"You'll be living with me." Sasuke said stiffly.
Naruto looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Now that was interesting. Going by Sasuke's personality and the tone in his voice, it hadn't been his choice nor did he like the idea at all. That did bring up another point. He had spent four years in custody of someone that actually wanted to be his guardian, so Naruto felt a little confused over the choice of having him life with someone his own age. "Why not with Cat? I'd like to go home. You miss me too, don't you, Cat?" Naruto asked, looking into the same corner as before.
Sarutobi sighed. "You might as well show yourself, Cat." He said. There was some blurred movement in the corner before a fully dresses ANBU complete with a full set of weaponry appeared in the corner and went on to glomp Naruto, hugging the living daylight out of the boy and gushing over him. Naruto answered the affection equally enthusiastically and several minutes were spent just being happy with each other. Cat was perhaps something akin to a possible father at some point to him, maybe. Or an older brother. That would be a good way to describe it too. At least Naruto knew Cat would always be there for him and that made him care for Cat a lot.
"ANBU Raven was chosen because he is one of the stronger ANBU in the ranks right now. He also has enough room to host not just you, but also Jiraya and Tsunade. They will be your guardians until you are proven trustworthy." Kakashi said in a finite tone. That explained where the idea had come from. Kakashi must have thought that up. Naruto sighed. This was going to take a lot more time than he'd like to gain the trust of most people in the room. "Hai, Hokage-sama." Naruto said with a respectful bow.
"Take a day to settle in. Tomorrow we will evaluate your strength. Meet us at the seventh training field at eight in the morning. Dismissed." Sarutobi said. There was a collective "Hai, Hokage-sama." before they all piled out of the office. Naruto was a bit sad to no longer be in Morino's care, a sentiment the sadistic but gentle giant seemed to share. They didn't do a lengthy goodbye or anything, just a pad on Naruto's shoulder and a mutual whispered well-wish, before Morino walked away, returning to his duties with just the collar and c
shackles in his hands. As Morino walked out of ear shot, Naruto let out a sad giggle. He couldn't help but have an image of Morino arriving back at the department, the collar in his hand and a lost look on his face, like he had just brought a dog to the vet to be put down and came home with only his collar.
"Sasuke-kun. Uhm, do you need me to walk with you..?" Sakura asked Sasuke. She wasn't as bashful as she had been in school. It looked like she learned to be more adult about her crush on the black-haired male and was no longer a gushing fountain of idiocracy. Naruto, always the good boy trying to find points in people to admire, had to admire the restraint and self-conscience of his new pink-haired teammate. Better to learn to enjoy the good parts about someone than to dwell and torment yourself with the points you disliked.
"Yes." The very cold answer came from Sasuke. It gave Naruto the impression that perhaps Sasuke has had less of a growth in personality that Sakura, and that perhaps his same weak spots still applied.
"I know it's part of the mission, but can't I have until tomorrow so I can sort myself out? He's getting that much. It would only be fair." She said, pointing at Naruto. Naruto adjusted his previous vision. Now, instead of having his dog put down, Morino lost custody of his son to a entitled ex...
"No, we do the mission as ordered." Sasuke said in the same cold voice. "Follow me." All four of them followed Sasuke through the streets of Konoha. Now that it was later in the day there were a lot more people about, but unlike before his stay at the department, not a lot of people recognised him as the demon child. In fact, they seemed more curious about who could end up with such a powerful escort, including two of the Sanin. Eyes were on him like always, but without malice. It was more admiration born from being unknown and surrounded by famous people. Even Sakura got a fair share of attention and it seemed that much like Sasuke, she had made name for herself with her feats and abilities.
Jiraya and Tsunade were having a silent conversation as they followed behind the three teens. "You have to admit they almost look like a team like this." Jiraya said, apparently convinced he'd go unheard by the subject of his conversation.
"They would have been, if it wasn't for the incident." Tsunade answered, equally unaware that teens generally had better hearing than the elderly. "I would even guess that Kakashi would have been their sensei, but adding the Uchiha to Guy's team and Sakura to Kurenai's team did give a lot of possibilities for all of them. With the added diversity to both groups, all of them had the opportunity to specialise further."
"Still, I think these three would have been the strongest team in Konoha if they had been placed together." Jiraya said. "They remind me of our team, and a little of my team, you know?" He added, reminiscing his past.
"Yeah." Tsunade said. "I can see that."
A nostalgic silence fell over them and the rest of the walk was in silence. Not a lot of things had really changed in the past few years. Sure, shops had come and gone and there were a couple of new buildings here and there, but nothing truly new caught Naruto's attention. What did catch his attention was the familiar stand of Ichiraku in all it's glory. Naruto smiled as they walked past and he inhaled deeply, loving the scent that filled the air around the ramen shop. Since Sasuke didn't stop, and thus neither did the others, Naruto followed, albeit a little reluctant. He'd love to eat there soon again.
They walked through the gates into the cold and desolate area that was the Uchiha compound. If it hadn't been for Sasuke guiding them through the short streets with the ease of familiarity, they could have been walking in a ghost town. All doors and windows were closed. Even the curtains in most windows were shut, making it feel closed off and suppressed. They only building that had any sign of life was the main building where Sasuke lived. Naruto felt a sad pang for the boy who had to live in the house his parents were murdered in from the age of seven onwards. How did nobody in this village feel it was necessary to keep a child that young safe from the demons that were so definitely hunting him in the endless loneliness of the night? How did they expect a functional adult to come from such a trauma at that age with no help to work through it all? It was a miracle Sasuke didn't end up in the hands of some maniac feeding him bullshit about gaining power and getting revenge. And how was Naruto's literally shattered mind able to see the stupidity of this all, but a whole sane village didn't?
His thoughts were interrupted by Jiraya pushing him along to enter the house. It was one of the more typical Japanese houses with paper walls to divide the rooms. Sasuke led them deeper into the house, pointing out the different rooms and their uses. Naruto was appointed the bedroom next to Sasuke, with Jiraya in the room on the other side. Tsunade and Sakura were given the room across the hall from Naruto's, effectively blocking him in.
All of them just entered their rooms and stayed in them until it was around dinner time. One by one they all migrated towards the dining room, but non of them made any move to cook. Sasuke was the last to enter, raising an eyebrow at the gathering in the small room. "What are we gonna do about food?" Jiraya asked.
"I'm not cooking." Answered Sakura, huffing indignantly and throwing Naruto a sneering look. Her meaning was clear. She wasn't cooking for him. He rolled his eyes and let his hands wander to his neck. To his chagrin he didn't find something to grab and let his hands fall back on the table and his head backwards with a sigh. Old habits die hard, it seemed. "I'll do it. I need some distraction." Naruto got up and walked out of the dining room and into the adjacent kitchen. Sasuke walked in after him.
"What am I allowed to use?" Naruto asked Sasuke, figuring that is why Sasuke had followed him. Sasuke shrugged and sat down. "I'll tell you when you do something wrong."
"Tsk, teme." First thing he did was go through every single cupboard to see the supplies he had to work with. It all looked pretty normal and there was enough to feed five people for several days, so Sasuke must have had time to prepare. There was, however, an abnormal amount of tomatoes stocked, which Naruto skillfully avoided due to not really liking them.
An hour later a simple meal of stir-fried vegetables and rice and a side of grilled meat was set out on the table. Sakura didn't eat as she struggled with herself and her feelings. Tsunade gave her a sympathetic look, but didn't comment. Naruto set out to make it a personal goal to cook every single meal from here on out just to see how long she'd last without food. He grinned as the idea popped into his head, staring straight at Sakura with his red eye glinting.
She stared back, her face showing her uneasiness, but for the most past she held her ground. It wasn't that interesting, so Naruto got up and went to his bedroom.
Footsteps followed after him, but he ignored them. He sat down on his bed, turning around to face the sliding door and found Sasuke standing there. Sasuke was slightly glaring at him. "Stop that." He snapped.
"What?" Naruto asked, an air of pure innocents around him.
"I don't know what kind of liberties you got at the department, but here you will follow my rules. You are still a criminal under my supervision. To add to that, you are a guest at my house. Do not harm anyone here, do not get on anyones nerves while you're here, and do not think you can pull tricks like you used to at school while you are here. The Third Hokage might be lenient, but I will not be. Every step you take will be reported directly to Kakashi-sama, so mind your step." With that, Sasuke turned around, shut the door and walked away, leaving a slightly stunned Naruto behind. Shinobi training must have beaten the slight submissiveness out of Sasuke over the last years. Guess it was time to poke and probe until it bubbled to the surface again. Hearts are the best toys there are, anyway. It didn't matter if they were outside the body, or still protected and beating in the inside.
It was an early morning rise for Naruto. Being woken up by a rising sun was something he hadn't experienced in four years, so even the earliest rays creeping into his room were enough to wake him. He diligently went about making breakfast, neglecting to check the actual time. Needless to say, the food was well and truly cold by the time the first resident made her way into the kitchen, but she sat down gracefully, thanking a brightly smiling and happy looking Naruto for the effort of cooking. Tsunade was soon followed by the rest, and non of them pulled up their nose for the meal, though Sakura again didn't eat.
"Let's make our way to the training ground, so we can do some warm-ups." Jiraya said, ushering them all out of the dining room without giving anyone a chance to clean up. After gathering the equipment the group made its way to the training grounds. It took only a short wait before both Hokage arrived. Morino was there also, along with a fair number of Jounin and ANBU that were curious about what was happening.
Naruto plopped down at the first flat piece of sand he found that was in the area they'd have their test in and ran his fingers through the sand. He felt eyes on him, that were rolled before looking away again, disregarding him and his actions. Until he proved himself, he was no threat in the eyes of most of the collecting people. The eternal stigma of being underestimated still followed him to this day. Only Morino took the time to walk over and take a peek at what he was doing. At seeing it, he chuckled, clasped Naruto on the shoulder and told him to go easy on the old people. Naruto just grinned at his, mischief shining bright in both eyes.
For one last time he pushed his fingers into the dirt, leaving the faintest glow, before he jumped up and ran haphazardly across the field until he spotted the next pristine piece of flattened sand and did the same thing again. He did so sitting flat on arse, legs straight forward and slightly apart as he drew in the sand. A child playing in the sand.
Naruto had been able to work on three more patches of sand when Sarutobi called them to attention. Naruto hopped to stand up, placing his feet next to each other and holding his hands out to the side. He straightened, extending his hands further, then twisted on the spot and happily ran over to Sarutobi. "I made drawings in the sand!" He said with childish pride and a happy smile on his face that reached his eyes.
Sarutobi smiled back at him. "Really? Did you have fun?" He asked and received an enthusiastic nod from Naruto. "Do you know why we are here?" Sarutobi asked.
"Of course! To fight the old people!" There were two growls and a lot of suppressed sniggers behind him and Sarutobi sweat dropped at the remark. Sarutobi cleared his throat. "Yes, pretty much. your first match will be with Sasuke, to test your Taijutsu. Now, get ready."
Naruto took his spot opposite of Sasuke, Kakashi standing between them as referee. The area around them settled into an anticipating silence for seeing a high ranking ANBU's fighting skill as Kakashi raised his hand. "Ready?" Kakashi quickly glanced between and swiped his hand down. "Start!"
Both didn't move, but just stared at the other. It dragged on a few minutes until Naruto broke the stand-down with a full closed-eyed yawn, complete with tears in the corner of his eyes. Sasuke tsked, and went for the first move. With speed that pulled awes out of the crowd, he launched himself at Naruto, going for a full on sucker punch to the face. Naturo let his yawn change into a grin, eying Sasuke from the corner of his eyes as he let his head hang backwards. As Sasuke's fist came dangerously close, Naruto dropped to his knees, using the motion as a springboard to immediately launch himself head first into Sasuke's stomach. The hit connected, but Sasuke used the momentum to twist around, aiming a kick at Naruto's side. Naruto blocked the kick and ended up several feet away from the strength behind it.
Sasuke took the first move again, launching himself at Naruto in a similar way, but having had a feel of his opponents abilities in strength, put more speed in this attack, jabbing quick hits at sensitive areas and forcing Naruto to keep defending without the chance to counter attack. They slowly edged their way to the edge of the clearing, Naruto backing up in order to keep enough distance to block and avoid. Sasuke took the opportunity of Naruto not knowing the layout of the field very well and the fact that Naruto didn't get a chance to keep monitoring his surroundings to guide his back into a tree.
A small shift in Naruto's eyes, from completely focussed on Sasuke to a quick look at the ground, told Sasuke Naruto might be more aware then he had given him credit for. Moreover, even in the fraction of the second Naruto's attention was elsewhere, Naruto didn't miss blocking any of the jabs Sasuke threw at him. At noticing this, Sasuke jumped back, creating space for himself to observe his opponent further with wary eyes. A gasp ran through the crowd, one of not understanding why Sasuke would back up if he was so clearly overpowering Naruto.
Sasuke settled himself into his stance again, readying himself, but this time not taking the first move. He watched as Naruto dusted himself off and stretch himself, before he too dropped into a stance. Sasuke smirked, happy his opponent decided to take the mock battle at least a little serious, but his smirk faltered when he saw the look on Naruto's face.
The stance was strange. Naruto had one of his hands on the ground in front of him, his fingers clawing into the dirt. His legs were slightly apart, but completely stretched, standing on his toes and digging them in like his fingers. He had his eyes locked with Sasuke's. The red glint in them would have been enough to send most adults running for the hills, but it was the full-on grin displaying dangerously sharp teeth that left Sasuke unnerved. There was no killing intent in that grin, but it definitely wasn't innocent either. With just that look, Sasuke knew Naruto was dominating the field. And not just the battle, but also Sasuke himself. The uneasy realisation that he was just a play thing to Naruto settled into his mind with such certainty Sasuke questioned himself for not having noticed it before. When Naruto set off towards him, Sasuke almost wanted to turn tail and run.