AN: I live! Sort of. In the process of moving and getting a new job. . Sufficient to say, it's eaten up my whole life. But things are starting to settle back down.

Thank you for all the great support. I know I've turned into the absent fic writer, but it really does help getting the occasional reminder that I owe you all a chapter. ^.^

And I know a -lot- of people are worried about the power balance between the two fandoms. I don't want to say exactly what I have planned, but I am trying my best to be both even handed and realistic. I can't guarantee I'll manage it, but I do share your concerns.

"You need to straighten out your hand. It should be held parallel to the ground. And stop trying to crush the thing. Loose, remember? The blade is supposed to slide off of your hand from the momentum of your arm. Do not fling it."

From his position sprawled out on the back porch, Naruto watched as Sasuke tried explaining the basics of kunai throwing without using the words baka, useless and goddamnit. It was clearly a struggle. In the process of trying to twist around to see what adjustments Sasuke had made to his hand, Harry's feet slipped out of their proper stance and his whole center of gravity shifted too far to the left. Despite whatever other skills Sasuke's cousin may be hiding, his weapon skills were pretty non-existent. He might clutch that kunai tight enough to let you know he meant business, but when it came to throwing one….he kind of sucked.

For the twentieth time that afternoon, Sasuke stepped back from his cousin, eyes tracked on each subtle movement of muscle. A minuscule flinch crossed his face as soon as Harry started to move. He caught the change in stance but not soon enough to do anything about it. Harry was already committed as his arm came down and a flash of silver left his hand.

Harry's aim wasn't bad. Just about every kunai he'd thrown that afternoon had at least hit the target. While some people might struggle at first with just getting to the target, aim still wasn't the hardest part of learning to throw. The hardest part was the timing. Throw too fast and the handle end, not the tip, would smack into the wooden board. Throw too slow and you got the exact same result. The practice board was already riddled with indentations from the heavy end of the kunai slamming into it. What Harry might lack in timing, he was more than trying to make up for with enthusiasm. It was a method Naruto fully approved of. And not just because it made Sasuke's eyebrow twitch. Though that too was pretty damn hilarious. The teme was going to hurt something trying so hard not to say anything sarcastic.

This time, however, the kunai ran out of time for one final rotation. It collided with the board, not hilt first or along the flat edge, but rather with the tip of the blade sliding down through the wood at a 45º angle – and stuck. For a second, all three of them waited to see if the blade's own momentum would rip it free, or if the wood itself would tear under the pressure of holding the weight at such a precarious angle, but nothing changed.

Harry whooped with delight. He even did a small victory dance, pumping one fist up into the air and grinning from ear to ear. His whole face looked different like that. It was almost hard to see the resemblance between the two cousins. Naruto was pretty sure no one still living had ever seen Sasuke-teme smile like that.

As it was, Sasuke took a careful step back away from his cousin, as if afraid the good humor might be contagious. "Do you remember what you did that time?" he asked.

Harry stilled and frowned. "The same thing I did every other time?"

Sasuke seemed unable to resist rolling his eyes. "Obviously not." He stepped forward again, taking a hold of Harry's shoulders and re-positioning him once more to face the target with a proper stance. He'd been doing the same thing all afternoon. "You are still locking your left knee. And try releasing a little earlier. Your timing is getting better. Try to repeat that, but half a second sooner."

Harry sighed but nodded. He seemed to respond well to Sasuke as long as the other boy wasn't doing his teme routine. He dutifully pulled out another kunai from the set Sasuke had given him and moved into the position Sasuke had shown him with a look of determination. He hadn't complained once about having to repeat this process over and over again, even though Naruto was pretty sure Harry didn't understand much of it. Truth be told, Naruto didn't either. Iruka-sensei had tried drilling into his head things about angles and momentum and physics, but Naruto learned better through muscle memory than anything else. Sasuke-teme could probably tell you the exact equation needed to determine any shot, but even he wasn't trying to bother with that at this stage. Harry would either learn by practicing or he wouldn't learn at all.

Though if Harry kept improving at the rate he was, he'd have this down in no time, Naruto was sure of it. He smiled broadly as he popped another cookie into his mouth and munched cheerfully. Maybe they could try out some of Harry's magic spells next. It'd be fun to see how they held up to some ninjutsu. And Harry had promised to try teaching him some of it, even if he didn't think Naurto would be able to learn any of it. Harry just didn't know Naruto very well yet.

The promise of a good spar was one of the primary reasons Naruto had followed them home today. But Sasuke had insisted that kunai training came first since Harry's education was more important. Naruto had valiantly managed not to laugh at the serious look on Sasuke face.

Harry had just been moving to gather up his spent kunai once more when his eyes flickered up, distracted by something. At the same moment, Sasuke stiffened suddenly and reached for his own kunai pouch. Naruto saw all this out of the corner of his eye, but it had him on his feet before Sasuke could even finish turning to face the east side of the house. Sasuke sent one kunai flying into the bushes while Naruto hastily pulled out another three to fling after it, fanning them out in the hopes of catching the tail end of anyone trying to escape Sasuke's attack. There was the dull thunk of Sasuke's hitting solid wood, the whoosh of one of Naruto's falling harmlessly through the leaves, a crack of another bouncing off a branch and finally the clang of metal on metal.

"Harry!" Sasuke hissed, but Harry had already moved to put the tree they'd been using for target practice at his back. He'd only collected a couple of his kunai but he had one in each hand. The right one was held loosely, in the proper manner for throwing; the left he had clutched tightly as if prepared to give it up only over his bleeding body. As Sasuke moved to stand in front of his cousin, Naruto launched himself off of the porch. His sandals touched the soft grass only for a second before he pushed himself up and off again flying towards the trees. He pulled on ever battle honed sense he had, searching for even the slightest hint of who and where. Only to have the perpetrator calmly step out from behind a bush into plain sight. Naurto curses and rebounded off a tree to land himself back closer to Sasuke. It was only then that he really got a good look at who it was.

"Your etiquette is severely lacking, Uchiha. It's not very polite to accost visitors to your home."

Neiji Hyuuga stared back at them, a look of total boredom on his face and his hands hanging loosing, empty, at his sides. Whatever he'd used to deflect Naruto's lucky shot was gone now, hidden once more in the folds of Neiji's normal attire. He didn't even have a smudge of dirt on all that pristine white. It was a terrible color choice for something you were going to fight in, but Neiji had given him the weirdest look when Naruto had tried to share this bit of wisdom with his comrade.

Naruto blinked, his arms immediately drooping as he realized their assailant was more of the grumpy neighbor type and less of the evil missing nin variety. "Um, hey, Neiji," he said, pulling up a shaky grin. "What's up?"

It was kind of hard to tell where exactly Neiji was looking, but Naruto thought he saw the slightest inclination of his head in Naruto's direction.

Sasuke, however, was too busy snarling at Neiji to notice anything. "Fuck you, Hyuuga. It is also not very polite to trespass, spy or kidnap!"

Naruto turned to stare at Sasuke. That all seemed a bit harsh. But while Naruto had relaxed immediately at the sight of who it was, Sasuke was still holding his stance. So was Harry behind him, though Harry looked a lot more confused. Crap. This must look terrible to him! Naruto glanced back at Neiji, ready to make the introductions but hesitated.

Neiji had his head tilted slightly to the side, one thin eyebrow arched delicately and just the hint of a smirk playing around his mouth. "You really are unhinged, Uchiha. Chill, already, would you?"

Naruto blinked, once, slowly, then slapped one hand over his mouth. He could practically feel the fury radiating off of his teammate, but he didn't dare turn around. If he saw the look on Sasuke-teme's face after Neiji told him to chill, he might just die right there on the spot. As it was, he couldn't help the (very manly) giggle that escaped out. Oh, lord, he was going to have to remember this and tease Sasuke about it later. Maybe when Kakshi-sensei was present. He'd love it too. Naruto snorted again and gave it up. He bent over laughing. Ah, this was just what he needed!

"Dobe," Sasuke hissed. "Shut. Up."

Naruto glanced over at him, smiling brightly. "Sure, Sasuke. Whatever you say," he replied cheekily.

"Is he okay?" Harry whispered to his cousin, edging forward to get a better view.

"No, he is certainly not," Sasuke snapped back, but he finally moved out of the tense position he'd been holding and stood relaxed. He didn't move from his place in front of Harry, however, and didn't put away the kunai in his hand.

Naruto stayed crouched over, enjoying the way it stretched out his leg muscles after an afternoon spent lounging around. He watched as Harry carefully glanced over at his cousin before turning to study Neiji closely. Harry didn't look scared, but he seemed to be very aware of Sasuke's attitude and was taking cues from it. "What's going on?" he finally asked, looking more than a little frustrated as no one moved.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "We have an unexpected guest, who apparently cannot manage to deduce for himself that attempting to sneak into the home of a ninja clan is an excellent way of finding one's self liberally perforated."

Harry stared at Sasuke for moment and Naruto could relate. Why couldn't Sasuke call Neiji an idiot like a normal person and be done with it?

"One would expect a fellow Konoha nin not to attack his comrades," Neiji returned sharply before cross his arms. "A little jumpy, are we, Uchiha?"

"I have already had two unwelcome nin in my home in the past 24 hours. If you would like to join them, be my guest."

Neiji didn't seem confused or surprised by this news – after all, news traveled fast in a nin village. "And who is your other guest?" he asked. "You have yet to introduce us."

With Sasuke-teme in full scowling mode, Naruto took it upon himself to fix this. "This is Harry!" he replied brightly. "Harry, this is Neiji Hyuuga. He graduated from the academy a year ahead of us, but our teams work together sometimes."

Harry muttered a polite "how do you do," but still didn't seem very comfortable. Standing next to Mr. Doom-and-Gloom, Naruto couldn't blame him. "So what brings ya here, Neiji?' Naruto asked.

Was it his imagination or did Neiji grimace a little just then? What, did he not want to be there or something? If so, why'd he come then? He clearly didn't really want to talk to Sasuke as he turned so that he more fully faced Naruto. "Mere curiosity, only. After all, it is not everyday that an outside comes to stay at our village, much less in the heart of the Uchiha compound. Certain people have been talking about it all morning."

Naruto blinked back at him. That was weird. Neiji was practically the last person Naruto would expect of listening to village gossip. It kind of seemed beneath him. Especially to even mention that that's where he got his information.

But as if it were even possible, Sasuke's scowl grew even darker. "What exactly does your Uncle expect to gain through sending you here to antagonize me?" he demanded.

Neiji blinked very slowly. "I do not know what you are ranting about now, Uchiha," he said, drawing out each word carefully. "Though one would hope as an old acquaintance of yours, someone who actually knows you personally, you would not be so suspicious. Really. You will make your guest feel uncomfortable."

Too late, thought Naruto. But he didn't say anything flippant. He might be a little slow on the up take, but he'd managed to figure out that this was Official Clan Business. Of all the people he knew, only Sasuke and Neiji could make anything and everything Official Clan Business. He was convinced neither of them knew how to exist otherwise, though you certainly never saw people like Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino acting nearly as weird.

Something must have changed for Sasuke, however, because he finally slid his kunai back into its holster and crossed his own arms over his chest. "Fine. Since you are supposedly not here on orders from your uncle then you can also not tell your Uncle to mind his own damn business and keep off my property or I will be filing a formal, public complaint, and the Hokage can investigate the matter."

Neiji merely inclined his head once more.

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms too, never one to want to be left out. "So? Are we all cool then?" he demanded.

Neiji stopped frowning at Sasuke and turned once more back to Naruto. "Yes," he said quietly. "I apologize for interrupting your training session. Though if you would like any assistance-"

"Get lost, Hyuuga!" Sasuke snapped before pointedly turning his back on Neiji and reaching down to retrieve one of Harry's missing kunai. "Here," he told his cousin quietly, pushing it against Harry's hand. "We will continue," he said before tossing one more glare over his shoulder. "And I meant what I said, Hyuuga, get off my damn property before I remove you myself."

Neiji ignored him, however. "Perhaps we will see you tomorrow on the training field," he said to Naruto.

Naruto shrugged. He didn't have any plans for training, but that was where he ended up more often than not. "Guy-sensei insisting on some team training for you?" he asked.

Neiji nodded.

Well, he wouldn't want to interrupt that. Plus, Guy-sensei was still about one of the most terrifying people Naruto knew. Teeth just weren't supposed to be that shinny. Shaking his head to dislodge the metal image, Naruto gave Neiji a grin and a shrug. "Maybe I'll try to stop by in the afternoon. It'd be good to catch up with you and Lee."

Neiji nodded once more before turning away and only then walking calmly back around the house and to the main road. Naruto watched him go before turning back to his teammate. Sasuke had managed to keep both himself and Harry busy checking over each blade for any chips or nicks in the metal. As expected, there didn't seem to be any. They were Sasuke's personal kunai, some of the best made money could buy. They were designed to put up with a lot more abuse than Harry had managed to dole out yet.

Once Sasuke set Harry back to his practice, Naruto moved over to stand by him. "That was kind of rude, ya know, teme. Even if it was stupid clan business, you could have been a little less bastardly. Neiji's not a bad guy once you get to know him, and he's great to train with."

Sasuke's hands clenched and he shot Naruto a look out of the corner of his eye. "Would you have had him stay?" he asked in a low tone of voice.

Naruto shrugged. "Why not. He was already here. Maybe he could have helped."

"And what makes you think he cares about an introduction to kunai?"

Naruto frowned. "I don't know, I just thought it'd be polite, you know. Friendly, and all that. I mean, he was pretty clear about why he was here even though he didn't have to be."

"Which is the only reason I didn't threaten him further," Sasuke snapped back before huffing. "Think, dobe, what did Harry promise to show you this afternoon?"

Naruto brightened immediately. "Magic!"

"And if Neiji had remained?"

"Um…"

"Harry would not be allowed to," Sasuke explained. "Or worse, the Hyuuga's would achieve exactly what they had set out for in having a spy in place to witness specifically what Harry's skills and weaknesses are."

"Um," Naruto replied hesitantly as he rubbed at the back of his head. "Did you forget that the Hyuuga, ya know, are a part of Konoha too and not evil missing nin out to kill Harry?"

Sasuke hissed at him, and quickly pulled the two of them back a step and lowered his voice even more. "They do not have to kill Harry to hurt him."

"But-"

"I do not trust anybody," Sasuke interrupted. "No one. You got that? Do not leave Harry alone with any of them. It does not matter whose side they are on, they are all looking for something to steal." Naruto opened his mouth but Sasuke cut him off again. "Yes, yes, I know. What a thing to say coming from someone from my clan, but trust me, I know how these people think. No one, Naruto. No one beyond you, me, Sakura and I guess Kakashi-sensei if we must."

"You've already told me this, teme."

Sasuke huffed. "Well, apparently the lesson did not get through enough. Harry's abilities are only to be known to us."

"Still standing here!" Harry called out suddenly. The two of them turned to find Harry standing facing them, hands now empty. Behind him the grass was once more littered with misplaced kunai, but the tree behind him now supported two, one once more at a 45º from the ground while the other hung precariously in the opposite position, just barely held in place by how deeply its tip had sliced through the bark. Harry had a proud grin on his face even as he crossed his arms over his chest and attempted to glare at them. "Could you please stop talking about me as if I'm not here?