Disclaimers: See previous installments

Uchiha Sasuke tried not to let his surprise show, by facial expression, posture or chakra fluctuation, when he rose at dawn to begin his training. It was his first full day out of the hospital, which meant he had a lot of time to make up for. The day before had been nothing short of torture. He understood why the interrogation jounin groaned with Anko appeared at his trial. Had Sasuke known better, he would have groaned as well. She was energetic and cheerful with an alarming sugar addition. That she was in her mid-twenties and a special jounin made her more irritating that Naruto. The woman was an adult. She should know better than to behave like that.

To make things even worse, Anko liked to compare herself to Sasuke. She said they were the same. He was smart enough not to doubt that she had some sort of trauma in her past-everyone in the village did; it came with being a ninja-but they clearly dealt with pain differently. Sasuke had no intention to ask Anko if she faked all of her airs to cover up her pain or if she did those things to suppress it, to make it choke on the happiness. Sasuke's pain consumed him and he didn't want anyone thinking otherwise. If he was one for making metaphors-which he wasn't-perhaps he would have compared happiness to a genjutsu. A person casts their happiness like a spell, until an enemy makes the right hand signs to release it. And then there's this place in you that's empty, that used to be filled with love and dreams and the knowledge that you could reach out and touch the people closest to you.

All of this aside, Sasuke was prepared to at least try to fall back into his old routine. Rise at dawn and train until nine o'clock. Then he would go to the bridge and see Naruto and Sakura and wonder how the hell they could be so cheerful when he was exhausted. And they would wait until Kakashi showed up and get their mission. He was looking forward to this. The new Hokage and said how important he was to the war so they were bound to get a good mission.

So, Sasuke awoke at dawn and headed for the training grounds on the Uchiha complex only to be stopped in his tracks by a bored looking Mitarashi Anko leaning in a random door frame. She was absently chewing on the stick of some long devoured dango. Though Sasuke didn't know the man's name off the top of his head, it made him think of Genma at the chuunin exam. He was a special jounin like Anko and always chewing on something...

She sighed. "Damn, you sleep late."

Sasuke paused, unsure of what to make of that.

"You haven't done anything but lie around since you got back and you still manage to sleep. Kakashi rubbing off on you?"

His mouth finally able to work, Sasuke managed a "What the hell are you doing in my house?"

"I live here, too, now." The day before, she'd cooked dinner and was still around somewhere when he went to bed. He'd figured she didn't have to watch over him while he was asleep, but it would be just like Orochimaru to have him dash off in the middle of the night, so it did make sense. Somehow, Sasuke assumed his personal space would be respected. He shouldn't have been surprised. That the Hokage and his gaurd were both women was enough to imply he wouldn't get a moment's peace, but he was also a traitor to the village now...

"It's too much room for just one person, anyway." By the time she said this, Anko had pushed away from the doorframe and was stepping outside.

Sasuke said, "Yeah."

He hated his home.

He followed her outside.

"Kakashi says you have an impressive chakra reserve," Anko said conversationally as she slid into position for a warm-up kata. "I thought," she began going through the motions briskly, still chattering all the way, "that we would work on tapping into that this morning."

"Kakashi is my teacher."

Anko stopped, annoyed. "Not good enough of one. Or did you leave because the education you were receiving was satisfactory?"

"Don't talk like you know me."

"I don't have to. I told you yesterday. We're the same."

"Don't compare yourself to me! I'm not like the people in this village!"

"What makes you different?"

"I'm an avenger. I live because I was chosen to take vengeance for my clan. The people of Konoha live and die for this village. I live for the dead. The village doesn't matter to me."

Anko didn't reply, but drew her right hand to her mouth and bit the thumb hard enough to draw blood. She preformed a few hand seals quickly and slapped her palm against the ground shouting, "Summoning Technique!" In a puff of smoke, a large constrictor snake appeared. It attacked Sasuke with barely a word of command from its apparent master. He could have kept the snake at bay, or so he liked to think, but Sasuke never really got the chance to test his skills against that of an animal ninja. The jounin and the snake coordinated perfectly, locking the boy in the reptile's coiled body. Anko looked at him with disappointment. She offered him no more smiles or lengthy diatribes on random subjects, but just dropped into a seated position on the grass.

"Say," she said softly, "that you have someone who's the worst enemy you could ever have. Not just an opponent or someone who's mission conflicts with yours, but someone who's personally and truly an enemy. No respect, no hope of a truce, no wanting to resolve things peacefully. I think, in that situation, the worst thing you could do is what that enemy wants you to do. Why would you want to play into his hands?"

The boy didn't respond. His only movement was the rising and falling of his chest.

"Midorimaru..you can go now." The snake disappeared out from under him, and Sasuke landed squarely on his rump. Sasuke didn't much feel like looking at Anko at the moment, but she brightened anyway. "I hope you were paying attention to that." Sasuke averted his gaze more, if that was possible. Anko gripped his shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

"Summoning is a great technique. Activate your Sharingan and I'll show you the signs again."

At the bridge that morning, Naruto anticipated Sakura chewing him out for not attending the trial, while Sasuke stood by silently, not caring either way. It had been so long since things had been the way they were supposed to be that for once in his life he couldn't wait for Sakura to smack him some or Sasuke to call him an idiot or a failure or something. He used to hope every morning that today would be the day he would earn their respect, but this day, he was happy with just their presence. Things were finally going to be right again.

More than that, he couldn't wait to tell them all he had learned about his family. He didn't know everything, but he did know more than he ever dreamed of. It was a shame Konohamaru had evacuated with the other cadets. Honored grandson? Naruto could soooo top that.

Sakura arrived a bit later than usual, but still before there was any sign of Sasuke. She was walking slowly with a preoccupied look on her face. She obviously didn't even know he was there, because when he shouted "Good morning, Sakura-chan!" she jumped, surprised. Naruto barely registered it, running toward her at full speed. "Hey, hey! Guess what, guess what!" Sakura didn't reply, but looked a bit quizzical.

"I," Naruto said, beginning his declaration because he just couldn't wait for Sasuke or Kakashi, "have a dad." He said it as thought having a predecessor was a great accomplishment.

Sakura was listening, at least. "You do not, you liar."

Naruto was still grinning ear to ear, despite the cruel response. "Well, he's dead."

"Oh." She wasn't going to dispute that. "Do you have a mom?"

Naruto closed his eyes in concentration and thought for a moment. "I dunno. I guess so."

"Well, if you've got a dad, you have to have a mom," Sakura pointed out. "They go together." She illustrated her point by lacing her fingers together and holding her hands up for Naruto to see.

"Yeah...but no one said anything about her."

"Why didn't you ask?"

"Because my dad," Naruto began, "Is. So. Cool. The pervert master knew him and told me a bunch of stuff and showed me his signature and what he looked like and he could summon Gama Bunta-"

"What?" Naruto ignored her.

"-Andandandandand he was HOKAGE!"

"What?" The high-pitched yelp couldn't be ignored.

"The Fourth Hokage was my dad!" Naruto expected Sakura to deny that, to accuse him of being a liar or an idiot or both. Instead, her mind, so adapted for memorizing, turned back to their academy days and called upon the photograph and biography of the Fourth from an early textbook.

"You look just like him."

An amazed smile spread across Naruto's face. "Really?"

"Yeah. I can't believe I had to be told. Maybe it's because he was always frowning in the pictures in our textbooks. I bet if we found a photo of him smiling, anyone could tell."

"Let's look for one!" Missions and training somehow had left the boy's mind entirely.

"I can't," Sakura said, her eyes focusing on something in the distance. "I just wanted to talk to you and Sasuke-kun before doing something else today."

"You wanted to talk to me?"

Sakura smiled at his bewildered tone. Sure, she picked on him and didn't like him the way she liked Sasuke, but she didn't hate him or anything. At least, not anymore. "I had something really important to tell you. I guess its kind of anti-climatic now." She laughed, but it was a nervous, forced sound. The silly things she had to say couldn't compare to Naruto finding his father, even if he was long dead.

"Sakura-chan has something to tell meeeee!" Naruto sang.

"Naruto!"

"Yeah!"

She took a deep breath. "I really respect you. Someday, I want to be like you." Sakura had her pride, though, and turned to leave once her piece had been said. She figured Naruto's jaw must be on the ground by now and grinned to herself. She raised her hand in a wave and continued on her way.

Sakura had assumed she'd see Sasuke at the bridge, too, though she wasn't sure what to say to him. She was trying to do the things she'd regret not doing, but she wasn't sure what she'd regret not telling Sasuke. She'd told him she loved him all ready and he finally seemed to understand that she actually cared about him, even if his response wasn't overwhelmingly positive. She thought about just leaving things as they were, as she'd certainly regret doing something that lowered his esteem of her. Throwing out "I love you"s like she was commenting on the weather was probably a good way to do that. He certainly seemed to hate it when Ino did things like that.

Ino... If anything would be harder than coming clean to Naruto, than it would be making up with Ino. The blonde might just laugh at her or find some other way to be cruel. Or she might be willing to reconcile. Friends probably had crushes on the same people all the time. Just because Sakura wanted to come out of Ino's shadow at something, anything, wasn't really worth the friendship of the first person to be nice to her, was it? She was in Naruto and Sasuke's shadows all the time now and she wouldn't want to give them up. People had different strengths, so every relationship probably had some jealousy. She was jealous that Ino was confidant and pretty and always got what she wanted. Maybe Ino was jealous that Sakura was smart. Or that she was shy. Or that she cried easily, even though she knew that a shinobi wasn't supposed to show her feelings.

By the time Sakura had arrived at the Yamanaka flower shop, she was moving slowly, head hung and feet dragging. Maybe she would be better off not making up with Ino. Maybe she could make a new friend in the time it took for her to walk from the door to the counter. A better friend.

"Ready to graduate to giving a guy something better than a daffodil?" Ino was standing behind the counter, leaning over. "We don't sell dandelions if you want to take a step back."

"I didn't come for a flower," Sakura tried, casting her eyes downward.

"There aren't any other reasons to come to a flower shop," Ino pointed out.

"I want my ribbon back." Ino made no reply, so Sakura continued, with difficulty. "It's not right to just return a gift, so..." Sakura winced and tried again. "I mean, people are friends and rivals all the time, right? It's dumb to just pretend that we're not still really friends, right?" Is this the way things are going to be again, Sakura wondered. Looking to Ino for approval for everything? Or had she grown enough to not need that?

"I-it's up stairs," Ino stammered, referring to the apartment above the store that the Yamanaka family lived in. "Watch the register and I'll go get it." She took her apron off and tossed it to Sakura, who grinned, donned it and stepped behind the counter. Ino disappeared into the back room and Sakura could hear her running up the steps.

Sakura tapped a happy rhyme on the counter. She'd made up with Ino, been honest with Naruto-who's father was the Fourth Hokage!-she was doing pretty good on this no regrets thing. It was a little interesting that both Tsunade and Naruto had spoken to her about the Fourth in such a short span of time. It was weird to think of that long dead man as someone who had a son. He'd probably had a wife and plans for the future that were never realized because of the demon fox. It was depressing to think of it that way. He hadn't gotten the chance to see his chosen successor rise, either. The Fifth talked like they expected him to be Hokage material before long. When she thought about it, there may even be only a few years left to wait. Five years or so...she'd be 17 then, just like the Fourth's son. The way Naruto was improving, he'd probably be really amazing by then.

Ino came down with the red ribbon to see a very shocked Sakura were she'd left a happy Sakura. "What?"

"Something just occurred to me," Sakura said lightly, waving her hand. Ino held the ribbon out. The other girl accepted it gratefully and pulled her hitai-ate out of her hair. She placed that on the counter and tied the ribbon in its proper place. Ino looked on with an approving expression, while Sakura debated where to put her forehead protector. She couldn't wear them both around her head. Finally, she settled for tying it around her neck. "Forehead for when we won't hold back," Sakura said, "Neck for when we're best friends." Ino smiled and untied her own ninja headband from her waist and fastened it around her neck.

"Wha'da'ya waaaant?" the half-asleep Hokage asked, having been poked repeatedly in the shoulder until she awoke. "It's my lunch break, I c'n sleep if I want." Two half-opened eyes found one. "K'kash'?"

"I didn't have an appointment, so I thought coming during a break would work," answered the man who owned the one half-opened eye.

"Yay," the Hokage answered, far from pleased with his idea.

Kakashi bowed, uncomfortably. "I formally request that my team be reformed, Hokage-sama."

"Oh." The Hokage was suddenly far more awake. "Oh. That. Um..." she rustled some of the papers she'd been using as a pillow, looking for something in particular. "No."

"No?" Kakashi echoed. He had only come as a formality, not even finding it necessary. That Konoha's most powerful genin team should be reformed wasn't a question to him. It was war, the village needed the competent ninja in teams that they would be able to work with to the best of their ability.

"If the Uchiha boy comes to you for training, that's fine," Tsunade offered, "but Naruto is better off with Jiraiya and frankly you haven't taught Haruno Sakura a thing."

"You can't take these kids away from me," Kakashi didn't know what he was saying while he was speaking. It just came out. But it was true. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were his most important comrades. "They're all I've got."

"Konoha needs them more than you. It's been almost forty years since the last appearance of those who would be legends. Four decades seems about right, doesn't it?"