Wrong Again.

Chapter 5

I don't own Naruto.

"Yo, Minato!" came the loud greeting as the office door opened. A head of spiky black hair poked in followed by a large grin. He would have said more but a quick shushing noise from the blond had him closing his mouth and raising his brow in question.

Then he spotted the blond bundle in his former teacher's lap. Recognition took a few seconds to hit him in the head but by then Minato was already talking.

"Don't talk too loud, Obito," he warned. The younger man rolled his eyes but he whispered anyway back, "He sleeps like the dead, don't worry about it."

"What?" He narrowed his eyes at the non-chalant boy. Immediately seeing the man's reaction he jerked back in disgust and shook his head.

"Not like that. Don't think such things. The kid's been crashing at my place for the past week," he hastily explained then added with a shudder, "Geeze, you think I'd do something totally creepy like spy on a kid?"

Appeased, Minato fired back a response to tease the boy, "Oh, that's right. You like soft skin and boobs," he spoke with a teasing leer in his voice. Obito turned bright red and sputtered incoherently, unable to deny the claim but embarrassed nonetheless that he would say it so openly!

In front of a child too for that matter. It didn't matter if he was sleeping or not.

Speaking of the kid, he started to wake up. Instantly Minato's hardened eyes were on him, promising him something unpleasant later for waking up the boy.

"Wha?" he sputtered again, "I didn't…" He didn't finish as Minato wasn't even looking at him anymore but focused on the waking boy. Good grief, the Hokage was acting like a new mother! Of course, don't tell him that he had even thought about saying it. Minato would just prove it by punishing him.

Naruto let out a waking grumble. He stretched around his warm sleeping bed and briefly wondered why his bed was vertical before he yawned and pulled back to get away from whatever was tickling his face. One eye opened automatically to scout his surroundings. It was really comfortable and all he wanted to do was snuggle up against his vertical bed and go back to sleep but his stubborn eye stayed open as it had seen something.

He stared at the white cloth in front of his face and half listened to the heart beat coming from his bed. Ever so slowly did he come to realize what the white cloth, which his brain finally processed to be a coat, and the heart beat meant.

Oh crap. His mind raced a mile a minute to try to remember how he had ended up here in the first place. Despite his racing mind, his body stayed lethargic and uncooperative, especially when he demanded it to move away from the man. He only managed a slow blink of an eye when he finally remembered that he had fainted. Again.

He pulled his head back and looked up at the face peering down softly at him. It really was him. The Fourth was looking down at him with a gentle smile on his face. Naruto could only stare back in awe. The warmth of feelings that flooded his heart and mind were more than words could describe.

Father. Was it really him? If this was a genjutsu after all, he was totally screwed. But if it wasn't then, what did he have to lose by giving in?

He let out a tiny smile and let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

However the look of surprise on the Fourth's face made that smile vanish. Had he called him father out loud? From the looks of it, he did and the Fourth wasn't taking it too well.

The man had gone white and his hold had slackened immensely. Before he could say anything though Naruto shoved himself off the older blonde's lap and ran. He didn't know where he was going to go but he wouldn't be able to stand rejection. He already got it enough from one person.

He hadn't even made it to the door this time before he was scooped off his feet by Obito. The pale man held on tight to the squirming boy knowing that he couldn't let him go like that. Obito knew about Minato's parental instincts toward the boy and to have been called father like that was a shock.

It wasn't a bad one but it was still shock. One that he should be getting over anytime now.

Like he said, anytime now.

He struggled to hold the six year old without hurting him while he waited for the Fourth to snap out of his stupor.

"Sensei!" impatient that the man was just standing there while he was getting attacked by the kid, he yelled at the man to do something. Minato blinked and sprung into action.

"Naruto!" he made a grab for the boy and dodged several kicks as he wrapped his arms around the little boy once more. He hadn't quite been able to dodge the frantic swipe of tiny arms though. He talked quietly in a low voice to try and calm the boy down.

Holding on tight and refusing to let go, he managed to turn Naruto around without dropping him. Immediately instead of fighting the boy clung to him tightly sobbing dad over and over again. Both clung to each other fiercely.

Later Naruto would say that this behavior stemmed from years of being alone and the fact that he really was no more than a child. With the body and mind of a kid, he finally gave in.

His eyes were bleary and puffy when he woke up to the sound of humming. Disoriented and not at all sure where he was, he tensed as he took in his surroundings. The room was messy and full of bookshelves crammed with scrolls and other knick-knacks. Some random part of his mind wanted to look and see if there actually was anything useful there.

There were lots of photos on the wall; some looked like they were about to fall off the wall soon. He didn't see anyone that he recognized from the photos from the wall. One particular picture though stood out amongst the rest.

Unlike the others, this one was well framed and it hung on the wall solemnly like someone constantly straightened it every day. There were four figures in the photo yet it was the pose that drew his attention in the first place; a taller man in the back with three little brats up front.

It looked so much like his own photo of his old team.

After a closer look, the silver hair belonged not to an old man but a youth. There was only one person that Sasuke knew had hair that stuck out like that.

Kakashi.

Was this his place then? If so, how did he get here? Since he was six that would make Kakashi only seventeen or so; not so much older than he had once been.

How had he gotten here? Memories came back slowly and once he remembered his mother, the rest hit him hard. The realization that his mother had broke him out of jail made his heart ache with happiness and guilt.

Where was she now?

Sasuke's thoughts were cut short as the humming stopped and footsteps approached the door to the room. He braced himself for the sight of a young Kakashi. Slightly terrified he clenched his fist; he had no idea what to expect.

The door opened and Sasuke jerked in surprise. The man grinned at the boy's reaction. Whoever he was expecting he sure hadn't been the one.

"Hey, you're finally awake," he commented cheerfully, "About time too; you've been out for a day now."

Sasuke gaped; this wasn't Kakashi. He had been quite sure that it would be him.

He was strangely disappointed.

He hadn't seen the man since he had been lectured by him all those years ago.

"I bet you're wondering how you got here, right?" he asked the boy, wanting to get that strange look out of his eyes. Geeze, what's up with all these serious kids these days?

The only answer he received was narrowed eyes and a short nod.

"Well, your mom brought you here, spouting some stuff about you acting weird and getting locked up. Now from the impression I got, you're suppose to stay out of sight for a while until things cool down or something like that," he rattled offhandedly.

Things fell into place in Sasuke's mind after that vague explanation. So his mom had freed him. But that left the question of who this guy was. He couldn't recall this man from his memories at all.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I suppose you wouldn't recognize me, would you? You were just a tiny little squalling thing when I left the clan. I'm Obito, your disowned cousin now known as Hatake Obito," he grinned at his own introduction.

Sasuke eyes widened again; this was his cousin? And he had been disowned? No one went against the clan and certainly no one left the clan on their own free will. Well, his mother had just done the first and apparently this guy had done the latter.

But what surprised him more was the surname he had taken on. Hatake. Hatake Kakashi. That was more than coincidence that his last name was the same as his former mentor. What right did this man have to take the name of the infamous shinobi?

He opened his mouth to demand an explanation only to shut it and blush when his stomach let out a deep rumble. To his irritation and embarrassment the man laughed out loud. The sound was grating and loud to his ears, much like Naruto's cackle when he had just pulled off a prank. It made him think of Naruto and the fact that he still didn't know what had happened to him.

An accurately thrown pillow smacked the man in the face, effectively shutting him up for a second before he squawked indignantly and muttered something about stupid brats under his breath. He was still grinning though.

"Alright, you're hungry and I've got some food. Man, are you guys trying to eat me out of my home? First Naruto and now you," he ranted. Sasuke's attention was instantly captured at the mention of Naruto. With an anxious glare he asked about Naruto.

"Eh? Naruto? You know that kid?" he eyed the younger Uchiha suddenly in a new light. Any Uchiha who would know the name of the demon brat was someone to pay attention to.

His mind raced and he calculated the results of the words he could say. His mother obviously trusted this man; his cousin. And the fact that he knew Naruto and that Naruto was here or had been here made it seem to him like he could trust him as well.

He thought about shrugging it off like he really didn't care but his vow came back to the forefront of his mind. Now it was only a matter of opinion; if his next words were going to break that vow or not.

"He's a…friend…" he murmured quietly as he watched the man consider his words carefully. It wasn't a lie. Despite all that had happened, which hadn't happened, he still considered Naruto the person closest to him. The one person he trusted most.

"Well ain't that something. Looks like I've got another trouble maker in my hands," the man grinned, "Yeah, the brat stops by here every once in a while and eats a shitload of ramen. He doesn't stay with me though thank God; I'd really be out of food then. The kid's a bottomless stomach, you know?"

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed unaware that he had a slight smile in his eyes as he remembered the times that they had gone to that ramen stand. Obito stared at him for a moment before he pulled the kid back to the present.

"Food's this way. And if you want, I can see if I can lure him here so you can have some company," Obito suggested to which Sasuke nodded. He slowly got out of the bed discretely trying to stretch his weak muscles.

He grimaced at his skinny limbs, hating the feeling of weakness in his legs as he stood up. The bruises were fading but he was damn sore. It took a lot for him to suppress the groan of pain at taking his first steps.

All he wanted to do was crawl back onto the bed, screw eating, he hurt so bad. It was only the thought that the sooner he got better, which came with eating, the sooner he could see Naruto.

With the thought of the blond in mind, he determinedly made his way out of the room and into the kitchen. He'd eat something even if he had to force it down. If the man noticed his discomfort he didn't say anything and for that he was grateful.

Obito watched the boy struggle out of the bed and inch out of the room. He knew how it felt to struggle both physically and mentally. Had he still been an immature brat he would have said something but he took a page out of Kakashi's book, like he tried to do every day, and stayed silent knowing that sometimes words were meaningless despite the best of intentions.

A/N:

Just to clarify in case anyone was wondering and trying to piece the times together and coming up uneven; the different perspectives aren't necessarily at the same time. One could be from a week ago or mere seconds. I tried to think of a good way to explain it but ended up deleting everything that I came up with. Hopefully you get the idea. Thanks for reading!

Next time they finally meet!