They were pretending. Kakashi knew it. He could see right through it. To almost everyone else, it seemed like Sasuke and Naruto had finally come to terms with each other. But he knew it was just a ploy to get him off their backs.
Their "relationship" was nowhere near friendship. That was obvious to everyone. But they had stopped fighting. They weren't even insulting each other.
Sakura attributed it to the "amazing power of teamwork", but Kakashi wasn't fooled. He could still see the cold looks that passed between them. It was just a scheme to make him stop prying into their past. But it wasn't working. It simply made him more determined to find out what they were both so desperate to hide.
And he had the perfect plan.
Or rather, the potentially perfect plan. The problem would be putting it to action without seeming suspicious. And also, without getting caught, particularly by a particular academy teacher that was incredibly protective of both his present and past students.
And that protectiveness was doubled when Naruto was concerned.
Of course, Kakashi couldn't help but think that his "plan" was rather irresponsible. Especially for a teacher. What person in their right mind would waste so much time figuring out exactly how to get two of his students drunk enough to spill their guts? Two twelve-year-olds, none-the-less!
Oh right. Kakashi wasn't in his right mind. Sadly, no one ever considered even the remotest possibility that Kakashi was ever in his right mind.
But he was determined to find the answers to every one of his questions concerning Sasuke's and Naruto's past. And that determination caused him to throw caution to the wind and make every and any attempt to get the wanted information.
It was like his own little self-appointed mission. A mission he would not- no- could not fail.
It was for the sake of the team. Or, that's what he kept telling himself. But really, it was just to feed his curiosity.
But no one needed to know that.
Sasuke was immediately suspicious of Kakashi's intentions when his sensei invited him over for dinner. The man hadn't so much as breathed a word about his and Naruto's "friendship" for nearly a week. He was hardly likely to believe that the man had just given up on his "quest".
But who was he to refuse a request from his teacher? Especially when he didn't have an excuse not to go. It wasn't like he had dinner plans with his family.
And though he would never admit it to anyone, he did get rather lonely. And he supposed it was better than sitting alone at home and mulling over his own dark thoughts as the emptiness of the house slowly went to his head.
No. It wasn't a social visit. Sasuke accepted the dinner invitation for the sake of his sanity.
Well, that's what he told himself at least.
Kakashi had smiled widely when Sasuke accepted. He had been waiting for the boy to say no, so the muttered "alright" that came instead thrilled him to no end. That was one boy down, one to go. Now he had to go in search of his blonde student.
It really wasn't all that hard to find Naruto when he needed to be found. After all, there were very few places he would be. His apartment, Ichiraku's, the training grounds… yep. That about covered all the places Naruto normally was. The only problem was that he wasn't at any of those places.
Nope. The blonde was nowhere to be found. That, and Kakashi didn't really have the desire or patience to scour the town for his student.
Instead, he settled on prying as much information out of Sasuke as possible. He could interrogate Naruto later. It was probably a better idea not to have the two in the same room together anyways. He didn't want to have to repair his house if he accidentally riled the two back to their former hostility.
With that being decided, the silver-haired man quickly went back to his house to start preparing dinner for Sasuke.
Meanwhile, Naruto was busy raising hell with Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon, completely oblivious to the perilous plot his sensei was putting into play.
3 ½ Years Earlier
To say Sasuke was impatient would be an understatement. It was his birthday, and he was stuck at home, waiting for Itachi to show up so he could spend the special day with his best friend.
But Itachi was late. He was incredibly late. Over an hour late. Sasuke was both mad and worried as he paced in front of the Uchiha compound. Itachi was never late. Something had to be wrong.
Kicking a rock in frustration, Sasuke flinched when it hit the wall of the house with a loud thud.
"What's the matter?" Sasuke turned around to see an old lady frowning at him, and he smiled at her. She was his great aunt, whatever that meant, and by far she was his favorite relative. With exception of his brother, of course.
"I'm waiting for Itachi-sama." Sasuke told her, pouting slightly. "He's late. He's supposed to take me to see Naru-chan."
The old lady smiled kindly at him. She was the only person Sasuke had ever talked to about Naruto. She had figured it out on her own, but hadn't condemned him for it. And because of that, Sasuke looked up to the old lady.
"It's your birthday today, isn't it?" She asked, coming over and pulling her great-nephew into a hug. "You're nine, right?"
Sasuke nodded, smiling widely.
"Well, why don't you go see Naru-chan, then? You're a big boy now. You know the way to his house, right?"
Sasuke's eye's lit up, and he hugged the old lady tightly. "You're right! I don't have to wait for 'Tachi! If he comes, can you tell him that I already went?"
The old lady smiled. "Of course. You go have fun now, okay?"
"Okay!" And with that, Sasuke was running out of the complex and down the street.
Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha got home with the exciting news that Sasuke was now enrolled at the academy and would start his ninja training the next day. It was to their horror that their youngest son wasn't there. And after questioning many members of their family, it was determined that their pride and joy had gone off without telling anyone.
And they knew exactly where he had gone.
Or rather, exactly who he had gone to.
Fugaku's aunt, an old, frail lady who tended to keep to herself more and more as age took its toll on her, watched in silence as the parents openly panicked.
"Our son is with that Demon!!!"
"Damn you, Itachi!!!!"
They were both very surprised when the old woman actually spoke to them.
"Itachi? He hasn't been here. Sasuke was waiting for him, but he didn't show. He apparently had some place to go, so I told him to just go on his own."
Two sets of eyes turned to the feeble old woman. Had she lost her mind? Letting their son wander off by himself? Was she getting senile in her old age!?!
The old lady was unfazed by their piercing glares, and turned to go to her bedroom. She couldn't believe they could act so immature. Couldn't they just be happy that their son was happy? It made her tired. She needed a nap. She just hoped the fools wouldn't do anything to hurt Sasuke or his friend. She was incredibly fond of her great-nephew and the 'Naru-chan' she had heard so much about.
The worried parents finally stopped gawking at the retreating old lady and instead, stared at each other.
"What are we going to do?" Mikoto asked her husband, somewhat timidly. She could see that he was very angry.
"We're going to find him!" His voice was pure venom.
Without another word, they rushed out of the house.
Sasuke and Naruto were sitting happily on the grass in the park. Naruto was thrilled that Sasuke liked the toy shurikan he had given him. He was beaming happily, absolutely glowing when Sasuke had planted a kiss on his cheek. He loved making Sasuke smile.
Sasuke was now chattering away about how he couldn't wait to start his ninja training, and how excited he was.
But amidst the happy talking, a frown suddenly found its way onto Sasuke's face.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, noting the change in his friend's attitude.
He received a pout in return. "I want you to go to the ninja academy too! That way we can train to be ninja's together!"
The blonde smiled. He had thought about that too, and it seemed Sasuke had read his thoughts. "That would be so great! But I can't." He frowned for a moment, but perked up again. "Oh well! You'll have to just learn enough for the both of us."
"Yeah! And then I'll teach you what they teach me!"
"Yeah! You'll be Sasuke-sensei!"
Both boys broke into a fit of giggles and didn't notice the figure approaching.
"Sasuke?"
Sasuke jumped up, looking at his mother with wide eyes.
"Mama! I- What are you doing here!?!"
Naruto stared at the woman, holding his breath and suddenly feeling very afraid.
"I came to see you, silly. It's your birthday, remember? Am I not allowed to see you on your birthday?" She put a comforting hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
"You mean, you're not mad? You're not mad that I'm with Naru-chan?"
"No, sweety."
Both Sasuke and Naruto broke out into huge, relieved grins. Naruto let out the breath he had been holding.
"Come on. It's time to go home."
Sasuke nodded and gave Naruto a big goodbye hug. "Bye Naru-chan! Thanks for the present!"
Naruto beamed at him. "Bye! Happy Birthday!" He watched his friend slowly walk away with his mother, excitedly showing her the shurikan. He waited until Sasuke was out of site before he got up and turned to go home.
His way was blocked however, by someone far taller than he was. In an instant, both his arms were caught in a crippling grip and he was lifted to the man's eye-level. A small whimper left his throat as he looked into the red eyes of a very pissed off man. A man he only knew as Sasuke's father.