NARUTO NOT MINE.

ME NOT MASASHI KISHIMOTO.

This chapter hasn't been edited properly. Please point out any mistakes on my part. Just point them out to me in reviews or pm.

Chapter 8: Peace?(part 1)

"That guy sure is late!"

"You are the one to talk."

"If you two start fighting once more, I am going back to sandaime sama right now and taking that babysitting mission!"

The two genins grumbled but said nothing.

"Minato sensei look! I think he's here!"

"Yes Rin. That's him alright." confirmed Minato. "Kawaguchi sama! We are the team that you requested from Konoha!"Minato shouted and waved his hand to get the attention.

The man stopped in his tracks and looked warily around himself in search of the source of the voice that had suddenly made itself audible.

"Oh! Thank you for coming leaf ninjas! I shall be grateful to you and your village!" the bald man shouted as he ran towards team 7. " And sorry for being late."

"It's okay Kawaguchi san, we are used to it."

Rin quickly grabbed Kakashi's ear and pulled it hard for his comment.

Obito turned away, sporting a very satisfied grin on his face as Kawaguchi laughed at the children's antics.

"Come now Kawaguchi san," Minato said with an amicable smile, "let's get going."

"Of course shinobi san!"

They walked through the forest as the members of team seven introduced themselves to their client.

Kakashi wasn't paying much attention to their discussion. He was enveloped by beauty. The tree with pink flowers looked really beautiful. He didn't know it's name though. Was that a squirrel? His mother would perhaps write a poem about it. He didn't remember his mother much. He remembered that she was a good singer though. He even remembered the lullaby that she used to sing to him, and sometimes even his father. He had a diary of her's where she had written quite a few poems though. Though he wasn't sure whether they were poems or songs. He even remembered a poem about beautiful forests and wild life. What was it again? His attention was dragged by Obito suddenly. Wasn't there a poem about friends too? Yes. But he didn't remember it right now. Couldn't he write one if he tried? About friends. But first he would need to pay attention to the closest things he had to friends.

"Rin! Look! Aren't they beautiful?"

"Yes Obito! They are very beautiful. And that blue one looks the best!"

"Well...umm...whydon'tyouputtheminyourhair!?"

"What? I didn't get you."

'Come on! You can do this! You can do this! You can do this! You have to do this!'

Obito gulped down the lump forming in his throat. He slowly walked closer to Rin and synchronised his pace with her's. Then he slowly fell back a bit.

'You can do this! You are going to be the Hokage! This is child's play!'

He slowly put his hands on her head and tucked the flowers behind her ears.

Minato turned around to look at Obito's handiwork.

"Wow Rin," Minato again cracked a smile of his, " you look gorgeous!"

"I do? Thanks a lot Obito!" She turned around and pecked Obito on the cheek lightly.

Just a moment ago Obito was brimming with exitement. And all of a sudden everything went blank. He couldn't see the lush greenery of the forest. He couldn't smell the sweet smell of the flowers that he was inhaling a second ago. He couldn't hear what anyone was saying. He just felt his face getting warm. Much warmer than usual. He was sure that if he tried to move, he would only end up falling down. And he needed to breath.

"Obito!" Kakashi shouted. "You...you have the sharingan!"

"What...What!? WHAT!? REALLY?"

"Yes Obito! I see it! It's blood red! And...oh! That's just your face."

"Wait you sick bastard! I'll skin you alive! Come here you little-"

"Wait you guys! Don't go ahead on your own!" But as usual, neither Kakashi nor Obito heeded Minato's words.

"I am going to kill you Kakashi!"

"Catch me if you can, loser!"

Minato ran behind them to catch them before one of them ended up killing the other by mistake. Minato hated himself for opening that big mouth of his when the third had asked him whether he was ready to become a sensei.

Kawaguchi's hoarse laughter rang throughout the forest.

oOo

"It's growing really cold Kawaguchi san. Are we there yet?"

"Yes little girl. We will be there any moment now."

"Obito." Kakashi called.

"What!?"

"It's getting really dark. You know what would be useful? Sharingan!"

Obito acted like he hadn't heard Kakashi and went on ahead to walk by Minato.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

Rin smacked Kakashi in the head once again and joined her other two team

mates.

"Look Kawaguchi san. The forest ends up ahead there."

"Yes Minato san. And my house is just five minutes away from there."

It had been decades since had run. But being around hyperactive ninja kids did fill one with energy. And he was kid by heart.

"Come on kids! Hurry up! My wife cooks really well!" He started jogging.

Obito cheered and joined him. Kakashi followed with Rin. Minato smiled and quickened his pace to catch upto them.

"I am home!"

"Just in time! The dinner is ready too!"

"Yay!" cheered everyone in unison.

"Hold your horses! A day's journey through the forest can make you a residence of many germs! Dinner will be served by the time you wash yourselves! "

Minato and Kawaguchi just laughed at the children and sat down.

"What are you two adult children sitting here for? Go on! Get yourselves washed too!"

oOo

"Wow grandma! You are an awesome cook!" Obito exclaimed.

"Is that so, young leafling?"

"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. I am-"

"Yes. I know. Your name is Obito Uchiha."she gave a hearty laugh.

"You bettet remember that name granny! Because you are looking at-"

"The future hokage? Yes, young leafling, you have told me that as well."

Obito flustered in embarrsssment.

"And have I told you about-"

"Your face carved in the mountain? Yes boy."

Rin slid open the door of the room that had been given to them to spend the night.

"Obito! It's late! Come in right now!"

"Yeah! Yeah! I'm coming. You are not my mother you know? Ouch! Ouch! No Rin, I am sorry. Let go of my ear! Ouch!"

The door slid shut again.

"Kakashi! It's really late! Stop sulking in the corner and go to bed! Minato sensei, tell him to go to bed!"

"It's okay Rin. Kakashi will guard the house incase someone tries to cause us any harm."

Kakashi was thankful to Minato. It was an almost D rank mission. Though it was true that a shinobi always must be on guard but considering that it wasn't even half a day away from leaf and was thus under surveillance by anbu black ops, it wasn't really necessary. But Kakashi couldn't let his team mates know about his fears. He didn't want them to see him weak and pathetic. And vulnerable. And he was glad that Minato sensei had saved him the trouble of lying and coming up with excuses for sneaking out.

"I'll be going out now. Good night."

Kakashi slid open the door and stepped outside of the house. It was rather cold outside. And empty too. He could see the forest when he looked to his right. Ah! Perhaps he should have had brought his mother's diary. He really had nothing to do. Perhaps he could get some writing done. He had to check whether he had inherited his mother's poetic prowesses. He was't a good singer by any means. And if his father's words were anything to go by, his mother was as beautiful as the moon. Kakashi was lacking in that department too. He was average looking at best. Kakashi wanted to know whether he had inherited anything from his mother. Anything at all. To his left was some small civilian village. Couldn't he be just a civilian? One who didn't lose parents. One who had a home.

Kakashi knew that such baseless fantasies would only bring more pain. So he forced himself to not think about it.

Was that a wolf? Perhaps it was the one that he heard everyday in Konoha. It had come here just because it missed Kakashi. And Kakashi was delighted to see an owl too. Oh! So he had been barely out for a day and his friends had already come looking for him. He would have a nice talk with them once he returned home. That would teach them to be impatient. But right now he was just glad that they were here.

Inside, Obito was having a really hard time, trying to sleep. He was tired all right. And he was one of them people who could fall asleep anywhere, anytime. But still it didn't feel right. Rin was already fast asleep. Minato sensei had his eyes closed too.

"What is it Obito?"

Obito was startled. Unfortunately not enough to awaken the sharingan though.

"Sensei, is it cold outside?"

"Yes."

"And Kakashi is out there. All alone."

"Oh. I am sure that he can handle a bit of cold."

"No. I am more worried that he is probably getting bored out there. Should I give him company?"

"Is that what you want? To give him company?"

"Yes."

"Go. Just tell him that you couldn't sleep."

Obito pushed open the door and stepped outside of the house. If he had been one of those boys who already had body hair, they would be standing so tall that he would look more like a porcupine and less like human.

'Stupid cold!Stupid cold! Stupid cold!'

"What are you doing out here, Obito?"

"I couldn't sleep. So I came outside."

"No Obito. Get inside. If you can't sleep, just close your eyes and lie down. That still helps."

"I can take a bit of cold! Now shut up and stop bossing around!"

Kakashi was irritated but said nothing. He could spend four-five hours writing poems in his head. And of course he could talk to his old friends, the owl and the wolf. If he ignored Obito long enough, he would get discouraged and go inside. But right now he needed to dodge the kunai that was heading towards him.

"What is the neaning of this, Obito?"

"Fight me!"

"I am not interested."

"I don't care!" with that Obito ran towards Kakashi, kunai in hand.

Kakashi simply moved aside a bit and pushed Obito to his right. Obito tumbled down but got uo again within no time.

He again headed towards Kakashi.

'He's not going to give up! Sigh!'

AN: Please forgive me. This chapter's almost two months late.

All I can say is that life hit hard. Very hard.

Sorry again. I hope you find it in yourself to forgive me.

Please review and let me know how you like it so far