C.M.D: Man, it's been a looooong time. I haven't updated this fic since... since... about September! Wow, long... Anyways, thank you everyone who remains ever patient and is addicted to this fanfic like Naruto is ramen. Your constant vigilance makes me glow; and the reviews smack me in the back of the head with the reminder that I should hurry up and update instead of being lazy. Thanks! So, as per usual. THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING: KyouaxCloud, Yumi-nachan, Sukyuu, DarkSapphireXx, Enchanted nightingale, Inseperable Love, afallenheart, gevfuan, Sagerune Yagami, Mrs Hatake Itachi, GothAngel18, pervyprincess, jgood27, Stoic-Genius, eyes0nme19, Twinklebell12, brightsun89, Dancing Roses and Sunny Rain, Fire Dolphin, Q3APo, counter-intuitive, FallenAngel Sayu, allie, Utena-Puchiko-nyu, passionateartist, mochiusagi, SasunaruHOLIC, JuMiKu, Chaos Dragon-Fox, sakurarie, hanakisa, Sanz0girl, The Only Love For Soujiro Seta. Everytime I look around there's more and more of you guys! I mean, I like the stats and all... but it does get just a little scary to see that many people like this fanfic. Pressure? What pressure?

Baa Baa, Black Sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yessir, Yessir,
Three bags full.

"Leaving now Sasuke?"

Said child turned around to look at his mom, just as he finished slipping his other shoe on. He stood, nodding his head. Mikoto smiled in return, reaching over into the closet. "Okay, then sweetie. But I want you to take your coat, alright?," she told him, handing the boy his jacket. "It's getting a little chilly these days and I don't want you to get sick now."

Sasuke wanted to whine at the motherly treatment, but he wasn't a baby, so he settled for a slight pout. His mother only laughed, wiping at her son's cheek to make sure he was properly cleaned up. "And here's a little something extra," Mikoto whispered, pulling two small packages of fruit-flavored gummies out of her apron pocket. She slipped them into Sasuke's coat, kissing the boy's forehead.

The young raven reached inside his coat, touching the treats. "Why two?," he asked, looking at his mom curiously.

Mikoto giggled, straightening back up. "Why, for you and your friend of course!" Her giggles turned to a light laugh as her son flushed bright red, turning on his heel and running out the door. "Have a good day at school," she called out to the flustered boy. He didn't even turn around to wave back at her like usual, but the woman didn't mind. She closed the door against the chill, heading back to the kitchen to clean up the breakfast dishes.

Jiraiya yawned as he walked down the street, a small bundle of sunshine singing loudly at his side and trying to swing from his arm. Usually the sannin was in higher spirits, even if he was conjoled into babysitting Naruto from time to time. Today, wasn't one of those days. The man glanced down at the boy by his side, feeling his lips pull down slightly in a frown. Naruto was an energetic, inventive and loving child... if a little oblivious. When he had come to the house this morning, the fox-carrier didn't even bother asking where Kakashi was, he launched into a boisterous greeting for Jiraiya, equipped with hugs and everything. Naruto still wasn't concerned with the Hatake... though the sannin was sure in a couple of days he'd be asking why the ex-ANBU wasn't coming around anymore. 'Oh, Minato...,' Jiraiya thought sadly.

The hermit had been given a run-down of the situation by his former student, and the sannin had gone and done his own research on the matter. (He was a stickler on these kind of things. Never trust one person's side of the story. Perception is a flaw towards the truth.) What he'd found out wasn't so far off from what the fourth Hokage had told him, but it definitely filled in some of the blanks. Kakashi had overstepped his boundaries with Minato and now was being barred from ever returning to the Uzumaki household and seeing Naruto. And in between all that, Naruto had managed to be bullied, put in detention, become temporarily mute and was back to speaking, but in full sentences! Jiraiya's head was still reeling. (He found himself more amazed at Naruto's speech though. The last time he was in Konoha, the little blonde had been talking in broken sentences, saying his name in baby babble. Now he was plain old Uncle Jiraiya.) The child certainly had a busy first month at school.

And maybe this was for the best. Jiraiya might keep his mouth shut, but he was with Kakashi on this one-hundred percent of the way. Minato was so lost in his grief... he kept hoping every day that Kushina's condition might change, that there might be a sign of activity happening in her brain. But even Tsunade, who was in tears that day after trying for hours, couldn't help the woman and told the blonde that she was gone. Minato had taken it so badly. Jiraiya tried not to sigh, turning his head from the street, to Naruto, and then to the sky. The only way that his student could cope with his pain at the moment was through denial; he couldn't accept any changes in his life. But time kept flowing, no matter how much Minato tried to make it seem like it didn't. The sannin worried that the Hokage might eventually snap... especially if Naruto changed any further out of the mold his father was trying to keep him in. This time, Jiraiya did sigh. These were not happy thoughts to be thinking first thing in the morning, but it wasn't exactly the happiest of times at the moment.

"Uncle Jiraiya...?," came the small inquisitive voice. "Is something wrong?"

The man shook his head, as if suddenly waking from a dream, and turned to the boy on his right. Naruto was gripping the hem of his shirt tightly in one fist, worried blue eyes looking up at him. He was causing the blonde unnecessary fear, Jiraiya realized, quickly plastering on a smile. "No, nothing's wrong," he answered, hoping to soothe the child. It didn't seem to work much. 'He's sharp,' the sannin thought, changing tactics. Naruto seemed to have a knack for seeing past lies. "And why are you frowning today? It's your birthday! You should be smiling."

The change of topic seemed to work, because immediately the blonde brightened, rocking on his tippy-toes in excitement. "Yeah, today's my birthday!," Naruto repeated loudly. "Daddy said he'll be home tonight and we can all have a big party." Jiraiya smiled, for real this time, placing a hand on the child's shoulder and steering him toward the school. "There'll be cake and presents," the blonde continued. "And we'll watch movies while eating ice cream! I can't wait!"

"... Hey, Uncle Jiraiya?" The man looked down at his charge. "Could I invite Sasuke? And Hinata?"

The sannin froze. Blue eyes were looking up at him still, blinking slowly as they waited for the answer, Jiraiya knew without having to look. But his whole mind seemed to have tripped over itself at the question and was hurrying now to try to find the appropriate answer. If he had been speaking to another adult, he would have simply replied, 'no.' As it was, Naruto was no adult, and even if he was, the man was sure he would still demand a reason. And this became all the more complicated because Jiraiya couldn't just tell the boy the truth- he wouldn't understand. And the man was just asking to be ostracized next if he did. But what to say, what to say? It was with a heavy heart that the hermit did the only thing he could do in this situation: he lied.

"No, not this time," Jiraiya replied, sinking to one knee in front of the child. Naruto opened his mouth, no doubt to whine in protest, but the sannin raised a hand for silence. "It wouldn't be fair to your dad," he explained. "Your dad is expecting only to have a party for a small family, so he wouldn't have enough for everybody. I'm sure he would be more than happy to have your friends come over next year for your birthday. But I also know that all he wants for tonight is to spend quality time with his son."

Naruto chewed his bottom lip quietly, as if slightly torn. But then the little boy shook his head, and was smiling brightly again. "Okay, I understand," he said. Jiraiya searched Naruto's blue eyes, but he couldn't see anything beyond the vibrant azure. He would have to guess that the blonde was truly happy about this all. A bell rang in the near distance. "Oh no," the Uzumaki gasped. He tugged harshly on the old man's hands, looking ahead of them worriedly. "C'mon Uncle Jiraiya. That was the bell! I don't want to be late for school."

"Oh, right," Jiraiya mumbled, getting to his feet. He picked the blonde up with him as he went. "Let's take a shortcut, shall we?" He grinned at the boy, before they both disappeared from the street, a few leaves swirling to the ground in their wake.

"And it was sooo cool! We were right there and then, like, we were in the playground!"

Hinata listened as Naruto gushed on about his walk to school, upon which the legendary Frog Sannin had used a teleportation jutsu to get the blonde to the Academy in time for the bell. Naruto's blue eyes were sparkling like crazy during his explanation, hands waving wildly in his excitement. The Hyuuga laughed a little behind her hand at the sight.

"Man," the boy sighed, finally calming down a little. "I want to do that again! Uncle Jiraiya said no at first, but he changed his mind once I reminded him it was my birthday."

Hinata blinked. "I-it's your birthday t-today?," she asked, hesitantly. Naruto beamed, nodding his head so hard that the girl had a disturbing thought that it just might swing off his neck with the momentum. She was silently relieved when the Uzumaki stopped.

"Today is my birthday!," he exclaimed merrily.

"Whose birthday?," came a voice. Both children straightened up in their seats, turning to look behind them. Sasuke stood behind their chairs leisurely, looking somewhat bored. All around the raven, younger children began to mumble about him, a few girls blushing at the Uchiha. Sasuke dutifully ignored them all.

Naruto, who had been glowing before, was positively shining now. He turned fully in his seat so he could better face the older boy, sharing his brightest, foxiest grin with the raven. "It's my birthday today!," he repeated. "I am finally turning six. Better watch out Sasuke: soon I'll catch up to you!"

Hinata blushed a little, trying not to smile, as she reached out for Naruto. Sasuke simply rolled his eyes. "Dobe... you can't catch up to me."

"Sure I can," Naruto argued.

"No, you can't," the other deadpanned.

The Uzumaki pouted. "And why not?"

He finally took notice of the quiet Hyuug poking him, and turned to the girl. Blushing under the scrutiny, Hinata stuttered to get out what she wanted to say."W-we were b-born i-in different ye-years. E-every year, e-everybody h-has a bir-birthday. S-sasuke-kun had o-one t-this year t-too... w-which me-means he'll s-stay t-two y-years ah-ahead of us," she explained.

Unsurprising to the dark-haired children, Naruto did not take kindly to this news. "That's not fair!," he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I want to be in the same class with Sasuke!" Hinata smiled softly, and patted her friend's shoulder comfortingly. Sasuke, though, felt himself struggle to keep a neutral expression. Naruto's words had shocked the boy, and he could feel a slight blush coming on.

"I can't even have Sasuke and Hinata over for my birthday," the little boy continued to rant, pouting further.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow. "And why is that?," he asked, actually curious. There hadn't been too many occasions where Sasuke got invited over to somebody's birthday party, not including the girl's of course, not that he would have attended them anyway. His dad hardly let him go to any parties outside of the family. It was interesting knowing that this tiny blonde that hardly knew him long, who he was greatly rude to as well, would really want the older boy over.

Naruto sighed. "Uncle Jiraiya says it wouldn't be fair to daddy. He says that my daddy only wants to spend time with me; just us family."

"And your mommy too?," Hinata asked.

The next moment was beyond anything that both children could understand. Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion, and the blonde looked at each of them individually, before finally saying, "What's a 'mommy'?"

Hinata began to stutter, fingers picking at each other. Sasuke himself, felt that this was a very odd question indeed and was silent for a moment. When Naruto looked at him next though, he spoke. "A mommy is someone, other than your daddy, who picks you up from school, and loves you; and gives you hugs and kisses, and fixes all your boo-boos," Sasuke said, trying his best to explain it in a way that he was sure Naruto could understand. The Hyuuga nodded her head in agreement to what the Uchiha said, and Naruto crossed his arms again in thought.

"I still don't understand," the blonde finally replied. Sasuke was tempted to smack a hand to his forehead but restrained himself from doing so. He looked pointedly at Hinata, and the girl, about to again approach this subject with Naruto stopped what she was doing.

"Naruto... don't you have a mommy?," Hinata asked instead.

The Uzumaki looked innocently confused. "I'm not sure," he answered, and he seemed unperturbed by this confession. Hinata immediately fell silent, withdrawing back inside of herself, and Sasuke felt like he wanted to hit the girl this time. That wasn't what he had meant for her to do when he had silently ordered her to stop. Now, she had made things worse.

"Is that... bad?," the little boy whispered, looking between his two friends. Hinata shook her head quickly and Sasuke did the same, but slower.

"No, it's okay," the Uchiha said. "Isn't it your birthday today? Shouldn't you be thinking about that?," Sasuke continued, trying to divert the conversation to something else. As was expected, this immediately caught Naruto's attention, who was all smiles and sunshine again.

"Today I am six!," he shouted out happily.

"Whatever...," Sasuke mumbled, trying to shake off his unease. Talking about no mommies made him uncomfortable. "Here."

He thrust out a hand, palm up, at Naruto's face. The blonde blinked at the close proximity of the fingers, before finally taking notice of the two packets in the raven's hand. With a cheerful cry, the Uzumaki picked up the fruit gummies and immediately tore into one. Sticking an orange one in his mouth, the younger boy smiled brightly at Sasuke in thanks. Sasuke couldn't help the blush that came this time, and he didn't even mind it when Naruto shared some gummies with Hinata, even if the treats were only for him. "I have to get back to class," the Uchiha said, hoping to escape now.

It had taken up all his nerve, and superb 'sneaking past Iruka-sensei' skill on his part, to leave his classroom during their lunch and come visit the blonde in his own room. But he had apparently used himself all up, and he was ready to return to his seat now, even if he did have to share it with Sakura. Naruto turned to him when the raven was beginning to sneak away. The boy smiled as he waved goodbye, before a tiny frown pulled at his pink lips. "Hey Sasuke...," the Uzumaki called.

Hesitantly, Sasuke looked over his shoulder. "Yes?"

"How come you shared your gummies with me?," Naruto asked, big, blue eyes dark with puzzlement. The Uchiha felt just a little spark of ire inside of him. Was it really that hard to see the motives behind his gift? Instead of getting mad, Sasuke plastered on a smirk, the same one he had been working to copy from Itachi.

"Dobe. Aren't we friends?"

He left the classroom dazzling with the brightness of Naruto's grin.

"I can't believe you baked a cake."

Tsunade ignored Jiraiya, carefully counting out six candles and placing them in perfect fashion around the cake. She positioned them around the mini ninja and the bright orange 'Happy Birthday', quite liking the mix of green, white and orange icing. One candle smudged the edge the cake's kunai, but the woman decided it didn't really matter. She figured Naruto himself wouldn't care either.

"I mean, seriously," Jiraiya continued, buzzing behind the slug princess. "You made a cake?"

"Alright!," Tsunade snapped, turning around to face the man. Jiraiya wisely stepped out of range. "I didn't actually bake the thing!," the woman confessed. "Shizune did. But I still mixed the batter and made the icing."

Jiraiya smiled wryly. "Thought so," he mumbled, clamping up when Tsunade shot him a glare. Minato laughed, coming into the kitchen.

"I can never keep my eyes off you two," the Yondaime joked. "You're like squabbling children."

Tsunade sniffed, turning back to the cake, stabbing the last couple candles into the pastry. "I am hardly a child," she retorted. Jiraiya illustrated how 'grown-up' the other sannin was in the background. "Though I whole-heartedly agree that the rest of my team are anything but," she hissed, catching sight of the man's perverted behaviour. Minato good-naturedly accepted the cake that the medicnin thrust into his hands, smiling even as the woman spun around to give the hermit a solid right hook. The blonde man was thankful that Tsunade held back just enough to not break the wall, though it was obvious she strained to do so.

"I'm glad you could both make it," the young man said, as the woman turned back around to take the cake from it.

"Don't worry about it, Minato," Tsunade smiled, walking to the living room. "I wouldn't miss my favourite boy's six birthday for the world!"

Helping his sensei from the rubble of yet another broken cupboard and crockery, the Yondaime thanked him as well. "Really," he said to Jiraiya. "It means a lot to me. With Kushina not being here...," Minato trailed off, his eyes dulling for a moment. But then he was smiling again, dusting off the the hermit's broad shoulders. "I'm glad that at least Naruto has other family to celebrate this big day with."

Jiraiya struggled to smile as well, but he could not shake the feeling of depression in his heart. He had watched as this successful man before him grew up, back when the blonde had been nothing more than a wee gennin sprout, and had really thought that things would always go Minato's way. Kushina's death -for that was what it was, though everybody denied it as best they could- had crippled his student more than any physical injury could ever have. Finally getting his lips to pull into something more than a grimace, Jiraiya led the way, into the living room where Tsunade was placing the cake on the table and doing some final last-minute touch-ups. Everything looked ready for when Naruto got home from school. There were orange and red streamers stretched from corner to corner, white and gold balloons bobbing from the ends of furniture. A pile of presents, ranging in size, color of wrapping and various degrees of being wrapped (Tsunade's being exceptionally perfect, Minato's average, and Jiraiya's just a tad from being pathetic) sat by the couch; awaiting the little hands that would tear them open and reveal their contents inside.

"Where's the birthday boy?," Jiraiya asked, sitting himself down on the couch with a heavy sigh. Tsunade glanced at him angrily, but he waved off the warning. He was getting old dammit! Something that Tsunade did not wish to admit.

Minato dithered here and there, hands fluttering over stryofoam plates and cups, all the way to the shiny bows attached to the presents. The whole time, a large smile plastered to his face. "He'll be here shortly. Sandaime was able to get some free time this evening and he wanted to come as well. He'll be picking Naruto up from school along the way."

As if on cue, the front door could be heard opening, and Minato hurried to the doorway just as a blur raced into the room, attaching itself to the man's legs. "Daddy!," Naruto chirped, giggling when his father reached down and swooped him up.

"Have you been good today!," the Yondaime asked, rubbing noses with his son. Naruto giggled some more, nodding his head.

"I was real good. Even Sarutobi-jii-san said so," the tiny blonde piped, pointing behind him. Sarutobi stood in the doorway, smoking from his pipe, a smile on his lips.

"Indeed. Naruto-kun was an exceptional child today," the old man reported. "His teachers had really nice things to tell me when I came." This news made Minato smile even brighter.

"Come. Let us start!"

Tsunade nearly dropped the plate, catching it unconsciously thanks to her shinobi training, and handing it to the child. Naruto was still looking up at her with big, wide eyes; just waiting to hear what she said. Nervously, the woman looked around the room and found that everyone else had frozen as well and were waiting just the same. "W-what was that?," she asked, hoping that she had simply misheard the boy.

Naruto repeated it without hesitation, and Tsunade knew she had been correct in her hearing the first time. "Auntie Tsunade... are you my mommy?"

The slug sannin laughed a little, sounding nearly hysterical to everyone else but the young Uzumaki. "Now why would you ask that?," she questioned, trying to avoid answering Naruto's question as best as she could.

Naruto peered a little around him, and noticing that all the adults seemed a little tense, hesitantly continued. "'Cause a boy at school said that mommies are people other than daddy that love me, and give me hugs and kisses, and make all my boo-boos better. Auntie Tsunade does that... does that make you my mommy then?"

She wasn't sure what to say. In the manner that Naruto had explained it, then yes, she could seem to be the boy's mommy. But in reality, she was far from it. Not knowing how to approach this, Tsunade looked up, trying to catch Minato's eye. But the blonde man was turned away from the group, his shoulders hunched and tensed. She could just feel the fear and animosity that was coming off the young Hokage. Before she could say anything though, Minato lunged out of his seat and stomped out of the room, slamming the front door behind him. Tsunade looked down in time to see Naruto flinch at the bang, swiveling back around to face her after watching his father leave. The child's azure eyes were wide open with confusion.

"D-do you not love me...?," Naruto choked. The woman couldn't be sure if the question was actually directed to her, or was for the man who had just stormed out. Either way, watching those beatiful orbs glisten with oncoming tears broke Tsunade's heart, and she lifted the boy up into her arms, hugging him tightly.

"No, no, no," she whispered soothingly. "That's not so Naruto. I love you very, very much." The boy snuffled, wrapping his arms around the medicnin's neck and hugging her back just as tightly. Tsunade let out a soft sigh. "I guess this means it's 'beddy-bye' time. Say goodnight to everyone Naruto."

Unlike usual, Naruto did not protest the action, mumbling his goodbyes from the crook of Tsunade's shoulder. Sharing an unreadable look with the men in turn, the sannin headed upstairs, cradling her precious bundle the entire way. Jiraiya seated himself on the couch once more, reaching under the sofa and pulling out a bottle of sake that he had carefully hidden at the beginning of the party. "...Wonder who told him about moms," the hermit mumbled, before gulping from the bottle. Sarutobi nodded his head in agreement, taking a particularly long drag from his pipe.

"Itachi, you're back?," Sasuke asked, walking into his brother's room. He looked up at the teen, hoping for an explanation. He wasn't expecting Itachi to be gone when he had come home; and he had desperately waited to talk to his nii-san.

Itachi looked over his shoulder, quickly changing his shirt before facing the smaller raven. "I went to go give Naruto-kun his birthday present." Sasuke nodded his head, showing that he understood. He was just a little envious that Itachi could give something to Naruto for his birthday, while Sasuke could not, though the younger sibling hoped that his brother did not know this. He wondered if Itachi knew he was now friends with Naruto... The older Uchiha smiled, picking up on Sasuke's thoughts, ruffling the boy's hair. "What can I help you with, otouto-kun?," he asked.

Sasuke looked up at his brother, glancing at his feet, before looking back up. A worried frown pulled at the child's lips, catching the teen's attention. "Nii-san...," the boy started in a soft voice, clasping his hands behind his back. "What does it mean if someone doesn't know what mommies are?"

Itachi felt something heavy settle into his gut. With a sigh, he seated himself on his bed, gesturing Sasuke to come closer. This would be a long chat.

C.M.D: Not as long as the last chapter, but there was definitely some stuff going down now. Tension, tension, tension! Since the boys are friends now, you'll probably notice things starting to pick up pace a little. I wanted to wait until they had gotten to that stage before I started throwing more obstacles and complications up into the mix. At first, I wanted to write the whole birthday part scene, but no matter how much I tried I just couldn't do it. So I scrapped the whole bit, and just kept the beginning and ending. In either case, I quite like how this chapter turned out.
Finally, Sasuke's age is revealed! For all those who wondered at the beginning, and didn't quite catch it this chapter:
Sasuke, and most of the other kids are 7 -read that seven-going-on-eight- years old! Aren't you happy to finally have this knowledge?
Right and as for the title... I thought, 'Yessir, Yessir' didn't really qualify for a title, so I decided to do the whole verse. Makes more sense to me anyways...
Alright, so the regular drill. I hope you all enjoyed the newest chapter. Remember to REVIEW and tell me all of your glorious thoughts. Oh, and as well: There is currently a poll in my profile. I've posted a few summaries of my next fanfic ideas, and I would greatly appreciate it if everyone could vote for which one they would like to come out next. Thanks!
So: Naruto doesn't know what moms are? How will this affect the boy from now on? And what about Yondaime? Even Sasuke seems a little disturbed by this knowledge... What could possibly happen next! As always, you'll just have to wait and see!