Naruto walks along beside Kazama, a look of extreme concentration on his face. He insisted on carrying the box of cookies to his jounin sensei's house himself. Personally, Kazama has not had much interaction with Naruto's sensei, but Naruto seems to think the world of the man.
Wondering if she can discern the reason for Naruto's high regard of Kakashi Hatake, Kazama asks, "So what kind of teacher is Kakashi sensei?"
"He turns up late to every team meeting," says Naruto cheerfully. "And he leaves halfway through training to hide in a tree and read the porn Pervy Sage writes, and pretends not to notice when Sasuke steals it. He doesn't care if we break our family's rules - I mean, he lets Sasuke flaunt her grounding sentence all the time saying 'You ain't MY kid', and he's super annoying, and has a stupid smile, and it's actually kind of creepy, and you DO NOT want to know about the Thousand Years of Death technique he likes to use when we spar with him-"
"So why do you like him so much?" interrupts Kazama. "He sounds like a terrible teacher."
"He's not," says Naruto. "It's weird, but I learned way more from Kakashi sensei since I graduated than I did the whole time I was at the Academy." Naruto turns and grins at Kazama. "He's a great teacher - just not a great role model. But he was my ANBU, and my Dad was his jounin sensei, so he's cool. Even though he is lame as and stupid."
Kazama knows about Naruto's ANBU, of course, but it seems a little far-fetched that Kakashi would be in ANBU. He seems the exact opposite of every ANBU Kazama has encountered. Then Kazama realizes the other thing that Naruto just told her. "He was...Minato's student?"
"YEP!" says Naruto, stepping around a puddle. Normally he would jump in puddles, but not today, apparently.
Kazama just stands and stares at Naruto, until he stops and turns around.
"What?" is all Kazama can say.
"Why don't you just ask Kakashi sensei about it," suggests Naruto impatiently. "Come ON, Grandma. Hurry up, 'ttebayo!"
Kazama shakes herself out of her shock and catches up to Naruto. The pair continues on to Kakashi Hatake's house, where Kazama hopes to unravel a little of the mystery that is Kakashi Hatake.
Finally, they arrive at Kakashi's house. It is a smallish looking house, outside the main village, surrounded almost completely by trees. It seems Kakashi Hatake likes his privacy.
To Kazama's surprise, a young woman, who can't be more than 25, is sitting on the grass in front of the house with a baby in her lap. Little Aki is rolling around in the grass nearby, with several dogs in ninja headbands for company. The young woman has her long brown hair tied in low pigtails and is wearing a pink floral-print dress.
Naruto waves cheerfully, taking one hand off his precious cargo for a few seconds, and yells, "HI! I'M NARUTO, DATTEBAYO!"
The young woman looks up, and frowns suspiciously at Naruto. "What are you here for?" she demands.
There is something cold about her that makes Kazama uncomfortable.
"I made Kakashi sensei cookies!" announces Naruto.
Aki jumps up from the pile of dogs and yells, "HI NARUTO! HI OLD LADY WHO I THINK IS NARUTO'S GRANDMA!"
"HI AKI!" returns Naruto, just as loudly, patting the toddler on the head as she hugs his legs.
"Good morning," says Kazama, turning to the young woman. "I am Kazama Namikaze. This is my grandson Naruto Uzumaki."
The young woman examines Kazama so intently that Kazama feels unsafe. "I am Tenzou Hatake. Kakashi sempai is not here."
"Aw, that's so cute!" says Naruto, crouching down beside Tenzo. "You call Kakashi sensei 'sempai'!" He pokes the baby's cheek. "What's the baby's name?"
"His name is Minoru," says Tenzo evenly.
"Hello, Minoru," says Naruto, poking the baby's cheek again.
Tenzo frowns at Naruto. "Are you quite finished poking my baby?"
"Yeah, I guess," says Naruto, shrugging. He pats Minoru's head.
"Look, kid," says Tenzo, her face darkening and her eyes turning very scary. "I don't know you, so get away from my baby."
Naruto yelps and backs away.
Kazama remembers someone - possibly a member of Naruto's team - mentioning that Kakashi's wife was once in ANBU. "Naruto," says Kazama softly. "I think we had best keep our distance until Kakashi gets here, alright?"
"Woah, woah!" one of the dogs says, as the pack trots over. "Tenzou, calm down. This is the kid Kakashi used to guard, remember? He's not a threat." The dog turns to Kazama and Naruto and whispers. "She has a bit of PTSD."
Kazama sighs internally. Of course this placid looking woman has PTSD. However, to Kazama's surprise, Tenzou relaxes. Then she smiles at Naruto and Kazama and says, "Kakashi should be back soon. You may wait here until he arrives."
Kazama does not like this girl's tone, but she decides to ignore it. "So how old is your baby?" she asks, sensing that the way to this woman's heart is through the people she cares about. And Kazama does not want to make an enemy of this young lady.
"He is 17 weeks old," says Tenzou. "And if you think I am going to start gushing about him like Kakashi does, you are sorely mistaken."
Kazama wonders what is going on this kid's head to make her so uptight.
"But Fugaku," protests Kakashi, trying not to whine. "I want to teach Sasuke a jutsu that will penetrate Gaara's sand. I know lots of jutsu, and I know the one I want to teach Sasuke will do the trick, but I want it to be a surprise for everyone!"
"In case she can't master it, am I right?" counters Fugaku, crossing his arms.
"No! I know she can," says Kakashi. "But Sasuke wants to impresses everyone. And that includes you and Mikoto-sama and Itachi. If you give me a list of all the things Sasuke is not allowed to do while grounded, I can make sure she does not do them, but please let me train Sasuke privately!"
Fugaku sighs, relenting at last. "Fine, I'll let you train Sasuke. But she must be home by five in the afternoon every day no matter what. I will write out a full list of the rules she must follow while grounded, and if you break any of them, or let her break any of them, there will be hell to pay, understand?"
"Yes sir!" says Kakashi, bowing.
Tenzou's 'strange people can't be trusted' senses are going haywire. One baby is on her lap, but her other baby is cuddling up to the strange people. (Tenzou remembers that time she had to stake out Naruto of course - it is how she got together with Kakashi sempai - but she doesn't know him, therefore she does not trust the blonde boy.) Tenzou is having trouble curbing her desire to fight or flee. She does not often go out in public because she panics too easily. (At least that's what sempai says. He also says he is going to bring his genins around so she can start getting used to some new people.)
"So you live quite a way away from everyone," comments the strange lady, Kazama.
"It's safer," Tenzou replies. (But she doesn't mean safer for her, she means safer for everyone else.)
"Surely you can't be safe out here alone with two young children," protests Kazama, surprised, and slightly horrified.
"That's why we're here," says Pakkun, who is sitting between Tenzou and Kazama with the rest of Kakashi's summons. "To keep these three safe while the boss isn't here."
"The Boss?" asks Kazama. "Do you mean Kakashi san?"
"Yep! We are his summons."
The summons are there to calm her down if she freaks out. That happens sometimes. (Kakashi says it's a side effect of the stress of being a human experiment, followed by a member of Root, then an ANBU captain and possibly a bit of Postnatal Depression - and all without any time spent doing normal things.) (Pakkun says it's a bad case of PTSD.) (Those things are probably all the same, anyway.) (But it can't be Postnatal Depression if holding her babies calms her down, can it?)
"So where did Kakashi sensei go, anyway?" asks Naruto, breaking Tenzou out of her thoughts.
"He went to…" Tenzou actually can't remember. (Actually, come to think of it, Kakashi didn't actually say.)
"Did he leave without saying where he was going?" asks Naruto, as if that is perfectly normal and slightly annoying.
"Yes," admits Tenzou. "But he usually does say…" (That's because she would freak out it he didn't. In fact, Tenzou is feeling more uncomfortable as the seconds pass now. Where is Kakashi?)
"Yo!" Kakashi appears, striding towards them through the trees. A little girl with blue hair is following along behind him. "I hope you're all getting along, eh?"
"DADDY! DADDY!" yells Aki, running up to Kakashi and latching on to his legs. "NARUTO BROUGHT COOKIES!"
Naruto stands up and gives Kakashi the box he has been cradling since he arrived. "Here's the cookies! Grandma helped me make them, 'tebayo."
"Aw, thank you, Naruto," said Kakashi. "Now I feel bad about not training you."
"It's alright, Kakashi sensei," says Naruto, grinning. "My Godfather finally showed up, and he's gonna train me!" Then he frowns. "He's a stupid old pervert, though."
"So are you training Sasuke, then?" asks Kazama, crisply.
"Yes," says Kakashi. "We have the same chakra type, so I thought it would be best if I train her."
"But not here, right?" asks Tenzou. (Please not here, not here! She can't handle a strange kid around all the time.)
"No, but close by," says Kakashi, smiling.
"You're not going to let her rest for a day before beginning her training?" demands Kazama.
"Oh, yes," says Kakashi. "But I thought that it would be better if Sasuke met Tenzou before we begin training in earnest to avoid any unpleasant misunderstandings."
Tenzou knows Kakashi is worried that she might have tried to kill the girl if she wasn't introduced first. Tenzou smells that Minoru needs changing. "I'm going inside," she says, and takes the baby inside.
Tenzou pretends not to notice, but there is a patch of flowers in the grass where she and Minoru were sitting. (It's probably a side effect of her woodstyle.)