"Do...do you think maybe we should have called first?"

Itachi and Yamato stood in the doorway of a hot spring inn just outside the village. They had tracked a very retired Kakashi here, who had set up shop for the last couple of months to unwind.

"No, why?" Yamato asked. The two turned their heads to follow the men and women alike who flitted about in their robes, completely ignoring the fully clothed man and boy standing awkwardly in the entrance.

Itachi shifted his feet uncomfortably. Kakashi never did have an issue reading Icha Icha in public, and Itachi knew that this getaway may have had more behind it than just relaxing; the last thing he wanted to do is catch Kakashi during what he would want as private time. He tried hard not to picture his former Anbu team captain in a compromising position, flirting with a woman, and shook his head to shake the thought away. "I just don't think he'd like to be bombarded like this…in a mixed bathhouse...clearly trying to relax...in a mixed bathhouse," he deadpanned.

"Well, I don't know what you want us to do now," Yamato replied. "We're already here, come on." He stepped further in and peeked his head around the corner to find someone they could talk to, but at that moment, Kakashi walked into the room from the other side.

He stopped in his tracks and stared at Yamato and Itachi for a moment, his eyes moving quickly between them, as though he couldn't believe they were there; the two stared at him like deer in headlights, not knowing how to begin. Kakashi's wide eyes fell to annoyance after a moment. "What are you doing here?" he asked Yamato. His eyes shifted back to Itachi. "And you. Oh god. Is it Naruto? Did something happen? I told him not to contact me…"

Itachi glanced at Yamato, not knowing what to say or where to start. He still didn't feel one hundred percent comfortable with the plan of telling Kakashi because he himself still had trouble wrapping his head around it, so he looked to Yamato to do the talking for the time being. Yamato caught Itachi's eye for a second, also at a loss for words, before shaking his head. "No, no, everything is fine…" he began.

"Good. Then you can go home. I'm retired. Goodbye." Kakashi promptly pulled his robe tighter to him and tried to walk past them, but Yamato reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Please, Lord Sixth… Kakashi." His tone was serious enough to make Kakashi stop walking and look back at him. "We need to just talk."

"I went into retirement." Kakashi threw his head back and moaned. "I do not have time for this, I am clearly very busy today. Did you do something, Boruto? Did you piss your dad off?"

"Not exactly…" Yamato replied for him.

He held Yamato's gaze for a moment, finally feeling the weight and uncertainty of the moment, and said, "Fine. Let's go find somewhere to talk."

A few minutes later Kakashi was changed and sitting on his bed, staring at Itachi and Yamato who were both sitting next to each other, fidgeting with their hands. "This better be good," he warned them.

Yamato looked at Itachi. "Do you want me to tell him or do you want to?" Itachi could only stare back with wide eyes; he felt like he was about to get into trouble for something he didn't do. He didn't even know how to explain himself. It was much easier with Yamato and Orochimaru for some reason, like he needed to release the secret's weight off his chest, but now admitting the truth again just made it more real and harder to accept.

"What did you do…" Kakashi asked seriously. He was in Hokage mode now and staring Itachi down.

"He didn't do anything," Yamato said. "Everyone is safe. Well...kind of."

"What do you mean kind of…"

"Well," Yamato repeated. "You see. Um. There's been an accident."

"An accident. Is the village okay? Is that what you need me for?!" He began to stand but Yamato waved him down with his hand.

"No. Uh, an accident," he continued, "to...to Boruto."

Kakashi looked Itachi up and down and blinked. "Accident? He looks all right to me," he admitted.

"You see, that's the thing. It was an...internal accident…" He still struggled for the words.

"Yamato, I'm not exactly a medical ninja," Kakashi said, frustration edging his voice. "I'm not really following."'

Yamato and Itachi exchanged glances again, not knowing what words to string together to explain the strangeness of the situation. "This…" Yamato continued. "This isn't Boruto."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Then who is he? He sure as hell looks like Boruto."

Itachi's heart pounded hard in his chest, threatening to spill out onto the floor. "Itachi," he stammered quietly.

The name now hung heavy in the air over the three. It was too late to take it back.

"Itachi," Kakashi said emotionlessly. His mind couldn't wrap itself around the dusty name. "Itachi who…?"

"Uchiha…"

No one breathed. Kakashi did not move as his eyes traveled between Yamato and Itachi, looking for a crack that would tell him they were lying. "Excuse me?" he finally asked. "Is this a joke?"

"No."

"You expect me to believe that the child sitting in front of me is Itachi Uchiha."

"Yes."

"Yamato...This is Boruto Uzumaki. I've known this kid his whole life… I literally held this kid the day he was born. He threw up on me on his fifth birthday after eating too much cake. And you are trying to tell me that this kid is someone who...who…"

"Has been dead for twenty years? Yeah…"

Kakashi stood now, his mouth molding into a frown, and sputtered, "I don't know what the fuck you're trying to pull but I don't appreciate-"

"Tenzo, please, let me explain," Itachi jumped in.

Kakashi instantly reeled backwards. "Did he just call you Tenzo?" His eyes searched Yamato's face for any semblance of an explanation then turned back to Itachi, his expression twisting into horror upon seeing Itachi's blue eyes turn red. "What in the hell-"

Yamato just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Life is fucky," he said. "Welcome back to the real world, Lord Sixth."

Kakashi flipped through the papers Itachi found and shook his head. "When I went into retirement, this is not what I thought I'd have to deal with," he groaned. "Why does this shit only happen to me?"

"You know I wouldn't have come to you if this wasn't important," Yamato maintained.

Itachi sat quietly in his chair while he watched his two teammates talk over what he had found; suddenly he was just exhausted and didn't know where he fit into the conversation. He felt like it was his first day in the Anbu again and he was small and nervous, surrounded by actual men when he was acutely aware of how young he was. To him those people had it all figured out, and though he was smart and talented, he still felt slightly inadequate in his prepubescent body when standing next to their chiseled muscles.

"Naruto is not going to like this… There is so much logistically to plan for and hide." Kakashi sighed and leaned back in his chair, slapping the papers on the table next to him.

"That's why we can't tell him," Yamato admitted. "It'll create too many problems and questions we don't really have the answer to." He eyed Itachi who had his arms around his knees, staring absentmindedly out the window.

"You okay? Anything you want to add?"

He shrugged and raised his eyes to meet theirs. "I already said this, but I just want to be the person to do this," he said definitively. "I want to be the one who figures out what is going on."

Kakashi eyed him wearily. Itachi could tell he was holding in something, like he didn't trust him. "This is just...weird," he landed on. "I'm sorry. There's just so much to say and I'm not really sure where to begin."

"Well, we don't really know the why or how I happened to come back. We already talked about that," he reminded him.

"No…" Kakashi broke off. "Not that. About. Everything else…"

Itachi broke their eye contact and stared out the window again at the leaves blowing on the trees. The massacre. They were grown men who had seen their fair share of death, even together, yet they still couldn't even bring this word to their lips; this death had ruptured a large scission between them and neither knew how to navigate it back to each other.. "Do you know what actually happened?" he asked Kakashi quietly.

"Yeah," Kakashi admitted. "Sasuke told us everything after. I'm so sorry we couldn't be there for you. We were so...confused."

Itachi nodded slowly. "Confused is an understatement," he scoffed. "I'd do it all over again for the Leaf, but I know I should have come to someone else. I needed other people. Things could have turned out so differently if I just explained something to Sasuke and didn't lead him to believe a lie for so long. So much happened because I didn't…" His brother was cold and distant, he strayed down a dark path, and though it worked out on the end, he still had a feeling it affected his own relationship with his daughter. He turned back to them and looked them both hard in the face. "I think my choice affected the village forever in ways I probably don't even know," he said softly.

"Things are a lot better than what you probably think," Kakashi said. "You are a hero. Truly. Thank you."

Yamato started chuckling, popping the bubble of heaviness that had descended on the room. "Wow, this is definitely not a team I thought I'd be on again, or a conversation I thought I'd ever be having."

Itachi felt his mouth spread into a smile. The last time they were together they were in the Anbu and hardened to death. Now Kakashi was the retired Hokage, Itachi had died, and Yamato had left the Anbu and found a semi-normal life, even if it was just trailing Orochimaru's whereabouts. And though the three of them had separated decades ago, somehow they found themselves back together in a hot spring inn, investigating the potential reinstatement of the Akatsuki. The concept was just so absurd it was actually hilarious.

"We're getting the gang back together and we're going to kick ass!" Yamato laughed. He then cocked his head at Itachi and smirked. "And, you know, you're just as small as you were the last time we were on a team together."

Itachi threw a pillow at him. "Shut up!"

"We have to protect this," Kakashi said suddenly. Itachi had his arm cocked back to lob another pillow at Yamato, but Kakashi's tone made him stop in midair. "There aren't always second chances like this, we're all aware of that." He was nodding along like the words and inspiration were coming to him as he was talking. "You don't always have another chance to atone for your sins, so you have to make what you have count. This seems so much more personal than just a regular mission, if say this does have to do with Danzo…" He looked into Itachi's eyes and Itachi could see a lifetime of pain bottled there. "I have a lot of fucking regrets in life, but if you can make up for your past life, then maybe that's hope for the rest of us."

Itachi nodded. "Even if it's not Danzo… the name Akatsuki is on it. Root, tied to Danzo's memory. Things I'd like to forget and things that destroyed my life. The thought of someone else using my family to gain what they want…" He thought about his suspicions that Sasuke and Naruto knew something about that mission or at least the weight of its significance. "I truly think Naruto and Sasuke have some idea that something is about to come up. We have to find this- I can't let someone hurt my village or my family. I have to use my experience in the Anbu and Akatsuki for something."

"That's why I'll help you," Kakashi said as his hand floated back to the documents on the table. "You somehow have the second chance people would kill for. I won't let you lose that chance."

Itachi suddenly saw Kakashi in a new light for the first time since arriving and realized the importance of the man in front of him. "I never had a chance to say thank you, Kakashi," he blurted suddenly.

"For what?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"For taking care of Sasuke."

Kakashi's face softened instantly. Itachi could swear he saw a tear start to form in the corner of his eye as his eyes suddenly looked past him; he could tell that Kakashi was recalling decades of memories that Itachi only wished he could nestle safely inside his brain, memories of his brother he never had a chance to form. "You're welcome," he finally said softly. "He's a good kid. But honestly that's one of my regrets- I couldn't save him. You should be thanking Naruto, you know."

Itachi smiled, recalling his run-ins with Naruto, how obsessed he was with saving his brother. "I hope Boruto could see how lucky of a kid he was."

Kakashi barked out a laugh. "I'm not totally sure that he did...but that's kids, right? They never see how bad things used to be because we try to make life better for them. We shield them. And that's why it's so important we fight this, whatever it is- to make sure we still have a world to shield them in." He cast his eyes downward. "You know, as happy as I am to see you, I do hope that Boruto is out there somewhere."

"Maybe I can get him home too. I don't...want that for Naruto." He thought again of how he saved Sasuke; the least he could do was save his son. Somehow.

"And your eyes?" Kakashi noted.

"What about them?"

"Do you have a plan on how to hide them from Sasuke? I assume you're not exactly going to tell him either."

"That would certainly complicate things, now wouldn't it." He leaned back in his chair and forced a smile onto his lips. "Don't worry, I can hold it together." At least I hope I can.

Maybe Yamato had the right idea… now that his old team was assembled, he felt much more ready to take on his role in the Akatsuki- if that was really what it was- once again.

"Any more thoughts on Boruto?" Naruto stood at his, flipping through documents on the now dead-end mission.

"I can't get a read," Sasuke admitted. "He just...the look in his eye, and his questions. He just doesn't seem like himself."

Naruto shrugged, continuing to rifle through the contents of his desk to unearth what he was searching for. "I don't think anything happened," he said. "He seems normal enough. Maybe the mission just shook him. He's never been that hurt or close to death before, so it might have changed him a little bit. Head injuries can do that, Sakura said. You're always so paranoid, Sasuke."

Sasuke sighed. Of course Naruto didn't want to believe something could have happened to his son; he was so optimistic all the time. They didn't have any proof of this danger presenting itself in Boruto, so obviously he didn't want to give the thought much fuel. Plus he clearly had so much more on his hands than just this. But Sasuke always had to be the voice of reason and vigilant where Naruto couldn't.

"Ah here we are," Naruto said and handed a scroll over the desk to Sasuke. "Take a look and tell me what you think. Anbu still can't find the documents that Boruto's team was looking for the night of the accident. There's been grumblings of the Akatsuki but we still haven't found any proof or anything about their purpose. Whatever tip we got must have been false or else someone moved the documents."

"I'll take care of it." Sasuke pocketed the scroll. "The Anbu is working too slow on this- I can leave tomorrow if you want."

Naruto's face quickly fell into a frown. "I thought you told Sarada you'd be here for the Chunin Exams. They are coming up again." He hated that Sasuke wasn't there for his daughter as much as she clearly wanted. Maybe it was his own guilt over a schism in his relationship with Boruto, and though it was getting better, he still wanted to see his best friend achieve at parenting the way he wished he could.

"It won't take long. Tell Boruto I will be back to train with him before they start." Before Naruto could protest, Sasuke was out the door.

SARADA'S DIARY

Boruto told me today he decided to join! That will honestly make things so much easier coming up for the Chunin Exams; we were told that the exams would be our first mission and they'd watch us to prove ourselves, so with all three of us doing it together, I really think we can make a good impression.

Could this be any more of a dream, honestly? We're being taken so seriously as shinobi already! It's like its own fast track into better missions and hopefully that will make people acknowledge me. If people see how well I'm doing in this, I definitely can become Hokage.

Tonight over dinner Dad said he was leaving for a few days. I don't know whether to believe him or not. I hope he's back in time for the Chunin Exams because he promised he'd be there. I've been feeling a little jealous of how much time he's been spending alone with Boruto, which is so embarrassing to admit. Like, I know he's his student, but he seems to know so much more about my dad and his life than I do. I feel like I have to work extra hard to get his attention, and then Boruto knows about the Rinnegan and poof! He suddenly starts telling us about the war. He's never opened up like that to me before.

I just need to prove myself, and if I do that, maybe things will get better. Maybe we'll get closer. I am starting to understand why Boruto acted out to get Lord Seventh's attention, but I don't even know how to do that. I feel stuck in my mind, like I have to act a certain way at all times, and Boruto just acts however he wants with no regard to what others think, yet he still gets results. It doesn't make any sense. I'm the responsible one, I'm the one who takes everyone else's feelings into consideration, and what do I get for it? Half the time I feel like I'm screaming off the ledge for someone to see me or listen to me, while Boruto just stands there and people instantly notice him. It's like being in a dream where you're trying to yell but nothing comes out, except its real life and I can't wake myself up.

Of course I can't tell anyone I feel like this; it'd break who I am. I have to show that everything is fine, that I'm in control. I can't break and I can't let Boruto get to me; I mean he's my teammate for god's sake. Why the hell would I be jealous of my teammate? That's not very productive.

Maybe I can use this experience to force my dad to notice me like he notices Boruto. I don't really have any other choice.

I originally got the idea for this fic because Sarada and Sasuke's relationship fascinates me, and I always wondered what it would be like if Itachi could see it firsthand. I know they are getting closer as the series progresses, but I've always wondered if she feels a little jealous that her teammate bonds more readily with her dad than she does. And when people have such strong feelings for another person like that, sometimes they can be easily manipulated into something they wouldn't necessarily usually do. What lengths would Sarada go to prove herself to her dad?

Okay, enough blabbering on! Thank you so much for reading this far, and thank you again for all the support!