Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 16

Naruto, Sasuke: 11

Shisui: 20

Kakashi: 25

"You took your sweet time!"

I rolled my eyes at Suigetsu and dried the blood from my katana blade. Gosh, we were in the middle of one of Orochimaru's hideout in the Land of the Sea and Suigetsu dared complaining when we saved his sorry ass!

"Next time you think you can take on stronger than you, think about it twice you moron!" Mangetsu spat back, throwing clothes at his brother.

"Hopefully we are specialized in infiltration..." Dai muttered next to me. He motioned to me to tell me I had blood on my completely white mask, and I shrugged. Bloody Mist ANBU, I should bring pride and glory to the wonderful rank Yagura-sama gave me when I got back a month ago.

After they pulled that beautiful act where Dai stabbed me in the neck. The Mizukage had always loved drama a little bit too much for my taste, and faking my death was a great way to convince Konoha to back off. I was out for the entire trip back to Kiri and what was not my surprise to see I was in the hospital when I regained consciousness.

Yagura-sama was pissed. At me, because he was the best person to know I went with them willingly, at Konoha and anyone in his range really. I was not killed though, and he saw immediately I was stronger than before. So he made me an ANBU, very useful to give information to Mei-sensei for her rebellion.

That's what was off. Not the rebellion, but Yagura's behavior. I have to admit that, even if I hated being in Kiri, I ended up knowing the Mizukage pretty well. And something was just off since the last time I had seen him. I shouldn't have been accepted back so easily if not at all, and yet...

Or something was off with him, or Obito had something in mind. In any case, I was going to be on thin ice for a long time. The 'good' thing was I slipped back into my kunoichi habits pretty fast, thanks to Kakashi's training.

I also train with the boys for Hyoton and Fuijutsu.

But we had to rescue Suigetsu. Mangetsu was the only one to have noticed him gone. In another life, Suigetsu would have stayed until Sasuke freed him in order to kill his brother.

"Hey who's girly?" Suigetsu asked once properly dressed. A sadistic grin showing his sharp teeth appeared on his face. "If I try to cut her open how loud will she scream?"

Right, he didn't know I was back.

"Not now, we're leaving that fucking place," Mangetsu decided, kicking his brother in the butt to make him move. "And I swear to God Sui if you try anything I'm turning you into sashimi."

Oh great. Mangetsu was a humble and cool-headed guy, a kinda like Itachi on some point, but when he was pissed it was better not to get in his way.

On that very happy note and Suigetsu endless taunting, because who cared about what Mangetsu said after all, we left that cursed and disgusting place. We were lucky enough not to run into Orochimaru. However, I'm pretty sure I felt a certain chakra when we left. I felt like I'd already felt it but a long, long time ago.

It was probably just my imagination though.

"Mom...I thought you said your birth village was..."

"I know what I said Shisui..." I muttered too, looking at the beach resort clearly under construction.

"You knew about that, didn't you Naru-oji-chan?" my daughter asked my cousin, and the flash of a camera snapped me and my son out of our surprise.

"Priceless!" Naruto laughed, waving his camera in my face. "The Mizukage told me you'd be surprised 'ttebayo!"

Of course. Of course!

"My sister is rarely wrong about her students!" a voice yelled at us from above. I didn't have the time to raise my eyes that someone body-flickered in front of us in a splash of water. "It's been a while Uzu."

"Dai..." My once short teenage teammate was in front of me, in all of his early thirties glory. He even had an auburn stubble on his chin and cheeks, but he was towering me, being probably about a head taller than me.

"I have a lot of things to tell you, and not in the presence of children," Shisui got his cheeks pulled by his sister and Mirai when he was about to say something. Dai smirked at my son's situation, "especially yours. Please follow me, my sister is waiting for you. And there is someone she would like to introduce to you Uzu."

"Ha?"

"I have to say it is a lot different than what I was expecting," Naruto said as we were walking in the crowded streets where there was no longer any killing intent...as least any evident one.

"The first move Mei did when she became Mizukage was to destroy our bloody reputation and create a new one, an equitable one. It is still hard today, but we have gotten most of it done. Chōjūrō is actively being more and more involved with his future job of Mizukage," the iryo-nin explained, beaming with pride. "To be honest, even though I knew Uzu was in Konoha, I'm surprise the Naruto Uzumaki is with her."

"Well Lee-sensei couldn't come and he was here in a minute. I don't even know if he's going to be paid," Shisui droned with a smirk to his uncle, who gaped at the balls he had, onyx eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Oh right, same clan."

"Our moms were cousins too."

Dai turned his head so fast to me I thought he was going to lose it. Akiko sighed and Mirai chuckled.

"Will people ever stop reacting like that?"

"It's normal, Uzumaki-san is a war hero," Mirai replied.

"Kami, you never talked about your past or your family but dang it!" The rest of the walk passed calmly, the boys talking among themselves whereas the girls and I were looking around. It...really changed. I'm pretty sure I got beaten up around here at some point because I was under Yagura's wing. And more surprising, it seemed like the mist was not here. We were still on the coast though, and as we reached a waterfall guarded by two shinobi, I couldn't help but shiver at the old sight.

Kiri and the port were now one and the same, explaining the absence of the mist. The waterfall opened and the old Kirigakure appeared, with the Kage building in its center, visible from all around town. It was more modern, but essentially the same. Maybe less mist, less violence and more joy in the streets though.

"Nee-chan?" Naruto called me, looking at me with concern. "You're keeping it together?"

"Don't worry, it's just old wounds itching, nothing else," I answered with a smile. "So Dai, did sensei get married?"

"Please do not mention that topic in front of her. I don't have enough chakra to heal everybody in the country."

I chuckled, under everybody else confusion. Once we finally reached the Mizukage's office, memories of me walking these corridors everyday scared of what Yagura would ask me, Dai opened the door without knocking. Mei-sensei's eyes lit up when she saw us, and a happy grin flourished on my lips.

"It's been so long since Naruto's wedding!" I was soon engulfed in my sensei's hug, nostalgia gaining me. She let go of me and grinned at my children. "Look at you two, finally genin!"

"Thank you for your graduation gift oba-san," Akiko thanked her with a quick bow, "Kirigakure's kenjutsu is a lot more complicated than Konoha's and it's absolutely fascinating."

"Hey!" an outraged Naruto shouted. "We don't have those powerful swords but we're not bad!"

"Never said you were," my daughter retorted without looking at him. "I just pointed out it was better here."

Naruto lowered his shoulders in defeat.

"You wanted me to meet someone?"

"Yes. Naruto, you will follow Chōjūrō to talk about the third stage of the exam, as it will be here. These three will follow you while I have a little chat with Akane."

"Got it."

I nodded to Chōjūrō, who nodded back, and we were left alone in her office. Sensei went back to her desk, sitting on it.

"Naoto died in the last war you know."

"I...heard about it yes." I clenched my fists. "Some people were happy to know Yagura's son died when they didn't know him at all."

"Let them talk, that's all they know to do. I taught you that a long time ago if I remember well." I averted my eyes from her like I used to do as a kid. "But he left his fiance pregnant. She died in labor, unfortunately. Kagura...he is a genius, maybe one of the future Swordsmen. He'll be participating in the exam."

"But?"

"I'll let you see by yourself." As if on cue, a knock was heard. "Come in."

I was unable to breath for a minute. The boy in front of me, barely younger than my own, was a spitting image of his grandfather. Even Naoto-senpai didn't look like his father that much. From the light brown hair, maybe browner than Yagura's which was a little bit grayish, to the unusual pink eyes...where Yagura had a scar under his left eye, Kagura had a pink line.

"Mizukage-sama, you've asked for me?"

"Yes. This is Uzumaki Akane. I'm sure you know of her, she has a grave around. But she was Yagura's apprentice."

He widened his eyes and looked down. "Oh, I'm..."

I got it now.

"Kagura," I spoke softly, crouching in front of him with a motherly smile, "you're not to blame for your family's actions. Trust me on that."

"How..."

"I've seen a lot and experienced a lot. My dad was friend with Yagura."

"Ushio...Uzumaki?"

"Bingo. Sensei, can I take him on a walk? I'm curious to see what changed."

"Please do. But before," She handed me an old and familiar hitai-ate. "take it."

I took it and ran my thumb on the cool metal. That was my very first forehead protector. The cut Yagura made when he threw a shuriken at me as I was close to cross the border was still on the bottom left corner, starting from the bottom and stopping at the middle.

I ran my thumb on the exact same cut, the symbol of Kirigakure bearing much more meaning this time. I raised my eyes to sensei, not chubby yet but fit, her lips a dark red but it did not hiding the dark circles under her eyes, her hair reaching her ankles as bright as ever.

"No discrimination sensei," I mumbled softly, "I hate that place ruled by Yagura-sama, but I wanna know how it feels to be proud of your village."

"We will," she promised me, her emerald eyes burning with determination, "nobody else will ever be hurt. No classes system. Kekkai genkai users free."

"Sounds like an Utopia to me."

"Isn't that why you just accepted to fully join us? To make it more real?"

I chuckled lightly, "You got me here. But..."

"Does it have something to do with the change in your chakra? My brother told me about it."

Inoichi-san told me I could deactivate the barriers around my mind to allow me to talk about my memories. Of course, at the time they would not have allowed it if they knew I would go back here. But...but I knew what to say and what to keep for myself.

"Sensei, please keep in mind Uzumakis are weird and played with thing that should not be played with. The only things I have to back up what I'm about to tell you, it's my words and your trust in me. It needs to stay between you and I, I'm begging you."

She shot me a grave gaze and I started saying what I knew about Kiri. This...my knowledge can help this place too, I have to share it with someone I can trust.

But...Mito-sama's sentence...about enduring what your close ones should have endured...

I feel like I'm given similar responsibilities Itachi had.

Being a double agent.

Try to prevent a full on civil war and keep it between shinobi, of the same place yeah, but shinobi.

As I followed Mangetsu, and Suigetsu who was still in shock of seeing me alive, showing me the rebels living quarter I would hide even more in the swamps with seals, I could not help being my paranoid self. Mangetsu was my best friend here. Shisui was Itachi's, and the latter saw him die in front of his eyes, powerless. Here, Shisui lived and saved Mangetsu's life.

The familiar dread I felt when I got here at thirteen came back in my stomach. Was he saved or was Mangetsu someone I would never be able to save in the end?

"Hey Naruto, where is Akane-sensei?" Shikamaru asked him one day at school, whereas Sasuke was busy studying. "It's been a while since we didn't have her class and I heard teachers saying they were looking for a substitute."

"I really like Akane-sensei, her classes are very interesting!" Choji added, eating the last chips of the bag.

"She...she got a job abroad, she said she didn't know how long it will take but she will be back before they found another teacher 'ttebayo! Nobody is better than nee-chan at seals!"

"I agree with that. Man, such a drag..." the Nara sighed and noticed Sasuke's body stiffened. "You know something we don't Sasuke?"

"No," came the sharp answer. The Uchiha got up and returned inside, leaving them under the cloudy sky of November.

"Hehe, don't mind Sasuke, he misses nee-chan too but he's too stuck up to say it out loud so when she's mentioned he...he's a jerk!"

"Sasuke has been all gloomy for months. I don't understand why the girls keep being happy about it," the Akimichi heir said innocently, opening another bag of chips.

"They're troublesome."

Inside their classroom, Sasuke was the only one back. Even Iruka-sensei was still on his lunch break. Akane left just days before she turned sixteen and right after he noticed the ninjas around the village more relaxed. Sasuke knew there were tensions with Kirigakure and he was not stupid. His brother and Shisui were sad, even though they were always hiding it. He knew why.

One night, he went down to get himself a glass of water. Like often, there was light in his father's office, and his brother's and father's voice were whispering. They were talking about the sharingan. However, Sasuke's had frozen in his steps at his brother's voice, and how...angry he had sounded.

"I don't care Father, I...if I could trade my eyes for Akane's life I would do it. I didn't do anything!"

Needless to say he did not sleep that night. He would turn around, not even bothering to close his eyes and pretend he did not hear a thing. His brother was so strong, he could protect Akane if she needed to be protected, so maybe...he did not want to help her? But he sounded angry, sad and most of all guilty.

Sasuke did not tell anything to his brother about the conversation. Nor his father, or mother. He kept thinking that if he did not bring it up, Akane would come back, saying something about people being stupid and everything would go back to normal.

Once the afternoon classes started, Naruto sat next to him. He kept saying Akane had found a job abroad, which had been what she told him the night she left. But the unsure look and hidden tears he was trying so hard to hide shown Naruto knew it was not just a simple job.

So as they were walking home, nearing Naruto's house, Sasuke snapped. Naruto would talk about his sister, again. He would drown himself in his daydreams, again. He would deny that a possible war had been avoided just after his sister had left, again.

"Stop it already you idiot!"

"Wh...what?" Naruto stuttered much like the Hyuuga girl, eyes wide from shock.

"Can't you see that she's dead!?"

"No! Nee-chan got a job and is working!" came the angry reply, a hand grabbing the front of the Uchiha's shirt. "She's not...she's not..."

"Not what, dead?" Sasuke hissed at his friend, his face contorted in anger. "She had jobs in Konoha and yet she left when the village was in trouble! For all we know she could be rotting somewhere or..."

He fell to the ground, a hand on his bloody nose. Naruto had hit him. The dead last had punched him in the nose and it hurt. Sasuke frowned and jumped on the blond, knocking him on the ground. He punched Naruto in the jaw and struggled to keep him down.

"She's dead! I heard my brother said it Naruto, nee-san is gone! She won't come back and you...you..." Naruto was crying. At least he thought, because his eyes were blurry. The lump in his throat was stronger than ever and big, ugly tears were running down his cheeks. His hold on Naruto's orange jacket loosened a little, his fist still in the air. Almost gently, a bigger hand wrapped itself around it.

"You're lucky nobody is in the street at this hour. What are you doing?" a bored voice asked. Naruto sniffed loudly and looked up.

"You're nee-chan's friend..."

"I'd rather be called Hatake-san. Frankly, I don't know what happened between you two, nor do I really care anyway, but don't get at each others throat in the middle of the street. People will talk and I'm sure none of you want that."

He let go of Sasuke's wrist and walked around them to leave, orange book under his eyes once again. He left the ANBU Black Ops after the whole story with Akane, realizing it was time for him to go back to a more 'relax' ninja life.

Kakashi sighed. Now he was seeing team after team because the Hokage wanted him to be a sensei.

"Say Hinata-chan," the young Haruno asked her friend when they were studying for the test the day after, "if you're from the Hyuuga clan, you must know a lot about the village, more than civilians, right?"

"Ye...yes Saku...ra-chan, wh...why?"

When Sakura and Ino stopped being friends, Sakura was alone. Ino was her first real friend and her other friends were more Ino's than hers. After they watched the fireworks at the festival, Sakura approached the young Hyuuga one day, asking her if she could sit next to her. The raven-haired girl had accepted, and it was the start of their friendship, the girls trying to encourage each other to talk to their crushes. Weirdly enough, Sakura had spent some time with Sasuke, and Naruto, for study session but the young Uchiha would ignore her or glare at her when she was better than him.

"Do you know why people are mean to Naruto? It's not as bad as it was when he was an orphan, but my parents told me not to be his friend. I find him annoying and stupid but...isn't it too harsh?"

"I...don't know...Fa...Father does no...not like him either," her friend replied, with a tint of sadness in her voice.

Sakura sighed, gathering her questions about the The History of Konoha volume 3: From the Second War to the Third War, to question her friend. When Naruto first came to her for Fuijutsu classes, even though he was related to their teacher, she turned him down and then accepted when he ran back to Sasuke-kun, under Ino's urging, she was just treating him like everybody else did. She did not think twice about it, he was used to it so it was okay for her. But when Sasuke-kun had told her coldly she was annoying, she found herself stupidly angry at Naruto.

Ino did not help and kept saying he was corrupting Sasuke-kun too.

She saw them at the festival, with their teacher and Naruto was laughing loudly. Even with the side-eyed glances he was given, he did not care and she found herself wondering how he was doing that. She then remembered he was used to it and felt a pang at her heart.

She had been bullied too but had her parents to tell her they loved her. Naruto had nobody for years. So with a courage she did not know she had, she walked up to him and apologized. She blushed under their sensei's grateful smile, and spent the festival with them.

After one of her session, Naruto's aunt, a kind woman with gorgeous long red locks and light gray eyes took her home.

"Sakura-chan, thank you for apologizing to Naruto," she had told her, a happy glint in her eyes. "He only has Sasuke-kun as a friend, so you apologizing to him means a lot. He's a nice boy, just too enthusiastic and too much of a joker."

"You're welcome Sasaki-san."

"In any case, my parent don't like him but since sensei left he's sad. Do you think we should try to cheer him up?"

"How?"

"I don't know...but Naruto is not mean and always talking, it's weird he's so silent now..."

Hinata nodded thoughtfully. Her father explained to her the circumstances of Akane-sensei's departure of the village, told her she was going to be one of the only ones aware and that it had to stay this way. That it would be a good lesson of how the shinobi world worked. To the young girl, it was how unfair it was. She liked Akane-sensei, she always told her that it was not because she could not do something immediately that she was bad, and that succeeding after a lot of efforts felt like a bigger achievement than succeeding right away, no matter what others said.

"Let's fi...finish studying fi...first Saku...Sakura-chan," Hinata stuttered, a light blush on her face.

"You're right. Then we'll find something to cheer Naruto up. And...we can say it was all your idea..."

She blushed furiously. Naruto-kun...smiling and thanking her...

"Hinata-chan please don't faint!" Sakura asked her, starting to panick.

"Na...Naruto-kun..." she kept mumbling to herself, not paying attention to civilian girl in front of her.

Hey! Thanks for reading! Please review so that I know you liked it :)

kankananime123: Thanks for the review, and sorry but not sorry for makin you cry x). It means it's not half bad!

Tonegawa Rie: Finally someone who likes them together ! Thanks!

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Bye!