"How is your lunch, Naruto?"
The whiskered blond looked up from his cup ramen, noodles hanging from bulging cheeks. When blue eyes caught sight of the silver-haired guest standing in the doorway between the main room of the small apartment and the bedroom, the blond swallowed his entire mouthful and shoveled the rest of the cup into his mouth before leaping from a rickety chair and squeezing the Jōnin as tightly as four-year-old arms could manage. "Kaka-nii!" Despite the little bits of noodle leaking from overstuffed cheeks, Naruto still managed to speak clearly enough for the teen to understand his garbled exclamation. "I missed you, 'ttebayo!"
A gloved hand petted Naruto's golden hair awkwardly, but the small boy held tight until he heard Kakashi's voice. "You know, Naruto, I hear you've been quite busy playing a prank on me these past several days."
Blue eyes craned up to catch a glimpse of the masked face. Kakashi heaved a mental sigh of relief when Naruto swallowed his mouthful before responding. "Whadaya mean, Kaka-nii? What's a prank?"
A solitary eyebrow disappeared into Kakashi's gravity-defying hair and the teen answered slowly. "A prank is like a trick you play on someone. You do something that surprises them or makes them do something you think is funny." A creased forehead broadcast the young boy's confusion, so Kakashi mentally cast about for an appropriate example. "What's your least favorite color, Naruto?"
The apparent shift in conversation topic did little to ease the young boy's confusion. "What? What's colors got to do with it, Kaka-nii? And why's it gotta be a color I don't like?"
Kakashi shook his head, trying to organize and simplify his thoughts to explain the idea to his charge in a way that the four-year-old could understand. "I'm trying to think of an example of a prank for you. One prank that I remember hearing about when I was younger was to take all of someone's regular clothes and hide them. Then, the only clothes left for the person who was pranked was an outfit in a color they didn't like, preferably something brightly colored so everyone would see. So, if I were pulling this prank on you, I might take all your clothes and replace them with a bright pink outfit. That way, you'd have to wear the color you didn't like as you went and looked for where I hid your regular outfits."
The small face lit up in comprehension before Naruto's brow scrunched in though. "But Kaka-nii," the boy drew the address out as he worked his thought to its conclusion. "I don't know where you live. And I don't know what color you don't like. I can't do a prank on you. Did someone change your clothes?" Big, blue eyes inspected the older boy quizzically, clearly trying to identify what was different with the Jōnin's outfit.
Again, the last Hatake shook his head, mentally berating himself for failing to communicate the idea clearly. "No, Naruto, a prank doesn't have to be changing someone's clothing. A prank can be anything, like a trick or a trap. The important thing is that it makes the person who is being pranked do something amusing. The prank you played on me..." here the older boy gestured to Naruto's table, where an open folder had joined the empty ramen cup. The blond walked over, and blue eyes grew wide as the boy recognized the contents of the folder. "Was to make and leave these pictures around the village so that no one knew where they came from. I spent all morning trying to figure out who made these. Hokage-sama ended up telling me about how you were the one to make these pictures and how stealthily you left them for the ninja to find, so that no one noticed where they came from." Remembering Sarutobi's admonition to praise the rowdy blond, Kakashi commented, "It was very well done."
A blinding white smile exploded on Naruto's face, stretching whiskered cheeks so tight that suspiciously shiny sapphire eyes were (Naruto thought) mercifully hidden from the too-kind adult. Suddenly, the ANBU agent felt his own cheeks stretching in response, quite without his permission or intent, until the single black eye he allowed the world to see was forced closed by the grin that his mask kept mercifully hidden. After several seconds, Kakashi's smile receded enough that he could open his uncovered eye. When he did, what he found was a wide-eyed Naruto, small mouth hanging wide open.
Pudgy little fingers raised and pointed at Kakashi. "You smiled, Kaka-nii! Jiji said you haven't smiled in a long time. I saw it, dattebayo! I saw it though your mask!"
Blast! The boy was too observant for Kakashi's liking. Mentally resolving to address that deficiency of his mask later, Kakashi elected to use two of his favorite methods to conceal his own emotional state from others: denial and distraction. "I don't know what you're talking about, Naruto." Coming up and pointing to the pictures on the table, he drew the blond's attention by moving several pictures to show the additions provided by those shinobi either enterprising or bored enough to do more than get a laugh from Naruto's initial cutouts. "As I was starting to tell you, these pictures are from some of my comrades who liked your work enough to try to copy it. This one is from Hokage-sama's son, Sarutobi Asuma. These four are from an eccentric kunoichi named Mitarashi Anko. I think these…" With each explanation, Kakashi passed the appropriate picture to the little boy. Asuma's picture featured Kakashi's face on the torso of a particularly rotund Fire country noble, while those he shared from Anko were the least offensive images from a collection of over a dozen the young woman had put together. Kakashi had decided that the contributions from his peers lacked the creative flair of Naruto's original creations, but the boy inspected each of them carefully, nonetheless. Apparently, he would miss no possible insights about the nature of his older brother's face.
When they finished the entire stack, shining blue eyes turned up to inspect Kakashi's mask. Naruto chewed his lip for a second before his head tilted to the side. "Kaka-nii," he asked slowly, "Why did all of the ninjas want to see my pictures so bad? They were fun to make, but they weren't really your face. Even when I showed them to Jiji in his office, all of the ANBU really wanted to see my pictures."
Kakashi cocked his head to the side, internally debating how much to tell his blond charge. With a mental shrug, the young prodigy decided that he was skilled enough to almost effortlessly circumvent any attempts Naruto made to 'get in on the fun', at least for the foreseeable future. The truth it was, then. "Well, Naruto, you remember how Hokage-sama told you that no one has seen my face since the Yondaime, right?" A nod of the golden head was enough confirmation for Kakashi to continue his explanation. "I've worn something over my face for my entire life, but some of my peers have decided that they aren't willing to respect my privacy. They try very hard to see what is under my mask. Sometimes they set traps for me that I then figure out how to overcome. Some of them have even offered money in exchange for pictures of my face. I imagine that when they heard that someone had 'pictures of Kakashi's face', they thought someone had succeeded in taking a picture of my real face."
Naruto frowned as he pondered this idea. "They're not being nice to you, Kaka-nii. If you don't want your friends to see your face, they should stop trying to see it. You should tell Jiji. He can make all of them stop trying to see your face."
For a moment Kakashi said nothing. The silver-haired youth had expected his energetic companion to join in on the fun, so to have the mischief of his peers denounced was quite surprising for the young prodigy. Belatedly, he realized that shining azure eyes were looking up at him, seeking confirmation of the boy's statement. "Well, Naruto, I don't think Hokage-sama would be inclined to intervene on my behalf. Part of being Hokage means that he can't do everything. He must trust the people around him to take care of small things, so he can worry about big, important things. He trusts me to be able to take care of myself and, until the traps keep me from being able to do missions, he won't interfere. Besides, I use it as an opportunity for ninja training. I set traps and figure out how to trick the people who try to see my face." Idly, the masked teen considered the irony that he got more effective practice in trap design, construction, detection, and avoidance from this game his peers insisted on than any of the official ANBU training courses. Ah well, that was a consideration for another time. Especially given how Naruto seemed to be swelling with excitement at his last comment.
"It helps you be an awesome ninja, Kaka-nii!? Can I try too? I'm gonna be Hokage, so I need to be a super awesome ninja, just like you and Jiji and Daddy." Sarutobi had given Naruto permission to call the Yondaime his father around Kakashi, which the blond had been only too glad to do, eager to share everything with the silver-haired teen. "Ninja are so cool, dattebayo!" Naruto bounced out of his seat as he imagined himself being attacked by dozens of enemies all robed in black. With a whoosh of breath, he held out his hand, imagining ropes springing from hidden positions throughout the room to catch the entire squad in a hanging net. With his enemies vanquished, the whiskered grin turned to the table to see his brother watching intently. The mask covered too much of Kaka-nii's face to see, but Naruto got the distinct impression his older brother was enjoying himself, especially since his eye was starting to curve closed just like it had earlier, when Kaka-nii smiled, no matter how much he pretended that he didn't, dattebayo!
Kakashi did find himself fighting back a grin, but his focus had been hijacked as he planned a basic traps course for his enthusiastic companion. The teen lifted his hands, crossed his fingers, and, in a puff of smoke, another Kakashi sat in Naruto's abandoned chair. The new figure stood quickly and disappeared from the kitchen in the flicker of air characteristic of Kakashi's Shunshin. Kakashi felt a warm glow in his chest when he noticed Naruto's awed face. Apparently, the boy had yet to be introduced to idea of clones. "That was something called a Kage Bunshin, Naruto. It's an example of a jutsu that lets a ninja make a copy of themselves, so they can be in two places at once. The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is dangerous if you don't have a lot of chakra, so you shouldn't try it yet. I made a clone to go set up a trap course for you on our training field. In the meantime, I want you to show me how much progress you've made in making the leaf stick to your forehead, and we'll get dressed to go outside in the cold."
"Hai, Kaka-nii!" The blond nodded enthusiastically and rushed into his room, returning within moments with several bright green leaves clutched in little fingers. "Here, Kaka-nii! Yūki-san had a couple of leaves he shared with us." The last Uzumaki plopped into the chair and dropped all but one of the leaves on the table. As Naruto tilted his head back and carefully placed the leaf exactly in the center of his forehead, Kakashi settled in to watch the rambunctious blond. They would spend an hour working on this before Kakashi bundled the boy snugly in the winter clothing Sandaime-sama had purchased for the whiskered ball of energy and took him outside for the traps course. Hopefully, it would be a quiet end to an incredibly stressful day. "Oh, I have an idea, Kaka-nii. For a prank we can do together."
Or not.
"What are you doing here, Kakashi? I thought you had a mission you needed to run off to."
Kakashi's clone looked up from the tripwire he was deftly connecting to the rope net hanging overhead. In front of him stood a crowd of his peers, grinning stupidly (in the clone's eyes, at least). As the clone considered how to answer the query without raising more awkward, uncomfortable questions, the tall, stocky ninja with messy black hair and the beginning scruff of what might, one day, be a respectable beard continued, somehow managing not to drop the smoldering cigarette dangling from between his lips. "Come on, Kakashi, what's up with all this?" The large hands gestured to the training field where an assortment of poorly concealed snares and pit traps littered the ground. "What part of being an ANBU means you have to set up traps that even an academy student can avoid?"
The clone glared, though the look held far less venom than the original might have been able to generate. The vague notion that he might have feathers clinging to his clothing negated any indignation that might have been channeled into the glare. "First, Asuma, I'm a clone. The original made me to set this up, so that's what I'm doing. Second, the mission is a bodyguard detail. The kid wants to be a ninja, but he's only four, so this needs to be easier than an academy student can handle. If he completes this course easily, I can move to harder challenges." The clone counted off his reasons on his fingers, but he stopped when he noticed the wide eyes of his age-mates.
"He actually talked. Wow, either your clones have nowhere near the self-control of the original or something's got Kakashi loosened up." That comment was accompanied by a wry smirk from a bandanna-ed teen with a senbon jutting out of his mouth. "Given that, as far as jutsu theory and practice goes, he's always Mr. Perfect, I guess it's got to be the latter. Didn't know anyone could break our scarecrow out of his shell, though. What do you guys think?"
Before the other three could chime in with their thoughts, the clone cut them off. "Yes, you're all hilarious. Especially Genma." The clone could perform a perfect rendition of Kakashi's unamused and unimpressed voice, at least. "Now go away. I just finished, so I'm going to dispel." With a puff of smoke, the clone vanished, leaving the crowd of young adults blinking in surprise.
It was the dark-haired young woman whose torso was wrapped in bandages that spoke first. "Well, come on then." She turned to leave the training ground and waved for the rest of the group to follow. "Let's get out of here before Kakashi gets here with his charge."
"Kurenai, where are you going?" The young woman paused and looked back; red eyes narrowed in confusion. "We can't miss out on this opportunity to watch Kakashi get mauled by a little kid. You know how awkward he is. It'll be absolutely hilarious." The grin on Genma's face as he made his case was slowly mirrored by the rest of the circle as they also realized exactly what it meant for their socially-maladjusted comrade to be forced into extended contact with someone who wouldn't understand his aloof nature and sometimes rude coping mechanisms.
"Besides," here the last teen, his face scarred and puckered from a childhood accident trying to copy the Uchiha clan's Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, spoke up. "We ought to be on hand to make sure that he doesn't traumatize the kid too much. It'd be bad for the village if he screwed up relations with whichever noble decided he needed to hire Sharingan no Kakashi to watch his kid for the day."
"Raidō's right. Kakashi may be a good shinobi, but he never had great social skills and he's gotten worse since Yondaime-sama passed." Asuma's comment soured the mood, and the group took a moment of silence before he continued. "It's our job as his friends to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't screw this up."
There was another moment of somber silence before Genma joined in again, a wicked gleam in his eye. "Does anyone want to go get Gai?"
Kurenai turned startled eyes on the Special Jōnin. "You really enjoy antagonizing him, don't you? Do you want to go get Anko while you're at it? It's not like we'd be able to be discrete with either one of them around. Besides, didn't Gai just get back in from a mission? You should let him rest."
"Spoilsport." Genma muttered under his breath before nodding. "I guess you're right. Well, where do you lot want to watch from?"
The small group looked around for several seconds before Raidō pointed to a corner of the training ground where the trees' foliage was dense enough for them to hide. The group made their way across the open space and leapt into the branches where they settled in to wait.
The four made conversation among themselves for several minutes before Kurenai sensed a pair of chakra signatures approaching. She quickly quieted the group and they settled into their chosen observation posts. Within minutes they began to hear a child's young voice, ringing loud with excitement, cut through the trees. "…and then Konohamaru-chan threw up all over Jiji's lap. It was gross and smelled bad. Hideko-san said she was sorry so many times. And then, you know what Jiji did? He laughed, dattebayo! He told her that the Hokage has to put his family in front of everything, even his robes. And since the whole village is his family, that means he has to put the whole village in front of everything, dattebayo! And when I'm Hokage, the whole village is gonna be my family too!"
The group watched in amazement as a blond head bounced into view, circling around the much more sedate figure of Kakashi, who strode into the training ground with an air of contentment that left the observers speechless. That contentment disappeared as soon as Kakashi stepped onto the training ground proper. The teen's posture stiffened, and he began looking around furtively. After several seconds, his lone, grey eye focused on the tract of trees where the watching teenagers sat. All four unconsciously held their breath while the silver-haired teen glared at their hiding places. Then, much to their collective surprise, their prickly friend shrugged and turned back to his charge. The concealed group breathed a collective sigh of relief, which was interrupted a second later as the blond child bouncing around Kakashi saw the training field.
"Wow, Kaka-nii, there's cool stuff all over. Your clone did a lot while we were getting ready to go." The beaming smile that was offered to Kakashi as praise was not enough to distract the whiskered blond from the training field and the muffled cry that had erupted from the dense thicket of trees. The blond whirled around, blue eyes dancing over the entire field. "Someone's here, 'ttebayo!"
Kakashi sighed wistfully to himself before he responded. "Yes, Naruto. Someone is here. Some of the ninja who decided to mimic your artwork are going to help us today. They're hiding somewhere close by. Do you think you can find them?"
Though he would never admit it to them, the silver-haired Jōnin was immensely gratified at the way he felt the four chakra signatures unveil themselves and separate around the perimeter of the clearing. Nodding his enthusiasm, Naruto's face set in a determined frown, and he looked curiously around the open field. "It's like when we play with Pakkun-sensei, right Kaka-nii? Only instead of hiding', I gotta think of all the ways to look for someone, dattebayo."
"That's exactly right, Naruto. I'll even summon Pakkun, and you can work with him to find all the ninja hiding around here. While we're doing that, we can also learn about traps." With that, Kakashi pulled out a kunai and nicked his finger before running through the hand seals at dizzying speeds and slamming his palm on the ground. When the smoke from the summoning disappeared, the young teen greeted the new arrival. "Pakkun, we're Naruto's protective detail today. As you can doubtless smell, we have some visitors. Can you help him to find all of them?"
The small pug took a deep whiff of the air before directing a knowing grin at his partner. "Yeah, I smell them, Kakashi." With a mighty leap the dog landed on top of Naruto's head and latched onto it. "Okay, kiddo. Let's get this started. I smell four other people in the area, but I'm not going to point you to them. You have to find them all on your own."
Naruto nodded seriously, and the motion upset his passenger. The pug landed on all fours and scowled up at the boy. The blond grinned unrepentantly before his face settled back to a focused calm. "What do I do, Pakkun-sensei?"
Pakkun's grin was toothy and vicious. "Well kid, we're going to learn how to track and hunt."
"Well, Naruto, you've managed to catch the spies, congratulations."
It had taken the rest of the afternoon and into the evening for Naruto to track down the intruders. With each ninja caught, the others had hidden a bit more effectively and tried to lure their pursuer into the traps scattered around the field. Each time Naruto was caught in a trap, Kakashi explained how to see and avoid the traps while helping free the blond typhoon and resetting the hazard. Blue eyes had been wide and attentive as Naruto watched the reassembly of each contraption. As the afternoon wore on, Kakashi began to wonder if Naruto was letting himself trigger the traps on purpose. At least once, the silver-haired prodigy had watched the boy look directly at a rope trap, visually trace from the trigger to the branch where he would end up dangling, and then step directly on the trigger. In those cases, Kakashi felt little need to do more than help Naruto get free as the boy smiled sheepishly. Eventually though, the whiskered boy had found all four of the ninja scattered throughout the clearing.
"I… did it … Kaka-nii!" Naruto panted as he flopped down under a tree. "Thanks for your help, Pakkun-sensei," the boy murmured as the small pug walked over and nudged his way between the small arms.
"No problem, gaki." As Pakkun's gruff voice rumbled through the air, Naruto lost his fight against unconsciousness and drifted off to sleep. The dog yawned contentedly and looked over at his summoner. "I'm going to sleep with him until your chakra runs out, Kakashi. Make sure he doesn't spend too long on the ground before you take him to bed. And wake him up to eat something. The kid hasn't had anything since ramen for lunch today."
Kakashi glared at the small pug who grinned toothily and closed his eyes, falling asleep in the little boy's grip. Then, with a deep sigh, the Jōnin turned to regard his peers, who had somehow managed to avoid making a huge scene in front of Naruto. As it was, Genma's grin was entirely too large, while Kurenai looked thoughtful and pleased. Asuma and Raidō just looked smug. Letting out another sigh, Kakashi decided that he wouldn't be able to avoid this conversation. "So, well done to all of you for picking up on my hint about hiding there. I think it was a fun afternoon for him."
"No problem." Genma looked over the sleeping form and smiled. "I have to say though, we didn't think anything could break you, Kakashi. But he's a cute kid, despite all of the…" A vague gesture to his own unmarked cheeks removed any doubt what the Special Jōnin meant. "Still, I want to hear how you two got so close."
"Hokage-sama decided that I needed a break." Kakashi shared, deciding to omit the specifics of his initial opposition to the idea. He couldn't explain his aversion without divulging state secrets, after all. "He assigned me a shift as part of Naruto's bodyguard detail several months ago. It's standard procedure that guards introduce themselves to him during their first shift so that he knows them a bit and will listen if they tell him to do something. I wasn't sure how to handle things, so I summoned Pakkun for him to play with. Hokage-sama even let me unmask and introduce myself to him. It went well, and he kind of took to me." All four of Kakashi's companions noticed the hesitant pride that accompanied their troubled friend's last comment but decided against mentioning it to avoid ruining whatever atmosphere had brought about the masked teen's willingness to share. Kakashi shrugged before continuing with his explanation. "Since then, whenever I finish an extended mission, Hokage-sama assigns me a day or two with him. We've worked on stealth, survival skills, and some chakra control. He needs as much help with that last bit as he can get." Explanation finished; he turned a hard look at his age-mates. "Now, would one of you like to tell me why you were spying on us? My clone told you to leave."
"Oh no," Genma interrupted his companion. "You don't get off that easily, Kaka-nii. No way does the kid address his entire detail that familiarly, even if he does know all their names. He might make up fun little nicknames for everyone he meets, and even for people he's never met who should be treated with respect," here Genma's voice dropped to a mutter before continuing at his normal volume. "But I'd bet money that no one else gets to be his big brother the first time they meet him."
"Ah come on, Sleepy-san. Just because Kakashi got a better name than you did is no reason to be bitter with him. It's your own fault that you were the first one caught." Asuma's face bore a wry smirk as he took a golden opportunity to heckle the most sarcastic of the assembled ninja.
"I yawned. Once. And the kid somehow heard it and zeroed in on me. If I didn't know better, I'd say one of you tipped him off. Kakashi's no fun, so he wouldn't even think to spoil it like that, and I can catch the rest of you." Genma's response was a bit sullen; he had been caught nearly a full hour before anyone else and it had been so boring sitting on the side with Kakashi. The fact that Naruto had continued to make comments suggesting 'Sleepy-san' should take a nap throughout the afternoon probably didn't help matters.
Both Asuma and Raidō squawked indignantly and leapt at their still griping comrade. Kurenai sighed, shook her head, and ran through a set of hand signs. The noise from the brawling teens dampened to nothing as the young woman's genjutsu took effect. Turning to her masked comrade, she tried to follow Genma's vein of questioning slightly more gently. "He does seem quite fond of you, Kakashi. It's a surprise to us that you'd willingly go along with it, given how little you interact with us, or anyone for that matter. And I'm still having a tough time believing that you asked to unmask for him."
The single eye looked over at the sleeping blond beneath the tree, internally debating how much to tell Kurenai. "The first day, we played hide-and-seek. The last round, Pakkun and I let him have several minutes head-start, but then we heard him yell. Some kids had found him and started harassing him. They told him that no one wanted to play with him. That he was a monster and that Hokage-sama assigned the ANBU guard to keep the villagers safe from him." The masked face looked back to Kurenai and found that Asuma and Raidō had managed to satisfy their frustration with Genma and all three had rejoined her while Kakashi told his story. "He asked if it was true. And I- I had to tell him something. He has nothing. No one. And Sensei did that to him. I know he did it for the village, but this kid has nothing." The young teen lapsed into mournful silence while his companions looked between their friend and the sleeping boy.
"Dad's told me about how he comes to the tower, sometimes." Asuma offered, popping a new cigarette out of his pack. "Hideko's mentioned how he sometimes helps with Konohamaru-chan, too. Does everything he can to help take care of the baby. You're right, though. He's all alone. Dad doesn't have the time and Ko-chan's only two months old. From what I saw today, I can tell he's a good kid. So, I guess given what you said, I can understand why you asked and why Dad let you unmask for him."
Kurenai nodded, picking up the story from there. "He calls Hokage-sama, Jiji, so there's obviously a lot of affection there. Did Hokage-sama explain why it was so significant that you did that? And that's why he's adopted you as his brother?"
The look Kakashi directed at her was full of more emotion, all of it self-loathing, than any of the young adults had realized he retained the capacity for. "I wish I were that brave. I unmasked for him. Then I told him who I am." Seeing his peers exchange confused looks, Kakashi realized he'd need to spell it out for them. "I told him about my father. And Obito. Rin. Sensei." Kurenai's sharp gasp and the others' suddenly stony faces said they now understood exactly what he meant. "I told him that I didn't want to hurt him, so I couldn't be part of his guard detail anymore. He decided that I was going to be his brother instead."
Raidō whistled low at that comment. "Dang, Kakashi. Never known you to get beaten like that, let alone by a four-year-old. I get why you gave in, though. Yondaime-sama's not around to take care of the kid, so it's your job as his last surviving student. Something like that, right?"
The masked teen shrugged half-heartedly but was saved from further conversation by the puff of smoke that accompanied Pakkun's disappearance. "That's my signal," Kakashi gestured over to where a bleary-eyed Naruto had woken suddenly and was looking around in confusion. "I need to get him dinner and then put him to bed." The crowd of five ninja strode over to the tree and Kakashi leaned down to help his young charge up. "Come on Naruto. We need to go get you some food. Then it's off to bed."
"Not yet, Kaka-nii," Naruto mumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "We gotta say 'bye' to your friends." The little boy stretched; his small mouth pulled into a tremendous yawn. Then, shaking his head to clear any remains cobwebs, bright blue eyes fixed on the bemused faces of the ninja circled around him. "Thanks for playing with us, ninja-san. I had a ton of fun finding you all."
"Oi, Kakashi," Genma cut out as the pair made to turn away. "I don't want to be Sleepy-san to the kid. You need to introduce us."
Seeing his peers nodding in agreement, Kakashi and Naruto turned back around to rejoin the circle. "I guess we can do that. Naruto meet Sarutobi Asuma, Yūhi Kurenai, Namiashi Raidō, and Shiranui Genma. Everyone, I'd like to introduce Uzumaki Naruto." With each name, Kakashi's gloved hand gestured to the appropriate individual, finishing with a flourish to introduce the youngest member of the circle.
Naruto grinned broadly. "I'm gonna be Hokage one day, 'ttebayo!" Then, the blond's face screwed up in excitement and he pointed at the collected group. "Asuma-san… You're the people who made more pictures of Kaka-nii!"
At four faces lit up in realization. "That was you?!" Genma stared at the little blond who threw his chest out in proud response. "Oh man, that was hilarious. We had a blast hunting for pictures that could fit Kakashi's face."
"Yes, you all missed a four-year-old sneaking around to deliver those cutouts. You should feel so proud." Kakashi's deadpan comment did little to deter his grinning comrades.
Naruto bounced over to Kakashi's side, grinning broadly. "Can I show them, Kaka-nii? Please?" Huge blue eyes looked up at the masked face. Almost before the question was out of Naruto's mouth, the older boy shushed his blond companion.
"Show us what, Kakashi?" Genma asked, picking up on his friend's worried reaction to the seemingly innocent question.
"Nothing. He likes to make up stories. Don't pay him any mind." Kakashi's slightly rushed response did nothing to dampen the other teens' curiosity.
"I don't know that I believe that," interjected Asuma. "Dad's told me how Naruto-kun always tells the truth and keeps his promises." Kneeling to the blond's eye level, the young smoker addressed the giggling blond directly. "Naruto-kun, your Jiji is my father, and Konohamaru-chan is my nephew. So, I'm kind of like your uncle. What is it you want to show us?"
Giggling, the blond leaned in close so that whiskered cheeks were tickled by Asuma's stubble. "He let me take a picture of what's under his mask," Naruto's whisper was soft enough that Asuma was certain he had misheard. Pulling his head back, he looked sharply at the boy who pulled a wrinkled envelope from inside his jacket.
"Hold him!" Asuma's voice barked out as he leapt to grab Kakashi and hold the masked teen tightly. Not understanding, but willing to play along, the other three teens leapt to grab their masked friend. Once Kakashi had stopped struggling, Asuma turned back to Naruto who was almost vibrating with excitement. "Naruto-kun, can you show us your picture?"
The blond nodded eagerly and started opening the envelope. Pulling out the picture, he walked over to the mass of limbs. "Beneath Kaka-nii's mask..." he began. Kurenai, Genma and Raidō stiffened to attention at that. Slowly the blond turned the picture around. "Is another mask!"
In their arms, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"That was so funny, Kaka-nii!"
Naruto lay on his bed later that evening: exhausted, full, and content. After showing the four teens his picture, Naruto had been whisked away by the real Kakashi before any of them could react. The pair had fled to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner, where the stand's number one customer had tried to repeat his prank on its owner. However, without Kakashi playing along and with the whiskered boy laughing so hard that he failed the delivery, the ramen chef quickly dismissed any of Naruto's claims. The old man did join his favorite blond in laughing about how the other ninja had been fooled, though.
Now, Kakashi sat at Naruto's kitchen table while the boy bounced to the bathroom and started brushing his teeth before bed. "It was a clever idea to prank them like that, Naruto. Of course, now I won't be able to talk with them for a month. But I guess I wasn't really planning to interact with them anytime soon anyway. I need to leave tomorrow for another mission."
Naruto spit out his mouthful of toothpaste before looking mournfully at his adoptive brother. "You're leaving again? Already? But I only got to see you just for today, dattebayo. When are you coming back?"
Flinching at the pained look, Kakashi replied slowly. "This will probably be a mission that takes several months, Naruto. Lately, Hokage-sama has kept me close to the village, only going out on missions that will take a week or two at most. The next mission might take as long as six months. I don't think I'll be able to attend your first day of the civilian academy. I'm sure Hokage-sama will take you, though."
The blond frowned as he donned his sleeping cap and slipped under the covers of his bed. Tired from all the fun he'd had, the little boy's right hand began rubbing his eyelashes, fighting his body for a little more time with Kaka-nii. "Come back, though, okay, Kaka-nii? Will you come back to Konoha to see me when your mission's done?"
Kakashi nodded absently. "Hokage-sama will probably have me take several shorter missions when I get back, so we can do more training activities, like we did today."
A big, tired grin split Naruto's face at that comment. "That's great, dattebayo! I had so much fun with you today. I 'specially liked how you helped me with the prank, Kaka-nii. It was a lot better with you."
"You had a good idea, Naruto. I just provided some guidance to flesh it out." Kakashi stood up from his seat as he saw that Naruto was having trouble keeping his head off the pillow. Walking over, he settled on the foot of the bed, so he could watch the blond fall asleep.
"Thanks, Kaka-nii. It was a funny idea, but…" the whiskered face stretched wide from a huge yawn and Naruto relaxed into his bed, still stroking his right eyelash. "You're so smart for thinking of the two masks. I just wanted to tell 'em one of my pictures looked like your real face, 'ttebayo."
"That would have probably been enough to get them to react still." Kakashi's voice grew softer as he saw that Naruto had lost his battle to stay awake. The silver-haired teen sat, watching the sleeping boy for nearly a full hour before he reached down to smooth wild locks of hair that rose, almost in protest, to exactly where they were before Kakashi's efforts. Rising, the young man turned off the lights before making a sweep through the apartment, unsealing fresh food to stock in Naruto's pantry and refrigerator.
Then, as he felt his replacement settle into position on the opposite rooftop and flare their chakra to indicate they had taken charge of the watch, Kakashi returned to Naruto's bedroom and looked down at the sleeping blond. Streams of moonlight snuck through the cracks of the blinds and illuminated the tufts of golden hair in a blue glow. Uncovering the Sharingan so that he would remember this moment with crystal clarity, the masked teen leaned down and whispered to the sleeping blond, before disappearing in a swirl of air, "Sleep tight and dream well, little brother."