I know I don't reply to reviews so I just want you guys to know you're all awesome for reviewing and I hope you won't be too mad for taking a while for me to update. SORRY DUDES. Think of this as a...thanksgiving gift? Still 3 hours left of thanksgiving here in cali anyways. xD And a note to Celestialfae - yes i've seen your suggestion. I'll consider it but I already have my plans for this fic, haha, so thank you!

And thank you to El Gilliath for the beta!

y a k u z a . 1 0 1
5. → The Family

"I don't really understand how Iruka-sensei expects me to teach Konohamaru and the others," Naruto said, him, Sakura and Sasuke lounging in his bedroom. "I mean… I've been educated about the Family and all that jazz, but like… I don't have any real experience in the family biz."

"I don't think Iruka-sensei is worried about that," Sakura pacified as she filed her nails, bored out of her mind. The boys always seemed content to sit around and do absolutely nothing, but sometimes Sakura found her best friends to be so utterly boring. "He just wants you to teach them about the Family. That is all."

"I guess…" Naruto pouted before brightening up. "Hey, hey, there's supposed to be an initiation ceremony next month, no? I'll be seventeen by then, so they'll have to initiate me too, and dad can't keep me locked here anymore 'cause I'll have to go out –"

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances.

"—What?" Naruto asked suspiciously when noticing their look.

"Naruto…" Sakura looked hesitant, but sighed. "It was two weeks ago."

"EH?!" Naruto jumped up from his seat on his bed. Sakura found the swirled patterns on Naruto's orange blanket suddenly interesting. "What do you mean?!"

"It was two weeks ago," Sakura repeated calmly.

"But that can't be!" the blond teen flailed his arms, looking lost and panicked. "It can't have been two weeks ago! I thought it was supposed to be next month!"

"It was early this year," Sasuke spoke this time, looking like his usual calm and composed self as he gazed at Naruto with half-lidded, bored, onyx eyes. "You missed it because you ran away."

Naruto grit his teeth. "Then… how come you two aren't out on some mission?"

"Because…" This time Sakura looked extremely hesitant, and almost… guilty?

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"Boss… the Yondaime… your father… He…"

"He assigned us to watch you," Sasuke finished for her, as blunt and honest as ever. He didn't see the point in beating around the bush. Naruto was going to find out one way or another. Sakura obviously didn't appreciate his tactless ways and sent him a look that he ignored.

"Naruto –" Sakura started to say when realizing he hadn't said anything or reacted. Naruto's head was bowed so his bangs hid his reaction from sight.

"The initiation ceremony is something that any seventeen-year-old looks forward to…" Naruto suddenly spoke up, his tone hollow. "Well okay maybe not any seventeen-year-old because not all seventeen-year-olds are sent on missions for the yakuza… But it means getting out more… going on missions… doing things for your Family…" He clenched and unclenched his fists. "The initiation ceremony is like coming into your adulthood. You're no longer seen as a child in the eyes of your Family… your father…" His shoulders suddenly slumped as his hands loosened. "And I missed it because I decided to run away, because I couldn't wait a few more months."

Sakura realized his shoulders were sagged in defeat and resignation.

"It's all my fault," Naruto groaned, dropping on his bed face-first.

The rosette female looked at her friend sympathetically. At least he was taking the news better than she thought and wasn't rampaging about angrily. Personally she thought he'd be angry that his father had assigned them to watch him…

"But I can't believe my so called dad decided I need bodyguards!" Naruto suddenly shot up, his indignation reignited.

…Okay so maybe she spoke too soon.

"I don't really blame him," Sasuke said, spinning around in the computer chair so he was facing Naruto. "If I had an idiot son who ran away into enemy territory, I would do the same thing."

"Shut up, bastard!" Naruto growled.

"And we're not really your bodyguards," Sasuke continued as if Naruto hadn't said anything. "We're your babysitters."

"Oh fuck you--! Babysitters my ass!"

"You know it is true," Sasuke smirked coolly. "The Boss doesn't trust you after you ran away."

"Go to Hell, Sasuke!" Naruto narrowed his eyes, hissing.

"You're so childish, dobe."

"And you're just asking for a beat down, aren't you, bastard?"

"As if you could even land a scratch on my forehead." Sasuke tapped his forehead with his thumb.

"Argh!" In mid-leap at Sasuke, Sakura intercepted her blond friend and threw him effortlessly across his bedroom. Naruto let out a strangled cry as he landed in a heap on his bedroom floor. Sakura, to make up for abusing Naruto, shoved Sasuke off the chair not-so-gently and the raven collided face-first into the carpet.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined as he sat up and rubbed the small of his (aching) back. "What was that for?"

"Fuck," Sasuke muttered as he rubbed his face, wondering if it was possible to get rug burn on his face. It sure felt like he had rug burn.

"Sasuke-kun is right. You are being childish," Sakura clipped at the sulking blond. It was apparent Sasuke was starting to look smug that he won their argument, but Sakura quickly put a damper to his thoughts: "And you too, Sasuke-kun. Not only were you being childish, but you were also provoking Naruto unnecessarily. You both need to grow up." The blond sniffed before turning to 'his Sakura-chan' with shiny, awe-struck eyes.

"You sound so hot when you're being bossy."

"Can it, Naruto."

"Sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto chimed before deflating. "I still can't believe dad made you guys my bodyguards. Sakura-chan shouldn't have to be my bodyguard. I feel so unmanly."

The rosette teen sighed. "Don't think too much of it, Naruto. He just wants us to stick with you, not guard you like guard dogs."

"Is he paying you?"

'Well…yeah…"

"I can't believe he's paying you two to be my friends!"

Sakura slapped her hand against her forehead. "Not like that, idiot! We've always been your friends, right, Sasuke-kun?"

"…" By the blank stare Sasuke sent their way, it was obvious he either: A) didn't agree with Sakura, or B) had completely tuned them both out and wasn't paying attention to their conversation at all. Knowing Sasuke it was both.

"Just say yes," Sakura said.

"Hn." It was closest to a 'yes' they would ever get from him.

"You're so whipped, Sasuke!" Naruto pointed out with a loud guffaw.

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits and growled at the blond. "I could say the same thing about you, dobe."

"Sakura-chan can do with me whatever she pleases! I am hers to command!" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at his female friend who – used to his flirtatious ways – merely rolled her eyes. She knew he was just messing around with her and making a joke of the crush he used to have on her. Not that she minded. Sometimes it amused her, but other times… she just smacked him. So she smacked him. He pouted. "Ow."

There was a knock at Naruto's bedroom door and the three teens turned to see one of the Plaza security guards there. "Naruto-sama, your guests are here."

Naruto made a face at the honorary but didn't say anything. He used to protest in the past, but gave up when it became apparent a lot of them wouldn't drop the –sama suffix. They followed the security guard out of Naruto's room, down several corridors before they eventually made it to the steps that led to the front door. From the top of the staircase they could see three pre-teens standing at the entrance, looking around and admiring the interior of the Plaza. Well, two of them were. The boy in the middle who looked about twelve with spiky brunette hair, a long scarf and goggles that kept his hair spiked back instantly spotted them at the top of the staircase and grinned.

"Naruto-nii!"

Even though Naruto complained about Sarutobi Konohamaru a lot, the two were practically like brothers. Naruto returned an identical grin as he bounded down the stairs. "Yo, Konohamaru! Long time no see!"

It seemed as if the two were going to embrace at first, but instead of embracing, they engaged in a rather – er – complicated hand shake that involved something resembling the patty-cake hand game, several 'bootie bumps,' before the two clasped hands and gave a firm shake. They were grinning from ear-to-ear at each other as they finished their handshake, completely ignorant to the blank, skeptical stares they were receiving from their companions and the security guards. "You still got it, Konohamaru!"

"So do you, Naruto-nii! You kind of lost some oomf in your bootie bump though!" Konohamaru said as he displayed just how much 'oomf' Naruto should put in his bootie bump.

"Seriously?" Sasuke muttered to himself as he walked down the stairs with Sakura only to see Konohamaru demonstrating the perfect amount of oomf. "Can we get this over with?"

"You're no fun." Naruto stuck his tongue at Sasuke.

Fifteen minutes later.

Only when Konohamaru deemed Naruto's oomf good enough did he finally allow them to head into the main living room to start the tutoring that Iruka wanted them to do. The three pre-teens sat on the couch with Konohamaru in the middle and his friends on either side of him. Sasuke occupied an arm chair and Sakura a loveseat. Naruto was standing in front of the pre-teens with his hands in his pockets and a contemplative look in his face. The girl with Konohamaru had pig-tails and rosy cheeks. She was wearing a purple shirt and dark blue jeans. The other boy with them wore glasses and a gray sweater. He seemed to have a case of the sniffles. All in all, Konohamaru looked the most normal.

"Alright, we'll start with introductions. Tell us your name, age and ambition. Keep it short, sweet and to the point, capiche?" Naruto nodded to the girl. "You're first."

"I'm Moegi, eleven, and my ambition is to…um…" She pressed her finger to her chin thoughtfully before beaming, "marry him!" She pointed a finger at Sasuke, who started to cough. Sakura choked back a laugh.

Naruto smacked a hand against his forehead. What was with these women and wanting to marry Sasuke? He shook his head and pointed at Konohamaru. "Your turn."

"I'm Konohamaru, twelve, and my ambition is to become Hokage!"

Naruto scoffed. "Not before me, kid. Alright, sniffling kid, your turn."

"I am Udon," the boy with the glasses had a nasal tone. "I'm eleven and a half and my ambition is to become a professional medic."

Naruto nodded. "Not bad, not bad. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, sixteen, and my ambition is to be Hokage and own Ichiraku ramen." He winked before looking at Sakura and smiling sweetly. "Your turn, Sakura-chan!"

"I am Haruno Sakura." The pink-haired teen smiled and waved. "I turned seventeen in March and my ambition is to become a great medic like the Sannin, Tsunade."

All eyes turned to Sasuke, who wasn't even paying attention (as usual).

Naruto cleared his throat. "Ahem, Sasuke-bastard."

"What?"

"Your turn."

"My turn what?"

Naruto's brow twitched in irritation. "It's your turn to introduce yourselves."

"Why?"

"Because all of us already did so now it's your turn!"

"But you know who I am."

"Just do it!"

The raven-haired male signed impatiently and drawled, "Uchiha Sasuke. Seventeen. My ambition… is to surpass the one I hate most."

"Who do you hate most?" Moegi asked curiously.

Sasuke's eyes darkened as he spat, "My brother." He looked away and went back to brooding alone in his seat.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "So dramatic all the time. Alright so, anyway, whose first time is it being in the Plaza?"

Udon and Moegi raised their hands. Konohamaru just grinned. He used to come by the Plaza a lot to hang out with Naruto. The blond teenager started to pace in front of the three pre-teens, looking like a General addressing his soldiers as he kept one arm behind his back and the other making gestures to emphasize his points. "Well then, welcome to the Plaza. For those of you who don't know the Plaza is the headquarters to the Konoha Yakuza Family. It also houses the Hokage and the Konoha's Main Family. Does anyone know what Konoha's Main Family consist of?"

Konohamaru scratched his nose. "Uh, his blood relatives?"

Moegi raised her hand. Naruto pointed to her. "Konoha's Main Family consists of the Hokage's Council, and their husband or wife, and or children if the Hokage has any."

Naruto beamed. "Good, Moegi!" Moegi beamed back proudly. "So the next question would be who makes up the Hokage's Council."

There was silence.

"You can look at the Hokage's Council like… the Round Table, kind of…" He ignored the confused stares they sent him. "The Round Table is made up of King Arthur and his Knights, right? So the Hokage's Council is the Hokage and his… er…"

"Knights?" Konohamaru offered with a chuckle.

"Well, yeah, basically. But we don't have Knights in this era so they're usually just referred to as Guardians." Naruto had one hand on his hip and the other was scratching his head as he thought of how else to explain it. "Or Konoha's Guardians." Still more silence. He looked at the kids expectantly. "So can any of you guess who might be on the Council…?"

Udon shrugged.

"No clue," Konohamaru piped.

"I'm all out of ideas," Moegi added.

Naruto sighed. "Alright, then I expect you guys to memorize this: The Council is made up of what we call the Seven Guardians of Konoha." He started to tick off his fingers. "There's my dad who's the Boss… and then there's Ero-sennin who's like the second boss and then there's… there's…" He paused in his pacing and stared at his fingers with a frown, as if they failed at telling him who else was on the Council.

Konohamaru snickered. "Naruto-nii doesn't even remember!"

"I do too! I just… kind of forgot." Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sasuke's father, Uchiha-san, is also on the Council," Sakura added helpfully.

"Right! And, um…"

"Kakashi," Sasuke added.

"Yeah! And –"

"Asuma-san," Sakura said.

Naruto pouted. "Hey, hey, I'm the one teaching here!"

"And Sasuke-kun and I are here to help you," the rosette pacified.

"So like, when someone becomes Hokage, they pick their own Council or what?" Konohamaru asked curiously.

"Yeah. Like your grandpa had his own Council, but it changed when my dad became Boss," Naruto said with a nod. "So when I become Boss I get my own Council –"

"If you become Boss," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto glared at him. "Shut up, bastard! When I become Hokage, you're definitely not on my Council!"

"Hmph. As if I would want to be," Sasuke snorted. He ignored the tongue the dobe stuck out at him. "Idiot."

"Asshole."

"Dobe."

"Bastard."

"Dumbass."

"Jerk-off."

"Douchebag –"

"Oh it's on now, dickwad!"

Naruto let out a war cry and pounced on Sasuke, knocking his chair back as the two engaged in a fist fight. Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples, already feeling an impending headache looming around the corner. Moegi gasped while Udon and Konohamaru cheered from the sidelines, both making bets on who would come out of the fight triumphant. Unfortunately for them, they both lost the best as Sakura ripped them apart and sent them both flying across opposite sides of the main living room with a punch to the back of their heads. Moegi, meanwhile, looked at Sakura in a new, admiring light.

"I smell a rat."

He froze.

"Maybe not so much a rat but a little mouse trying to sneak around a large, big cat that'll eat it up."

What the hell – "AH!"

"Hehe. Got'cha, little mouse."

He stared in horror at the silver-haired man with mismatched eyes. One red eye, the other a regular, dark eye. There were pinnacles in the red eye that spun wildly and the intruder found himself unable to ear his gaze away.

"So tell me, little mouse, what brings you here?" Kakashi asked pleasantly, but the way his eyes narrowed and his tone lowered darkly made the intruder realize it was all false pleasantries. This man with the mismatched eyes was as deadly as they come. He knew because he's heard rumors about Hatake Kakashi of the Konoha Family. "Why were you sneaking around the Plaza?"

"N-n-nothing," the man stuttered. "I was p-p-picking up the dry…the dry… the dry cleaning!"

Kakashi chuckled. "That's a first. Which family do you come from?"

"The…Hanzo family?" the man looked ready to piss in his pants as his knees wobbled. The only thing keeping him up was the fact that Kakashi was holding on to the collar of his shirt with a vice-like grip.

"The Hanzo family?" Kakashi looked confused. "Is it a new family?"

"Er…no?" this time the intruder was confused.

"Are you in alliance with Ame?" Kakashi asked darkly.

"No!" He cried.

"Do not lie to me you little mouse, or I will introduce you to a friend more scary than myself –"

"Kakashi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The silver-haired man looked over his shoulder at his boss, who was standing there with his hands on his hips, looking both irate and exasperated.

"I was interrogating the little mouse." There was nothing but pure (false) innocence radiating from Kakashi's face.

Minato pinched the bridge of his nose with a suffering sigh. "Release Hanzo-san at once."

"You know this man?"

"Yes." Minato took a deep breath to keep himself calm. "He picks up my dry cleaning, you fool."

"Oh." Kakashi paused. "So he was telling the truth?"

"Yes," the blond practically growled.

"Aah. My bad." Kakashi released the man who dropped to his knees with a sob. Kakashi awkwardly patted him on the head. "There, there, little mouse."

"I am so sorry, Hanzo-san," Minato apologized profusely as he rushed to the man's side to help him up. "Kakashi he… he can be a bit foolish sometimes." He shot the younger man a withering glare. Kakashi merely smiled and held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. Minato led the man away as he tried to calm him down, but much to he blond's dismay, the man simply refused to relax after his encounter with Kakashi. So after Minato gave his dry cleaning to the man, Hanzo had all-but high tailed it out of the Plaza.

Namikaze Minato slumped into his desk's leather chair with a sigh. Kakashi was sitting on the couch to the side, still looking like he did nothing wrong.

"And of course you're not going to apologize," Minato stated. He gave his previous student a look.

Kakashi's eyes curved pleasantly. "Nope. Ame has been acting more and more aggressively. It can't be helped if we are wary of every stranger that steps foot in the Plaza."

"Indeed. But is it Ame we should really be worried about?" The Leader of the Konoha Family linked his hands together, his features settled in grim lines. "Ame can always be put in its place. Fugaku has informed me that Otogakure has been gathering alliances."

"Oto, huh?" Kakashi mused over that bit of information. "Is it really that surprising considering who its leader is?"

"No. But it would be troublesome if Otogakure decided to form an alliance with Amegakure."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. Uchiha Fugaku stepped into the office and exchanged nods with Kakashi. There was a paper in the Chief's hand that he waved in the air as he closed the door behind him and approached the Yondaime's desk. He set the paper down in front of Minato. The blond raised an eyebrow but picked up said paper and scanned it over. His eyebrows raised further the more he read.

"This is –"

"Yeah." Fugaku grunted. "It appears Oto proposes an alliance with us."

Minato snorted out loud. "What are they thinking?"

"Maybe we should consider it. Right now our main concerns are Oto and Ame. It would be more beneficial to form an alliance with Oto. The Ame Family is too rouge," Fugaku said. Kakashi hummed in agreement.

"Fugaku-san has a point." Kakashi's eyes twinkled as he added, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

Minato didn't answer right away. After a moment's contemplation he set the proposal back on his desk and leaned back in his seat. "Kakashi, when will the others return?"

Kakashi knew who Minato meant. "I believe they will be returning in two days."

Minato nodded. "Two days then, and we will discuss our decision."

"Yakuza families originated from shinobi clans," Sakura iterated in front of the three pre-teens. Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on opposite sides of the main living room, both fuming and glaring at each other. Sakura ignored the sparks flying between her two idiot friends. "The Uchiha Clan, for example, can be traced back to shinobi times. But not everyone in the yakuza families are from shinobi clans. Some people are recruited because they have shinobi ancestry running in their veins, but it may not be obvious since they'll be living as ordinary citizens. Sometimes these people themselves don't know. Like me. I was born in a civil family but was recruited here when they realized I had chakra that could be controlled and used for jutsus."

"Udon and Moegi come from civil families," Konohamaru said as he pointed at his two best friends. "But their families are in cahoots with our Family anyway so it wasn't that big of a deal for them. Well it kind of was since they were happy Udon and Moegi have chakra control."

Sakura nodded and smiled. "Yeah. My family doesn't know I'm part of a yakuza family." She winked. "They would have a heart attack if they found out. They think I'm running around with a gang though."

"Well yeah because you introduced them to Sasuke and Sasuke looks like a gang-banger," Naruto grumbled.

Sasuke's glare hardened. "If I recall correctly you were there too, dobe."

"Hmph. At least I don't look like a brooding bastard."

"At least I'm not a blond airhead who didn't realize they were in enemy territory."

"Take that back!"

"Make me!"

"I would if I could!"

"A helpful jutsu is a simple binding jutsu," Sakura said cheerily. Naruto and Sasuke were struggling as if bound by ropes, but there was nothing visible that could be seen. "And a silencing jutsu." She made a few hand signs before muttering something and the two teenagers' mouths were forced shut. All that could be heard were muffled words that were probably insults, but no one could really tell. Sakura clapped her hands together and beamed at the three younger kids. "So! Are you guys hungry?"

Scary, were their agreed thoughts.

"Yeah!"

She ushered them into the kitchen and away from Sasuke and Naruto, leaving the two alone in the main living room. Sasuke was giving Naruto a 'It's-all-your-fault' look while Naruto sulked with tears streaming from his eyes.

I'm hungry too, Sakura-chaaan!