5

"So, tell me about yourselves." Kakashi said as the three of them settled down on the roof of the school building.

"Like what?" Sakura asked. She shot a glare over at Naruto just for the hell of it. Naruto just grinned at her.

"Oh, you know. What you like, what you hate, hobbies, dreams, etc…" Kakashi waved his hands around vaguely.

Naruto mentally smiled at his sensei. The man was thankfully acting like he didn't have prior contact with him, and he was doing the exact same thing he'd done the first time around. Instead of volunteering any information, Naruto sat silently. Sakura spoke in the silence.

"How about you go first, Sensei? Show us how it's done?"

Kakashi had apparently been anticipating the question. His visible eye quirked just slightly, but enough that Naruto could tell he was smirking. "Me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like talking about his likes and dislikes! My dreams for the future are none of your business…but, anyway, I have lots of hobbies… But, enough about me. Let's start with you on the left." Well, that was different. Last time Kakashi had started with Naruto, not Sakura. Naruto saw the man's eye-smirk practically grow as he saw the disgruntled looks his new team was giving him.

"I am Haruno Sakura." She started. "My favorite thing is… well, it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy. And that boy is..." She glanced at Sasuke, who studiously ignored her. "My dream…" She blushed furiously. Naruto internally gagged. Sasuke had a somewhat green look to his face. "I hate…Naruto!" Naruto's heart dropped into his stomach, even though he'd expected the words. He put a blank mask over his face. He saw Kakashi glance at him from the corner of his eye. "My hobbies are…" Sakura threw another glance at Sasuke.

Kakashi looked irritated. Probably because not once had Sakura said one thing about ninjutsu. He shook his head then focused on Sasuke, who started talking without prompting.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things that I hate, but I don't see how that matters, considering there is almost nothing I do like. It seems pointless to talk about "Dreams". That's just a word…" He began, sounding just as vague as Kakashi had. The silver haired Nin looked strangely proud of the fact when Naruto glanced at him. "…but what I do have is determination. I plan to restore my clan. And there's someone I have sworn to kill."

Those last few words jolted Naruto out of his calm focus on the situation. A bloodied image shot through his mind. Caught off guard, he clutched at his heart at the sharp pain that burst through his chest and he momentarily stopped breathing. He gasped. All he could see were images of Sasuke's back. Standing, bloodied, in front of him in the Land of Waves. On the other side of the ravine at the Valley of the End. Staring down coldly at him from over his shoulder at Orochimaru's hideout. And then, at the end of the procession, dead at his feet. Naruto was choking. Drops of sweat ran down his cheeks, or were they tears?

-ruto! Naruto! Calm down. He's right there. He's okay. Kyuu shouted over his sudden panic.

Once he grasped onto Kyuu's voice, Naruto gradually began to get more air into his lungs with each breath. Once he managed that, he could hear Kakashi's voice as well, instructing him how to relieve himself of his panic attack. It took him a few minutes to start breathing regularly again, and he quickly wiped his face clean of his tears. Kakashi sat next to him, rubbing calming circles into his back. He sent him a worried glance, Naruto shook his head. It was nothing.

He turned back to the other two, seeing that Sakura and even Sasuke were sending him curious, half-worried looks.

"I'm fine. It's happened a few times recently." A little white lie. "It's just stress. I'll get over it soon." Sasuke nodded minutely, while Sakura continued to stare at him. Desperate to change the subject, Naruto introduced himself.

"Uh…I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I don't particularly have anything I like or hate. My hobby is training, I guess, 'cause that's what I do in my free time. My goal is to fix some of the mistakes I've made. My dream is the same." He may have said too much, seeing the confused look on Sasuke's face. He'd apparently caught the slightly reminiscent tone in his voice; something that wouldn't normally been in the voice of a twelve year old. Of course, his goal wasn't exactly that typical of a child's, either.

Kakashi clasped his hands together and put his elbows on his knee. "Right. Well, formal training begins tomorrow. It will involve only the members of this cell."

"What will we be doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Survival exercises."

"But we've been doing survival exercises for years at the academy!"

"No. You'll be surviving against me. It's not the typical exercise. Only nine rookies will become genin. The other eighteen must go back to the academy for more training if they don't pass the test. This test has a 66% rate of failure!" Kakashi adopted a rather evil look to scare his students. But it didn't seem to work like he'd wanted it to.

Sakura looked shocked and Sasuke looked rather pissed off. Apparently he'd thought they were set once they passed the graduation exams as well. Naruto just watched the going ons, acting as if he were still recovering from his panic attack to avoid having to act surprised.

"Ha! See? You're chickening out already!"

"No, we're not!" Sakura exclaimed. Naruto glanced at her, surprised. She looked rather more determined to pass this test than she had the first time around. Even though it was probably only so she could stay around Sasuke, it was a start for her to become a great ninja.

"Regardless, we'll meet tomorrow morning at nine o'clock on the practice field so I can evaluate your skills and weaknesses. Bring all your ninja tools and weapons. And don't eat breakfast, unless you enjoy throwing up…" Then Kakashi just disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Naruto was sure Sakura and Sasuke couldn't tell, but he could sense his sensei had only moved to the roof above them, waiting to hear their reactions on the assignment.

"What did he mean by that?" Sakura threw her arms up in the air. "…if we enjoy throwing up…" She continued with a mumbled statement. "I'm not skipping breakfast just because we might throw up." Sasuke absently nodded to her statement. He was sneaking glances at Naruto. He didn't think the blond caught them, but Naruto saw every one of them, though he acted like he didn't. However much Naruto wanted Sasuke's approval, he wanted Sasuke to know he could take care of himself. So, even though he still felt dizzy from the panic attack, Naruto forced himself to stand smoothly.

"See you guys tomorrow. Then we can pass Kakashi-sensei's test and get started on some missions." Sakura and Sasuke nodded their agreement and Sakura took off for her home to tell her parents about her new sensei after saying goodbye to Sasuke, of course. Sasuke glared after her for a moment once her back was turned and then went back to looking at Naruto, who hadn't yet moved to leave, although he'd been the one to utter the first farewells.

"You spent the entirety of your Academy years pining over Sakura. Why have you stopped now?" Sasuke suddenly questioned. "Why did you get her to leave me alone back in the classroom?"

"I figure she'll never like me that way, so I might as well not hurt myself trying. I wouldn't want her to change for me. As for the other question, you don't like her even a little in that way, correct?" a guarded nod. "I don't want her to be hurt either. She's a friend to me whether she knows it or not. She's one of the few people that speak about me to my face. The majority of the village just speaks about me behind my back, in whispers that are just loud enough that I can hear them.

"Did you know, those looks I got from you two, there are only three other people in this village right now who would look the same way if I had a panic attack in front of them? I'm not trying to get you to feel sorry for me." He said quickly, seeing the look on Sasuke's face. "I've gotten used to it by now. I've got it better than you. At least I didn't have the chance to know my family. A chance to love them. I can't even imagine…But… I've got a question for you." Sasuke had slowly been gaining a more guarded expression as Naruto spoke, but at the blond's last statement, he raised an elegant eyebrow in curiosity.

"Why are you listening to me like this? I thought you hated me." Of course, Naruto knew why Sasuke was here. He was curious. He was lonely. Once he left, he had to go back to an empty home full of painful memories. He was prolonging the time he had before that. And he knew Sasuke had never hated him. The raven had just thought that he was annoying.

Naruto wanted to see if Sasuke would actually tell him this. And he did.

"I…I don't hate you. And…I was curious as to what happened to make you have a panic attack like that." Sasuke pulled himself into a haughty stance, trying to save himself from looking even slightly capable of caring with his next words. But, Naruto knew this was a mask nearly as flawless as his own. One that had been carefully constructed and doctored over many years. "I wouldn't want it to happen again and become a problem on a mission."

Naruto laughed. "No. I'm working on the problem causing it. I've been under some stress lately; dealing with Mizuki-sensei was only a part of it."

Sasuke nodded and acted as if that were an acceptable answer to his question. "What happened with Mizuki-sensei? I heard he just moved." He walked to the edge of the building and sat on the railing, letting his legs dangle over it. Naruto followed suit.

Naruto was puzzled. He'd thought for sure that the rumor had spread throughout Konoha that he'd been the culprit in the theft of one of the forbidden scrolls at least. But it seemed not even that had gone out. Before, he'd thought that because no one believed he could have even gotten near the scroll, that they'd just dismissed it as a rumor, but apparently the hokage had decided to protect Mizuki's reputation. Naruto growled under his breath. Mizuki didn't deserve a good reputation.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, hearing Naruto's growl. At the same time that he asked the question, he looked surprised that was still speaking with Naruto. The blond realized that Sasuke had probably never spoken more than a few words to anyone after the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto thought it over for a second, whether he should tell Sasuke or not. In the end, he decided it didn't really matter, as Sasuke wasn't the rumor spreading type.

"Originally, I failed the graduation exam again, but Mizuki, the bastard, convinced me that, if I stole one of the forbidden scrolls and learned a jutsu from it, I could graduate. I snuck into Hokage tower and took a scroll, and then I hid on the training grounds and learned the Kage Bunshin technique. Of course, Iruka-sensei found me, but Mizuki wasn't far behind. He tried to take the scroll and Iruka-sensei protected me, but Mizuki was about to kill Iruka-sensei, so I stepped in and beat him up. Mizuki's in prison now. And that's how I got my hitai-ate. Iruka-sensei was impressed with my shadow clones."

When Naruto looked up from his hands, he was happy to see Sasuke looked surprised, even impressed that Naruto had defeated their sensei in a fight. He might have even made a friend out of Sasuke more quickly than he had the first time. He wouldn't complain if that were the case.

"Hey, Sasuke," the boy didn't seem to mind that Naruto had used his first name without any honorifics. "Do you want to come with me around town? I need to do some stuff and wouldn't mind some company." He did a back-flip off the railing and landed on his feet a few feet away from it. He was facing towards the building Kakashi-sensei had hidden himself on. Naruto couldn't see him, but he could sense the older ninja's chakra. He waved at his sensei before turning back to Sasuke to see that the raven had just launched himself off the railing as well. Sasuke landed not a foot away from Naruto.

"Sure. I don't have anything to do." Naruto was honestly shocked into silence for a moment. He hadn't thought that Sasuke would accept his invitation.

"Right then. I've got to pay a visit to the hokage first."

xXx

"Gramps! I'm back!" Naruto greeted as he walked through the door, followed not long after by Sasuke.

"Gaki! I told you not to call me that!"

"Come on, Gramps. It's just a term of affection." Naruto grinned when Sarutobi couldn't find anything to say to that. "Um, could I borrow that money now? I don't know how long it's going to take, but I wanted to make sure I was done shopping before it gets dark. " He grimaced. Sarutobi's eyes widened as a suspicion Naruto knew the man must have had was confirmed, a glint of sadness entering them not a second later. The grey-haired Hokage nodded at the blond solemnly.

"Of course. Just be careful. Don't stay out too late." He pulled an envelope from a drawer in his desk and passed it over to Naruto, who folded and tucked it into his money pouch, Gama.

"I will. And thanks."

"It's no problem, Naruto. Ask whenever you need any help." Naruto nodded. "I'll come back tomorrow for our talk. Thanks again."

Sarutobi nodded as Naruto turned around and left the room, followed again by the silent Uchiha. Sasuke glanced at Naruto. "What was that about? About you not being out too late. Do you have a curfew or something?"

Naruto flinched. He'd hoped Sasuke hadn't caught that. He may be a friend, but he didn't want to tell him everything about himself. Especially not anything like that. Knowing how protective Sasuke could get for his loved ones, Naruto definitely didn't want to put that type of information in front of the avenger.

"It's nothing." It wasn't great, but it made sure that Sasuke knew it wasn't a good topic. But he'd already paused too long to make up a safe excuse or agree with the guess that he had a curfew. Sasuke took the hint. For now.

"Where are we going now?"

"I need to get some clothes. I was hoping you might know one or two good shops. I've only ever been to one place. I'm tired of those hideous orange jumpsuits."

"Why did you buy them in the first place?"

"Not everyone is filthy rich." Naruto smiled to let Sasuke know he was kidding and it widened when he noticed Sasuke pull ahead just slightly to lead the way. "I didn't have enough money for anything better. That's what the money I just borrowed from Gramps is for."

Sasuke nodded. "Why do you call the Hokage 'Gramps'?"

"Other than the fact that he's old?" Sasuke smirked. "He's a grandfather figure." Naruto shrugged. "I didn't know my parents, so I've labeled him as Gramps since before I can remember." He grinned at the boy walking at his side. Sasuke looked offset as to what he should say to that. Naruto was glad for a moment. An inquisitive Sasuke was odd for him to deal with. The Sasuke he had known had always withheld his questions unless he was sure they were important. But it was interesting to see this side of him.

They were walking over the bridge to the shopping district of Konoha now. Permanent and temporary shops lined a wide packed dirt road. Every so often you could see a horse walking down the middle of the road, people scattering to get out of its way. Sometimes, one of the horses could be seen pulling a loaded cart behind it, the horse's owner grinning at his good fortune in the market.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who looked like he was beginning to get queasy, and pulled him away from the loud and busy crowd. Naruto took a deep breath and nodded in thanks to Sasuke.

"Sorry. I can't stand big crowds. Not in Konoha, at least. I don't know about other towns."

Damn it, Kyuu! Why do I still have your nose? And why are the scents so strong? I thought I got used to-! Oh… Never mind.

Right, Kit. New body, new nose. You'll have to train your nose again. Good luck.

Unhelpful bitch. Naruto grumbled. Kyuu just hummed in amusement.

"Naruto. There's a store over there that I get my training clothes at. Its cheep, good clothing, and its comfortable."

"Imagine that! The great Uchiha buys his clothes for comfort! Not for girls to drool over and try and guess what designer line they're from." Naruto snorted in amusement. While Sasuke tried to keep up a stoic mask, he couldn't hide the smirk that slipped through.

The two walked side by side into the store. There was no one at the counter watching the door, so they walked over to a rack of jeans and darkly dyed khakis. Naruto quickly found three pairs of black khakis that were his size and picked up a pair of jeans for the hell of it. Sasuke, in the meantime, had pulled out five shirts and a jacket for him to try on. The jacket had a theme similar to the jacket he'd worn after he'd lost his old one to Jiraiya-sensei's tutelage; mostly black with two small stripes of orange running around the waist. Two of the shirts were straight black, while the other three were light training shirts of various colors; a light forest green, deep blue, and a rich, blood red that reminded him of Kyuu's eye color.

Aww, how sweet of you to remember my eye color.

Uh, I hate to tell you this…but it's kinda hard not to. I see it all the time. Even when I'm asleep. Kyuu huffed.

Naruto took the shirts Sasuke showed him and checked the sizes, refraining from commenting on how much the raven seemed to be enjoying shopping. Knowing the sulky boy, it would probably lead to a sore subject that would make Sasuke shut himself off again. Naruto couldn't let that happen. Especially when he was doing so well at learning a side of Sasuke that he'd never seen before. It was, to say the least, odd to go shopping with his old rival/enemy/friend/brother. But not unpleasantly so.

"Ah, Sasuke! I haven't seen you in months! How have you been?" a voice boomed behind him. Naruto shivered at the somewhat familiar voice, but he convinced himself it didn't belong to who he thought it did. Plus, he hadn't heard it in years, what were the odds he would run into that person now?

Naruto saw Sasuke out of the corner of his eye being pulled into a huge bear hug by a giant of a man. Sasuke was lifted about a foot off the ground and plopped back down easily. Naruto wondered if this was the owner of the shop. He lifted his face from the tags on the shirts and shifted the clothes to a more comfortable holding position in his arms and watched the pair interact.

The middle-aged, mostly muscled man was completely oblivious to him and continued to speak and ask questions constantly, giving Sasuke no time to answer him. His back was to Naruto, though, so he didn't know if the man realized he was there. He wondered though, with a bad feeling that was slowly creeping up his spine, whether this was one of the villagers that couldn't stand his presence.

"…and the last time you came here was the beginning of last year's new academy school year. You must need new clothes now, right? Is that why you're here today? What are you looking for? Your training clothes must be in shreds. I just got a new inventory in. I'll even let you peek at it if you like. It won't be on the shelves for another week."

"Mr. Miyazawa-" Sasuke tried to stop the flow of words. Naruto scowled at the man, though he still hadn't been acknowledged. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, but he didn't like this man.

"Tobi. You should call me Tobi, Sasuke." Sasuke scowled at the interruption and at the use of his name without any honorific whatsoever.

"Tobi. I only came here today for a friend." Naruto grinned and whooped mentally at the title Sasuke had apparently used for him. "My clothes are in fine condition and I still have another couple of months before I'll need anything new. Are you done now?" he directed the last bit at Naruto.

"Yes." Naruto nodded, although his muscles were suddenly tense. He set the pile of clothes on the counter next to the register. Sasuke stepped up next to him, but leaned against the counter in an indifferent manner, facing away from the register and the shop owner, who had just come around the counter and pulled one of the black shirts into his hands. He still hadn't looked at Naruto, seeming to care about nothing more than the Uchiha who was gracing his store with a visit.

Naruto matched a growl that surfaced in his mind from Kyuu aloud. She'd cared about Sasuke almost as much as he had, if only for the reason that the young Uchiha had given Naruto a reason as to why he should continue to live. Someone like this, who'd acted like he cared about Sasuke's living conditions, but could really care less, was someone who didn't deserve to be living in the same village as Sasuke. The worst thing was that Naruto and Kyuu knew Sasuke recognized the lies as soon as they spilled from the man's mouth.

The said man glanced up at Naruto at hearing the low-pitched growl and Sasuke sent the blond a curious glance. Naruto mentally cursed as the look in the man's eyes changed. The glint of self-serving/ fake welcoming disappeared in what Naruto suspected to be record time for a citizen of the village. What was worse was that Naruto recognized the pair of brown and blue mixed eyes and the seemingly eternal hatred that completely filled them. He lost his breath and barely restrained himself from stepping back.

The man's face was suddenly red in a fury that not many of the villagers dared to show him directly, at least during the daytime. Not even having to see the man's glance at Sasuke, who'd straightened and was sending questioning glances at both of them, Naruto could tell the only thing keeping the man from closing shop and beating him nearly to death was the fact that they weren't alone.

"Get out." The man managed, surprisingly quiet for his rage.

"Wha-?" Sasuke began.

"Never come into my shop again, demon." At least Naruto finally understood the nickname the villagers had always used for him. "Get out." He stepped around the counter and started towards Naruto. The blond stepped back from the advance, but Sasuke's hand on his shoulder stopped his retreat. The hand brought him back to his senses. What was he doing, running? He could kill this man with little to no effort. He shouldn't be intimidated in the least. So…why was he shaking?

"Mr. Miyazawa. I suggest you stop this instant." His voice was firm and his eyes were just as hard as Sasuke glared at Tobi. Tobi stopped in his tracks. He opened his mouth to reply, but Sasuke cut him off. "What would the hokage say if he knew you were refusing to sell to a customer? I recall that there have been laws posted in Konoha recently against that." Sasuke gave the man no opportunity to interject. Tobi's eyes slowly gained a little fear when he realized Sasuke wasn't messing around. The Uchiha apparently knew his way around the blackmail process. "Sell these clothes to Naruto and we'll leave just as soon."

The two of them faced off in a glaring contest. Tobi was clenching his fists and was clearly irritated that a 12-year old was ordering him around. Sasuke stood calmly next to Naruto, a little in front of him as if to block Tobi from his view, with his hand still on the blond's shoulder. He could feel the knotted tenseness in Naruto's shoulder and the blond's shaking body.

Tobi abruptly dropped his gaze and retreated to the register. He quickly rung up the clothes and stated the total. Naruto dug the amount from the envelope the hokage had given to him and passed it to Sasuke, who slammed it on the counter and grabbed the two bags that the clothes had been stuffed roughly into. He handed the bags to Naruto.

"Thank you." The blond whispered. He was staring at the ground unwaveringly.

"No problem. Let's go." He replied.

As they approached the door, Sasuke held the door open for Naruto, who exited quickly, and turned around and stared at the man who was still at the counter, clenching at the edge of it so hard that his knuckles were white.

"Don't ever expect me to visit this shop ever again. And I'll make sure anyone who asks knows you have the worst service of any of clothing shop in Konoha."

Sasuke turned and exited the shop, looking for Naruto.

He was gone.