Based off Roar Little Lion Cub by BasicallyAnIdiot on AO3.

Team 7 had been lying on the grass, trying to gain their breath back after Kakashi had summoned his ninken to chase them for an hour, when the Sasuke's request was blurted out. "My mother wants you guys to come over for dinner so that she can meet all of you." Sakura and Naruto had managed to recover enough of their energy to push themselves up and look at their teammate. Ever since they started properly training under Kakashi, the overall team cohesiveness had improved by leagues. So while it was obvious that the last thing Sasuke wanted was to invite his teammates over, his face was only in a slight grimace as compared to his original default constipated face.

While Naruto started to freak out about "meeting a clan of Sasukes" Sakura was thinking about what kind of gift to bring. "Maybe that pot of tea leaves that mum brought back from her last trip?" She had been so deep in thought that she almost didn't hear the last sentence Sasuke said.

"My parents want you guys to bring along your parents or guardians as well." That one sentence alone managed to shut Naruto up and break Sakura out of her musings. No need to wonder why though. It was known in the team that Naruto had no parents and that Sakura's were away most of the time, having started travelling more often since she graduated from the Academy.

Naruto's eyebrows were slightly furrowed, pondering on who he would be able to bring along. "Iruka isn't my guardian and Jiji would be too busy…Who can I bring…." While he continued to think about his available options, Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Please tell you parent's that my grandfather will be accompanying me." Her black haired teammate nodded, though he did wonder whether her grandfather was a shinobi or a civilian. Watching her leave the training ground, he realized that Sakura never really talked about her family. While the team knew he was an Uchiha, and basically anyone who has eyes to see the symbol on the back of his shirt, and Naruto would not shut up about the Sandaime and Iruka treating him to ramen, Sakura never shared information about her family. All he knew was that her parents were rarely at home and that she spent every weekend with her grandfather.

"Ummmm Sasuke?" Turning around, said person found himself looking at a nervous Naruto. Inside, seeing the smaller boy look nervous unsettled Sasuke but he didn't let it show. "Yeah Naruto?" Clear blue eyes darted around before setting on the obsidian ones before him. "My…guardians don't really talk much. Would your parents mind?" Truthfully, Sasuke didn't actually know. Well, he knew his mother wouldn't mind but his father was another story. Fugaku would most likely sit there in silence before interrogating his teammates' and their family, guardians in Naruto's case, on what they do for a living and would try to insult them at the same time.

"Better not tell him that…" Sasuke thought before looking back at Naruto, "I don't think they would mind." He could see the visible relief on the blond haired boy's face the moment he said that. "Good, he's no longer upset." Unconsciously the edges of his mouth started to tug upwards as he watched the other boy grab his hand and drag him away from the training ground, rambling on about eating at Ichiraku's and how it's "the food of the gods".

"For now let me just enjoy the moment and not think about the disaster that will definetly happen tonight."

While Sasuke was off enjoying his time with his male teammate, Sakura wished she could say the same for herself. Instead, she found herself standing outside her grandfather's house. "Why am I afraid about? Our relationship has been improving lately." Letting out a deep breath, she squared back her shoulders and walked into the traditional house after knocking politely. Taking off her sandals at the entrance, she made her way in towards the kitchen. After brewing a pot of tea she softly walked to the sliding doors that opened to the gardens. As expected her grandfather was sitting there with his eyes closed. Placing the pot down, Sakura quietly sat down and sipped her own cup of tea.

Silence reigned, only interrupted by the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind.

"What did your Uchiha teammate say to you that made you so nervous?" The first sentence was finally said, breaking the silence between them. Internally, Sakura was slightly relieved that she didn't need to be the one to break the silence. But the fact that he knew that Sasuke had said something to her made her realize something. Her head turned to her grandfather so fast that she almost sprained her neck. "You were watching my team's training?" Incredulity obvious in her question. "I didn't see anyone near the training grounds!"

He grandfather snorted quietly. "Don't be ridiculous child." Turning his head slightly, he opened his eyes and looked at her. "I'm a sensor, or have you forgotten?" Realization filled her eyes before she hastily mumbled out an apology. He waved a hand, as if pushing the remark aside, before turning away to pour himself a cup of tea. "Now tell me, what has made you so nervous?"

Steeling her nerves, Sakura turned towards her grandfather who was now sipping on his own cup of green tea. "My teammate has invited the team over for dinner on behalf of his family. His mother has requested that our families of guardians come along as well." As she said all this, Sakura observed the person sitting beside her. There had been no change to his expression when she was talking.

"Thus you are here to ask me to accompany you as your parents are out of the village." A nod.

"And I would be correct to assume that this teammate is the Uchiha?" Another nod.

More silence passed between the two as the white-haired man picked up his cup to take a few more sips of his drink. Turning to his grandchild and seeing the stiff expression on her face almost made the man smirk. It was fun to watch the child squirm under his gaze. "What time do we need to be there by?" The relief that one sentence brought her would have been visible even to civilians.

In another location, two shinobi had just agreed to the resident jinchuriki to be his guardians for a team dinner.

A rush. Those are the only words that could come to Sasuke's mind as he watched his mother move about the kitchen with his brother acting as sous chef. At some point he had wondered if his mother was using chakra to move around faster. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if she was channeling some without realizing it. The moment the words 'guests' and 'dinner' come together, Mikoto became a woman possessed by some cooking demon that not even his father could control. Preoccupied with watching his mother cook up a storm, Sasuke almost missed his mother telling him to set the table.

With Mikoto cooking, Sasuke setting the table, Fugaku reading and Itachi helping his mother out, they settled into a comfortable silence. Just as Sasuke started to wonder when his teammates were going to arrive there was a knock at the door. Mikoto, leaving the final plating to Itachi, left to go and receive the first guests.

Sasuke continued to place the food on the food down when he heard a sharp gasp followed by a quiet, but sincere apology. "What happened?" Sasuke thought, and from what he could see, his father and brother were thinking the same thing. Soon enough he heard the sound of footsteps, "Why can I only hear 2 people? Shouldn't there be more people?", and Naruto's voice. When his mother rounded the corner, her face wore an uneasy smile as if she was unsure about the guests. "What's she so worried about? It's just Naruto and his guardians." Finally his teammate walked into the living room followed by his- oh…..

No wonder his mother had been shocked. Anyone would be when they saw who Naruto's guardians were.

Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai

Garbed in their distinctive grey armour, sheathed tanto, and animal mask, they stood behind Naruto in an imposing silence. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw his father's eyes opened in shock while Itachi was frozen in place. "Well…No wonder why Naruto said his guardians don't talk much…" Sasuke thought to himself. After placing down the plate he was holding, Sasuke stood up and approached his teammate. "Naruto, what took you so long?" The familiar voice brought Naruto out of his daze and immediatly broke the silence in the room. "Sasuke! Oh here, I brought some mochi over." The shorter boy shoved a box of dessert into the taller boy's hand before introducing his, rather terrifying in Sasuke's private opinion, guardians.

After doing a hasty bow to the other Uchiha in the room, Naruto introduced his guardians. "This is Cat and Bear, they basically raised me along with a bunch of others." He gestured to the two ANBU that had arrived with him. Itachi was the first one to break out his shock, directing a quick but polite nod at the two, receiving a quiet "Taichou" in return. Mikoto gestured at the guests to sit down and enjoy some of appetizers that have been laid out. Right when Fugaku was about to start his 'I will ask you questions and look down on you at the same time' routine, there was another knock at the door.

"That's probably Sakura." Taking the chance to escape from the room, Sasuke went to receive the guests before his mother could. He must have looked a tad frazzled when he opened the door because Sakura had immediately asked him if there was something wrong. "Yes…Well, not exactly. It's just that Naruto's guardians are not what we expected." was his reply. Right as he was about to ask where was her grandfather, another person appeared from the side. Hastily bowing, "elders are all about respect" Sasuke thought, before straightening up to introduce himself. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, you must be Sakura's grandfather…" his voice trailed off at the end when he finally looked at Sakura's grandfather in the face. He continued to stare blankly at the elderly man until his teammate nudged him.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?" Shaking himself out of his stupor, Sasuke apologized before inviting them in. "Damn, for a moment I thought he looked like the Nidaime. Must be the ANBU showing up that's affecting my brain." Sasuke thought to himself. Walking back to the living room, he was greeted by the sight of his mother piling up high Naruto's plate with all kinds of food, Fugaku helping to add to the pile though not as obviously, and Itachi having a stare-off with the two ANBU.

Realizing that Sasuke was back with the new guests, Mikoto turned to greet them only for her to drop her plate in shock. Hearing the plate drop the rest of the people in the house turned to look at Sakura and her grandfather only to fall in silent disbelief. Stepping forward, Sakura did a polite bow before introducing herself and her grandfather.

"Thank you for inviting us for dinner. I'm Sakura Haruno and this is my grandfather, Tobirama Senju."

No one knew what to say to that introduction. For a minute everyone was frozen, trying to understand the scene before them.

The ANBU were the first to move. Moving with all the fluidity and silence that they were feared for, they knelt before the white-haired man. "Nidaime-sama, it's an honor to meet you." Only after a soft hum of acknowledgement was heard did they stand up from their kneeling position and move back to their original position. Sasuke could only stare at the old, but honestly terrifying, man in horror when he realized his eyes hadn't fooled him at the start. "Holy shit, that was the Nidaime!" He then turned to scowl at his only female teammate, "Why didn't you tell me who your grandfather is?" as if his eyes would be able to telepathically scream at her. On the other hand, Sakura was trying very hard to ignore her teammate even though she could feel his glare burning holes into the side of her head.

Unlike his teammates, Naruto was not going through a mental meltdown. When the ANBU had called the old man 'Nidaime-sama', he was thrown for a loop. Naruto's dream had always been to become the Hokage and here was a physical representation of his goal. Compared to the Sandaime who was like a jovial grandfather to him, Sakura's grandfather came off as cold and aloof. Untouchable. Stuck in his thoughts, he had almost missed Mikoto inviting everyone to sit down and eat. Pulling himself out of his thoughts Naruto managed a quick "Thank you for the food" before digging into the food-mountain that Mikoto and Fugaku had buried his plate with.

While Tobirama's facial expression was the epitome of tranquility, the same could hardly be said for Fugaku. The Head of the Uchiha clan looked as if someone had stabbed him with a rusted kunai multiple times and then puked all over him. The moment the Nidaime had walked into the living room, his left eyebrow had not stopped twitching. Throughout the meal Itachi could not help but keep looking over at his father, his eyebrows slightly furrowed with worry. "At the rate his eyebrow is twitching, it might just fall off by the end of the night." Before he knew it, the image of the Uchiha clan head attending a clan meeting with only one eyebrow was conjured in his mind. Taken by surprise by his own imagination, Itachi almost chocked on a mouthful of rice. Thankfully no one had seen his slip up, too busy focusing on their own plates of food. While the clan heir was busy imagining his father eyebrow-less, a certain genin was praying for the dinner to end.

"Please, please, please do not say anything insulting grandfather!" Unlike the rest of the people in the house, Sakura was able to what discern what each of her grandfather's facial expression meant. After spending every weekend with her grandfather for the past decade, Sakura could confidently say that she was one of people in the village that could read her grandfather's expressions. To everyone else, the Nidaime may look to be unperturbed by everything. To his granddaughter though? Tobirama was obviously getting a kick out of mentally fucking with the Uchiha Head.

A few more minutes passed in tense silence, with only the sound of chopsticks clicking and chewing being made.

"You shouldn't stay in ANBU."

"Wha-"

"Grandfather!"

The tense silence had been broken, but it was broken with the worst sentence ever. Chokes and splutters were heard but no one looked more horrified than Sakura did at that moment.

"Oh my fucking god! I wanted the silence to end but I didn't mean like this! I wanted Naruto to say something or anyone really. Anyone, except my grandfather!" The internal screaming in her head was so loud that Sakura herself was surprised she hadn't actually screamed it aloud.

Tobirama just stared at the Uchiha heir, who was now frozen in his seat with the most shocked expression Sasuke has ever seen in his life. Fugaku on the other hand, who was doing a great impression of a grape, looked like he wanted to jump over the table to strangle the white-haired man, previous Hokage be damned! Thankfully Mikoto came to the rescue before her husband could do something that would definetly cause him to be jailed.

"What exactly are you saying Nidaime-sama?" The Uchiha Matriarch had a cold smile on her face as she asked. Fugaku took one look at his wife and tried to inch away without being noticed.

The Nidaime held Itachi's gaze for a few more seconds before turning to said shinobi's mother. "Your son is wasted in ANBU." Fugaku opened his mouth to protest but fell silent when Tobirama calmly lifted a hand.

"I have seen the reports of your son. Yes, your son is an excellent shinobi, one could even say he is one of Konoha's best. But he does not have the mindset to stay in that division." Turning to the topic of the conversation, the Nidaime continued. "You know it yourself. Sooner or later the jobs undertaken by the ANBU will pull you apart, both metaphorically and figuratively."

By the end of the speech, Itachi's head had titled down, tired eyes looking at his hands as if seeing the blood that coated his hands with every mission he took. The red coat that only he could see despite washing his hands at every chance he could get. There were so many nights where he would just leap out of bed, frantically running to the toilet sink todesperately scrub at his hand wishing that the blood would wash off, "so why won't it go away!". Even Fugaku was looking at Itachi with regret in his eyes, almost as if he was finally seeing just how much his never ending expectations have burdened his eldest.

Red eyes observed Itachi for a few more seconds before nodding to himself, as if what he had just seen solidified a decision he had made.

"Become my apprentice." Heads whirled towards the Senju with eyes blown wide and mouths agape but he carried on talking, ignoring all others and only focusing on the youth that had been forced to experience those his age should not have. "I've seen the reports about you and now I've seen you with my own eyes."" The famed red eyes of the had always been a key feature of the Nidaime, often talked about in hushed tones by the previous generation,but never had the Uchiha's gathered around the dinner table been subjected to their piercing gaze before. "You have a good mindset, you've proven your combat capabilities on multiple occasions and most of all, you've impressed me."

The youngest ANBU captain stared at the Nidaime, the gaze in his eyes were not one of shock but something akin to hope. Hope at the chance to leave the ANBU. Hope that he could actually better the village. "I could even spend more time with Sasuke if I'm no longer on ANBU missions." The wistful voice that Itachi usually had locked away, in fear of giving into the temptations of the voice, had managed to make it's way out. This time however, it was no longer a quiet voice easily pushed aside but the loudest, it's statements downing out all other thoughts.

"By being your apprentice, what can he become? A politician? To spend the rest of his days arguing with the civilian council over technical, mundane issues?" Fugaku's voice broke his son's train of thought. Surprisingly, his tone was not one of mockery but was bland, if not, a tad defensive. Fugaku cared about his son, even if he did not outwardly show it. Tonight, he saw just how much Itachi was considering this offer. "If he becomes the Nidaime's apprentice, the Uchiha clan as a whole would perhaps become more integrated with the rest of the village." But how much power would being the apprentice of Tobirama Senju come with was the main question? Tsunade Senju's apprentice became the head of the hospital after she returned, gaining control over the important facility, but there was not much political power that actually came with the position. Fugaku loved his son, but he also had to keep in mind the interests of the clan as a whole.

"Your son, would be the next Hokage." Red eyes glowed and a blanket of pressure settled around the room. While it was not suffocating, the sheer density of the chakra had essentially immobilized those in the room. Eyes were blown wide, be it from fear or awe, as they tried to move but to no avail. Tobirama's chakra was like the water he famously utilizes, fluid yet powerful. Sensors have described it being akin to a vast sea, swallowing everything in it's path. In the battles that he had fought in, his opponents often moved sluggishly, hindered by the pressure that was exerted by the chakra that Tobirama had honed to a level that was rarely this dining room, the manifestation of his chakra was to let everyone understand that his words were not a promise but a statement.

Tobirama was anything but blind. He could see the situation that was brewing within the village that he had helped to build. Inwardly he seethed. "Fools, the lot of them. Me? Distrusting of the Uchiha? I gave the Police Force to the Uchiha because I trust them! Damn you Kagami, why didn't you come to me when you started noticing this problem?" The thought of Kagami, the curly haired Uchiha child that had tailed him throughout his daily meetings with Hashirama and Madara, not confiding in him… Every time Tobirama saw Kagami utilizing the lessons that both he and Madara had given him when he was younger, especially when he was Uchiha Head never failed to make Tobirama feel proud.

There were so many days that Tobirama spent in the Uchiha compound, sitting next to the koi pond that Madara loved, talking softly with Kagami and the occasional Uchiha children that joined, teaching about jutsu creation and other topics. He and Madara would teach their son how to manipulate chakra, mixing different style of fighting together, and how to lead a clan.

While that talkative Uchiha, Shishui was it, that may look like his son the most, it was the Uchiha heir that was currently sat across him that embodied his son the most mentally.

Kagami became the previous Uchiha Head.

He would make this Uchiha the next Hokage.

A/N: Hi, Levi here! Thank you for reading this story. Comments and critics are welcomed and appreciated! No flames please!