Copyright: You're on a fanfiction site, do I really need to say anything? Why would I want to be sued?

Konoha Military Police Captain's Office

"Five Assaults...Two attempted murders...four attempted rapes...fifteen counts of theft...an easy day." Fugaku chuckled to himself, finishing his review over the multitude of shinobi who had been arrested in the past week alone, "And only two of them will be able to pay bail." If they could afford it.

Fugaku couldn't lie, being captain of the Military Police gave the Uchiha a great deal of pride. Being a member of the Police Force was considered an honor in itself as only shinobi of chunin level could even apply to become officers. An application process which was personally overseen by the Hokage and Fugaku himself.

So far, only a handful of non-Uchiha were judged to have met Fugaku's standards.

This was different in the days of Fugaku's predecessor, Uchiha Kagami. Kagami was a personal student of the Nidame's war-brother and was hand-picked to serve under the Nidaime many times. As a result, the Military Police Force had large portion of it's numbers shared with other clans including the Aburame, Yamanaka, Hyuga, Nara and Senju clans though Uchiha remained the clear majority. That was because the institution was created for to the Uchiha Clan.

As a means of deceiving them.

When the time came to show where his loyalties lied, Kagami died for his treachery and Fugaku was chosen to take his place. He did not abjectly kick out non-Uchiha, but he did slowly screen down the numbers of non-Uchiha chosen to enter the Police Force. If any good came from the Kyubi attack, it was that most of the Police members who were killed were non-Uchiha.

Which was fine. It was better for the Force to not lie to itself as to who controlled it. Then when the village turned against the clan, there would have no confusion as to where their loyalties should lie. Something that seemed to elude his youngest son.

"Perhaps he should be involved-" A knock at the door disrupted the captain from his thoughts, "Enter."

"Fugaku-sensei." Shisui entered and reverently bowed before Fugaku's desk, "You summoned me?"

"Correct," Fugaku motioned for the Uchiha to stand, "I understand that the Kuromuton is still alive."

"Yes, in fact he was just released from the hospital and is now at home." Shisui answered and caught Fugaku's disapproval, "Have I displeased you?"

"If I remember correctly, the reports indicated that the boy was severely injured by the intruder..."

"His clone was injured, but attempting to kill it would do nothing except incriminate me." Shisui explained, "The opportune moment has not yet arisen."

"And Itachi?"

"As I said, the opportune moment has not yet arisen." Shisui repeated, "Why is it so important to have the boy killed?"

"You know why..."

"To finish what we started?" Fugaku knew exactly what Shisui was referring to and it was not a topic that he wished to discuss, "Sensei?"

"You know damn well that what we did that day was done for the village." Fugaku said to his former protegee, "Whether or not they did attack the Sandaime, the Kuromuton were a threat to the village. Their attempt on Danzo's life should be more than enough proof, no?"

"Yes...I suppose it was." Shisui agreed with a neutral expression, "A shame that my father did not agree with us."

"He made his choice and died for it-"

"I know that more than anyone." A medicrom of fear emerged on the Captain's eyes when Shisui's eyes reflected the Kaleidoscope of the Mangekyo Sharingan, "I was the one who killed him."

"And showed yourself as a true son of Uchiha." Fugaku remarked with an approving smile, "But it goes beyond the boy's clan. Satoshi is also the guardian of that demon-brat. As long as he's alive, the boy will do everything in his power to protect the kyubi."

"Like a good parent should do for his child-"

"Parent? I guess so...sad really..." Fugaku laughed at how pathetic it was for the kyubi-brat. The only one who gave a damn about him enough to call himself the boy's parent was a self-righteous, deluded child who thinks that blood-stained hands makes him an adult, "But until we can find legal grounds to remove Satoshi as an obstacle, we will have to stay open to more "convenient" ways of removing him."

"And what of Hiashi?"

"The Hyuga have long since ceased pretending to be friends of the Uchiha." Yet another regretful consequence of that event from nine years ago, particularly because of Hiashi's outrage at the loss of life including a pretty looking bastard that he called as sister, "But once everything is in place, they will regret that decision."

"Just like the rest of the village?"

"Exactly Shisui." Fugaku replied, "Unless our friend in the ANBU was incorrect, you have a mission to pursue."

"Hai, farewell Sensei." With that Satoshi of the Shunshin vanished from the office. Leaving behind a very self-assured and confident Fugaku to look over the intel that his agent within the ANBU had left for him...

Satoshi's Apartment

"Great as always Teuchi-sama."

"Good! I needed tasters for my new recipe anyway-"

"Otou-san! Let them eat!" Ayame chided her humored father while Naruto and the fully recovered Satoshi both laughed, "Don't laugh with your mouth full! You'll choke!"

"Yeah! Chew with your mouth closed Naruto!" Satoshi lightly slapped the younger boy and earned a confused glare from the kid due to the noodle sticking out of Satoshi's mouth, "You do have manners right?"

"Hypocrite..." Naruto swallowed the last of his ramen and held out his bowl towards Teuchi who was already cooking in the kitchen, "May I have some more?"

"You've already had 15 bowls!"

"Don't be greedy Naruto." Satoshi pat his charge's hair with a smirk and annoyed Naruto even more when Satoshi repeated the same gesture, "May I have another bowl?"

"You're as bad as Naruto! We've could've fed two blocks with as much food as you ate!"

"Ayame-chan..."

"Oh no! You're not using that sad lamb face on me!" Ayame pouted and turned away while Satoshi's head fell in defeat to Naruto's entertainment, "Besides, you just got out of the hospital. You shouldn't eat too much or you'll upset your stomach."

"Yes ma'am..."

"Don't be so hard on the boys, this dinner was your idea after all."

"Otou-san!" Ayame complained with a blushed face, "You were just talking about needing tasters!"

"And I'm honest about it! Unlike my growing Ayame-hime-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Satoshi?"

"Don't worry, they're not really fighting. They're just expressing how much they love each other." Satoshi told Naruto even as Teuchi caught a thrown table knife and practically egged his daughter on to throw another with a confident smile. The girl obliged and Naruto's eyes were just as wide as Satoshi's mouth, "You break anything and you're paying for it."

"Son...I've been catching knives since before your folks were born!" Teuchi boasted as he effortlessly caught and neatly set down every knife, fork, spoon and dish that was thrown his way, "You should help my hime! Or is the little lion afraid of chipping the glass?"

"Don't start..."

"Blunting the knives?" Naruto joined in and threw his fork at Teuchi, jumping up with excitement when Teuchi caught it and a bowl in the same hand, "Bending the forks?"

"Then there's cracking the plates?" Ayame threw a plate as hard as she could at her father's face and saw him catch it with two fingers, "That's what Lord Satoshi hates!"

"I hate you all...I really do..."

"You could go back to the hospital."

"Nah...I like it out here." Satoshi lounged back and threw his own bowl to have Teuchi catch it, "I really appreciate the meal-"

"Meals."

"Meals." Satoshi stood corrected by Ayame, "But really, thank you."

"You're our favorite customers! It's about time that we gave a little back-"

"Now...now Ayame, this was gathering of friends. It had nothing to do with business."

"Otou-san, you just admitted-"

"I don't to hire tasters, these boys will do it for free!" Teuchi laughed as he finished his work, "I've prepared two batches of beef and chicken ramen that should hold you for a few days. The beef ramen is sadly a little juicier than I'd like, but you'll enjoy it Satoshi."

"How did you cook the meat?"

"Medium-Rare as you always prefer." Teuchi answered as he stood up to depart, "It is getting late and I must bid you good-bye and good night. Come Ayame."

"Yes Otou-san." Ayame hugged Naruto and lightly kissed his forehead before waving to Satoshi, "Bye chiisai shishi."

"Night Shimai-chan..." Satoshi was both annoyed and warmed by that old nickname. After Teuchi and Ayame left, Satoshi led Naruto to the kitchen where they started rinsing off and putting away the dishes that Teuchi had been kind enough to wash for them.

"That was good..."

"You're telling me Shatei? That was way better than the food at the hospital." And considering that it was good hospital food, Satoshi was all the more glad to be home, "Don't chow down the ramen too soon alright? I want that to last-"

"Why is Teuchi nice to us?" Naruto's question shouldn't have surprised Satoshi, yet he still wondered what brought it up, "Was he serious about us eating 20 people's worth of food?"

"He was joking! You know that-"

"Then why cook for us? Why did he give us so much food for dinner and then make some for us to eat later?"

"Does he really need a reason?" Of course, Satoshi knew that such an answer wouldn't satisfy Naruto, "If you really need one, it's because he knows what it's like to go hungry."

"What do you mean? Didn't he have parents and a family?"

"He did...but they were killed during one of the Wars when he was a boy-." Satoshi didn't know the whole story since Teuchi was closed lipped out his life before becoming a chef even with his own daughter, "Without any family, he was all alone and became a drifter in the Land of Fire, wandering aimlessly in search of shelter and food."

"How did he come to Konoha?"

"He snuck into a shinobi camp and stole what he thought to be water, but it was actually a performance enhancement concoction." Satoshi explained, "So when the shinobi commander found out about it, he and his men chased Teuchi through the area for five days until they finally caught him. Back then, theft in a time of war was considered a heinous crime punishable by death or amputation at the least."

"But he has both of his hands? Did the shinobi let him go?"

"In a manner of speaking." Satoshi answered trying to remember as much as Ayame had previously told him, "The Commander was impressed with Teuchi's raw ability to elude capture and asked him why he stole the concoction. Teuchi answered that he was thirsty and thought it was water. The Commander gave Teuchi some rations and water and had him sent to Konoha."

"What happened next?"

"I don't know...he eventually became a Konoha citizen and opened the Ramen shop when he became older," Satoshi knew that there was more to the story, but he had neither the full knowledge nor permission to tell a tale that Teuchi may not have wanted known, "And he vowed never to let any customer pass by his sight hungry after remembering where he had come from."

"Where he came from? He was a drifter...why would he want to remember that?"

"Why not?"

"Cause no one cared about or payed attention to him right?" Satoshi could tell that Naruto was applying his own experience to the question, though not un-rationally, "I mean...he couldn't get food and no one gave him any so he had to steal it. That's very desperate...why would he want to remember that time in his life?"

"Are you going to remember the time before I met you?" Naruto scratched his head in thought as Satoshi watched him, "Believe it or not, everything in life shapes you into who you'll become. Both the good, the bad and the choices that you decide to make in pro-action and reaction."

"Pro-action and reaction?"

"How you'll act to prevent a situation and how you'll act when a situation happens."

"I don't get it..."

"What it means is that no one gets to choose how to start their life. Some are born rich and others poor. Some privileged and others oppressed. But what they do their lot in life is in their hands. Whether or not the let their life change them into who they are or if they choose to be who they are."

"Eh...I guess I understand...so I shouldn't forget about when I didn't have a family?"

"That way, you're less likely to be a jerk about who you want as your friends. And you'll treasure your friends that much more."

"Okay...I think I understand..." Satoshi still didn't completely understand himself, so he didn't expect his 6-year old ward to understand in only a day, "I guess it's good to remember where you came from."

"Exactly, I know that I don't-" Suddenly the knife in his hand appeared to be covered in blood and impaled into the chest of a carved open girl crying out for her mother. The assailant with flames covering his sword turned towards him as Satoshi backed away and hit something that he couldn't see-

"Satoshi!" Naruto's screams brought Satoshi back to reality, where he had dropped the knife on the floor and a worried Naruto was holding his hand, "You dozed out, are you alright?"

"I ah...don't worry about it-"

"Did you see dead things again?" Naruto inquired, not wanting this episode to be brushed under the bed, "Will you be okay?"

"It comes with the territory of a shinobi." Satoshi lied though the context could apply to common PTSD experienced by any shinobi instead of to what he saw when he was 2, "But I didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't scared, I was more worried for you." Naruto replied and immediately brought out a cup for Satoshi to use, "Drink some water, will that make you feel better?"

"No." "Thanks Shatei." Satoshi filled the glass with water and put some cubes of ice in it before he took a look at the time, "Looks like it's time for bed."

"Alright..." As Naruto and Satoshi left the kitchen, the older boy noticed a sealed note upon the living room table that wasn't there before. A crow sat in the open window and flew away.

"I'd tell you another story, but I'm feeling tired."

"But you already told me one." Naruto said when he climbed into his bed and Satoshi tucked him in as the boy held onto his Gama-chan frog toy/wallet, "Hey Satoshi..."

"What?"

"You never really talk about your clan...can you tell me a story about them next time?"

"My clan? I guess...but I honestly don't know a lot."

"Why?"

"My parents died when I was 2..." Naruto could tell that the subject was uncomfortable for his guardian and just nodded in acceptance even Satoshi smiled upon him, "But I can tell you a great story! On my word."

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered and another thought emerged on his mind, "Will you be here in the morning?"

"I'll be here in the morning."

"Promise?"

"Shinobi's honor." Satoshi assured the smiling child, "Now off to bed, Shatei."

"Night Nii-san." Naruto and Satoshi shared a short hug before Satoshi walked off to the living room.

"Sleep well..." Satoshi lied back on the couch and gazed over at the unopened note on the table. The note was unmarked except for a subtle chakra code that had been embedded on the top fold of the envelope. Normally, a shinobi would have to focus their chakra to see the code and respond with an appropriate chakra code to unlock the safety seal.

Satoshi had already cheated and used his byakugan to see the code and applied the partner seal to deactivate the seal on the envelope, allowing the young chunin to access it's contents and read a small note:

"Report to rendezvous point: Mizu, Uma, Burijii, Kusa by 0200. Debriefing will occur at location."

- Shunshin

"No rest for the weary." Satoshi scoffed and ran through a series of hand signs, "Shinriton: Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Satoshi grit his teeth, feeling a portion of his very life force disappear from within him and appear in the form of an identical clone of himself, "You know the routine. Inform me if anything happens."

"Got it." The clone replied while Satoshi went to his room to suit up...

Author's Notes:

Another snapshot into the home life of Naruto and Satoshi and their relationship with Teuchi and Ayame. In the vanilla series, Naruto had regarded them as a pseudo-family since they fed him and didn't treat him like shit like the rest of the village. So I figured that they'd have a closer bond now that Naruto has more frequent and informal contact with the two of them.

As for Teuchi's story? I'll elaborate on it later, but let's just say that he didn't get his insane reflexes from cutting vegetables.

The main story will get going in the next few chapters with split focus on the ANBU mission and on the home-front with Naruto. Also, Kishi never gave any details about the Uchiha's plan for their coup, so I'm taking artistic liberty to fill in the blanks.

Till next time. Read, Review, and Enjoy.

Later.

Translations:

Chiisai Shishi - Little Lion

Shimai - Sister

Shatei - Little Brother

Mizu - Water

Uma - Horse

Burijii - Bridge

Kusa - Grass