It took a week for Sakura to realize she needed new clothes. Her dress, although fine before, had begun to get in the way. The final straw was when she got a kunai tangled in the long fabric, ripping down the side and into her leg. Once Kakashi wrapped her leg and stopped the bleeding, Sakura stood up and used that same kunai to cut the length of her dress. The boys looked at her with shocked expressions as she stood there, feeling liberated at not wearing something her mother had pushed on her.

Dresses are for young ladies to show they have a feminine side

, her mother always said.

You'll never find a man dressed like a typical shinobi, you need to stand out

, she'd say. Her mother was

wrong

. You can't fight in a dress, not without worrying about needless fabric getting in the way.

Kakashi had sent her to the hospital, to get her wound healed, after training. She wouldn't leave until it was over, no matter how much he begged. Instead, she toughed it out, refusing to give up. Kakashi couldn't even hide how proud of her he was.

She was limping, blood trickling down her leg and coating the bandage. It was a deep cut, aching and pinching with every move. You can only handle pain so long before it overloads your senses, especially when you're not used to it. Sakura wasn't used to it. She couldn't take a hit and keep going like the boys could. It was something Kakashi had told her needed worked on. Iruka-sensei had told her that in the academy, too. She wished she would have listened. She wished she would have actually

practiced

.

The nurse scoffed at her, mumbling about genin always getting in trouble. The cut was too deep for a nurse to fix, she had to wait for a medic. They sat her in the waiting room, gauze in hand to handle the bleeding, while she waited. This is why she didn't want to leave training to get healed. She would have missed the rest of it.

While she sat there, pain radiating down her leg, she heard a familiar voice echoing down the hallway. It made her sit up straight, craning her neck to see over the sea of people.

'Honestly, Choji, food isn't the only thing that matters. ' Ino chastised. 'You need to start focusing on how you look to other people. '

'Knock it off, Ino. ' Shikamaru drawled from behind them, hands behind his head. 'He's in enough pain without you adding to it. '

Sakura winced when she took in the dejected look on Choji's face. Ino always was brash, speaking without thinking, always believing she was right. Choji was always so sweet to everyone, so gentle. Although the reincarnation of the fabled Ino-Shika-Cho combination, the team couldn't be more different. Having been in the academy with all three of them, she had vague memories of meeting their parents. Were they like this when they were genin together? So different, so incompatible? Of course, her own team wasn't much better. Sasuke and Naruto didn't get along no matter how much teamwork Kakashi pounded in their heads. The Uchiha refused to work with anyone most of the time. Naruto didn't have social skills, so even though he

wanted

to work with people, he didn't know how.

Granted, they'd only been a team for a week, but Sakura feared it would never get better. They would always be disjointed.

Ino pulled her team into three open seats, right across from Sakura. She hadn't seen Sakura yet, too busy fussing over Choji and his singed hand. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, stretching as far out in the seat as he could. Looking up, and doing a double take, Ino finally noticed Sakura sitting there, pressing a pile of gauze to her, still bleeding, leg.

'Oh, Sakura! ' Ino sat upright, taking in Sakura's frazzled appearance. Sakura wondered what she looked like to her, dress cut in jagged lines, leg bleeding down into her sandals and onto the floor. 'Good grief, what happened to you? '

Sakura laughed at the shocked look on Ino's face. She gently pulled the gauze off, wincing as it stuck to the wound, to show Ino. 'Kunai accident. ' The blonde scrunched her face up. Sakura motioned to her dress. 'I need new clothes. '

Ino snorted. 'Yeah, I'd say. ' She motioned to Choji, who was gingerly holding his hand to his chest. 'Asuma-sensei accidentally burned Choji. He wouldn't have gotten burnt had he not been concerned about his damn food. ' Again, the boy looked chastised.

Before Shikamaru could say anything, Sakura chimed in. 'Akimichis need to eat, Ino. They burn through calories faster than other people. It's what makes them so strong and able to do the kind of jutsus they do. ' Flaunting her knowledge, especially in front of Ino, never got old. 'We learned about it in the academy, don't you remember? '

There was a stunned silence from Ino while Shikamaru just smirked. He nodded toward Sakura, a silent thank you. Choji gave her a small smile before holding out his hand, letting her see the angry red that covered it. Small blisters were forming near his thumb and index finger. It looked painful. She hissed, imagining the pain.

'He blows out ash and then sets it on fire, ' Choji explained. 'It's really cool to watch when it's not heading toward you. ' Sakura huffed out a laugh. 'I've heard Kakashi-sensei is really strong. '

'Yeah. ' Sakura tried to figure out how to word what her jounin sensei was like. He was so different from what she'd read, it was startling to her. 'He's not what I've read about him. Kakashi-sensei...he's really smart and is so nice to us. Patient. He was an Anbu, you know? But you guys, you have Sandaime's son! '

Shikamaru huffed. 'Training is still a drag. '

'He's nice, just pushes us hard is all. ' Choji shrugged.

Sakura giggled. 'Our sensei pushes us, too. '

'Pushes you to rip your clothes? ' Ino crossed her arms, disbelieving. 'And stab yourself? '

The gauze, red with blood, was practically useless now. Sakura shrugged and threw it in the garbage can beside her. She reached in her pouch to pull out a piece of fabric and held it against her leg. 'My kunai got caught in my dress when we were sparring. It ripped clean through the dress and right into my leg. ' Sakura sighed, picking at her ripped clothes. 'After that...I just cut the rest of it off. Made sparring easier. '

'You going shopping after this? ' Ino asked, motioning to the destroyed outfit. Sakura nodded. 'I'll come with you if you want. '

'Yeah, Ino, I'd like that. '

'

Naruto hung around after training, kicking his sandal against the dirt and picking up his kunai slowly. He was biding his time until Sasuke talked to sensei and left the training field. Finally, when he saw the blue shirt disappear behind the trees, Naruto slowly made his way to Kakashi.

'What's going on, Naruto? ' Kakashi asked, giving the boy his full attention. He'd learned over the past week it was the best way to keep Naruto from jumping in his face and raising his voice. The kid just wanted to be noticed and acknowledged. 'You've been pretty quiet today. '

He started wringing his hands together, looking scared suddenly. Then, shaking his head, Naruto stood up straight. 'Never mind, sensei...guess I'm just tired or something. ' He began to walk off, but Kakashi grabbed his shoulder and held him still.

'Naruto? ' Kakashi leaned down to his level. 'What's the matter? '

'I... I, um...do you know? I mean, Iruka-sensei knew. I figured everyone knew, but no one told me. And it said my parents put him there, but no one would ever tell me who my parents were, either. It's why people hate me, right? ' Naruto was wringing his hands together again, that scared look in his eye. Kakashi hated seeing it, hated seeing the fear and sadness. It was time, Kakashi knew, to give the poor kid answers.

He thought about it a moment. Where would be the best place to tell him? Should he take the boy back to the jounin's apartment? Or take him back to his own apartment, where he would probably feel safer? The training field was too open, too much of a chance of someone walking in on them. 'Naruto...come with me. I think it's time you understood what's going on. '

'Where are we going? ' Naruto picked up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder and jogging to catch up. Fear gave way to nerves as he looked up at his sensei.

Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder, a habit he'd picked up that seemed to placate the blond. 'To my apartment, where it's safer to talk. '

The walk there was silent. Naruto seemed to be stuck in his thoughts and Kakashi was working through how he wanted to explain it. People didn't seem to stare at the kid as much when Kakashi was with him. If anything, there were quick glances before turning back to what they were doing. There was no reason for the hate he received. Naruto was an infant,

hours

old when the Kyuubi was sealed inside him. He had no say in the matter, no hand in the destruction of that night. Kakashi wanted to shake these civilians, scream at them to leave the kid alone. Instead, he settled for glaring at anyone who dared glance his way.

Naruto didn't know where his sensei lived, he'd never been to the part of town where the cleaner, expensive apartments are. Usually, the people here were meaner than the ones by his apartment. But, for some reason, they didn't stare as much when Kakashi was nearby. Still, Naruto kept his head down, finding it better not to look people in the eye when his emotions were on edge. Kakashi held a door open for him. He followed his jounin sensei up the stairs and down the hallway. There was no peeling paint on the walls, no mysterious stains or water damage or holes in the walls. It was clean and white and bright, not the dull yellow he'd grown up with. They stopped in front of a dark brown door. Kakashi let Naruto in, told him to sit down, and began a pot of tea.

'Hey, hey! Kaka-sensei! ' Naruto dropped his bag on the floor before sitting on the chair. 'How long have you lived here? It's really nice! ' He took in the sparse surroundings. There was a picture on his window sill. Naruto stood back up to get a better look at the image. It was a team photo. Team 7's was scheduled for the following week. This one had a man Naruto swore he'd seen before. There was a boy with goggles and a girl with marks on her face. To the side was Kakashi, small and young and a

genin

. He had the same disinterested look Sasuke always has. 'Is this your genin team? '

Kakashi came back over with a cup of tea, destroyed with milk and sugar, how he knew Naruto liked it. At least, how

his

Naruto liked it. The way this Naruto slurped it down, Kakashi guessed he'd always took it like that. 'I've lived here for quite a few years, actually. ' He smiled, sitting on the chair opposite Naruto. 'And, yes, that is my genin team. Minato-sensei, Uchiha Obito, Nohara Rin, and me. '

'You had an Uchiha on your team, too? ' Kakashi just nodded. 'Was he an asshole like Sasuke? '

Kakashi snorted. 'No. I was the asshole in the team, actually. ' At Naruto's shocked face, Kakashi just smiled. 'Growing up tends to change people. ' Naruto stared at the picture for a few more moments before turning around, his focus on Kakashi. The kid looked deep in thought again, his eyebrows drawn together as he looked at the floor.

Then, as if finally gathering his strength and courage, Naruto sat down in the chair and steeled his resolve. 'Did you know? About... ' He put his hand over the seal on his stomach, gripping the fabric there. 'Does everyone know? '

Kakashi sat his tea down and took a deep breath. Here goes everything. 'Yes, Naruto. I do know about the Kyuubi. I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did, that wasn't fair to you. ' Naruto gave a small nod, still not meeting Kakashi's eyes. 'I didn't know you could talk to him, however. How long has that been going on? '

'Since our first meeting. '

'Ah. ' Kakashi was suddenly gripped with fear that his interference with the timeline had messed up Naruto's seal. This was unprecedented, so who knows what would have changed. Of course, Naruto making friends with Kyuubi earlier in the timeline might not be a bad thing. 'And it was he who told you about your parents? '

'Just that they put him in there. ' Naruto's eyes flicked up to meet Kakashi's before dropping back to his hands which were wrapped around the tea cup. 'Why would they do that and then leave? '

Kakashi took a deep breath, preparing himself for the onslaught of questions his next revelation would cause. 'You should know, Naruto, that your parents...their names are Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. Your father was the Fourth Hokage. ' There was a beat while that information sunk in, and then Naruto's eyes were locked on Kakashi's, his hands gripping the tea cup dangerously tight. 'The night you were born, someone used your mother's weakness while giving birth and released the Kyuubi. The only way to stop it was to seal it away. Your parents gave their lives to protect the village, and trusted you to keep the Kyuubi sealed and to be strong enough to handle the burden. '

There was so much for the young boy to unpack. Kakashi was trying to give him the information in small increments to not overwhelm him. He did, however, reach over and remove the tea cup from the boy's grip, fearing it would get shattered with more information.

'I have my mother's name? ' His voice was so small, so quiet.

Kakashi nodded, setting both of their tea cups down on the table. 'If you were given your father's name, people might have come after you. It was to protect you, but still carry on their legacy. ' He gave a wry smile. 'Besides, you're more your mother than your father. You were graced with the Uzumaki chakra reserve. '

Naruto's eyes snapped to his again. 'You knew them? '

Kakashi smiled. 'Your father was my jounin sensei. ' He motioned to the picture Naruto looked at earlier. 'That's when he was younger before he was Hokage. He was powerful and fast. The fastest ninja who ever lived, I swear. And smart. He excelled at fuuinjutsu. ' Kakashi paused, considering something. 'I wonder if you'll have a knack for it? I'll have to get you a book or scroll on it. '

Eyes wide, Naruto took in all the information he was getting. Sucking it up like a sponge. Looking for something to grip onto, Naruto changed from the teacup to the arms of his chair. His mind was spinning, reeling from the onslaught. There was so much. He'd been hated because of something he couldn't control. He's hated even though his father was the Hokage. That didn't make any sense to him at all. But then something hit him, something Kakashi said that didn't click at first.

'My mother was a jinchuuriki, too? '

'Yes. ' Kakashi tried to explain it to him. 'There was a village in Whirlpool called Uzushio. All Uzumakis came from there, including your mother. She was brought here specifically to become the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. The first jinchuuriki was Uzumaki Mito, Senju Hashirama's wife. The first Hokage. That would make you the third one to hold the Kyuubi. '

'Are there other Uzumaki? Somewhere? ' Naruto sat up straight, the prospect of having a

family

exciting to him. Kakashi watched as his eyes sparkled, and didn't want to douse the kid's hopes.

'After Uzushio fell, the survivors scattered. Some changed their name, but I'm sure there are some still around somewhere. ' Naruto looked even more excited. 'You'll end up traveling a lot as a ninja. Maybe you'll come across some. '

He smiled, the first time Kakashi had seen it since this conversation started on the training field. Kakashi was always jealous of the way Naruto could bounce back from being sad very quickly. It was a rare skill to have, one he got from his mother. 'You look like your mother. ' Kakashi offered. 'Your hair and your eyes came from Minato-sensei, but the rest of you came from Kushina. Even the way you laugh. ' The jounin pictured his sensei and his wife, standing side-by-side, Kushina glowing and pregnant. Kakashi had sworn to protect them, to protect Kushina and Naruto. He tried not to let the pain of knowing he failed sting too hard.

There was a long pause while Naruto absorbed everything. His heart ached, his mind spinning, but Naruto was happy, relieved. He knew the truth now. Knowing he was the Yondaime's son meant he could walk with his head held high. He wasn't the demon the village said he was. That was enough, for now. 'Thank you, sensei. '

'

Hiding away in his secret training area, Sasuke threw shuriken and kunai until his hands were red and sore. He was getting tired of waiting. Kakashi had promised to tell him about his brother. How long did he expect Sasuke to wait? The dull thunk of kunai hitting wood sounded all around the clearing, echoing off the trees. There was a trick his brother could do, hands full of shuriken he could flip upside down and hit every target in the Uchiha training ground, even the hidden one. It always amazed Sasuke as a young boy, watching his big brother do something as intricate as that.

Steadying his feet, Sasuke gripped the shuriken the way he'd seen his brother do when he was a child. He'd been throwing those shuriken and kunai for hours; he knew where the targets were by heart. He could hit them with his eyes closed. If he broke the trick down, took it apart move by move, he could do this. A flicker jump, a flip upside-down, the shuriken tossed just right, and a landing without breaking his neck. As long as he hit all of his targets, including the one he'd nailed behind the tree stump earlier, it would be just as his brother had done.

The flicker jump, which always made him feel weightless and used to give him vertigo, was executed perfectly. He flipped upside-down, the shuriken tucked tightly between his fingers, arms crossed over his chest. He closed his eyes, and let his memory of the targets solidify in his mind. A quick flick of his wrist, and the shuriken went flying. He could hear the sounds of his shuriken hitting their targets. He counted them off, thunk, thunk thunk thunk, thunk. Five? No, he had six in his hands. Another flicker and he was standing on the ground.

Sasuke walked to the targets, counting them off as he passed. The one behind the tree trunk was bare, the shuriken embedded in the ground about a foot away. He fumed; his hands fisted at his sides. Would he ever live up to his brother? Would he ever step out of that shadow? No matter what he does, he's always a step behind. He's never good enough. The anger rose in him, his brother's face appearing in front of him, taunting him. The handmade targets mocking his youth and inexperience. The pockmarks in the wood showing how inadequate he is.

With a flurry of hand motions and a pull of chakra to his chest, Sasuke let out a huge fireball that engulfed the clearing, destroying the targets and charring the trees. He watched as leaves turned to ash, dropping to the forest floor around him. The heat from the fire barely registered through his anger.

With the moon high in the sky, Sasuke ran. The dirt turned to cobblestone under his feet, his sandals pounding into the ground. If he focused hard enough, if he flared his senses as far as he could, maybe he could sense Kakashi. And, if he could sense Kakashi, he could get answers.

Sasuke was

done

with waiting.