, both began carrying boxes into the house again, so Itachi didn't bother pointing either of these things out.

Naturally, Shisui couldn't keep quiet for long.

"I have to say, Itachi, I didn't think you were the type for all these knick-knacks. I always took you for someone content to buy only the bare necessities of furniture and then be done with it."

"And you would be correct with that assumption," Itachi replied with a wry smile. "Unfortunately, my mother didn't seem to agree with that sentiment."

Neither of his parents - nor Sasuke, for that matter - had been very happy when he declared his intention to move out from home, but they had ultimately not put up much of a fight. His mother, however, had insisted to help him get all the things he needed, probably guessing that his new home would only have 'the bare necessities' and deciding that this just wouldn't do.

He had no idea why Izumi, her mother, and Haku had ended up joining them as well, but he had known better than to argue.

Consequently, he ended up with much more than he would have otherwise. It was probably a good thing that he had spent almost none of the money he had earned over the last decade because it would have been a real hassle to pay for it all if he had.

"To be completely honest," Itachi continued after a few seconds, "I would have been happy with a simple apartment as well. I really don't need a house. The space is wasted on me."

"Well, you didn't need to move out either," Sasuke said, trying his best to sound as if he didn't care either way. "You're gone most of the day anyway, right? You might not go on real missions at the moment because of your team" - Itachi noted with satisfaction that there was no more bitterness when his brother mentioned his team like there had still been just a few weeks ago - "and be home in the evening, but that too will change soon, right? What's the point of moving out at all?"

In all fairness, that was a legitimate question. After all, at least in most clans, it was considered normal for children to continue living with their parents until they married. Civilian families were a bit different, but from what he understood, they too kept their children with them for quite a while even after they were considered adults. It wasn't until they stood with both feet in life and had a safe income that children decided to move out, and that tended to be in their early to mid-twenties for most non-shinobi.

With that in mind, Itachi's decision would indeed be considered somewhat strange. Not to the point where people would throw him weird looks, sure, but strange nonetheless.

There were two main reasons why he had decided to move out anyway:

First, he wanted to do this simply because he had never had the chance to do so in the original timeline. Experiencing this next step that was normal for most people but an extraordinary event for him was something parts of him craved, and he actually looked forward to living on his own while still having the opportunity to see his family and friends. It was a far cry from how he had 'moved out' the last time.

The only other way for him to experience this would have been to get married and that was probably not happening any time soon- much to the chagrin of his parents. If there was one thing he regretted, it was reminding them of his continued existence as a bachelor; if he had to listen to one more deliberately unsubtle comment about someone's daughter-

The point was, it wouldn't happen any time soon and he didn't want to wait for who knew how many years to experience this part of life.

The second reason was the additional freedom it granted him. It wasn't as if his parents restricted him much if at all, but there just was something about moving out that felt liberating.

Itachi wondered if this was another thing people experienced in their youth that he had missed.

Now, he couldn't very well say any of that to Sasuke. Maybe the second reason, but even that, well…

It was then that Shisui fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on one's point of view - opened his mouth to help him out.

"You make a good point, Sasuke, but you're kinda forgetting about something there."

Knowing the older boy pretty much all his life, Sasuke was naturally suspicious of his lecturing tone. That didn't stop him from inquiring further, though. "What do you mean?"

Shisui threw an arm over Sasuke's shoulder. "You see, there's just not very much privacy when one is living with their parents. Certain things are impossible in such a situation."

"… certain things?"

"Well, let's say your brother got a girlfriend, for example. Now, if he takes her home with him and-"

"Shut up!" Sasuke immediately exclaimed with wide eyes as he pushed Shisui's arm away, his ears turning beet red. "Itachi doesn't have a girlfriend!"

Shisui continued completely unperturbed by that reaction. "No need to scream like that, Sasuke. There's nothing embarrassing about it. If your brother wants to-"

"Shut up dammit!"

"Sasuke-"

Instead of waiting for whatever came out of Shisui's mouth next, Sasuke grabbed another box and fled, pushing himself past Itachi without meeting his eyes and escaping into the safety of the building.

Itachi sighed, barely managing to suppress his smile. "Did you really need to tease him that much, Shisui?"

"Hey, you could have interrupted at any time but didn't, so don't act as if you didn't find it funny too."

"Well, maybe a little bit."

To be fair, Sasuke was adorable when he was embarrassed. It was also rather amusing that Sasuke acted as if him moving out would mean that the two would see each other less from now on. After all, Itachi had no doubt that his brother would find every excuse to visit him anyway. Furthermore, once he found out about his guest room, Sasuke would probably stay until late in the evening and then argue that it wouldn't be worth it to go home anymore either way and that he could just as well sleep in the aforementioned guest room.

"You know," Shisui continued in a teasing tone that made Itachi narrow his eyes. "Sasuke actually did you a favour, y'know?"

He was probably going to regret asking, but… "How so?"

"He just screamed through the streets that you're single, didn't he? I'm sure the entire village will know about it by the end of the day. All these poor single women too afraid to ask out the great Itachi Uchiha will draw new courage and-"

"Shisui."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Alright."

With this out of the way, it's finally time for Team 8 to go on their first "real" mission!

It's obviously nothing more than a guessing game as you literally have no way to know what it's going to be about, but if you have any ideas, feel free to tell me in the comments. I always love to read your theories!

(And no, it's not going to be another redo of the Wave-Arc. There are more than enough of these in other stories lmao)