A little ~uncle & niece~ bonding that doesn't go the way Itachi would necessarily like. He is starting to see a little more of how Sasuke's relationship affects her.

Before Itachi returned to training in the afternoon, he and Yamato decided to allow themselves to relax in the hot spring with Kakashi. He sunk into his neck and laid his head back, willing the steam washing over him to calm his nerves and sore muscles. But, and call it years of being on constant guard, he could feel eyes on him that prevented him from fully letting go.

"You're staring," Itachi murmured without opening his eyes.

"Sorry."

Itachi's head lolled to the side and he squinted upwards at Kakashi, whose eyes were roving over him blandly.

"It's just so weird," Kakashi said lowly, an edge of disbelief in his voice. "I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it all. You have Boruto's voice... but you're just different. I keep expecting this little firecracker of a spark to come in. It's weird to see him this calm."

Itachi shut his eyes again and sunk further under the water. "Well, that makes sense because I'm not him."

"It's still just so…" Kakashi stopped speaking but didn't rip his eyes away. "Seeing Boruto here, connected to you in some way, it just makes me realize how much has truly changed since the last time we saw each other."

The image of a tiny, giggling Sasuke darted in front of Itachi's closed eyes. So much had changed since Itachi saw Kakashi last- the beautiful little boy grew up into a man. He had been through so much.

Itachi popped his eyes open and waded upwards to the surface. "Kakashi," he said quietly, "can you tell me more about Sasuke?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything," Itachi admitted.

Kakashi sighed heavily. "Everything, huh? Well, where to start?"

"The beginning."

"The beginning…" Kakashi trailed off and Itachi could tell his eyes were seeing something Itachi only wished he could see. "Well, I guess the beginning is that when I met Sasuke he was a cocky little kid. He reminded me of myself, honestly. He wanted to do everything alone; he didn't need anyone. He had the resolve to be a ninja but had no real interest in being a team player, he just wanted to fulfill his personal goals."

Itachi chuckled darkly. "Killing me."

"Yeah… yeah you know. Sasuke was...well, Sasuke." Kakashi's eyes sparkled as Itachi watched the long-forgotten memories surface. "I assume he was much different when you knew him. The Sasuke I knew was hurt. He had this wall up- he was quick to criticize to keep people out, he constantly argued with Naruto because Naruto couldn't accept that Sasuke wouldn't accept or acknowledge him. You should have seen them argue- I thought I was going to lose my mind or kill one of them first. But gradually I watched him start to open up and I really thought we were getting somewhere…" He trailed off.

"And then he found Orochimaru," Itachi finished for him.

Kakashi sighed like he was tired from just remembering. "And then you know what happened. After the war, he came back. Naruto finally got through to him. I really thought it was all behind us, and for the most part it was. He settled down with Sakura." He smiled into the distance. "And they had Sarada. Oh, God, I didn't even ask! How was meeting Sarada- did you meet her?!"

Itachi nodded. "Yeah. It's surreal that Sasuke is a dad, honestly."

Kakashi laughed. "How do you think I feel? My kids are old enough to have kids? It's crazy." He put a palm to the side of his head, and Itachi could tell he was reminiscing lovingly on his students. "I can hardly believe it sometimes when I see them walking around the village. I have to do a double take because they sound so much like their parents." His laughing quickly deflated like a balloon as he came back to himself and who he was talking to.

Itachi ignored it. "How is Sasuke as a dad?" he asked.

"Well, he struggled with their relationship a bit," Kakashi admitted. "To be honest he hadn't been around for most of Sarada's life. Sasuke wants to protect the village at all costs and to him that means being away as much as possible because no one else can do what he does to protect it." He pointed to his eye. "Because of the rinnegan- have you seen it? But he doesn't see how much his absence affects Sarada because to him being alone is what he knows. He feels this is the only way. And I guess he travels too to atone for his mistakes. It's like he can't allow himself happiness or the ability to settle down completely; it's like he doesn't think he deserves it." Kakashi paused for a second like he needed to consider his next words carefully.

"But really, if you want to know my real opinion," he continued, "he wants to be like you: he wants to carry the Leaf from the shadows and make these ultimate sacrifices for your memory."

Itachi couldn't listen anymore and submerged himself deep into the steaming water to avoid the biting words. Sasuke struggled with Sarada because of him? Sasuke chose a fulfilling life to protect his village, but with that came sacrifice in bonding with the people that mattered most. The guilt settled onto his shoulders and pushed him further down below the surface.

When he finally emerged for air, Kakashi was still staring at him thoughtfully. "I'm sorry if I said anything wrong. You said you wanted to know about Sasuke," he reminded. He then stretched back and looked up at the sky. "But, you know, he does have a special relationship with Boruto. Boruto really responds well to Sasuke. If you're going to protect the village from whatever this threat is, you have Sasuke there too." He lowered his head and stared poignantly at Itachi. "I understand why you can't tell him, but I do think you two would make a really good duo."

Itachi looked away, memories flooding his head again. "I used to be the leader," he whispered. "And now he is. I used to have the stronger sharingan, and look at us now."

"That might be the weirdest part of all," Kakashi said. "You have the sharingan. How does that even happen?"

Itachi shrugged. "Why am I even alive? I have all of the questions and none of the answers. I guess that's one thing that never changed from before." He lowered himself below the surface and let the steaming water carry him away.

When Itachi arrived at the training grounds after departing from Yamato and Kakashi, Mitsuki and Sarada were already there.

"You're late," Sarada mumbled. She took out a shuriken from her pack and launched it past Itachi, missing him by inches. Itachi ducked and turned his head to watch it barely miss the target.

"Someone's in a bad mood today," Itachi announced without thinking. Sometimes before he could help it, pieces of Boruto bubbled to the surface.

Sarada rolled her eyes and stomped past to tear the shuriken from the wood. "Whatever, we just have to practice. You realize how important this is don't you?"

"What...training?"

"For the chunin exams, you idiot!" she sighed exasperatedly and turned on her heel to point directly into his face. "Are you even going to be up for this? Do you even remember? Have you even been in contact with the Anbu like you said you were?!"

Itachi took a step back, genuinely surprised. "Hey, hey...it's okay…" he tried to reason gently. "We won't get anywhere if we argue like this."

Her eyes bulged. "Are you condescending me?" she squeaked.

Itachi turned his eyes slightly to look at Mitsuki for any help or explanation, but Mitsuki just smiled softly and said, "Yes, she's always like this."

"Well were you?" Sarada tried again. "Did you go talk to them like you said? Our first real mission for them is the Chunin exams- they're watching so we have to do well. And we have to become chunin, which we won't, if you continue to be late like this!"

Shit. He needed to talk to someone to officially accept but he didn't know who that was; he'd have to ask Kakashi or Yamato for help on intel and tracking when he did. "No," he confessed. "Who do I talk to again…? I'm sorry, I don't remember…"

"I'll get you the paperwork," Mitsuki offered before Sarada could jam her finger in Itachi's face again. "Don't worry about it. I think Sarada is just a little stressed right now because this is a big deal and important to her. Isn't that right, Sarada?"

But Sarada just stared reproachfully at Itachi until she tore her eyes away. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Sometimes I just don't think you care enough and you're trying to get out of something. But this is really important to me. This is a chance to do more missions and truly prove ourselves. If you don't care that's fine, but I'm not letting you ruin this for me."

Itachi tried to connect the pieces; clearly she had a complicated relationship with Boruto, one of complete trust because of necessity, but also one where she felt she was dragging dead weight. He wanted a good relationship with his niece, one where he didn't have to fight, but he watched her float away like mist he wished he could hold onto.

"Let's just get back to training," she muttered, and took out another shuriken. "There are some things I need to perfect before next week."

She wound her arm back and once again launched it toward a target further past Itachi. Just before it hit the target, it elegantly curved away and hit just outside the center.

"Ah, shit. Not again."

Itachi was watching her. "Your arm," he blurted.

"My what?"

He walked up to Sarada and took her arm in his, pulling it backwards so they stood parallel to each other. "When you want it to go that far you move your arm just a little further back," he explained. He modeled the gesture then moved her arm to mimic his movement. "You were over compensating by shifting your body this way…" He pushed her leg further out until it was next to his own. "...But if you stand this way and move your arm like that, it will give you better balance. Look. Try it."

Sarada eyed him suspiciously but took the shuriken from Itachi's outstretched hand. She stretched her body out to match his movements and released the shuriken; they all watched with bated breath as it soared smoothly across the field and into the target.

Itachi smiled warmly at Sarada. He was able to teach his niece something! He was contributing to her training in the way he taught Sasuke! But instead of her eyes shining in awe like Sasuke used to, she just stared emotionlessly at him before breaking her gaze and sauntering away to retrieve the weapon.

"Thanks."

Mitsuki watched her walk away and nodded along as if this was to be expected. "Wow, you really did lose your memory if you thought she'd respond well to that."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

"She probably thought you were being condescending again and trying to show her up," he explained. "She's been working hard on that after training for so long, and you just got it so easily. Did Sasuke teach you that?"

Sasuke. Ah. So that was it. She was jealous. She was trying so hard to live up to her father's expectations, and she didn't appreciate someone showing her up. He remembered how impressed she was the other day with his shuriken skill, but he knew she probably didn't like someone showing her the ropes of how to actually do it...because that meant Sasuke had modeled that movement for Boruto and not for her. He couldn't imagine what he'd feel like if Fugaki trained a person on his team and not him.

He wished he could explain that the reality of the matter is that he taught Sasuke and now was passing it on to her.

Sarada walked back to Itachi and placed the shuriken he gave her in his hand; she wouldn't meet his eyes. "I'm sorry," she mumbled again. "That...that was honestly really helpful. Thank you. That's going to really help us in the exams."

"You're welcome!" Itachi beamed. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I just wanted to show you that-"

"Look, just don't gloat." She held up her hand to cut him off. "I'm just saying that it was helpful for us. That is all. Don't get on your high horse."

He had an idea. "Why don't you try again? We can have a competition? Loser buys the other dinner?"

He watched her eyes light up menacingly and a smirk form on her lips. "You're on, Uzumaki," she sneered.

Mitsuki stood back and watched as the two drew their tools and began to fling them across the field.

"Aren't you going to join us, Mitsuki?" Itachi asked.

"No, shuriken really isn't my thing," he admitted cheerfully. "I have my own abilities."

"HA, beat that one!" Sarada's gloat pulled him back and he turned to see two shuriken angled inward at the same point on Sarada's target..

Damn. She's good. Sarada threw her head back and laughed, eyes shining proudly at her accomplishment. He remembered that exact expression on her father when he mastered a skill. And now look at how far they had come- the skill was mastered and the student became the teacher.

He felt a smile spread over his face as he stared in awe at the target. "Good job," he congratulated.

"You mean it?" Sarada was looking back at him, shining eyes now questioning.

Itachi nodded. "Absolutely. You're a natural. Way better than me."

He watched as she smiled again and launched another. "Hope you brought enough money then for dinner!" she laughed as the tool sunk into another target.

For the next two hours, Itachi was high on adrenaline as the two moved from shuriken training- with Mitsuki stretching his arms out to retrieve the weapons for them- to sparring. By the time the sun began to set behind the trees, the three were laying in the grass, in hysterics at a story Sarada was recounting about something Cho Cho said to Inojin.

Itachi gasped for air from laughing and rolled over to face them. "So, are you ready for dinner, you guys?" he asked. "My treat." He may have let Sarada defeat him a few times, but he couldn't resist seeing her determined smile and pride leak out onto her face when she came out on top.

"Nah, I'll let you two go." Mitsuki stood first. "There's actually something I need to go do, but I'll catch up with you later!" Weird, Itachi thought, but let it go.

He and Sarada lazily walked out of the field after gathering their tools toward the bustling downtown streets. Now that they were alone, he thought it was as good of a time as any to clear the air. "I'm sorry about the beginning of training," he offered. "I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to show you up. That's genuinely not my intention."

She eyed him curiously then shook her head. "Something really did happen to you when you hit your head," she giggled. "You would never have apologized for something like that- you'd absolutely want to show me up!"

"No, no." Itachi shook his head back. "Please don't think that. You're an Uchiha, this... This is your thing. You're good at this." We are good at this.

Sarada went quiet for a moment. They passed a few shops in silence before she spoke again. "You know, it's just because I miss my dad." She scoffed at herself as though she couldn't believe herself for speaking such a thing. "It's so stupid to admit, but I guess you caught me in a moment of weakness with your niceness. My dad left last night for some important mission, and he said he'd be back for the exams. But the exams start in just a few days, and if it's that important, there's no way he'll be back in time. I guess I'm just feeling a little agitated."

A girl who missed her dad, trying to find out where she belonged. The Chunin exams were her chance to prove her abilities, and the man she wanted most there most likely wouldn't be.

"I get that." He felt an ache inside his chest as a vision of Naruto flashed inside his head. Boruto. He missed his dad too.

"But your dad will be there no matter what," she pushed. "That's the difference."

"D-do you know where Sasuke went?" he asked as they turned into a restaurant.

"I think it has something to do with the night you were attacked. I heard him talking to my mom about it a little bit."

Itachi stopped in the doorway. So they did know something was going on...Naruto said it was up to the Anbu now but clearly it was important enough to send Sasuke. They were on to something.

"What's wrong?" Sarada paused just ahead of him.

"Nothing," he lied. Where did he go? What did he find? The quiet night now had a dark electricity to it, a feeling he likened to the one he had right before That Night. In his heart, he knew that things were about to heat up.

OooooooOOOOoooOOOOH we're about to see this new Akatsuki! And shit is about. to. go. DOWN in these Chunin exams!