AUTHOR NOTE

Hi everyone. This is my first fan fiction so I hope you'll be patient as I try to figure out how to get my words loaded onto the site. For some reason chapter one did not completely load so I had to put the definitions at the beginning of chapter two. Please submit a review if you want to and I'll try to figure out how to access those as well.

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned Naruto. However Watarimono and her daughters are mine and mine alone.

Chapter Three

Meeting the Team

Watarimono took her girls to the village school and then wandered around the village for a couple of hours. She was watching as the vendors and residents went about their daily lives. She was also listening to what they said when they encountered each other.

"Did you hear the news?" she heard a man say to another as he swept the walk in front of his stand.

"Hear what?" asked the second man.

"He is back. I wish the council would hurry up and get rid of him."

"That's not so easy with him being a favorite of the Hokage you know. Besides the boys' not so bad," responded the second.

"Not so bad! Who are you trying to kid? Wasn't all that many years ago he killed my daughter."

The second man gave him a pitying look and moved off. Watarimono walked on. Everywhere she roamed she heard similar conversations. It seemed to her that the people of the village were almost equally divided in their opinion of this boy they all talked about. She wondered if this was the same boy Tsunade wanted her to crack. Eventually she found herself down by the training grounds and with delight she saw Kakashi reading that stupid orange book. Or at least pretending he was reading it. She already knew he never really read while he was in public. She sat down and watched as the two boys were going at it in the open area of the field.

"Come on Naruto. Is that all you got today? What's wrong with you Dobe?"

"Grrr...," screamed the blond as he ran full speed at the brunette. "I'll show you." A ball of pure energy formed in his right hand and suddenly Kakashi was in between them. Then she noticed the crackling energy in the other boys hand.

"Ouch," she thought. "That would have hurt both of them if they'd connected." She couldn't hear what Kakashi was saying to them but both boys looked down and mumbled something before turning away from each other. Then the blond looked up and yelled, "I'm hungry. Last one to Ichiraku's has to buy." And he took off.

"Naruto! I didn't dismiss you yet," yelled Kakashi.

"And I don't want any stupid Ramen today," said Pinky, as Watarimono called her. She knew her name from Tsunade but so far she just didn't see any reason to give the chit that much respect.

"Ah Sakura-chan. Why not? Ramen is so gooood," whined Naruto.

"Sasuke, will you go to lunch with me today?" simpered Pinky.

"No. Naruto, are you broke again?"

"Welll...um kindof," Naruto put one hand to the back of his neck and gave Sasuke a sheepish grin. "Jiraiya-sensei came by last night and took my gama-chan again."

Kakashi's eye widened. "So you haven't eaten yet today?" he asked.

"Well I was gonna go shopping yesterday but I didn't have the time. Everybody kept stopping by and with everything they wanted me to see it just kindof slipped out of my mind. But now I'm really hungry."

"Let's go then," Sasuke smirked. "No wonder you were hitting like a girl today Dobe." He crossed the field to stand next to Naruto.

Pinky looked down for a minute before she too crossed over to the boys. Kakashi was about to join them when he noticed Watarimono. His visible eye nearly popped as he said, "I just remembered I got somewhere I need to be." But before he could vanish she grabbed his arm.

"Uh-huh Kashi. This time you aren't going anywhere til I say so," laughed Watarimono.

Kakashi gulped as his genins looked on, puzzled. "Go have lunch, kids. I'll join you as soon as I can."

Naruto shrugged and led the way to Ichiraku's Ramen stand. Once the kids were out of sight Watarimono let go of Kakashi's arm and sat down.

"Why are you here?" Kakashi asked her sitting next to her. She had placed a compulsion on him when she had touched him so that he wouldn't take off the minute she let go. It wasn't a strong compulsion but she had some things to say to him and he always ran as soon as he saw her.

"I'm here because Tsunade sent me a letter saying my talents were needed here. Something about saving the next generation of Sannin from themselves. Sounded interesting and I needed a place for the girls to go to school anyway so I came."

"Girls?" You have kids?" Kakashi asked.

Watarimono laughed. "If you hadn't taken off so fast yesterday you would have seen them. They were there in the office when you came in with your team."

Kakashi tried to remember the people in the office but truthfully he had seen noone once he had seen her. All he could think was to get out of there as fast as he could. "Well, I'm not in line to become a Sannin so why are you chasing me?"

"Actually I didn't chase you. I was wandering around, getting a feel for this place and I just happened to get lucky. Your team was here so since they are the next Sannins I sat down to watch their interaction with each other. You being their Sensei is a complete bonus and yes I am going to keep on you until I have convinced you to drop that stupid mask."

Kakashi frowned. "My mask is a part of me. It isn't going away. I told you that when we first met."

"And I told you it's just a shield between you and the rest of the world. A shield you don't need." She sighed. "You have to quit hiding, Kashi. You'll never be all you're supposed to be until you do."

"I'm not hiding," he said turning his head away. He heard her snort next to him but didn't look back.

"Then take it off. There's no one here but me and I have seen you without it before you know."

He shook his head as he stood up. "I'm going to go meet the kids. Since you're supposed to be working with them don't you think you should meet them?"

She stood up and together they left the training ground. She'd tell him more about her girls later when he was ready to hear it. Right now he just needed to get comfortable having her around again.

They arrived at the ramen stand just in time to hear Pinky going off on Naruto for his lack of manners. "Do you have to eat like an animal? Gees. Slow down. The Ramen isn't going anywhere," she sneered. To Sasuke she complained, "Why do we even have to be here with him? He's such a pig!"

Sasuke didn't even look at her. Instead he watched as Naruto polished off his bowl and called loudly for another after getting a slight nod from him. Sasuke would pay for about fifteen bowls for him knowing Naruto would fight better with his belly full and the only way for him to get stronger was for him to fight Naruto. To Teuchi he held up a napkin with the number 15 written on it. It was a pre-arranged signal between them to let Teuchi know when Naruto was wearing out his friend's ability to pay his bill. So far he had consumed five bowls while Sakura refused to eat even one and he was slowly coming to the end of his first bowl.

Sakura had hoped that if she raised a big enough stink about Naruto's lack of manners while eating Ramen Sasuke would take her to a different place leaving the baka behind to pay his own bill. After all it was his own fault for not getting any food and for giving his wallet to Jiraiya-sensei. But Sasuke showed no signs of being willing to leave the baka.

Watarimono walked in ahead of Kakashi and they both took seats next to Naruto. "Watch out for flying noodles," said Sakura sarcastically. "You're sitting next to the biggest Baka Pig in town."

Naruto ignored her and kept eating his ramen. Sasuke's eyes tightened a little but he said nothing about her own lack of manners. Watarimono took note of both reactions. She knew Naruto had heard and noted Sakura's comments but he cared more for eating right then than he did for answering her. Instead of replying to the girl she raised an eyebrow at Kakashi waiting for him to call his pupil on her own behavior. Kakashi got her point.

"Sakura, there's no need to be rude. Everyone who comes here knows Naruto enjoys his ramen so there is no need for you to be warning anyone."

Sakura tilted her head to the side and looked thoughtfully at the woman who had come in with Sensei. "Aren't you the woman who was in the Hokage's office yesterday?"

"Yes I am."

"So therefore you are new in town?"

"Well I am new in town but I fail to see how my being in the tower yesterday pointed to that conclusion."

"Because before that time I never saw you and I know everyone in this village. And since you are new here you wouldn't know how much the Baka loves these noodles and so therefore my warning you was not rude at all. Isn't that right Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi went to answer her when Watarimono held up her hand. He subsided and listened as she took over. "First off, your comment was not needed as if you'll open your eyes and actually look around you will note that Naruto never spills a drop of his beloved ramen. That would be a waste of food and he doesn't waste food. Do you Naruto? Second, you called him both an idiot and a pig to a complete stranger. Both very rude comments for anyone to make to another person but especially rude if said person does not know the individual involved as both names can cause said stranger to form an incorrect image of the so- named person. Third, if you want people to respect you than you should first show them that you yourself are capable of being respectful to others. Your comments did not do that and therefore you are not at this time worthy of my respect, Pinky."

Sakura was not the only one to have her mouth hanging open by the time Watarimono finished telling her off. Sasuke had taken in her words and quickly looked down at his now empty bowl hiding his small smile. And Kakashi turned to look at the far wall of the small food shack. He knew he was going to get an earful from Mrs. Haruno if Sakura told her about this incident. That woman saw nothing wrong with anything her daughter did but especially not if said doings involved Naruto. However it was Naruto's reaction that surprised everyone the most.

"You... You defended...me," he whispered. His big blue eyes were as wide open as they would go and shining with unshed tears. Kakashi turned back at the same time Sasuke looked up. Both looked at the pure shock on Naruto's face. "No one has ever stood up for me over that before." Naruto was still talking in a near whisper.

"Well, then it's about time someone did. You don't deserve to be talked about like that by someone you are supposed to trust your life to. If she's this rude to you when you are sitting right in front of her, why would you ever believe she'll even try to save your life let alone watch your back?"

Naruto shrugged. "Everyone talks to me that way. Well, most people do," he amended. "But I don't rely on her to watch my back anyway. That's Teme's job. I watch his back and give him a good fight and he watches mine and gives me the same. And both of us protect her. Right Teme?"

"Hn," said Sasuke. "She's annoying."

Watarimono looked at Pinky. She had been angry while Naruto was talking but when Sasuke dismissed her as being of no value to the team she looked down at the floor. Surprisingly Naruto had seen the hurt on her face and he added, "She's our medic. She's not supposed to fight. Not her fault that I have a natural healer. Come on Teme. Let's go fight some more. Thanks for lunch Ojii-san."

He and Sasuke quickly left the shack with Sakura following behind them. Watarimono looked to Kakashi and said, "Just what have you been teaching those kids Sensei?"