"He's in there," the matron said, jerking her head towards the closet. "Knows he's in trouble so he's gone and disappeared himself, quick-like."

"Frogs in the beds," Kakashi guessed, judging by the high pitched screaming from the next room over.

"Snakes and spiders," the matron sighed and wiped her hands on her apron. "Uzumaki Naruto," she said sternly, her voice rising. "There's someone here to meet you. Get out of the closet, quickly!"

"Dun wanna!"

"Uzumaki, if you don't get out in five seconds-"

Kakashi laid a hand on her arm and smiled at her. "I'll handle this, Hori-san," he said pleasantly and made his casual way towards the door, hands shoved into his pockets.

"He's a stubborn brat," the matron warned him, her dark eyes looking at him beadily. "Bad enough that he's the damned-"

Kakashi's pleasant smile turned a shade harder. "I believe that's enough," he said quietly and the air in the room suddenly became much, much heavier. "You may leave now."

The matron swallowed and gripped at her pink apron, knuckles whitening. "Of course, Hatake-san," she said stiffly and swept out of the room without a second glance.

Kakashi leaned against the closet door and watched her go with a wary eye, making sure that her chakra signature moved away from the room. "You can come out now," he said after a long moment. "She's gone away to deal with your prank."

The door opened a crack and Kakashi obliged, moving out of the way. He crouched down and caught the tiniest sliver of a blue eye looking up at him. Naruto. For a long moment, his heart caught in his throat and he couldn't think of anything to say. I'm sorry sorry I failed you and the pack sorry sorry sorry. He cleared his throat instead.

"Who're you?" the boy behind the door asked rudely, blue eye keen.

"Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi said automatically and a small part of him was bemused at how high pitched and squeaky Naruto's voice was. It was familiar, in a way Naruto at sixteen wasn't; he'd missed seeing his student grow and change, and when he'd come back in black and orange, his deepened voice had been a bit of an unpleasant shock.

"That's a weird name," Naruto said suspiciously.

"So's Naruto," Kakashi countered, rocking back on his heels.

"Is not! Naruto's the coolest name in the village," Naruto said fiercely and in his excitement pushed open the door, nearly clipping Kakashi's nose. "Uzumaki Naruto," he boasted, jabbing a thumb at his skinny chest. "Number one prankster!"

"Snakes and spiders, hmm? Anyone can do that," Kakashi said and narrowly missed an enthusiastic flailing arm in his eye for it.

"Jiro couldn't and he was the one who dared me cause he's a dumb sissy," Naruto said enthusiastically, hopping up and down in his dirty and bedraggled sandals. "But I did and it's the greatest bestest prank ever, so there!"

"I bet you could do better," Kakashi said and without even realizing it, reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair. The boy squawked and beat at his arm with his tiny hands and Kakashi felt something soft and warm settle in the bottom of his chest.

"What're you being so nice to me for anyhow?" Naruto said after recovering from the hair ruffling attack, looking up with vaguely suspicious eyes. "Big people're never nice to me."

In the back of Kakashi's head, he quietly resolved to find every person who'd been cruel to his student and kill them slowly. "Well," he said, scratching the back of his head casually. "I'm not a very nice person."

"So you ain't being nice?" Naruto scrunched up his nose. "You're so weird."

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed. "What do you say we go have some ramen?"

Naruto looked up at him, mouth wide open. It was possible that stars began to glow in his eyes. "Ramen," he whispered up at the older man reverently. "We're gonna eat ramen?"

"Well, if you want to," Kakashi said, looking faintly worried.

Naruto launched himself at Kakashi's legs and nearly bowled him over. "Yeah!" he cheered. "Ramen, ramen, ramen!"

Kakashi's hand hovered hesitantly over Naruto's back before it settled down on a bony shoulder, patting it gently, if a little awkwardly. "There's this ramen stand on Main St. that I'll think you'll like, Naruto-kun. It's called Ichiraku and..."

"Don't just stand there like an idiot," Kakashi said, tilting his head curiously.

"Cap- Kakashi-senpai!" Tenzou said and he rocked a little nervously on his feet, which for him was very nearly the equivalent of him clutching his chest dramatically. "I didn't realize you were standing behind me."

"Well, you were looking so intently at the door." Kakashi shrugged and a bag of groceries swung gently in his hand. "Would you like to come in?"

Tenzou gave him a small smile. "I'd like that, senpai," he said quietly. He stepped back from the apartment door as Kakashi casually flicked through a series of hand seals, the doorjamb glowing a dull blue for a brief moment before fading back to a normal brown.

"A-rank security seals, senpai," Tenzou noted, his dark eyes keen.

"I have important things that I'd like to keep an eye on," Kakashi said and opened the door. Within seconds, his important thing collided violently with his knees, a blur of yellow and orange and brown fur.

"KAKASHI-NII-SAN," Naruto bellowed and Ryou added to the chaos with his own happy yips. "YOU'RE HOME!"

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said mildly and bent down, patting Naruto's spiky hair. The bag of groceries hit the floor with a clunk and Ryou's ears picked up. Food food food food, he barked excitedly and dashed over to the bag.

"Hey, hey," Kakashi protested as Ryou dug through the bag with his large black nose. "Ryou, no, that's going to be our dinner." Tenzou rescued their food with a deft hand, winding his way around Ryou's wriggling body with an ease that came with long experience.

"Hello, Ryou-chan," Tenzou greeted the dog warmly, scratching at his tattered ears. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Ryou agreed enthusiastically, drooling spectacularly all over his kouhai's face. You would hardly think that he was a ferocious hundred pound ninken if you looked at him now, wriggling about like an overgrown puppy.

"Hey, hey, nii-san, who's this?" Naruto regarded Tenzou with curiosity, twisting around Kakashi's legs to peer up at the stranger with wide eyes. "He's a ninja!" he shouted, catching Tenzou's forehead protector. "Like you, Kakashi-nii-san!"

Tenzou's eyes widened a fraction and he gave Kakashi a look. Kakashi smiled back at him, his eye curving cheerfully. "Naruto-kun, this is Tenzou. He's a friend of mine."

Interest piqued, Naruto sidled up to the older boy, hands clasped behind his back. "You're Kakashi-nii-san's friend?" he asked seriously.

"He's my senpai," Tenzou just as gravely and bent down a little, bracing his hands on his thighs.

"A senpai? Whassa senpai?"

"Like a friend," Tenzou considered, his eyes thoughtful. "But also like an older brother, too. Someone's who's more experienced and older than you at school or at work."

"Huh," Naruto said and then tugged expectantly on Tenzou's pants. "Come on, I'll show you the cool shuriken nii-san bought me! They're super sharp so's we have to extra extra careful but Kakashi-nii said we could train with them and then next year I'm going to go to the Academy and become a ninja like you and nii-san..."

Kakashi watched with a quiet amusement as Naruto dragged a rather overwhelmed Tenzou to his room, Ryou following the two obediently, tail wagging. Protect them, the voice in the back of head whispered. You promised.

He thought this was a good start.

"He's..." Tenzou groped for the right words, cupping his mug of tea.

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "He's Naruto," he said simply and sipped at his tea.

"He reminds me of Uzumaki-san," Tenzou said, absently rubbing the rim of his cup. "She was very kind to me when- when Yondaime-sama brought me to the hospital."

It was hard to describe Kushina-san. Bright and angry and so strong. She'd bought him ramen and read him The Tale of The Gutsy Ninja during hospital stays; she was the one who had taught him his first seal, a simple protective symbol that could be carved into wood. And so very much like her son, Uzumaki Naruto. "Naruto reminds me of her," Tenzou said wistfully. "When he smiles..." Tenzou's eyes sharpened and he looked up at Kakashi, eyes missing nothing.

"You left for him." It wasn't a question.

Kakashi's silence was answer enough.

Tenzou breathed out slowly and then smiled, hiding it behind a quick sip of tea. "It's good to see you of the armor," he said.

"How's Genma doing?" Kakashi asked lazily, accepting Tenzou's tacit approval.

"Terribly well," Tenzou grinned and Kakashi could see traces of Yamato's demon face in his eyes; the rookie was growing up. "He hates it of course, complaining about the paperwork and the responsibility, but he's doing well."

Genma was already mothering the team as it was; the position just gave him a little more authority to do so. Kakashi was silently grateful that he didn't have to listen to Genma nag about chakra exhaustion at him. "And the rookie?"

"Bugs in his locker, mud on his armor and fake exploding tags on his kunai," Tenzou said proudly, looking very glad to lose rookie status after a good eight months of ribbing from the other members of Delta Squad.

"I bet he's enjoying that," Kakashi said dryly.

"He set this genjutsu on Raidou-san when we were at the mess hall, made him think he was talking to Kyoko-san," Tenzou said, eyes bright. The tea sloshed a little in his cup as he leaned back in his chair in satisfaction. "He was flirting with a salt shaker, the entire time."

Clever, clever Itachi. "He's a good boy," Kakashi said. "Even if he did beat my record."

"He's not as good as you, of course," Tenzou said loyally. "Though he's very good on the field." That was high praise from a boy who could raise grow a forest within minutes and kill a man with a twig.

"He's very polite, very helpful," Kakashi said and set his tea down, casually checking Naruto's chakra to make sure he was asleep. "A good person to have by your side."

"Oh?" Tenzou replied lightly but his interested face betrayed him. "I'd noticed that you were the one to nominate him for service."

"Well, I couldn't let someone else come and lead him astray, could I? He needed a challenge and I gave him one." Before he found something else to do, like massacring his entire family.

"Itachi'd been talking about a new dango place that opened in Sumiya," Tenzou said thoughtfully. "Lunch there might be interesting."

"Yes, I would think so," Kakashi agreed. "Everything else going smoothly?"

"Commander called a mandatory meeting yesterday."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh?" he said mildly.

"Councilman Danzou was with him," Tenzou said. "They wanted to speak about the difficult times and how the village could only be as strong as the shadows that protected it. Typical morale boosting, though Commander didn't look very happy to be there."

"And right after I've left," Kakashi said, leaning on the back two legs of his chair. "So inconsiderate of the man."

"You and Commander are the only ones he's ever really been scared of," Tenzou said, looking intently at the wooden table separating the two. "And now that you've left, Commander's tied up with Council politics."

"How many new members?"

"Four."

Kakashi hummed, noncommittal. Altogether (judging by the personnel files Kakashi had discreetly looked through after his visit to the Hokage. He couldn't help it if the secret records room was so poorly secured. It was practically begging to be opened.) that made about a tenth of ANBU, with ten active operatives and who knew how many more Danzou had smuggled in even more discreetly and was in the process of training?

"And me only gone a week," Kakashi said. No doubt Danzou was quickly capitalizing on his absence, though he wondered what the spies were thinking of Kakashi's sudden domestic turn. Probably nothing good.

"Well, I didn't want to do this," Kakashi sighed, pained, and picked up his now tepid cup of tea, knocking it back down in one quick swallow. "But Danzou's just asking for it, isn't he?"

Tenzou looked like a rabid wolf had just cornered him. "I'm very, very glad that I'm not Councilman Danzou right now."

"Yes, that's probably a good thing," Kakashi said, nodding serenely. "Otherwise, I would have to cut your stomach and strangle you with your own intestines."

Tenzou choked on his tea.

"Math is stupid," Naruto said, flinging himself dramatically onto the couch and knocking Kakashi's brand new copy of Icha Icha Paradise onto the floor.

"I was reading that," Kakashi said mildly. "How was school today?"

"Boooooring," Naruto said, stretching out the word with feeling. "I wanna go to the Academy and learn cool jutsu and stuff, not the stupid boring school with math."

"How're you going to know how many kunai you have left if you don't know math?" Kakashi asked, picking up his book from the floor, reflexively checking that Naruto hadn't seen the erotic illustration of Keiko on page sixty nine.

"Whatever," Naruto said dismissively and wiggled over to Kakashi's lap, planting his bony elbows on the older man's thighs, not catching the way the silver-haired man stiffened. "All we do is sit down and it's stupid, I hate it," he said.

"Ah," Kakashi said and mentally referred to Raising Children: A Shinobi's Guide to Rearing, Ages 6-12. "Why is it stupid?" he asked delicately, wondering if there was a way to hammer the idea of PERSONAL SPACE into a child's head without sharp, pointy objects. His own father had rarely touched him and Kakashi had become a genin at age five and thrown into war, where the only time he touched someone was to kill them. He'd often had to remind himself that ruffling hair and hugs were a way express affection, instead of a tool to purposely annoy his students.

Naruto muttered something inaudible.

Kakashi gently patted Naruto's head. "Is it Keigo again?"

Naruto looked up at him with watery blue eyes and snot trickling out of his grubby nose. "He says Ima demon monster and tha' I'm worse than dirt and and and-" He buried his face into Kakashi's flak vest and started crying great heaving sobs.

First, Kakashi thought distantly, I'm going to hunt down Keigo's parents and put them under the most painful genjutsu I can think of and then cut off all the limbs in front of their son. Then I'm going to-

"Am I" Naruto wailed, hands clutching Kakashi's shirtsleeve. "I dun wanna be a monster, Kakashi-nii, I'm not a monster, I dun wanna, I- I-"

"You're not a monster," Kakashi said firmly and rubbed Naruto's back in rough circles. "You're a six year old boy who likes ramen and pranking too much to be a monster. Keigo's wrong, Naruto-kun. He's wrong."

"Bu' why does everyone hate me?" Naruto sniffled, dribbling snot and tears and saliva all over his vest. Kakashi supposed that it was better than blood and piss.

"That, I can't tell you," Kakashi said after a long silence. "It's very complicated and it's something I can only tell you when you're much older. But, I can tell you that not everyone hates you. What about me? And Sandaime-sama? And Tenzou? And Ryou?"

"Really? You don't- you don't hate me?" Naruto said hopefully and scrambled upright in his lap, craning his neck up to meet Kakashi's eyes.

"I could never hate you," Kakashi said quietly and gently wiped Naruto's nose with the end of his sleeve.

"I don't hate you neither," Naruto said a little shyly and launched himself at Kakashi's neck, squeezing tight.

If Obito's eyes started secreting tears, well, Kakashi figured it was the Sharingan acting up again, chakra coils irritated. He ignored the fact that his other eye, his normal one, was tearing up as well. Just dust. Chakra irritation. His arms closed around Naruto's tiny body and held him tight.

"Hey Forehead, what're you reading? Some dumb book again, huh? Gonna be a ninja, dumb Forehead girl like you?"

Dust rose up in her eyes and Sakura blinked furiously, trying to hide behind the large book she'd borrowed from the library.

"Look, she's trying to hide her big ugly face behind the book. Too bad it's too small to cover it!"

Sakura shrank even more and desperately wished that the ground would open and swallow her; she'd read about some jutsu that could do that but she didn't know the hand seals or have the chakra. She was just some dumb civilian girl with a big ugly face. Even when she scrunched her eyes tight, the tears came.

"Look, look! The dumb girl's crying, look at her stupid crying face."

More dust came flying at her and little pebbles and sticks, some thrown hard enough to scrape her cheeks.

"You can't hide from us, Ugly Forehead-"

"You big dumb bully!"

Sakura peeked up from behind her book and saw a small blond whirlwind rocket into Ami's face, fists flying furiously. "You shut up about her!" Ami staggered back, blood spurting from her nose, knocking Miko and Kyoko right onto the ground.

"My knee!" Miko screeched, clutching piteously at the tiny scrape on her leg.

Good, Sakura thought viciously and lowered her book even more.

"You stupid demon monster!" Ami shrieked, clutching her nose. "I'm going to tell papa and he's going to hurt you so bad!"

"Nyah nyah nyah!" The blond boy sneered, sticking his tongue out and stuffing his thumbs in his ears. Sakura stifled a giggle. "Tattletale, tattletale, run away tattletale," he chanted, hopping from one foot to another. Ami gave him one murderous look before stomping away, Miko and Kyoko quick to jump up and follow obediently at her heels.

"You ok?" Her blond hero scratched his head sheepishly and up close, Sakura could see that it was Uzumaki Naruto, class clown and troublemaker from the Temple school. He always played by himself and made stupid fart jokes and none of the girls liked him, 'specially stupid Ami. But he had called Ami dumb and punched her nose, saving Sakura. She put down her book and swallowed nervously.

"Thank you," she muttered and patted her bangs down over her forehead.

"Hey, hey, I'm Naruto, wha's your name?"

"Sakura," she said shyly and stood up, wiping the dust off her face with a grubby sleeve. "We're in class together at school," she added in a quiet voice.

"Eh?" Naruto squinted at her and leaned in, whiskers all scrunched up. "We are?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded. "You got in trouble today for punching Keigo, remember?"

"Kakashi-nii said if I had a reason then I can punch anyone all the time ever!" Naruto said defiantly, hands at his hips, chest puffed out.

"Really?"

Naruto deflated. "I think so?" He scratched his head. "Kakashi-nii used lotsa long words and stuff but he def'nitely said I could punch him."

"My Mama doesn't like it when I get dirty and fight," Sakura offered and poked at her dirty dress a little sadly.

"But getting dirty and punching is the bestest ever!" Naruto said, hopping up and down on his feet. "Hey, hey, hey, you wanna play with me? We have a ninken back home and lotsa cool books and Kakashi-nii got me shuriken and stuff so's I can train and become the Hokage!"

"Ninken?" Sakura asked, her ears pricking up. "Isn't that like a ninja dog?"

"Yup," Naruto grinned and jammed his hands in his pockets. "Wanna come?"

Sakura considered the boy in front of her, grubby with dirt all over his face and a big open grin and blood on his knuckles. "Okay," she said and gave him a small smile.

"This is very sudden," Sandaime-sama said, his face unreadable.

Kakashi shrugged. "It is my right, Hokage-sama," he said simply, standing easily in front of the most powerful man in the Five Shinobi Nations without batting a lash.

"Of course," Sandaime-sama said slowly. "But there hasn't been one in over fifteen years, Kakashi-kun."

"Well, then I guess it's about time that I've gotten around to the duty, right?" Kakashi asked vaguely, surreptitiously flicking through the pages of Icha Icha in his hand.

"Are you sure? This will be quite a surprise to many of the Council members."

"Good to keep people on their toes," Kakashi said, eye curving up.

Sandaime-sama smiled, the craggy lines of his face shifting subtly. "Oh, I think I'll very much enjoy having you around, Kakashi-kun."

The seat in between the Uchiha and Hyuuga had lain empty for over fifteen years, a constant reminder of the consequences of one misstep. Over the years, members of the Council came and went but the seat stayed empty, the clan reduced to a member of one who refused the title of head. There were discreet running bets on when the chair would disappear and judging by the one ninja left in the clan, Fugaku figured it was only a matter of time before the chair would be replaced by one of the other clans competing for a seat on the Council.

Needless to say, it was a surprise when a cloud of smoke suddenly swirled around the Hatake chair next to him and a body puffed into existence. Fugaku had a kunai at the intruder's throat and Sharingan activated before he realized that he was looking at Hatake Kakashi's masked face.

"Yo," the boy said cheerfully, ignoring the blade at his jugular. "Sorry I'm late, I had to help an old lady cross the street."

Fugaku lowered his arm robotically and sheathed his weapon. Every single Clan head at the table stared at the suddenly occupied chair.

"Ah," Sandaime-sama said calmly. "Hello, Hatake-dono."

"Hokage-sama," Hatake Kakashi greeted. "Uchiha-dono," he said, inclining his head at Fugaku. "Great reflexes," he said happily.

"Hatake Kakashi," Fugaku said dully and he could see Hiashi, the pale-eyed bastard, reflexively grip his armrests, knuckles whitening.

"What're you doing here, whelp?" Tsume snarled from across the table. The Inuzuka always had a touchy relationship with the Hatake, feeling that the Hatake infringed upon their territory and abilities. His father had told him this over dinner a long, long time ago, when Hatake Sakumo had sat on Council meetings but it had become irrelevant when Fugaku had taken the Uchiha seat, Sakumo long gone and Kakashi too young. It seemed that would no longer be the case.

"Well," Hatake drawled, arranging himself bonelessly in the uncomfortable hardwood chair. "What do you think I'm here for?"

"You've had the right to attend Council meetings and take upon the duties of Clan Head since you were fifteen, but you've never chosen to exercise it before," Shikaku said from his seat near the Hokage at the head of the table, dark eyes curious.

"Well, now that it's declassified, I can safely say that I was serving ANBU at the time and could not properly carry out my duties," Kakashi said, looking supremely bored. Fugaku could see a hint of orange peeking out from the jounin's vest pocket.

"You have no clan to speak of," Aburame spoke quietly from his seat, glasses reflecting the fluorescent light. "You are Head of nothing, leader of a family long gone."

"Now, that is very rude," Kakashi said reprovingly, hands laced together on the table. "I'll have you know I've recently adopted a ward."

Danzou, the power-grabbing warmonger, finally spoke up, Fugaku noted with ill-hidden distaste. "You have managed to gain custody of the Nine Tails," the old frog croaked. "He is a weapon, not some orphan you can pick off the streets."

Fugaku could see degrees of shock flicker across every face in the room, with the exception of the Hokage and Hatake himself. Interesting, he mused and filed the thought away for further consideration.

"Well, for a supposed weapon, he's been treated like shit," Hatake said, leaning his head back on the chair. "The Yondaime would have wanted the Village to protect and care for him, as the hero he rightly is."

"What would you know of the Yondaime's wishes?" Tsume snarled, claws tapping on the table scored with kunai and years of ink-marks.

"Hatake was the former student of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage," Fugaku interrupted and played his first card. "Inuzuka-dono." Tsume bared her canines at him.

"The Nine Tails has been present in the Village since the Shodai's time," Shikaku put in lazily. "A weapon that all the other hidden villages have feared. The only difference is that now the entire village knows about it, instead of just the Council. The Yondaime gave us our greatest gift back to us with the cost of his life."

"It's only right we should take care of him and treat him not only as a weapon but as the child he is," Kakashi said. "He's six." The air in the room grew noticeably colder and Fugaku squashed the urge to flinch. By the Shodai, the bratling beside him was strong.

"He is a threat to the village," Danzou said, thumping his cane on the floor. "Either he should be eliminated or trained into the tool that he is."

"Shinobi may be tools," Akimichi Chouza rumbled from his seat, "but in Konoha we treat our people with pride and respect. The boy is a child and a gift from the Yondaime, as Shikaku-dono says." Akimichi nodded his head at the Nara. Fugaku's lip curled. Here was the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho alliance coming into play. "I accept Hatake Kakashi's custody of the child."

It seemed that the boy had the trio on his side and was deliberately antagonizing Danzou. Fugaku considered the cards in his hands. Already, power was shifting in this room, all around this strange little boy. The enemy of thine enemy is an ally, an old Iron war-philosopher had written and Fugaku certainly despised Danzou enough to consider him an enemy, always sidelining the power of the Uchiha and restricting their movements. He decided to go all in.

"I move to accept Hatake Kakashi as Head of the Hatake Clan and a formal member of the Council," he announced and quietly reveled in the sharp intakes of breath he could hear.

"Motion recognized," Sandaime-sama spoke for the first time, puffing away at his pipe. "Any seconding motions?"

Nara raised his head. "I second." Yamanaka and Akimichi nodded their heads as well, quietly muttering their assent. Next to Hatake, Hiashi tilted his head. "I also second this motion." It was done- five Clan Heads had accepted Hatake's brat as well as the Hokage himself.

With a keen eye, Fugaku realized that this was what the Hokage had planned from the start; already the alliances in the clan were shifting, the old ways gone and shattered to pieces when Kakashi had appeared into the room with a cheerful smile. Clever, Fugaku allowed and cast a sidelong glance at Danzou.

The old coot looked immeasurably displeased. Fugaku hid a smile. This would prove to be a very interesting month.

Kakashi leaned casually against the table as everyone filtered out of the room, meeting dismissed. "Sure pissed off the Councilman there," he commented idly.

Fugaku, the dry old stick, looked at him murderously. "The Councilman and I are not on the best of terms," he said stiffly.

"Yeah, me neither," Kakashi agreed and crossed his arms across his chest. "Still gunning for the top, isn't he?"

"I wouldn't know," Fugaku sneered and pushed his chair in.

"Know what I think?" Kakashi leaned in closer confidingly. "I think he totally has it in for you. Terrified of what you might do to him."

Without realizing it, Fugaku came closer as well. Kakashi hid a grin behind his mask. Hook, line and sinker. "With power, comes fear and respect. It's only right that he feels such towards the Uchiha."

"Above all else, Danzou values loyalty," Kakashi said cryptically, shrugging his shoulders. "Loyalty to his Konoha."

"The Uchiha are sworn to serve the Hokage and the Village through an age-old alliance," Fugaku said, red flickering in his eyes. "We are loyal."

"Oh, I'm sure you are," Kakashi assured him, putting as much false flattery into his voice as he could muster. "After all, the village is the clan and the clan is the village. The Uchiha would only hurt themselves by going against Konoha."

"Of course," Fugaku said, looking a little off-kilter.

"Anyway, I wanted to thank you for what you did," Kakashi continued, his eye curving. "You didn't have to support me in my bid."

"It was for the benefit of the Council," Fugaku said, his voice hard.

"I appreciate it all the same, as does the Hokage," Kakashi lied smoothly. "He knows what you're trying to do, protecting the village and Naruto and all."

"Naruto?"

"You know, him. My ward." Kakashi brightened. "Say, would you like to visit him? You have a son around his age, don't you?"

"I- yes." Fugaku blinked. "His name's Sasuke." His face warmed a little and his lips curled up a fraction. "He'll be attending the Academy next year," he said proudly.

Kakashi was a little astonished to see that the other man had some sort of heart. "Great!" he said cheerily, recovering quickly. "I'm sure they'd love to meet. How does next Sunday sound? Your place? Dinner?"

"What?" Fugaku blinked again.

"Great!" Kakashi made a hand seal and let chakra surge around him, enveloping him in a familiar embrace. "I'll see you then, Fugaku-sama."

Kakashi slouched, hands shoved tightly in his pocket. He'd forgotten how exhausting it was to talk to people and pretend like he'd enjoyed it. He very much prefered hand signals and a threatening sharp pointy object in his hand. Clan Head. He rolled the idea around in his head, considering.

He'd never taken up the job before because, well, it had been his father's job. And when he died, there was no point, not when the Hatake name was smeared with the blood of the Third Shinobi War. But now...for Naruto...for the people he died for...

There were two chakra presences inside the apartment. Kakashi instinctively palmed a kunai and pressed a palm against the seal, flooding it with chakra. They were undisturbed; Naruto had used the key and put his hand on the unlocking seal normally. His chakra was fine- no sense of turmoil or anxiety. In fact, it looked excited. With a frown, Kakashi probed the two tiny flames in the house. The other presence was familiar, the signature like an old favorite shirt he'd lost but found again, hiding in some hidden corner of his drawer.

The chakra spiked again and Kakashi's heart caught in throat. Sakura. Hesitantly, he put his kunai away and unlocked the door, chest tight.

"Naruto?" he called out, hoping that the boy didn't catch the way his voice trembled. "I'm home-"

"KAKASHI-NII!" came the familiar shout and a tangled mess of boy and dog scampered across the hallway and straight at his knees. He reflexively braced his feet with chakra and caught the two with careful, welcoming hands. "Hello, Naruto," he said and for the first time all day, his guard slipped. "It's very good to see you."

"YOU'RE BACK, YOU'RE BACK!" Naruto bellowed into his ear, Ryou enthusiastically licking his other one.

"I'm here, I'm here," Kakashi said and ruffled Naruto's bright yellow hair. He looked up and caught a glimpse of something pink around the corner before it disappeared with a squeak. "Do you have something to tell me?" he asked, standing up and walking down the hallway, Naruto stuck to his leg like burr.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto said, grinning so widely that his eyes turned into little blue slits. "I brought a friend over and her name is Sakura and she knows all the coolest things about ninja and we were playing with Ryou and and and-"

Kakashi turned around the corner and caught sight of his little pink-haired student sitting politely at a kitchen chair, cheeks flushed a deep red. "Hello, Sakura-chan," he said and smiled. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you!" Sakura squeaked, covering her face with her hands. Naruto untangled himself from Kakashi leg and ran over to Sakura, nearly crashing right into the chair legs. "Hey, hey, hey Sakura-chan this is Kakashi-nii-san, he's the bestest ever in the whole world ever and he's the strongest ninja in the village!" The look of embarrassment shifted into wonder and Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck, inordinately pleased at the sight of his two little students before him.

"Well, I'm not that great, Naruto-kun," he said lamely. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Sakura and Naruto brightened at the same time, pink and yellow twins. "I'd love to but my Mama-" Her face paled. "I forgot to tell Mama that I came over here to play." Her green eyes filled up with tears and Naruto looked over at Kakashi, face pleading.

Kakashi felt something in him give. "Alright, then we'll just have to let her know then, ok?" he said and bit down on his thumb, hands running through seals with an easy familiarity. He slammed his hand down on the floor and when the smoke cleared, he could see Pakkun's familiar grouchy face. "Boss," Pakkun drawled and Kakashi could hear Sakura and Naruto's twin gasps of surprise.

"Pakkun," Kakashi grinned, chakra spiking with pleasure. "It's good to see you."

"Yeah, yeah," the dog muttered and twisted around, giving Naruto and Sakura a suspicious look. "You whelped? You?"

"I'll explain later," Kakashi muttered hurriedly and gestured over at Naruto. "Pencil and paper please, Naruto-kun." Naruto scampered off to the desk in the living room and came back panting, pencil clenched in his mouth and stacks of paper in his hands.

He accepted it with a muttered thanks and scrawled a quick note to Haruno-san, saying that Sakura was playing with Naruto and would stay over for dinner and he would personally escort her home later. Kakashi signed it with a flourish and a tiny henohenomoheji and rolled it up.

"Take this over to Haruno Sakura's mother. Sakura, where do you live?"

"Bunkyo Ward, Cherry Tree St, Number 676," Sakura recited, hands clasped together on her lap.

"There," Kakashi said and handed the paper over to Pakkun. "Straight to Sakura-chan's mother, you understand?"

"You owe me an explanation," Pakkun growled with feeling and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Woah," Naruto breathed, his eyes glazed with awe. "That was so cool, Nii-chan! I WANNA LEARN TO DO THAT."

"Don't be stupid," Sakura whispered at him, equally awed. "That's a summoning technique. Only super advanced ninja know that!"

"I'm not stupid!" Naruto whispered back furiously.

"Stop acting like you are!" Sakura shot back. "We'll learn when we become ninja later. When we're older."

Kakashi looked at his two students before him and smiled, listening to the squabbling with a blissful expression. It was good to be home.