A/N: And so, after ten million years, I return.

Sorry it's taken so long, real life just fuckin bitch-slapped me and I am STILL dealing with the mess.

AKA I realized an hour ago that my electric bill is 4 days past due, so probably some fun late fees for NEXT month's…

*sigh*

Anyway, everything's a bit of a mess but it's hopefully getting better, and the chapters will start coming out on-schedule again as I get back into the swing of things. I still wanna finish this book by the end of the year dammit!

But thanks to everyone who reads and reviews, you're all awesome and I hope you enjoy!

Kakashi's pretty sure this is karma, somehow, for his own days as a genin.

Sasuke refuses to say anything other than, "It was all Natsu's doing."

Naruto refuses to see the seriousness of the trouble they're in.

And Natsu…

His most unexpected student shrugs as much as he's able with his arms held tight between Cat and Boar.

"It was fun."

The Hokage looks like he wants to throw them all to Ibiki without hesitation, and Kakashi (almost) can't blame him.

Breaking out of a secure room for fun.

Picking a fight with ANBU for fun.

Lighting three whole city blocks on fire for fun.

People thought the village was under attack, foreign jonin are demanding answers, it's a mess, and somehow the only recorded injuries are on Natsu himself.

Kakashi would really love a chance to study Natsu's power, his ability to control who his jutsu hurts and who it doesn't, but he'd been thinking of something a little more… contained.

The ANBU honestly thought Natsu was trying to kill them, before they realized the fire wasn't burning, and then they thought it was a genjutsu, and Kakashi's pretty sure the absolutely excessive amount of chakra suppressant seals stuck around Natsu's body are because they can't trust the seals are even working, anymore.

Paper reports really don't do Natsu justice, Kakashi muses.

He thinks about pulling out his book, just so he can laugh at everyone from behind it. But no, Hokage-sama looks genuinely angry now, it wouldn't be wise.

He still has to bite back a reflexive, "I told you so."

No need to invite trouble onto himself as well…

So maybe he went a liiiiiiiiiiiiiittle too far.

Natsu can admit that.

He forgot this city wasn't Magnolia, not everyone's cool about having their houses burn down every other week.

He misses Magnolia so much.

He's pretty sure the guild offers some special insurance for Natsu-inspired property damage to the city residents that comes out of his pay by default, even before the fines he has to pay to all the other cities. Mirajane lectured him on it once, when he complained about how Gray got paid a larger portion of a joint job they did once, even though the icy bastard caused as much property damage as Natsu had.

He's pretty sure Konoha doesn't have a special Dragneel Insurance Package, though, and even he can admit that was a lot of fire.

Sakura-chan still isn't speaking to him.

Sasuke looks surprisingly contemplative.

Natsu wonders what sort of idea the Uchiha's had.

Hopefully something fun.

"Do you have -any- idea what you've done?"

He glances back to the Hokage, and-

Urk!

"Nevermind the sheer amount of property damage," the Hokage says, clearly minding the property damage, "most of those buildings housed our independent jonin forces-"

"It's not like anyone got hurt," Natsu says, because he knows they didn't. And all those shinobi are so paranoid, they probably didn't lose any of their stuff either, though…

It's not like Natsu actually considered that, so he'd have to pay for it if they lost stuff, he supposes-

"My jonin have a right to feel safe in their own homes, Duragneel-kun."

Why wouldn't they-? He nearly asks, because the people of Magnolia never seemed to mind, but-

This isn't Magnolia. Isn't home. He knows that. Has known that.

Somehow the differences still surprise him.

When people see fire in Magnolia, they think of Natsu first. Wendy even mentioned it once, that most of the in-city jobs she's requested for aren't work accidents or broken limbs, but parents asking her to heal burns because their kids kept touching fire - the children too young to understand that Natsu's fire is different, and anything else will hurt them.

He doesn't really think about it much, but he's not completely ignorant to the association.

He wonders what people think of when they see fire here.

He's pretty sure it's not something as innocent as him getting pummelled by Erza for burning a single roof-tile of her favorite cake shop.

"I screwed up." he says, more a realization than anything.

"Oh have you?" the Hokage questions, voice amused.

Natsu's pretty sure amusement is about as far from the truth as he can get.

He wonders why the Hokage's bothering to pretend, but he's not about to invite the anger he knows is there.

Natsu swallows, and tries to shift his weight. The ANBU tighten their grips, so he settles carefully and tries not to scowl. No need to make everything worse.

"No one cares when I do stuff like that back home," Natsu says, a bit hesitant, not sure if the ANBU know, but the Hokage doesn't stop him. "Sometimes I pick fights with people, and then half the city's on fire, it just happens, right? It's normal, they just dock my next payout and sometimes make me help with the cleanup if I'm still around, but no one cares. I just… forgot."

He tries to shrug, and is quickly stopped by the ANBU's bruising grip on his arm.

He's not sure what else he can say.

Even before Natsu joined Fairy Tail, people were pretty used to their homes getting wrecked. They rearranged the entire city just for Gildarts, and Natsu's heard rumors about the Master's titan form wrecking a few homes too, though he doesn't have any proof.

Fairy Tail blowing up peoples' homes is just- normal. Natsu might be… a bit more prolific with it, but it's really nothing special.

"So that time you mentioned blowing up an entire mansion by accident is, hm, not so unusual for you?" Kakashi asks, an amused lilt to his voice that Natsu's pretty sure is real.

He still scoffs in response. "No! I mean- yes, a little, but not all the time! Like, one time, Lucy destroyed an entire harbor and you know who got blamed for it? Me! I'm a fire specialist, how am I supposed to flood a city? S-so don't just listen to everyone when they tell you it was me, sometimes it isn't! And the mansion really was an accident! Yeah?"

"Don't harbor cities usually have levees and dams specifically designed to protect them from floods?" Kakashi questions, voice so politely curious Natsu's pretty sure the sensei's mocking him.

"I don't really know, I'm not in the business of causin' floods, right? But Lu-chan basically just summoned a giant wave, and I know the fines were crazy high because there was a lot of merchandise that was gonna' be exported that was damaged, and I had to pay for all of it. They didn't even let me keep the damaged stuff, though with how pissed the army was I don't know I'd have gone back for it anyway…" Natsu trails off.

He's pretty sure the Hokage's eyebrow twitched.

That's…

Not a good sign.

"I see." The Hokage says sedately, "then would you mind explaining exactly how you broke out? I understand your power of course, but I was not aware you were so well-versed in seals, and surely you understand how vital it is that I understand their weaknesses."

Natsu's pretty sure there's a trap in that question, but… he answers anyway.

"Sakura-chan knows everything. She's studied all sorts of theory stuff, I didn't really understand it, but sometimes she'd have me relay stuff to Sasuke, and he'd understand so I guess that was good enough, and then all I had to do was convince Sasuke to use his magic eyes to tell me what stuff did what, and that was it! I mean, it took aaaaages to convince him, but eventually he helped out! But really Sakura-chan and Sasuke did all the thinking, I just blew stuff up!"

The Hokage stares at him a moment, then turns to the ANBU holding Naruto. "Please escort Naruto-kun out for a moment."

Sasuke visibly bristles, and Natsu tenses, the ANBUs' grip keeping him from doing anything more.

"Wha- Jiji! They're my team, why're you kickin' me out, dattebayo?!" Naruto protests, kicking his legs against the ANBU's back a bit.

They don't even react, though the Hokage sighs. "You shouldn't have been over there in the first place, Naruto-kun, and we will be talking about that. For now though, please wait patiently."

"Jiji! They're my team, and if they're in trouble we should all be in trouble together! I totally helped! I even used some of my explosive tags, it wasn't just Natsu-!"

"I'll speak with you when we're done, Naruto-kun."

The ANBU takes that as a dismissal, vanishing in a flurry of leaves, and the Hokage turns back to Natsu and Sasuke.

From what little of his face Natsu can see, Sasuke looks downright angry.

Natsu's a bit upset at the Hokage's treatment too, but it's honestly probably better if Naruto doesn't get in trouble with them, so he's not sure why Sasuke's so upset…

"Clearly," the Hokage says, once he's sure the ANBU is gone, all kindness gone from his voice, "it would take more effort than I am currently willing to expend to keep you both in one place. As such-"

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi interrupts, posture painfully straight. "As I offered before-"

"Hatake-san." The Hokage counters sharply. "We are far past the point where that would be acceptable. They will be kept separately, in different safe houses, until Jiraiya-san arrives. This is my decision."

"What?" Natsu can't help but respond. "That's so dangerous! Sasuke-"

"Will be monitored, as you will. Neither of you will be in any danger of dying. But you have proven that it will take too much effort to hold you both together, so I must do what is necessary to keep you in one place until our specialist can return to the village. Cat and Boar will take you now. The third set should work, Boar-san."

Nicer than the other one, Sasuke muses as he explores the new 'safe house'.

When he activates his Sharingan, he can see faint traces of seals around the walls, even without channeling chakra into them.

It's too quiet.

For some reason, he thinks of the stupid look on the dobe's face when the ANBU carried him out of the office.

They're my team, he said, like that was all that mattered, as though that's all that's ever mattered, and the look on his face-

Like he's being left out of something important, something that affects all his precious people; like standing in front of a closed door and wondering why everyone's always so much busier-

The new safe house still doesn't have a training dojo.

Natsu isn't there to spar.

Sasuke needs to move.

He goes through the few kata he can in the confines of the bedroom, but it doesn't help.

The dobe was being separated from them, deliberately kept out, and Sasuke's not the only one who realized.

He wishes he hadn't.

He can't stop thinking about the way the dobe looked at them.

Like they were family.

Sasuke doesn't want any more family.

Not as long as that man is still alive.

T̶o̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶a̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶.̶

Sasuke needs a distraction.

All he has is an empty safe house and his thoughts.

And for some reason all he can think about is-

He activates his Sharingan, places his hands against the wall, and tries to remember what Natsu's fire looks like.

He doesn't expect it to work, not when everyone says it's a kekkei genkai, he knows he can't copy those, but-

It burns, like he's lighting his arm on fire from the inside out, though he's only barely started to shape the chakra, his entire body rejecting the change in nature-

He breathes through the pain, because it can't take more than a moment right? They have to be on guard, but it hurts and if he doesn't stop soon he might damage something-

An ANBU appears in a flurry of leaves, killing intent pressing on Sasuke like a hand trying to hold him under water, and he drops his arms in relief.

"Can I get some books to read?" he asks, turning to lean against the wall, and hoping his hands aren't trembling.

He can't really feel them at the moment, and if he looks the ANBU will definitely notice.

Not a kekkei genkai, he scoffs internally, as the ANBU disappears as quickly as they came.

Sasuke hopes they're going for books.

He's pretty sure he can't do that again.

And the pain's no good at all at distracting him from his thoughts.

He slides down the wall to sit as pins and needles begin to race up and down his arms.

Something still feels like it's burning.

The next time Sasuke sees his idiot teammate, he's going to strangle him.

Both of them.

He wouldn't have needed to do that to try and get books if the dobe hadn't been a dobe.

A stack of books appears in front of him.

Two are clearly fictional, and the others don't look much better. He picks up the top one, a basic history text he remembers studying from in his first year at the Academy - more over-blown legends than actual historical fact, and realizes it's probably the best of the lot.

Maybe he should have specified something useful.

Better this than nothing, he tries to tell himself, though it doesn't make the frustration go away. He's not a child.

He pushes the book aside and tries not to remember that man helping him study for his first history test, both of them laying on the tatami mats-

Stop it!

He yanks the next book off the stack, flipping it open without even looking at the title.

There was blood on the trees, and Naruto's heart ached to see it.

"What?" Sasuke stares down at the dobe's name, then flips the book closed to see the cover.

"Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi…? Did a kid name that?" he glances suspiciously between the children's history book and the fictional tale in his hands, and wonders if the ANBU was actually deliberately calling him childish.

He really should have been more specific when he asked for something to read.

The exhaustion hits immediately, like being put to sleep whenever Mystogan would come by, but dirtier somehow. His head aches, a pulsing behind his eyes that has Natsu digging his palms into the sockets as he struggles to focus.

The room's big, spacious, and comfortable, and Natsu doesn't even make it to the bed before he passes out.

Time slips, after that.

He wakes up a couple times, dragging himself to his feet to try and keep Sakura-chan's body in shape and eat, and only makes it back to the actual bed maybe half the time.

Most of the time, he wakes up on the floor again.

He's not sure how long it's been, always in and out of consciousness, and it's surprisingly hard to track time even when he's awake, but he thinks it's maybe been a couple days when he falls asleep and wakes up somewhere else.

He almost doesn't recognize the Bridge, at first.

Sakuni collapses to her knees next to him.

"Finally," she breathes, lips curled in a satisfied smirk. "I've been trying to drag you here for ages."

"Naruto-kun." Kakashi sighs as he steps into his apartment and sees the blond sitting on his floor.

"Sensei!" Naruto leaps to his feet, but stops short of touching Kakashi. "Have you seen Natsu and Sasuke? Are they okay? Jiji won't tell me anything and I don't understand, it's not their fault, you told him, right? I tried to but I don't think he listened but-"

Kakashi reaches out and pats his blond student on the head. "You need to stop breaking into my apartment, Naruto-kun. One of these days I might have the dangerous traps set."

"Sensei! That's not important! Be serious, dattebayo!"

Kakashi sighs and glances down at his student. "It's not as simple as you think, Naruto-kun. Sometimes Hokages have to make hard choices. If you really want that hat for yourself, you need to understand why Hokage-sama did what he did."

"But it's not fair-!"

"If you want fair," Kakashi says, walking past the blond and towards his tiny kitchen, "go talk to your Academy sensei. That's the only place in this village that cares about fair. The Hokage has to make difficult choices, Naruto. Maybe the choice you would make is different than the one Hokage-sama made. But it would still have its own consequences. You can't say your choice would be better if you refuse to even look at what those consequences might be."

Kakashi is watching his team disappear on him, again, and knows his choice would care a lot less about the village than any Hokage's should.

He hopes Jiraiya can fix this, because if the Sannin can't…

He doesn't know what the Hokage would decide to do.

He thinks he knows what he'd do in response.

"Explain it to me then."

"Hm?" Kakashi glances over his shoulder at Naruto. The blond stands with his head bowed, eyes shadowed by his bangs, but his fists are clenched. Then he jerks his head up and meets Kakashi's eye with a gaze that's just a slightly darker shade of blue than normal. "You said there are… consequences and stuff, right, 'ttebayo? So explain it to me. Why?"

Kakashi glances between his student and the wilting cabbage he'd pulled from the fridge for a moment.

This would be a great opportunity to mooch a free meal, but…

Perhaps just this once, he'd be nice to his foolish little genin.

He can always make up for it in their next training session, after all.

He smiles widely under his mask.

"Alright then."