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Team 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any parts of Naruto or its affiliates.

Enjoy!

The myths and folklore behind clans were often considered, by most rational adults, to be nothing more than fairy tales and propaganda.

Everyone had heard the tales about Hashirama defeating twenty of the strongest ninjas in the world at once, or about how Madara took over an entire empire at the age of 15, but whether it be the sands of time shifting away, or the smoke and hellfire erupting around the world, seemingly any record of such events would be, eventually, nothing more than bedtime stories passed down generation to generation.

Hell, even one story involved Tobirama Senju splitting an entire ocean with the wave of his hand!

The Uchiha were prideful. They wouldn't deny it – in fact, they would revel in such a boast, soak in it, and spread their grand tales of excellence to anyone who would listen.

In front of him, his youngest son, Sasuke, was sitting, eyes wide with wonder, as he jittered back and forth on the wooden tiling of the dojo floor, listening with awe as the story of Izuna Uchiha was spun for him.

"Everyone knew about Uchiha Madara," Fugaku started, his voice, while respectful, had a tone of dismissal laced in. "founder of our noble clan, our strongest historically, but his brother is the clansmen I admire the most, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded his head excitedly, Fugaku biting back a grin at seeing his youngest son so entertained.

"While Izuna died much too young, his legacy lived on within our clan's walls. He was the second Uchiha to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan," at this statement, Sasuke's eyes widened even further, having heard stories about how powerful and almighty the rare dōjutsu could be when used in the right hands. "and could capture the blessings of the sun goddess, Amaterasu!"

The cool sliding of the door was heard, and Fugaku glanced up and saw his wife standing there, her own scowl on her face, and he merely raised his hand up, motioning for a little more time.

She shook her head, exasperation setting into her slender facial features, and closed the door again.

"Not too many could stand in his way, armed with the blessings of our goddess and our Sharingan, but he was also rumored to have the blessing of another god."

"Who was it, daddy, who!" The bouncing of his feet did little to stop him from overflowing with excitement, and his father laughed to himself, a gentle reminder that even in grimmer times, nothing wasn't as bleak as he saw it sometimes.

"Many stories have different details and viewpoints, but my own mother said her own grandmother saw the storm god Susanoo hail from the heavens above and fight Izuna Uchiha, their duel lasting nearly three days, before finally, having been so impressed with the strength of a mortal, the deity blessed Uchiha Izuna with a set of armor, decorated in white and blue, giving him the power to temper and command the seas and the storms to his own will."

If Fugaku was pressured for an honest answer? He simply thought the armor was former clan armor during the Feuding Clan eras, and was used by Izuna, a well-known Lightning release to his brother's Fire release, leading to the legend of how he was so adept at wielding lightning.

But a little story wouldn't hurt, right?

His little boy – although he'd never say those words out loud – deserved to be happy, even if he wasn't always open to his child.

And so, he answered all of Sasuke's questions with a sly smirk, before his wife interrupted a second time, and he got up to walk to another clan meeting.

His son tugged at the bottom of his shirt, and he glanced down, peering into his son's big bright eyes.

"I'm proud of you, son. Never forget that, okay?"

And Sasuke never would.

The very next day, bounding to the academy and being escorted by his older brother, he couldn't wait to talk about this with all of his classmates!

"So, you and father had a good talk yesterday?" Itachi asked as they passed by a sweets store. Sasuke nodded feverishly and there was a light in his eye that the older brother had never seen before.

"We sure did! Dad told me about Izun-Iza-Izumi-" Itachi stiffened ever so slightly, but his brother didn't notice.

"Izuna."

"Yeah, Izuna Uchiha! He was so strong, even stronger than Madara!"

Itachi snorted at this.

"Say, Itachi, why weren't you there?" Sasuke asked after a moment of silence. They continued walking.

"I'm very busy, Sasuke, you know this." Was what he eventually replied with, and despite his best efforts to hide it, the younger of the two frowned deeply and kicked a pebble.

"That's what you always say! I miss seeing the fireflies with you." He grumbled childishly, his eyes and lips pouty and his arms crossed intently, focused on not letting his older brother hold his hand on the way.

A few civilians saw the mild temper tantrum and shared a sympathetic look with the prodigious Uchiha, only somewhat aware of how many new responsibilities he had, instead more aware of what it's like to deal with a grumpy brat.

Itachi took a few more steps and finally gave a quiet sigh. "I'm sorry, but father has tasked me with many different steps to ensure my place in Konoha."

That answer wasn't satisfactory for Sasuke. In fact, it made him sigh in a rather dramatic fashion, shaking his head.

"But you are already respected a butt ton, I hear my teachers talk about you all the time, and they always talk about how strong you are!"

Another sigh, albeit this one silent.

"You'd be surprised."

The Academy came into view, and blinked owlishly at the comment, surprise etched on his face, but he decided not to ask another question.

Itachi walked him near, and turned his little brother to face him, and tapped his forehead with two fingers. "How about we see the fireflies this Friday, after we get some ice cream when you get done with school, okay? I promise."

Sasuke beamed at this, and gave his brother a big hug, digging his little head into Itachi's side thigh. "Fank you big bwother!" the muffled voice said, causing Itachi to give a sincere smile, and letting go of his beloved big brother, he bound off for the Academy.

Reaching the training ground where many of the younger students ran around and played before their sessions started, Sasuke joined them and started playing ninja with his friends, laughing and giggling with those around him.

They played and played, scuffing their pants and shorts and getting small cuts and bruises on the dirt paths created over years of previous exercise, but they paid no attention to that, instead focused on enjoying the moment they were in.

Eventually, all of the children were crowded around as Sasuke told them – or did his best, anyways – the story of how Izuna used his storm-tamer armor to command the high seas and fight the Senju in their own environments.

He continued on and on, answering any questions and exaggerating all of his answers with no shame, until he couldn't anymore, satisfied with how amazed he left his friends.

Until he saw a mop of blond-hair overlooking the scene from the shade of a tree.

Uzumaki Naruto – if he was remembering the name correctly – was always quite the loner, if he was being honest, and no matter how many times he tried to talk with the boy, it never got far.

It wasn't as if the other boy was rude, the conversation just fizzled out until there was none to be had.

Regardless, Sasuke would try once more, so he ran up to the boy.

"Hello!"

The blond boy merely remained stationary. "Hi, Sasuke."

An awkward silence settled in. "Do you want to hear about my clan's most famous armor?"

Naruto scrunched his brows for a moment, as if that question was the most challenging he had ever been posed with, before he eventually nodded, with a rather jagged looking smile, as if it pained him to even shift his mouth in such a way that wasn't a neutral gaze.

And so, Sasuke continued his story again, making sure to add little details here and there.

For the most part, Naruto seemed intrigued by the story.

When Sasuke was done telling the grand epic of battle and conquest, the boy merely narrowed his eyes and glanced away, his gaze unreadable.

He was never sure what went on within the Uzumaki's brain, whether that be unknown desires or even what he wanted to eat that day, as the boy was more than content with simple apples for every single break, lunch, and afternoon snack – not that Sasuke ever followed him to check what he did for himself – but regardless, it was always the same.

Suddenly, Naruto turned his head back, his eyes shining with knowing.

Sasuke had a glimmer of hope.

"That story was very cute!"

And just like that, he could hear the glass shatter as he froze in place.

"Cute?"

"Yes, that story, it was very cute! I liked the part where the storm kami descended himself!"

Sasuke grimaced – at least he was paying attention – and shifted into a scowl.

"It wasn't 'cute', it was cool!"

Naruto tilted his head. "Is there something wrong with being cute?"

Not technically, but to describe something as heroic as 'cute' was doing his clan a disservice.

"That- that's too girly! It was cool, not cute!"

He nodded in understanding. 'Cute' isn't always a good word, Naruto had learned and noted mentally.

"Okay, my apologies Sasuke, it was very cool! Especially when the storm kami descended himself!"

He had already said that.

It didn't matter at this point, Sasuke was done with this conversation.

"Whatever, I think you're weird!"

And with that, Sasuke walked off, not noticing the brief flash of hurt on the blonde's face.

They never did quite grow any closer, not even until years later.

The continuous chirping of the baby swallows was starting to grind on him. Rapping his knuckles against the wooden table, and with the impatient kick of his heel, Naruto was starting to wonder if he had enough power to murder a jounin.

Maybe it was just the general feeling of being disrespected, or maybe it was just pent up aggression and energy being wound up inside of him, but he was almost sure the feeling wasn't exclusive to him.

Looking at his fellow teammates, he could guess that they, or at least Sasuke above all else, were growing mildly agitated. It was justified, of course, as they had been waiting for at least an hour already for their sensei to show his coward face.

Sasuke had been in, what appeared to him as, the exact same position as he had been this morning. Both hands clasped in front of his face, a seemingly permanent scowl draped on his head, with a glare so fierce it would pierce through the heavens.

Naruto was amused – or his equivalent of the emotion. The boy was about as antisocial as himself, yet deep down he knew the both of them relied on each other, in a sense. They were each other's check – they rarely talked still, but now there was a sense of mutual respect, of mutual understanding. Naruto wasn't completely locked out of Sasuke's life, and Sasuke wasn't locked out of Naruto's.

Of course, he knew it was because Sasuke found him to be the only competent shinobi in what was essentially the entire building. But of course, Sasuke thought of him to be inferior to himself, which came as no surprise.

Naruto knew that was false. Not false as in he believed it to be false, but false as in it was objectively miles away from the truth. If he had to be honest with himself, defeating Sasuke would be relatively easy.

There was no need to be antagonistic towards Sasuke. No real reason to intentionally harm his new teammate in a fight. Sooner or later, it would be known.

Turning towards the most social of the three, Naruto held no real strong opinion, one way or the other.

Sakura Haruno was simultaneously the most normal of the three, and the oddest of the three. She was a social bunny, so to speak, and wanted to be friends with almost anything that had a pulse.

She was probably the best equipped of them for fine precision chakra work, such as medical ninjutsu and genjutsu, but other than those aspects, she was, as much as he wanted a proper teammate, she was a liability.

She had the book smarts and the control, but lacked other qualities, such as battle instinct and physical strength. She could do everything as instructed, but Naruto had a feeling that once it came to actual combat, she would fold harder than a piece of Konan's origami.

Kind of worked out, in Naruto's mind anyways, as Sasuke had battle instinct and battle smarts, Sakura had the book smarts and control, and Naruto was a weird fusion of everything a ninja should be.

He may not have been as potent at ninjutsu as Sasuke, or smart enough to know the velocity of a kunai like Sakura, but he was the most well rounded out of the three of them. He was physically gifted, had a metric ton of chakra, and had, as described by Iruka a few times, 'savage battle instinct".

Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Sakura twisted her head to see what was causing the hair on her neck to stand at attention. She knew it could be only one of two people, and the person she wanted attention from the most almost never granted her what she wanted.

"Hey, Naruto, is it?" Sakura asked with a genuine smile.

"Yes."

The chirping continued.

"Are you excited to meet our new sensei?"

"If he's always going to be this late, then not really." He decided to not mention he knew who Kakashi was.

Sakura didn't follow up with this and turned her attention to Sasuke. "How about you, Sasuke, are you excited?"

The only reply she got back was an annoyed grunt.

Shrugging to himself, Naruto turned back to the window, listening to the peaceful chirps, alone in his thoughts. No further words were spoken between the trio, the awkward tension filling the air with no remorse.

After a few more minutes, Naruto silently twisted his head towards the classroom door, picking up on a familiar chakra personality heading towards them. He mentally sighed; looks like it was finally going to happen.

The door opened, and the other two looked on impatiently. "Hello. I offer my sincerest apology for being late, a black cat crossed my right path and the left was under construction."

Kakashi looked on at the three hopefuls in front of him. Two orphans and a green. A charming group of kids to put the future of Konoha onto.

"You all seem boring. Meet me on the roof, five minutes." And with that, he seemingly dissipated into a white smoke, no evidence provided that he once stood in front of them.

He gave no impression that he was annoyed or even surprised, but only a sigh. Rising out of his seat with a hop, Naruto beckoned the two others to follow him towards the roof, his knuckles lightly grazing the rusted safety railing.

Pushing on the safety door, it was bolted shut from the other side, and with a few hard knocks, Kakashi sheepishly opened the door. "Sorry about that, I tend to forget they bolt this shut."

"If it's an emergency exit, how are they supposed to leave if it's locked from the outside?" Sakura asked after a moment.

"Who said it was an emergency exit?"

Sakura merely narrowed her eyes, and if the shaking of her head was any indication, she was perplexed at the purpose of the lock bolt, or even why it was there in the first place. Regardless, Naruto walked through, and Sasuke, followed by Sakura, followed him through the doorway, the both of them sitting on various figures on the rooftop, waiting patiently for their teacher to continue.

Kakashi took a seat in front of them. "Hello my cute little genin, how are we all feeling today?"

Sakura looked slightly dazed, thoughts of confusion on her mind. This wasn't what she was expecting at all. "I'm… good?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "Are you asking me or telling me, Sakura?"

She gulped nervously, then her eyebrows shot up. "Wait-" she sputtered after a moment. "you know my name!" Sakura pointed a shaky finger at him, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto, as well, was slightly confused – at Sakura, not at Kakashi, at least.

If the older jounin was disappointed or sad, he didn't let it show on his face, and instead his eye twinkled with humor. "Well, Sakura, Lord Third did give me a copy of my students, so I wasn't as woefully unprepared as you might have thought I would be." He clapped his hands once when her face lit up like a tomato, drawing her attention back.

"I kid, of course. Don't be ashamed."

He waved off her concern and glanced at his other two students. "You two balls of sunshine, how about you?"

Sasuke huffed at the slight tease, while Naruto blinked owlishly. Even after all these years, he still has a hard time with friendly jokes.

Kakashi hoped that this team would help break him out of this vice grip, out of his weird behavior, or at least, teach him what it meant to be a kid. He wasn't sure of it, but the jounin felt like something happened to Naruto in his youth and changed him permanently, but no matter how much he shadowed his future student, or checked on where he was at or what he was doing, nothing seemed to point at anything being traumatizing or life-altering.

The kid was just…

Different.

Sooner or later, Kakashi would help him, one way or another.

Sasuke took note that Naruto wouldn't be talking, at least not yet, and coughed slightly to draw his sensei's attention back. The jounin nodded jovially, relaxing slightly into his seat, and motioned for Sasuke to continue.

"Personally, I could be doing better, but I could be doing worse."

Kakashi held back a snort. "Join the club, Sasuke."

The boy merely rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms. That was that, apparently.

Kakashi turned his sharp gaze over to the blond of the group, and both of his other students couldn't help but let their eyes linger on the boy, also curious about him.

Before Naruto could answer, he thought about what he wanted to say, how he wanted to say it, and why he wanted to say it. Obito didn't want him to get into the habit of wasting words, or giving away too much information to the wrong people.

He pondered his words carefully.

Even when trying to fit in, he couldn't do it at the academy. It felt awkward – forced, and that meant no kids wanted to be his friend.

And that was fine, honestly. He knew that he was different, and he knew the kids were also aware of that, even if they didn't flat out say it.

"I am… in an acceptable mood." And that was that as well, apparently.

Kakashi waited a few seconds.

Nothing more was added to that statement.

"Okay, well, normally we'd go over likes and dislikes, but that can wait, and I don't want to keep you three here any longer, so I'll make it quick. Be at Training Ground 7 at 9:30 in the morning tomorrow, and if you have trouble finding it, act as if you are going to the academy, but when you reach the sushi shop, take a left instead of keeping straight, you'll find the training grounds eventually."

Kakashi waited for the three of them to nod.

"I'd also suggest you don't eat breakfast. We'll get down to the nitty gritty of being a ninja tomorrow, I have a test of sorts for you all."

With that, Kakashi once again disappeared into thin air, as if he was a ghost. Sasuke grunted at the sudden exit, and turned towards his two partners. "If there is nothing more to say, I'm leaving."

Sakura squinted slightly. "Actually, Sasuke, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me?"

Sasuke pondered for a fraction of a second. "No." And with that sentiment shared, he started to walk down the stairs, leaving the academy for the last time. Hopefully, anyways. Sakura just sighed in disappointment at the rejection, not surprised but still disheartened.

Closing the door to his house, Sasuke took a swooping glance at the place. A single television stand in the corner, with a smooth, turquoise silk rug laying softly on the ground. Two sofas were situated against the wooden walls, with a glass table planted firmly between the love seats. A slight layer of dust adorned almost every piece of furniture in the room.

"So bland..."

He moved past the drab decor. Sitting at the dining table, he opened up a book, and flipping to the middle page, he continued to read. Struggling to find enjoyment out of this, he closed the guidebook and stretched his limbs. He looked at the clock.

4:38.

"I hate this..."

Naruto walked into Training Ground 7, eyeing the battlefield curiously. Nothing seemed to be out of placed. A few sand bags, a battered training dummy, and a multitude of wooden targets, some marked, some not. Setting down his duffel bag and taking out a few kunai, he began his training.

It was currently the wee hours of the morning. He had nothing better to do before the meeting with Kakashi. If he was being honest, he had no incentive to even be here, all he wanted was a source of income, and being a ninja would grant him that wish.

Of course, he was forced into being a ninja due to circumstances that he had no control over, mainly being selected to become the savior of ninjas and the nation itself, but who was he to fight against a man-made destiny?

This was his routine every single morning. Wake up, shower, get prepared, and practice for literal hours until the academy began. It was boring, yeah, but he had no other alternative besides sleep, and sleep, in his opinion, was a waste of time.

And besides, Naruto was used to being alone, so this was no big deal to him. He had nobody in his house besides himself, meaning he could theoretically do whatever he so desired. Too bad he longed for a single person to disobey. At least if he had that, he would know what it was like to have someone be protected by.

He had many hours to sacrifice to training. He decided to practice his wind jutsu. That would be a good aspect of his arsenal to train.

It was 9:58. Kakashi still wasn't in front of them. Naruto felt him minutes ago suddenly appear in the trees surrounding them, but decided to keep whatever down time he had still, and let the older man be, content on meditating like Konan would want him doing.

Sasuke, while he hadn't noticed their sensei in the tree tops, had also decided to meditate, wanting to impress his teacher. He would never say it out loud, but he put a lot of stock into making first impressions.

Sakura just looked on in confusion. She was wondering why the other two weren't as nervous as her. This would determine their future together! Or at least, she thought it would. She wasn't too sure about what they were here for, besides it being a test.

When it hit 10:03, Kakashi decided to bless his students with his presence. Hopping to be in front of them, he gave a pleasant eye-smile. "Morning everyone. Ready for the test, my cute little genin?"

Sasuke smirked with a ballooning confidence. "About time you showed up, sensei. I was worried you were scared of us."

Kakashi merely chuckled with a hidden mirth. "What kind of jounin would I be if I was scared of my own genin?"

With that sentiment said, Kakashi took out a timer and two bells. Clipping the bells to his waist, he twisted the timer. "You three have until twelve noon to get these bells from me. If you fail, you all go back to the Academy for an additional year."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion, obviously confused on Kakashi's game. "There are three of us, but two bells."

Kakashi answered the silent question. "Whoever doesn't receive the bell will be sent back to the Academy. So, no matter what, one of you will not return to Team 7." He enjoyed the looks of horror planted on Sasuke and Sakura, but with the obvious eye roll from Naruto, he knew that the blond was suspicious of the true meaning of the test.

"You may begin."

The three genin all dispersed.

Naruto fled deeper into the thick foliage and crouched down behind an oversized bush. Drawing a sharpened kunai and twirling it effortlessly, he flexed his chakra in an attempt to find his wayward companions.

This was a manageable situation. Sure, all three were heavily outclassed and could easily be eliminated, non-lethally of course, that didn't detract from the fact that the rules given to them were a distraction. A hoax, a ruse, whatever you wanted to call it, this was one.

Thinking back to what their teachers had pounded into their brains in the academy, it was obvious Kakashi wanted the three rookies to work together and formulate some form of plan in order to take him down, or at least, try to take him down. Now, if they succeeded, that would be the issue.

He managed to find Sasuke a few miles north of his current location, but Sakura was off the grid. The idea of Kakashi taking the weak link out first crossed his mind.

Speaking of which, he couldn't feel Kakashi's chakra either, which worried him immensely. Kakashi had either left the training area they were in and completely disregarded the genin, or…

He was hiding his chakra.

Twisting his feet to the side, Naruto began to concentrate on the current situation. Kakashi was more than likely hunting each of them down, trying to eliminate the three before they could group together.

That's when he felt it.

Soaring into the sky from a chakra enhanced jump, Naruto barely avoided what would have been a monstrous attack from the ground, and with his eyes narrowed, he saw Kakashi glancing up at him in the sky, a look of momentary shock on the visible parts of his face.

"Color me impressed Naruto; you have good reactionary skills. A marvelous trait to have in the ninja force."

Landing on a skyward tree branch, Naruto weighed his options. He was outclassed, and heavily so. Nothing in his arsenal could even hope to hit the man in front of him, and sadly, he couldn't think of anything besides fleeing from the man.

This was a war veteran, an elite jounin who had probably murdered or executed countless upon countless. This was a true warrior, a model shinobi, one who wouldn't think twice to put a kunai through the back of your throat in the name of Konoha.

Flashing through numerous hand seals, Naruto built a chunk of air into his lungs, and with a shout, fired numerous amounts of razor-sharp wind blades.

"How does a genin know a C-Ranked jutsu? And an elemental release? I guess Yugao taught him a few more tricks than I assumed." Kakashi seemingly melded into the tree that was behind him, dodging the blades as they sliced the ground he once stood on.

Jumping from the tree he was situated on, Naruto landed on the ground and started to run towards Sasuke's last known position. He needed to regroup, and fast. He could not afford to fight Kakashi head on.

Sasuke raced over to where he felt a flare of chakra. He assumed one of his two teammates had directly engaged with their sensei, and he wanted a crack at the jounin as well. Jumping onto a tree branch, Sasuke looked around.

Before he knew it, Sasuke was thundering through the air, a pounding headache resting gently on his temple. Shifting to an upright position, he looked up at his attacker.

"You always have to look out for openings, Sasuke. Naruto seemed more than quick to dodge; I expected the same out of you. Perhaps he is better than you?" Kakashi's eye gleamed with a hint of humor, and his voice was taunting. It sounded calm enough, a prodding question, but the insult was laced delicately in his tone.

Sasuke grit his teeth in raw fury. He wasn't mad at being attacked, the jounin was right, but he was mad at Kakashi egging him on. As talented as Naruto was, there was no way the blond was better than him!

Drawing three shuriken, Sasuke began his assault. Flipping once through the air to gain momentum, he attacked Kakashi from the front, landing a series of punches to the jounin, who casually deflected all of them with his forearms.

Dodging a sweeping kick from the younger of the two, Kakashi sighed. He had let Naruto get away on purpose, hoping that he would reach Sasuke before the Uchiha had reached them both, but it appears he was mistaken.

Grabbing the boy's right foot, Kakashi was about to launch a counteracting kick when he felt a presence rapidly approaching from his side. Hurriedly releasing his iron clad grip on Sasuke's foot, he narrowly avoided a raging kunai from cutting the bells off his waist.

"He used the distraction of my fight with Sasuke… clever, Naruto, very clever."

Dropping to the floor from the tree top, Sasuke looked at his savior. "What are you doing, Naruto, I had everything under control!" He ground out; his fists clenched tightly. Naruto focused his vision on Sasuke.

"In case you weren't aware, Kakashi had you subdued. We need to work together, Sasuke."

"I don't need help, especially from you, Naruto, so kick rocks!"

Naruto blinked curiously and hesitated, thinking of a response. He wasn't expecting the Uchiha in front of him to verbally fight him, he was expecting agreement.

"I think it would be best to fight our new master with team work. Sakura can be the bait, and you and I can attack head on." Naruto finally said, and now it was Sasuke's turn to blink in surprise.

The wording was off to him.

'Bait'.

It didn't sound right. It sounded disconnected, as if Sakura was below himself and Sasuke. It didn't sound malicious, it just sounded… weird.

Ignoring that for a moment, as much as he hated to admit it, Sasuke knew the boy was right. Kakashi was far stronger than any of them hoped to fight, and despite the both of them being extraordinarily talented, they knew that if either of them went solo, Kakashi would dispatch them almost effortlessly.

Meanwhile, their leader was watching from high in the trees, his lone eye resting on the scene before him. With a small but genuine smile resting beneath his mask, he knew that this team would prosper into something special. Something special indeed.

He saw the potential in all three of his students. Naruto Uzumaki, son of his late sensei, jinchuriki for the cursed Fox. Sasuke Uchiha, prodigy of the once great clan, younger brother to Itachi Uchiha.

Which left Sakura Haruno…

She was, and he truly meant no offense, the weakest link out of the three.

While Kakashi personally wouldn't use the term 'bait' – something he would need to discuss with Naruto after this was over – she had limited taijutsu, practically zero ninjutsu, and had pitiful chakra pools. Her only saving grace was her apparent knack for chakra control and her genjutsu skills.

He would need to work with her the most to catch her up. He was sure that Naruto and Sasuke would survive on their own, assuming they had a little bit of guidance to propel them to greatness.

He would let them group up and initiate a team attack. Even if they didn't get the bells, assuming they focused on the team work aspect of combat, he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't accept them.

The deadly duo glanced down at the pitiful sight before them. Their third teammate, Sakura, was knocked unconscious and was laying on the thick dirt rather ungracefully. Naruto crouched down and shifted her body to be upright.

"Genjutsu, minor chakra exhaustion. She'll be fine, just give her some space." Naruto took out a small flask of water and doused the pinkette with the cold fluid, the younger girl sputtering awake.

"W-where are we?" Sakura stuttered in fear, glancing around to see if their sensei was still lingering. Naruto glanced back momentarily at Sasuke, who merely huffed and looked away in indignation.

"We need your help, Sakura. We can't hope to pass this test without you."

Naruto explained the situation to her. Glancing at each other, they began to formulate a plan.

"You all failed to retrieve the bells from me." Kakashi began, and putting his book away, he scoped the three students for their reactions. Sakura looked ready to burst into tears, Sasuke was looking anywhere but at him, and Naruto was fearless, his poker face unwavering.

"At least one of them has guts in the face of trouble." Kakashi thought in slight disappointment, hoping that the other two would accept their hardships.

"However, what I saw impressed me," he started once more, causing the other two to glance at him curiously. "I saw teamwork, I saw encouragement, and I saw what it takes to be a Konohagakure shinobi. You all have your faults, and all have your rough edges, but for the most part, you are all talented in your own ways."

Kakashi looked at the three genin. "Welcome to Team 7."

Darkness was all he saw. His senses were going haywire, and ear shattering sounds were assaulting him. He couldn't feel anything, his sense of sight, touch, and smell gone. He could blindly hear the sounds of mechanical workings whirring around him, and he could guess that he was in a hospital.

He couldn't move his body at all. Any attempt was met with a piercing pain, and with a groan, he tried to activate his Sharingan, but found that chakra control was practically impossible.

Slowly but surely, he was starting to get his sight back. First a blinding white light made itself known, but after a few minutes, he could clearly see his holding room.

To his right was a heart rate machine, his body hooked up quite snugly. Glancing to his left, he saw a metal tray with a few tools resting softly against the sheet. He could idly feel the feeding tube connected to his mouth, and with a grunt, he tried to move his arms to rip it out, but nothing happened.

A clicking, rattling sound drew his attention to the door. A nurse walked in, holding a clipboard. The nurse briefly looked up, and raising his eyebrows, he immediately left the room. A pregnant pause was left in his wake.

Then, the pause gave birth to a calamity. An onslaught of doctors and nurses rushed into his room, everyone hounding him for questions. "What the hell is going on? And where is Itachi, I can't feel his chakra? In fact, I can't feel any chakra from the Uchiha compound..."

"How are you feeling, Lord Uchiha?" A doctor asked after a moment, a glazed look protruding from his narrow eyes. The man narrowed his eyes dangerously, and after swallowing a bit of saliva, managed to force out a few words.

"Bring me… bring me the Hokage..."

"B-but sir-"

"Bring me the Hokage… now!" A spike of immense tension leaked involuntarily from the patient, and everyone in the room whimpered a tiny bit, obviously not used to the feeling of horrible dread.

The man didn't wait long for his request to come true, as in a heartbeat, the legendary man, Hiruzen Sarutobi himself, was situated calmly in front of him.

"Hello, Shisui Uchiha. I know you must be confused as to what is going on."

Shisui snorted indignantly, rolling his eyes silently as he calculated how to say his thoughts. "What is going on? I feel literally no chakra from the Uchiha sector, and my eye… I am only seeing out of one eye."

Sarutobi sighed deeply and pulled up a chair, hesitantly taking a seat. Lighting his pipe, he began.

"Shisui, you've been in a coma for five years." Hiruzen paused to catch his thoughts, and commanding both the hidden ANBU and the medical staff, he began again, not looking forward to Shisui's eventual wrath.

Shisui blinked, and Hiruzen continued.

"What I am going to tell you is an S-Ranked secret, punishable by immediate execution should it be discovered you reveal this to anyone not permitted to know, so tread carefully."

Shisui nodded slightly, a dark gleam glowing in his coal eye.

"Itachi Uchiha slaughtered the Uchiha clan under the orders of Danzo Shimura. Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother, was the only Uchiha who survived, besides both Itachi and yourself."

Shisui was stunned. He had no idea what the hell had happened, or even how he had ended up in his coma, as he could assume that is what he just awoke from. This was all stupid, asinine, like one big joke, but he knew something was horribly wrong.

"What happened, Lord Hokage?"

That caused Hiruzen to raise an eyebrow in reply. So, apparently Shisui didn't have all of his memory in place leading up to the night of the Downfall.

"What do you remember about the weeks leading up to that night?"

Shisui thought for a moment, racking his brain in an attempt to stir it after all these years, but nothing concrete was coming up. It was bits and pieces, and despite how hard he tried, he couldn't grasp a solid memory.

There was stress, there was tension… Itachi was awfully quiet, even sometimes crying to himself when he thought nobody was looking… Danzo? Was Danzo involved? Shisui could swear that the old man was involved somehow.

And a man in a mask, interrupting something?

"I'm sorry, my Lord," Shisui eventually started. "I'm having a hard time remembering."

Hiruzen sighed and nodded, as if that's what he was expecting all along. Surely, with his mind jumbled, there wouldn't be much to remember, no matter how hard he tried.

"The Uchiha clan was conspiring an attempt to overthrow my reign. I was trying to find a peaceful means to end this conflict, but they wouldn't accept any peace proposals. Danzo went behind my back to order the slaughtering of the entire Uchiha clan, and Itachi carried it out."

Shisui was confused for multiple reasons. "What happened to me?"

"Itachi, after he carried out the executions, came to me afterwards and informed me of the news. He found you unconscious and heavily injured, with multiple blood stains on the surrounding grass, but you were bandaged up and recovering. We both don't know who attacked you, or what even happened that night involving you, just that you were in a deep coma."

He was attacked? And, while the old man didn't say it, he could assume his eye was taken in this attack as well. Something wasn't sitting right with him. Danzo, the crotchety old man, kept flashing in his mind.

"Why not have a Yamanaka read my mind while I was out?"

"We tried, but Inoichi informed us that your mind was heavily damaged by an unknown genjutsu, and the risks of reading your mind could potentially cause your death. Instead, we hooked you up to life support and hoped for the best. I scheduled you for ten years, and instead, you woke up today – five years in, five years left."

"Where is Itachi now? And why even tell me all of this?"

If it was even possible, the man's features aged considerably in the span of a second, and Shisui felt a jolt of anxiety swell up in him. If a simple question was all it took for the normally infallible man to crack immediately, he wasn't sure where this would go.

No matter what, hopefully Itachi was safe from any harm.

"Itachi… joined a group of S-Rank ninja known as the Akatsuki, and is giving inside information to me as a spy. For now, he hasn't been informed of their plans, but he tells me they are relatively neutral to the business of the Elemental Nations."

He caught his breath.

"I'm telling you all of this because as the oldest Uchiha remaining, you are now clan leader, and since you were also involved with the massacre, I am legally obligated to inform you of the events that transpired."

Shisui tried to lift his arms but found he couldn't once more. "Five years?"

Hiruzen flinched lightly. "Yes, my boy, five years. You are looking at extensive physical therapy in order to even regain full motor functions, never mind working towards what your former skill level used to be. I fear, but fully believe, you will never be the former Kage level nin you used to be, and I am truly apologetic for that."

Shisui merely grinned coyly, obviously planning something to counteract this. "Trust me, I can get back to my old skill level. Just give me a few years, I'll be right back where I was."

The Fire Shadow answered with his own smirk, content on hearing the surefire words coming from the young man resting patiently in front of him. "I'll send for the best physical therapists in the nation as soon as I can, rest assured, Shisui. You are not alone in this ordeal. For now, I have already requested for a Hyuga to help you with chakra control."

Shisui scoffed slightly. "I may be a newborn baby right now, Hokage, but I am not helpless," releasing a carefree grin, Shisui laughed out loud. "I appreciate the help, but I can regain relative control over my chakra given time. I could probably do it today if I tried really hard."

Standing up, Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe, and looked at the wall clock. "Goodness, I should be heading back to my office, it is about the time of day for the jounin leaders to inform me of how the current crop of genin did. If you could pardon an old man, I need to get going."

"No worries here, Lord Hokage. Just you wait, I'll be walking back into your office by the end of the week, and that's a promise!"

Hiruzen's eyes widened very slightly but otherwise his body remained unchanged. "He's truly like Naruto in so many ways, almost as much as Obito was..."

Before he left, he paused when he heard his name on Shisui's lips.

"Do you have any suspects about who could have attacked me?"

Hiruzen looked grim. "I do."

And that's all he had to say, and Shisui understood exactly what he meant.

With that, he ordered two ANBU to be stationed at all times in Shisui's room, intent on keeping his recovering prodigy safe and sound. Two nurses and a doctor walked past him as he took the scenic route back to his office, enjoying the time away.

Flopping down onto his bed, Naruto glanced over at his window seal. Rain was thudding against the glass dully, a far cry from the sun that was flashing a few hours ago. He found it funny how things can change in an instant.

He thought of his teammate. Sasuke was like him in so many ways. They were both alone in the world, and although the situations were extremely different, he couldn't help but find peace and solace with the fact that he could relate to someone his age.

He finally had a family.

Neither Konan nor Obito could train in person with him anymore, as Itachi Uchiha had joined and caused them to disassociate with anything related to Naruto, so both of them wrote scrolls for him to work on.

It had been a few years since he fully went back to Konoha, and yet, he still wasn't all… 'there', if you could say.

He felt emotions, he felt joy, or sadness, but it felt disingenuous.

Perhaps, above all else, it was worth looking into with Kakashi.

Yes, Shisui is alive, I hinted at that last chapter. I'm sure whoever read that chapter assumed it was Sasuke, but surprise, it was not. It will be explained in later chapters how he survived, and who intervened with his survival, but it can most likely be guessed at.

'Till next time!