Chapter six - Like family.

Sasuke didn't like this one bit. First his Nii-san comes back without his red scarf, and when their mother asked he just smiled. Then Shisui came in talking about somebody calling Itachi 'Nii-san' and how cute they were. Then his mother wanted to meet said person.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He will get to the bottom of it. His brother and cousin have been meeting this person for a few days, everyday. And he was sick of it.

Why doesn't his brother spend time with him, Sasuke, instead of going to see someone 'cute'. Poor little Sasuke's heart can't take the sadness. And he is coping in the way every Uchiha does. Anger.

That's why he ran at top speed to catch his brother before he could head out, latched onto his legs, and didn't let go.

"Sasuke."

"I'm coming with you!"

Itachi and Shisui exchanged glances. Then Itachi started to talk, "Well .."

"No! You are not telling me no! I'm coming! You spend too much time with the 'cute' person and not with me!"

By now Sasuke was crying and hitting Itachi's legs with his fists. Yes, his brother was throwing a tantrum.

Then Mikoto poked her head out of the kitchen and said, "Sasuke-chan! Listen to what your brother has to say!"

Sasuke looked up at his brother with big black teary eyes and waited. He was back to hugging Itachi's legs again and was resting his chin on Itachi's thigh, exactly where he was ticklish.

Itachi poked Sasuke on the forehead with two fingers, that made the younger Uchiha step back and let go of his brother in favor of rubbing his abused forehead.

"Nii-saaan!" Whined Sasuke.

"Sasuke. I was just telling Okaa-san that I will be taking you to the park today. There is somebody I want you to meet."

But Sasuke didn't hear the last of his brothers sentence because he was well on his way to getting his shoes on before anybody could register what was happening.

Itachi chuckled at his brothers behavior while Shisui began teasing Sasuke. Which the later promptly ignored. He was just too happy that he was going to spend the day with his Nii-san!

Arriving at the park, Itachi approached Sakura, who was sitting on a bench that was as far away from the playground as she could sit while still being in the park. He hoped that no bullies approached her while she was waiting. It was heart breaking when she told him and Shisui about the bullies. Shisui even cried! Although he would never admit it to anyone.

She had her head bent down and she was swinging her legs slowly. Itachi crouched in front of her. When she lifted her head and saw him, she launched herself in his arms. And just like Itachi has seen her father do, he caught her while she hugged him with all her strength, and lifted her up with him while he stood.

Itachi. Was. Hugging. AND. Carrying. Somebody. Else. Sasuke was restraining his self from cutting the person to bits and pieces. And Shisui was snickering behind his hand at what was happening. Should he hold Sasuke?

"Itachi-Nii-san!"

"THAT'S IT!"

Before Itachi could react Shisui had grabbed Sasuke in a headlock. Sakura looked on, confused.

'What's wrong with him?'

"Don't know, don't care. He's cute!"

'Inner!'

"What? Can't a girl check out some guys?" Asked Inner as she placed a new doll next to her ever growing collection.

By now Sakura had wriggled her way down from Itachi's arms and was standing in front of Shisui and the new kid that still had his eyes closed from the 'pain' his cousin was causing him.

"Who are you? And what's wrong?"

"That's my Nii-san! Go to your own Nii-san!" Said Sasuke without opening his eyes.

Itachi looked on worriedly. Sakura had enough bullying and she didn't need Sasuke to bring her self esteem down more than it already is.

"But, I don't have a real Nii-san." Said Sakura in a sad voice. She had tears in her eyes. She must have done something very wrong to have this kid hate her so much without even knowing him.

Sasuke opened his eyes when he heard how hurt her voice was. He stared. And stared. And stared some more. The girl had pink hair. In her pink hair was his brothers red scarf that he never took off before the other day. Her eyes were the prettiest shade of green he had ever seen.

'Cute.' He thought.

That's when it dawned on him. This was the cute person that his brother and cousin have been spending time with for the past few days. He should hate her, but he couldn't bring his self to do that after seeing the hurt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset." Said Sakura with the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

She was going to cry! At the realization, Sasuke's eyes widened. But befor he could say anything, someone cut him off.

"Tell her your sorry, teme! She didn't do anything!"

They all looked to the left to find a blond boy, with blue eyes, wearing orange.

Sakura stared as Inner added another doll to her collection.

Itachi and Shisui knew the boy. He was Naruto. A.k.a, the Kyuubi's jinchuriki. Fugaku had told them about him, and said that it was okay to interact with him and if they saw anybody harm the kid to stand up for him.

Itachi remembers that talk clearly although he had been young at that time. He was surprised when his father told them that. The Uchiha weren't known for their acts of kindness. No, they ran the police force, they had to be tough. So it stayed as a mystery to them until Itachi came across a photo in the Uchiha manor that had a grown version of the kid, standing next to his father on his parents' wedding. The blonde man was his fathers best man in the wedding. Seeing as he was not around anymore he concluded that this guy was Naruto's father, and later on he discovered that the guy was the fourth Hokage.

Naruto was so lucky to be the son of Namekaze Minato, but Itachi doubted that he knew. He signaled Shisui to let the kids interact with each other. Sakura and Sasuke hadn't been warned to stay away from the kid by their parents. Surely Kizashi-san must've known the truth to not warn his daughter like the rest of the citizens in Konoha. And if he didn't want his daughter to go near the kid, Itachi would talk him out of it. He knew that Kizashi-san was a reasonable man. Though he doubted that he will disagree with Itachi's decision.

"I know, dobe! I was about to do just that!" Yelled Sasuke as soon as Shisui let go of him.

"Well! What are you waiting for!" Naruto yelled back.

"It's none of your business, dobe!"

"Yes, it is, teme!"

"Dobe!"

"Teme!"

"DOBE!"

"TEME!"

Soft laughter cut through the screaming contest, and put an end to Itachi and Shisui's entertainment.

All eyes turned to her. She blushed a bit then asked the blonde boy, "Who are you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to be Hokage one day!"

Sakura looked at him with big eyes. "Really?"

"Yup!"

"As if a dobe like you could become Hokage." Muttered Sasuke from the side.

"Sasuke, can't you be nice like Sakura-chan?" Teased Shisui.

Sasuke just turned his head in defiance and said, "But he is a dobe."

"What did you just say, you teme!"

"I said ..."

They were both cut off by Sakura, who poked Sasuke and said, "Tag! You're it!" Then she grabbed Naruto's wrist and started running away. After a few steps Naruto caught on and they started running together to get away from a stunned Sasuke.

"Hey!" Yelled Sasuke, and he ran after them.

Itachi and Shisui sat at the bench watching the kids play together. The bonds were forming in front of his very own eyes, and he honestly couldn't say that he saw anything more heart whelming than that. He knew those three would change a lot of things.

Unknown to any of them, a lone brown eye was watching them more intently, with dark plans forming in mind.

...

Itachi decided to take Naruto with them to the Haruno household. He already informed them about Sasuke, and he honestly wanted to see what they would say about Naruto.

And although the kid had protested and said he didn't want to go, Sakura and Sasuke forced him. The pleading look on Naruto's face was really heart breaking. Do the villagers really treat him that bad that he doesn't want to meet any grownups? Itachi has his guesses. The boy could have made friends in the past, and then have them taken away once grownups arrived. Or worse.

He sighed. He would just have to continue to see what would happen.

...

Kizashi looked surprised when Sakura jumped in his arms and introduced her new friends. He knew that she would meet Itachi's little brother, but was surprised by the presence of Naruto.

He sent his wife a warning look. Her thoughts were generally the complete opposite of his and he didn't want to hurt the son of the fourth Hokage and one of his close friends. But to his surprise, she smiled at him reassuringly and he gave her a smile of gratitude in return.

He crouched and introduced himself to both boys. Sasuke replied by politely, if a bit snobbishly, introducing himself.

And Naruto gave the same loud introduction that he had given Sakura. Kizashi looked slightly surprised at the boys high ambitions. Then he smiled gently and told him, "That's a really big dream, Naruto-kun. Do you think you would be able to achieve it alone?"

Naruto was stunned for a bit because he wasn't shunned or made fun of by the grown man. Instead, he had talked to him just like the old man Hokage talked to him.

Sakura knew that tone. Her father was testing them. But there was no way Sasuke or Naruto would get it, and she can't help them because her father had sent her a warning glace. She looked at Neji who she had jumped to next, when her father started introducing his self. Neji squeezed her hand reassuringly. He had told her that he doesn't like having a lot of Uchiha's around her, or him for that matter. But she gave him the puppy dog eyes and he gave up instantly.

It was Sasuke, surprisingly, who answered, "Of course not. He is too much of a dobe to do it on his own. I bet me and Sakura would have to do most of the job for him."

Sakura giggled while Naruto yelled, "Teme!"

And under all the noise and attention to the two bickering boys, Neji pecked Sakura on the cheek when he thought that no one was looking. But of course Mebuki saw them. Sometimes, a mother has eyes sharper that any ninja. Honestly, all these ninja hadn't noticed the kiss but she had.

She actually thought that it was cute how they were holding hands, with Sakura blushing like a tomato and Neji wearing a satisfied smirk on his face.

...

Sarotobi Hiruzen smiled at the crystal ball in front of him. And he asked his companions, "What do you two think?"

"They will make a great team one day. The girl will keep them in line and give them strength. She will be their support line, I talked to her father and he said that she wants to become a medical ninja."

"Well then, it's just her luck that Tsunade-chan is coming back this week, eh Jiraya?"

At the look of pure pervertedness on his students face, Sarotobi chuckled. It was a known fact how much Jiraya loved Tsunade.

"Continue, Jiraya."

Jiraya shook his head, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, stood straight again and continued, "The Uchiha will be a prodigy, not like his brother, but he will be the best of them at Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. The girl will be stronger at Genjutsu and she will be smarter than him. He'll be smart but not at her level."

"And Naruto-kun?" Asked Hiruzen.

Jiraya sighed, "My Godson will be the knucklehead of the team. But he will be the strongest of them all. He's the child of prophecy and he's supposed to bring peace to this world. But I honestly don't know how he will do it." Said Jiraya with his eyes narrowed to slits.

Hiruzen chuckled at him, "You know better that to let appearances deceive you, Jiraya."

Jiraya sighed and said, "This team will be like family to each other."

"What about you, Kakashi-kun? What do you think about them?"

Kakashi lifted his lone eye from his new book, courtesy of Jiraya, and locked gazes with the Hokage. "They really look like your students, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage smiled.

"Well, then. It's settled. These three will be the new generation of team 7, and you, Kakashi-kun are going to be their sensei."

...

A/N: So, I've got up to chapter 20 outlined and waiting to be written. Do you guys think I should continue or what?

Thoughts?

Bye bye

Zee :)