Kagami resisted the urge to shiver as the strange Uchiha left with Saya's teacher. Something about him just didn't sit right with her. Her brother seemed to feel it, too, considering the look they exchanged, but neither of them said anything.
She didn't have long to dwell on the strange feeling, though. In front of her was ramen to eat, and, even with such a brief training session, Kagami had worked up an appetite.
RIku was almost finished his ramen by the time she began. Sasuke had started his, too, but ate much more slowly. Typically enough, Naruto-sensei was already on his third bowl.
"We're intruding!" With a mouthful of noodles, Kagami turned as another familiar voice spoke and two new presences entered the shop.
A pair of lavender orbs and another bespectacled pair of dark eyes joined them at the counter. Kagami immediately recognized the lavender-eyed girl as Hyuuga Hanabi, Naruto-sensei's sister-in-law.
Which would make… Kagami turned her gaze to the male counterpart. Sure enough, she recognized Hanabi's boyfriend Udon.
"Hanabi-chan!" Naruto greeted the pair with a warm welcome, same as he had for Sakura and Sasuke. "What brings you here?"
"We're celebrating," Hanabi declared, smirking. Udon looked away sheepishly.
"I just made the ANBU squad today," he announced, smiling proudly.
Facial expressions lit up around the room, even including old man Ichiraku.
"Can we see your tattoo?" Riku requested, stars dancing in his blue eyes.
Udon paused, stole a glance at his girlfriend, and, in what he hoped was a serious expression, lifted the material of his left shirt sleeve. Thankfully, he'd been wise enough to wear short sleeves.
"So cool!" Even Sasuke sounded enthused as he and Riku eyed the leaf-like symbol, still red with irritation from the newness of the tattoo.
"Have you told Yamato-sensei yet?" Naruto inquired, looking equally proud.
Udon shook his head. "I just found out."
In his younger years, no one would have expected such a sickly child to eventually make ANBU, even after all the training in the world. But, ever since his parents had died fighting the biju in the Fourth Shinobi War, according to Naruto-sensei, he'd changed a lot.
Kagami and Sasuke hadn't even been born yet. Kagami only knew what others had told her. She'd never known anyone but the tough Udon who was dating her relative, but, according to both Uncle Taisou and Naruto-sensei, Udon had not always been that way. Having no family left when his parents died, his closest "relative" of sorts had been Uzuki Yuugao, who had dated his uncle Gekkou Hayate before the man was killed in a previous encounter with Suna.
After Yuugao took him in, considering she was a former ANBU, the rigor of his training had upped considerably. Things only got more interesting ten years later when Yuugao finally married, of all people, Naruto's Yamato-sensei. Anko and Kurenai had been very concerned with their friend's lack of desire for any sort of social interaction and, after much persuasion, convinced their friend to go on a blind date with the chronically single Yamato.
Much to everyone's surprise, including themselves, Yamato and Yuugao hit it off, and within a year, the two were married. Udon had been twenty-one at the time, and, considering Yamato was also former ANBU, Udon's training and desire to grow stronger only became more intense.
Then, when he finally decided to begin training for ANBU, he'd run into Hanabi after sitting next to her in one their formal classes, and the rest was history. The training for ANBU typically took two years before one could take their final exam. Udon had just taken his, and Hanabi's was scheduled for next week.
After that, making the ANBU squad seemed to be all anyone could talk about. Hanabi admitted to being nervous, and Naruto teased her about what she and Udon would do if he made it and she didn't.
The Hyuuga girl shot back with a snide comment of her own. Despite Hinata and Naruto's sweet encounters, the ones between Naruto and his sister-in-law were almost always teasing, bordering on family rivalry.
By the time their snark fest finished, it was dark outside and everyone decided to head home. Naruto-sensei paid everyone's bill, claiming it as part of the celebration. Hanabi and Udon thanked him and headed away, hand in hand.
"See everyone tomorrow bright and early!" Naruto said, turning to his team, and with a final wave, he was gone, too.
The three of them stood in silence outside the shop as they gathered their things to head home.
Riku left next. He and the twins lived on opposite sides of the village, so the blonde typically walked home by himself.
"See you guys tomorrow," Riku waved a fingerless gloved hand, his tone deadpan. "Don't want Kaa-chan wondering where I am." He concealed a yawn, scratched the back of his head, and headed off into the darkening evening.
Kagami and Sasuke began their walk back to the Hyuuga compound in silence. Approximately ten minutes in, Sasuke broke it.
"What do you think the mission tomorrow is going to be like?" her brother questioned.
"Meh. Probably boring, like all the others."
"We get to travel again," Sasuke said, trying to sound optimistic.
"True," Kagami admitted. "But another D rank?"
"Nee-san, we're only genin. It would be highly unusual for us to go on anything higher than a C."
"True, true." They hadn't even taken the chuunin exams yet. Now an annual experience, as opposed to the former bi-annual scheduling of Naruto-sensei's day, the three of them had been assigned an unfortunate schedule conflict to the non-shinobi Land of Tea and hadn't been able to attend the previous year.
Silence built up between them again but not for long.
"Assuming we make it that far," Sasuke began, "would you ever want to try out for ANBU, like Hanabi-san and Udon?"
Kagami's lips curved upward into a smile, and she lightly punched her brother in the arm.
"Assuming you and Riku make it that far," she specified, a mischievous glint in her gray eyes. Sasuke just smiled back at her.
A crimson orb flashed from a rooftop above where the twins walked, watching the duo as sandaled feet turned a corner. A black cloak flittered in the light breeze of the rooftop, the darkness doing a great deal to conceal the bright orange color of a swirled mask.
"It's time," the red-eyed figure said. Although no one was listening, he still felt the words appropriate to vocalize.
He'd been patient. He'd waited. And all things considered, Konoha had practically forgotten him. Now it was time to remind them, beginning with these two.
"Jii-san!" Hyuuga Taisou stopped short as his nephew called the man's title. The elder Hyuuga peered around the corner of the kitchen to see his great-nephew standing behind the counter, tying the finishing knot on one of two bento boxes.
"Mission today?" Taisou questioned, to which Sasuke nodded.
"Naruto-sensei's last before the ceremony."
"And Kagami?"
"Still in her room. Said she was getting ready last I roused her, but she could still be—"
"Morning, Jii-san, Sasuke." Gray eyes turned to see a groggy expression and tousled hair hastily tied into a loose ponytail. She may not be entirely awake, but she was certainly up.
"Nee-san, what's the point of having such long hair if you hardly brush it?" Sasuke frowned.
Kagami returned the look, her sleep-filled eyes narrowed. "And for needing your eyes to see, you certainly keep a lot of hair in your face."
"Anyway," Sasuke sighed, ignoring his sister's comment, "I made an extra bento for you."
"Hn." Kagami had already grabbed a rice ball from a different plate on the counter and shoved it into her mouth, muffling the sound. With her free hand, she took the handkerchief-wrapped box from her brother.
'All packed for the mission?" Taisou inquired, noticing her backpack as she turned to place the bento box inside.
Kagami nodded, still chewing her rice ball.
"Mine's by the door," Sasuke added, smiling politely.
The dark-haired boy glanced at a nearby clock on the wall. "We should be heading out soon." His gaze returned to his uncle. "Wouldn't want to keep Riku or Naruto-sensei waiting."
"Oh, please," Kagami cut, brushing the last bits of rice from the tips of her fingers. "We'll probably be earlier than both of them."
Regardless, within the next two minutes, all bento boxes were packed and they were off. They made it to the bridge where Naruto had instructed them to meet, and, as Kagami predicted, they were the first ones there.
Riku came within the next ten minutes. His hair was mussed, like Kagami's, and he covered a yawn as he arrived, but his bags were packed and, even late, he was still here before Naruto-sensei.
When the blonde soon-to-be-hokage did arrive, even Sasuke had started to feel impatient. The young Hyuuga was the first to spot their teacher, an orange and yellow blob noticeable from seemingly miles away.
"Sorry, everyone!" Naruto waved, his smile apologetic. "Things got a little tied up at home."
Apparently with Hinata leaving early to visit Neji's grave before meeting with her new team and Kushina having done the same, Naruto was left to find a babysitter for Minato, his blonde-haired son who shared Uchiha Keiji's age, and his even younger daughter Akane, a fiery redhead with blue eyes and whisker markings on her cheeks to match Naruto.
In the end, he'd just taken the two of them to Ichiraku's for Ayame to look after, which was on the other side of town.
"Either way," Naruto finished, nervously scratching the back of his head, "we should be on our way!"
The first part of their journey mostly involved a lot of walking, not that Kagami minded. Naruto chatted a bit more, but Kagami was still too tired to care.
It wasn't until they reached the border at the edge of the Land of Fire that they stopped walking. This particular marker was a bridge with a gilded roof entrance supported by thick red pillars. The actually body of the bridge was a sleek gray mass that went on for longer than Kagami's eyes could see without the aid of her byakugan.
According to their teacher, a merchant who was making the trip at the same time as their team had already agreed to give the them a lift across on his oxen-drawn cart.
"You'll need your strength for later," Naruto had assured. "It's not that I doubt any of you are capable."
Kagami squinted, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her as she read the name of the bridge written in bold black kanji. Judging by Sasuke's expression, he noticed it, too, but since their sensei had not mentioned anything about it despite all previous other blabbering, they silently decided it best not to ask. Nonetheless, Kagami couldn't help but wonder why it was called "The Great Naruto Bridge."
So now, here they were. The surrounding temperature dropped significantly as they made it farther and farther down the bridge, which made sense considering the misty ocean air currently surrounding them, but that was hardly what bothered the raven-haired girl at the moment.
Considering all they had to do at the moment was wait and twirl kunai, she'd almost rather walk.
It hadn't been long. Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes? And it wasn't that she was claustrophobic or anything, but with all four of them riding in the back, there was hardly enough room in this rickety cart for anyone to move, the ride was unbelievably bumpy, she could feel Riku breathing on the back of her neck, and—
Before Kagami could finish that last thought, a wave of nausea swept over her as the cart hit a particularly unpleasant bump. Whatever little bit she had eaten for breakfast came back up as she vomited over the side of the cart, leaving an unpleasant surprise for whomever would be crossing over that particular spot next on the bridge.
"Oi, Kagami, you okay?" With her eyes tearing up, Kagami could only hear Naruto-sensei's voice as she felt her brother's hand—it had to be her brother's considering it was ungloved—rubbing comforting circles on her back while the other gripped her shoulder to ensure she wouldn't fall off by accident.
"Sorry, Nee-san. I forgot you get motion sick easily." The young Hyuuga laughed nervously as Kagami wiped her mouth, her narrowed gray eyes glaring death in all directions.
"I'm lying down," she announced, and with what little space she had, Kagami hugged her knees and assumed the fetal position beside the tarp-covered array of whatever it was exactly that this merchant sold.
But, just as her eyes closed and she began to silently wish she'd worn something warmer to ward off the cold sea air, as if her mind had been read, something thick and heavy—or at least thicker than the gray medium-sleeved shirt she was wearing—dropped onto her.
Her fingertips recognized the feel of denim-like material on a blue jacket with a popped collar while a subtly shivering Riku leaned above her.
"Idiot. You can't rest if you're too cold." His teeth were gritted as his arms hugged the fishnet material he wore beneath his jacket, but frankly, Kagami felt too sick to protest.
She murmured her thanks and at last closed her eyes long enough to drift away into a world of light sleep.
Relief washed over Sasuke as his sister's eyes closed and her breathing finally slowed, indicating she was asleep.
Riku sat in the middle of the cart, arms and legs crossed in an attempt to not look cold while Naruto stared off into the ocean below them, oddly silent, considering how boisterous their sensei had been mere minutes ago.
Sasuke passed the minutes soaking in the scenery, listening to the roaring waves of the ocean and counting the seagulls in the sky as he anticipating the bumps in the road, which luckily didn't make anyone else sick. A mere hour and a half in, even Naruto-sensei and Riku had dozed off, not surprising considering the early hour of their trip and the lack of actual movement, leaving Sasuke the sole conscious survivor of his team.
At least another hour passed until the scenery changed again, and it was not long after that when Sasuke recognized a similar structure to what he'd seen at the entrance of the bridge back near Konoha. Then the kindly merchant currently allowing them a lift, whose name was Masao if memory served, broke the silence with a resounding, "We're here!"
Riku and Naruto startled into sitting positions. Kagami, meanwhile, merely groaned.
A small group of approximately ten to fifteen people waited for them near the approaching entrance of the bridge, people dressed much more warmly than they were and waving with huge smiles on their faces. Naruto squinted, trying to discern the presences through the cover of the mist, and then seemed to recall his chakra-sensing abilities before beginning to wave wildly, as well.
Somedays, it's hard to believe he's powerful enough to be our next hokage…
The first person Sasuke could distinguish was a dark-haired man approximately the age of Udon and Hanabi-san dressed in a straw hat and civilian clothes, who stood at the front of the group and captured their sensei in an immediate embrace.
"Inari!" Several pieces clicked together in Sasuke's head as Naruto called out the man's name. "It's been way too long!" Then Sasuke also noticed the dark-haired man's wedding ring. "Where's Tazuna?"
The one named Inari only grinned again as Sasuke saw Kagami yawn and begrudgingly return the blonde's jacket out of the corner of his eye.
"He's back at the house, or rather, soon-to-be-house with the rest of the team."
"Team?" Naruto looked questioningly as Masao waved goodbye to them. Sasuke and Naruto waved back and called out their thanks as the the merchant guided his oxen down a path in the opposite direction of Inari's group while Kagami and Riku caught up to them.
Inari nodded. "We're practically done for the day, so you guys have good timing. Wouldn't want to keep Kaa-chan or Mariko waiting."
"So this 'Mariko,'" Naruto's expression turned sly as he lightly elbowed Inari in the ribs. "Is she…?"
"Yep! We got married last month but Kaa-chan wants us to have our own place, so Grandpa Tazuna agreed to build one in the closest plot of land we could find!"
"Tazuna's still working construction, even after all this time?"
This time, Inari laughed. "Not exactly."
Sasuke definitely got a quaint village vibe from this place as Inari led them away from the bridge and toward his grandfather. Naruto was all smiles, even more so than usual, while Kagami made snide comments to Riku as she adjusted to walking again.
The village was small, much smaller than he was used to. They didn't have any shinobi, Sasuke noticed, only civilians. Merchants stood on street corners selling anything from fish to flowers to fruits and vegetables. The occasional family walked by, as well as some lone individuals on errands while children ran about, free of the shinobi headbands Sasuke was accustomed to seeing. People talked, people laughed. It was nothing spectacular.
But still, Naruto-sensei said, "Things look a lot better than they did when I last visited!"
Inari turned to him with a smile, dark eyes twinkling. "It's been almost twenty years!"
And, to that, a lot made sense.
It was only a ten minute walk until they reached the building site Inari had mentioned. The trip felt strangely short. Sasuke was used to the long commutes in Konoha—ten minutes was how long it took to get to the hokage's tower from the Hyuuga compound on a good day—and most buildings he saw on the way were diminutive compared to the crowded structures he knew from Konoha.
Must be the nostalgia factor romanticizing everything for Naruto-sensei, Sasuke decided.
The place Inari pointed to as his future home was a bustling lot bearing the bare bones of what would eventually be another house. The ground was already leveled, the foundation laid, and the rough framing in progress. It would be a bit before the roof and floor tiles could be laid, and even longer before they could begin installing any of the plumbing or electrical work. Definitely a work in progress.
Despite the glimpse of construction, Sasuke didn't have long to focus on the project before yet another person greeted them.
"Naruto-kun, Inari! You're back!" A very old man, probably in his eighties, waved at them. His hair bore a shocking white color, likely darker at some point in his life, and gathered in a receding widow's peak on his forehead, obscured partially at the moment by a bright yellow hardhat. Square glasses adorned his wrinkled face, his skin tan and freckled from what looked like long days working outside. Judging by the list of people Naruto had mentioned and the familiarity between them, this had to be Tazuna.
At the mention of Naruto's name, seemingly every worker stopped what they were doing to glance their way and see the blonde soon-to-be hokage and his team. The glance wasn't long, but everyone certainly shared it.
"It's hard to believe you're still going!" Naruto grinned and stepped forward to embrace the man, which he followed with a hearty pat on the back. "What your secret?"
"Grandpa Tazuna only supervises now, Naruto," Inari informed, and then his tone turned teasing. "His back gave out on him years ago."
"Now, now," Tazuna cut, his tone warning. "I chose to retire from active labor."
Naruto glanced around the premise, his blue eyes wandering. "Where's Tsunami? Plus I still wanna meet this Mariko."
"Mari-chan is helping Mom with dinner back at the old house," Inari replied. "They're not far from here. We've been expecting you."
The four of them turned to follow Inari to the actually completed house, waiting only another short minute while Tazuna shouted to his workers that they were done for the day.
Inside Tazuna's residence, after everyone paused to remove their shoes, the twins and Riku stood off to the side as Naruto received yet another warm greeting, this time from a middle-aged woman with dark gray-streaked hair dressed in pink with a warm smile.
"Naruto!" she said. "It's so good to see you again! You've grown so much!"
"Guess there's a reason the bridge we crossed was named after him," Kagami murmured.
"And this must be your team!" Kagami's murmurings ceased and the air between them became highly self-conscious. The one named Tsunami bowed. "Pleased to meet you!"
"Please to meet you," the three of them chorused back and returned the bow.
"So what are all of your names?" Tsunami inquired, genuine interest in her tone. For some reason, all eyes turned to Riku first, probably because he was blonde-haired and blue-eyed like Naruto-sensei.
"Koizuki Riku." Color bloomed on the blonde's cheeks. Even as an only child, he wasn't used to this much attention.
"And you, beautiful girl?"
Kagami didn't blush, but she did sound slightly less harsh than usual.
"Hyuuga Kagami."
And lastly, their attention turned to the raven-haired boy. He spoke, oddly the most confidently of them all. "Hyuuga Sasuke."
"Oh." Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami exchanged glances. "Another Sasuke?"
Naruto shrugged. "No relation to my ex-teammate, but Kagami-chan is his sister."
"Explains why you look so similar," Tsunami agreed, while Kagami winced at Naruto's use of the word "chan."
"They do kinda resemble Sasuke, though, don't they?" Inari mused, a finger tapped to his chin in a thinking pose.
"None that we know of," Sasuke assured, hands raised. "Uchiha-san and I merely share the same name."
"And the same dark hair!"
"Darling, be nicer to our guests. I'm sure they're all tired from their journey. Save your jokes for later!"
All eyes turned as a new voice spoke, this one female.
Another woman stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen from where Tsunami had just emerged. She appeared to be in her early twenties, her long brown hair tied off at the bottom with a soft blue bow and her eyes a sparkling spring green surrounded by an array of pleasantly freckled skin.
The rest of her outfit matched the blue bow in her hair, completing the look with a frilly white apron, but that was hardly what anyone focused on. With the lighting of the dining room, it was hard not to notice the gold wedding ring glinting on her finger. A ring that matched Inari's.
"Mariko." Inari spoke the woman's name warmly as their fingers intertwined and he kissed her cheek.
"So this is Mariko." Naruto's smile only grew wider until his enthusiasm burst into an aggressive thumbs up. "Nice going, Inari!"
She was pretty, Sasuke had to admit, but a little to civilian for his taste. Still, the freckles complemented her well.
"So," Tsunami began, her hands clapping together. "Who's hungry?"
Kisame slurped a plentiful serving of soba noodles with a disinterested look as silver eyes scanned the cover of one of the useless magazines he'd filched from the hotel lobby.
It felt weird to be back so near to the Mist village after all these years, hiding in the shadows and attempting to keep a terrifying physique like his hidden from sight. He didn't even have anyone to fight and channel his frustration on.
In the least, the room was nice. There was a privacy curtain and Madara had just brought back a meager dinner of soba noodles from a nearby takeout. Not his favorite, but nonetheless, it was something, and for that Kisame was grateful.
Madara hadn't said much to describe their current mission, only that Kisame was accompanying him as backup should an emergency arise. That had been his excuse for not using Zetsu, anyway.
"Don't eat too much, Kisame. You won't have any left for tomorrow." The shark's eyes narrowed at the sound his leader's tone. Fifteen years ago, back during the days of Pein, or Nagato, as he was apparently named, Kisame would have never dreamed of openly expressing such disrespect. However, being nearly all that was left of the original group, back when they still donned the now-too-easily-recognizable black and red garb, he and Kisame had grown comfortable with each other, even bordering on friendly.
Others had come and gone from their organization. Gone, Kisame said, because when most of the newly recruited members became bored with Madara's ambiguous plans and odd demands, they would want to leave and then mysteriously, "disappear" as the one formerly known as Tobi liked to put it.
Kisame didn't care, either way. Even after all this time, he still had no place else to go. He was too easily recognizable to blend into any life elsewhere, and too lazy to bother with a henge or learning another craft. Being a ninja, even a missing nin, what he was good at and he intended to keep it that way.
"What else am I supposed to do sitting here waiting for your 'signal'?"
"Patience, Kisame."
"You always fucking say that." Kisame slammed aside his noodles a bit rougher than necessary. "Why am I here?"
The Akatsuki leader paused, probably wearing a thinking expression behind that mask of his. Kisame didn't know why he still bothered to wear the thing. He'd already seen his face. Habit, perhaps?
"Do you know," Tobi began, his tone careful, "who exactly is on Uzuamki Naruto's three man team?"
Kisame shrugged, his eyes narrowed. "Who cares?"
"A young blonde named Koizuki Riku," Kisame seemed unamused at the mention of Deidara's next of kin, "and two young twins named Hyuuga Kagami and Hyuuga Sasuke."
Kisame stopped short. Tobi couldn't even imagine the thoughts going through his head. Those twins—he hadn't thought about the two of them or their mother in years. Their father was a slightly different story, but he had a rather good reason for that one.
"Itach's twins are under Naruto?" The notion just… surprised him, is all. "Does he have any idea who they are?"
"None whatsoever." There was a humorous air to the man's disposition. "That's part of why I'm here."
"To…?"
"To show them their true potential. Not just the twins, if all goes well. Which is where I may need you, so please, Kisame. Just wait a little bit longer."
With a sigh, Kisame turned his attention back to the soba noodles, chopsticks still in hand.
"Fine," he capitulated. "But you at least owe me breakfast."
First off, apologies this took so much longer than I intended to post. For one, it took forever before I was even mildly satisfied with how this chapter turned out, and when I did try to set aside the time to edit, school kept getting in the way. In fact, I have an exam in about… eh, four hours. Plenty of time to finish up my study guide.
Next chapter coming soon. It's when most of the action happens. It's mostly written, I just need to get it to a point where I don't recoil and palm my forehead when I read it.
Thank you all for your patience. Just one more thing I want to mention is that MY STORY HAS FANART! And not just one, but TWO pictures, drawn by the talented ChezzyEm on deviantart (or xXChirushiXx on fanfiction). The link can be found on my profile, because fanfiction can be really weird about posting links. Please let me know if it doesn't work. I cannot even begin to say how much I appreciate the notion! It's really cool to see how a reader visualizes what I've written.
Reviews are appreciated. If you have nothing nice to say, please press the back button.