Agent's Spiel: Sorry for all the delays and thanks for the patience. Due to a computer crash, I've lost ...well everything that wasn't online. Getting back to writing this might be a little rocky since I don't have my notes but I'll do my best. This chapter is kind of boring (for the reasons above) but we jump straight back into that thing called plot next chapter I swear.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any characters from said manga. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and a number of other interested companies.

"Why have they been training up here? It doesn't have as much room as the lower training fields?" Anko mused as she followed Sakura and Rishito towards Naruto's training field.

"Fewer eyes," a voice to her left muttered.

Anko snickered as Sakura and Rishito spun on their heels in surprise at the other ninja's sudden appearance. "Yuugao, he has you watching Naruto even when he's with Jiraiya?"

"Just a precaution. It'll probably be lifted in another week or so," the other woman answered, glancing briefly at Sakura and Rishito before waving all three forward. "I don't think Jiraiya wants interruptions, but the kid needs one," Yuugao added before disappearing again.

"Who has her watching Naruto?" Sakura asked suspiciously, pausing in her approach.

"Ibiki probably. If not him, then Tsunade does. Now let me do the talking, if Jiraiya's in a bad mood you don't want to be the target," Anko said when Jiraiya looked up away from Naruto to squint at them.

"Back already? Did you actually find Rin?" he called over.

Sakura frowned when Naruto glanced briefly over at them and then turned quickly away, apparently he wasn't quite ready to stop ignoring her on his own – not that she couldn't take care of that herself. "She was meeting with the Hokage when we left. You're supposed to observe our training and give me clearance to work with Naruto again," Anko answered.

"You can have him. Brat won't stop moping; I haven't been able to write a word in over a week."

Anko expected that to at least get a glare out of Naruto but instead he remained staring rather steadfastly at the edge of the field. "If that's the best he can pull off then he needs more practice moping," she quipped, finally getting a reaction out of the blond as he turned to stare at her in confusion. "If you're really done with him for the day then I'm taking them to see if Kakashi's done with the Hokage. I think he should treat us to ramen."

Naruto frowned when Jiraiya simply walked off the field humming to himself, instead of replying. "As if he's one to talk about moping. He's been acting like a jerk all week; won't say a damn word to me since you guys left," Naruto muttered, scratching at the back of his head before his eyes settled on Rishito. "Are you Rin and Kakashi-sensei's kid?" he asked in confusion.

"How'd you figure that out faster than me?" Sakura whined, ignoring the fact that she knew exactly why Jiriaya hadn't been able to say a word to Naruto.

"Wasn't it kind of obvious in that picture?"

"Not really," Rishito deadpanned at Naruto's reasoning. "The only real resemblance is our hair."

"Eh? No, I mean you probably think you look a lot like your mom 'cuz of the cheeky things, but other than that you look like him," Naruto answered gaining a nod from Anko.

Rishito studied the two for a moment before frowning when he realized that Sakura seemed to agree with them. "But everyone says I'm like mom."

"Have they met your dad? I mean you don't act much like him so maybe they're referring to that instead of appearance since they don't have anything to compare it to?" Sakura offered when she realized just how baffled the younger boy really was.

Naruto seemed to come to the same realization and quickly changed the subject, "Weren't we gonna make his dad buy us ramen? I haven't eaten this morning."

"Idiot!" Sakura screeched hitting him over the head. "You won't really get anything out of training if you don't take better care of yourself. And don't act like you haven't been spending the past week avoiding me."

"I wasn't really, but you were already angry with me and then I missed the funeral. I figured my skull was safer if I waited a few days before getting within arms reach of you," Naruto explained, managing a straight face far better than Anko had expected of him. She smirked as Sakura's eyes twitched slightly and her fist clenched momentarily before relaxing.

"You're still an idiot, now let's go get ramen. I missed breakfast too when I heard Kakashi-sensei was back," she said, admitting the last part in a whisper to Rishito. Her smile faded when she realized that Rishito was staring at them with a baffled look on his face. "What?"

"Neither of you are anything like Kakashi said you were," Rishito admitted, still looking at them oddly.

"Eh? He told you about us?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well...not directly. I'm not supposed to leave Anraku and he doesn't normally come there. Mom sees him and then relays stories and stuff. Mom's been censoring them for a while," Rishito admitted.

"Oh right, the 'stacked' incident," Sakura giggled. "I think that was just bad karma for reading that dumb book while he was supposed to be teaching us."

"It's not dumb," Anko interrupted looking put out at her lack of involvement in the conversation. "Now let's go find Kakashi, you two aren't the only ones who haven't eaten today and I've been traveling all night."

X

The four spent an hour searching for Kakashi before finally giving up and getting ramen on their own. Sakura had spent the first half of the lunch grilling Rishito about Anraku before Anko finally put a stop to it by telling Sakura to visit there herself. As soon as Sakura had quieted, Rishito turned the tables by grilling Sakura and Naruto about the Academy and their time as genin.

"How about the grand tour?" Anko asked Rishito as stood up and stretched before paying Teuchi.

"How much more is there? I saw pretty much everything while we were looking for Kakashi," Rishito pointed out, yawning as he walked out with Sakura.

"We skipped the training fields," Anko answered before mirroring his yawn. "And this is what I get for barely sleeping while we were out of town," she muttered. "Hey brat, what was the other picture you got from Lian?"

"Um...it kind of, disappeared," Naruto mumbled, scratching at the back of his neck as he turned away.

"You mean you lost it," Sakura deadpanned.

"No! I totally didn't. I had managed to hold onto it the whole night. I know I did because when I got changed the next morning I set it with that yukata. And then I got back that night and I was starving because I hadn't eaten like all day, but Kakashi-sensei was there and we talked and then you came by and I didn't remember it again until the next morning but when I checked for it it was gone."

"In other words, Kakashi stole it."

"...Probably," Naruto admitted to Anko. "Which sucks 'cuz that means it might have been embarrassing to him."

"It shouldn't have been embarrassing. It was just kind of old."

"You saw it?" Sakura asked turning to Rishito in surprise.

"Kushu and I picked them out. We were supposed to find one where he wasn't wearing the mask for you two, but other than the one we sent for Anko that was the only one we could find. Actually you were in it too," he said, pointing to Anko.

"I was in a photograph taken of Kakashi without his mask on?"

"Yeah. And...there's these other guys. They were off to the side with Mom. One was her age and the other was younger, like my age now. I remember when I was little, before I had seen dad, Kushu used to tell me he was my father even though I think it's just someone who worked with mom. I remember how confused I was when I finally met Kakashi and I said my mom was lying to me."

"Now I really want to see that photo. We could probably find the other guy in it," Sakura muttered.

"How old were you when you met your dad?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Hm...Four, no five."
"And this is an inside conversation," Anko said suddenly, pushing Rishito along and leaving Naruto and Sakura to follow.

"What's with the rush?" Naruto asked, as he jogged along next to her.

"We were being watched. Just hold up until we're back at the tower. I'll leave you three there to catch up and I'll go find Kakashi and Rin, okay?" Anko told him, glancing over her back to make sure Sakura had heard as well.

"Why were we being followed?"

"You want the full list?" Anko asked sarcastically.

Sakura quieted at Anko's tone and focused on slipping through the afternoon crowd with the others. She noticed that Naruto, out of his usual jump suit, barely caught half the looks he usually did, but they were still there, just as mean as they probably always had been.

Anko took them along the same path she had taken just that morning but found Ibiki waiting for them. He was leaning casually at the bottom of the winding stairway. "Yuugao said you were heading back," he greeted, glancing briefly at Rishito before turning straight to Anko.

"That's who was following us?" Sakura asked.

"No," Anko shook her head and motioned for them to head up the stairs.

"Stay in your rooms for a couple of hours," Ibiki added as Naruto pulled Rishito past the older man.

"But we-"

"Kakashi or I'll come by to get you for dinner. Don't worry about it for now," Anko assured Sakura, patting her on the shoulder before pushing her firmly towards the stairs.

Sakura tried to loiter but neither Ibiki nor Anko said a word while she was in hearing distance. She grumbled to herself as she trailed along behind Naruto and Rishito on the way to their rooms. Rishito was quickly closing himself off, similar to his reaction when they had begun teasing him about his father, but this seemed to be less defensive. He was glancing nervously between Naruto and Sakura until Naruto casually hit him over the head. "You'll never be a ninja if you freak out about this stuff," Naruto stated firmly.

"Did you have to hit me to point that out?"

"You'll never be a ninja if you can't take a few hits," was the 'sage' answer Rishito received as Naruto walked on ahead of him.

"That's umm...his way of being nice," Sakura whispered as she stepped up next to Rishito. "He's trying really hard to act like nothing's getting to him but he's a really bad actor so it doesn't go well."

Rishito considered asking if that was what was wrong with her as well, but he figured if Naruto was avoiding the girl's punches he probably should as well. When they finally caught up to Naruto he was waiting outside the door to Sakura's room. Before she could even close the door behind them Naruto had already turned on Rishito. "Why didn't you meet Kakashi-sensei till you were like five? I mean I know he was in ANBU but did that really stop him from going to...where ever you were staying?"

"Naruto, did you think for even a moment that this might be a sensitive subject?" Sakura asked, frowning at him.

"It's not really," Rishito assured her. "I was just kind of confused that you didn't know already. I mean mom left before I was born because of the council and then...I never got the whole the story but I know he did something really stupid. Like stupid enough that even Satumina-san thought it was stupid and he got punished for it. I think he might have actually been in jail for a while."

"Kakashi-sensei...was in jail?" Sakura asked while Naruto simply stared at the younger boy. "No way," he said after a moment, turning to Sakura and shaking his head in disbelief.

"No seriously. He got in trouble and wasn't allowed out of Konoha. I don't know what changed, mom hadn't been back to the village more than like twice since I was born, but the Hokage sent someone to get her at the capital and when she got back a month later he was with her. I totally didn't believe that he was my father because of Kushu's jokes" Rishito insisted.

"Do you know who the other guys were in that picture?" Sakura asked, swallowing thickly as she tried to wrap her head around what Rishito had told them.

"No, don't change the subject yet? Do you know anything about what he might have done?" Naruto asked leaning over to look straight at Rishito. "When were you born again? And when did this thing happen? When did he get to leave?"

"Umm, I was born in June, you would have been like four. It happened before that though, just by a month or two I think. He left...you would have been eight? Maybe. I had just turned five but mom had missed my birthday while she was here."

"Wait when you were four? That makes it that April or May? Eight years after Kyuubi's attack? Right?" Sakura asked suddenly.

"Yeah, that sounds right," Rishito answered nervously.

"Naruto I think she came back to treat Sasuke. He might have been released to go after Uchiha Itachi."

"What?"

"You remember how I kept going through our files? Right after Sasuke defected, I read his. Rin treated him after Itachi's attack. He was in the hospital for months before she was sent for. We'd have to check the dates but the massacre happened that winter. And even if Kakashi-sensei did something wrong...if it wasn't as bad as Itachi they might have pardoned him or something to go after Itachi," Sakura explained.

"We don't even know if Kakashi-sensei did something in the first place."

"Then why not let me change the subject?"

"Curiosity?" Naruto offered meekly.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Rishito piped up trying to break the tension. He was shocked when Sakura muttered, "It never seems to harm the fox."

"Are...are you allowed to talk about that?"

"You know?" Sakura asked in shock. "How do you know when I had to spend months figuring it out?"

"Months? I thought you guessed after the festival."

"That's not the point. How does he know?"

"I'm probably not supposed to know," Rishito admitted. "But I used to spend a lot of time at the capital when mom worked there. I would sneak in to visit with the guards with Kushu and...they talked about you. When mom realized what I had overheard she sent me to Anraku and wouldn't let me come back. That was like two years ago, right after you guys became genin."

"Seriously? You've known almost as long as I have; how is that fair?" Naruto spat out before catching himself and glancing cautiously at Sakura.

Sakura stared at Naruto in shock for a moment before turning to Rishito. "You're probably tired, Anko mentioned you had been traveling all night. Why don't you stay in here and take a nap? Naruto and I will be in the next room over if you need anything, alright?"

Without waiting for an answer, Sakura pulled Naruto out of the room leaving the baffled nine year old on his own.

Agent's Spiel: Was Kakashi in jail? Was he not? You might never know, this is one of those completely non-canon parts of the back story. If they ever get the nerve to ask Kakashi he will likely not answer them. (I think 21 is the only story in which I leave Kakashi's back story untouched).

Timeline is a bit wild (I had it cemented in my notes but now I'm recreating it...) The first chapter took place 6 months after Tsunade became Hokage. I'd add another 7-8 months for the stuff before that, and we've gone through almost 5 months story wise so that makes it more like a year and half but Rishito's rounding anyways.

And lastly, Naruto never told Sakura when he found out about Kyuubi. He mentioned Mizuki explaining it but no timeline. This just pretty much cements the anti-authoritarian thing she's been focusing on for the past week in lieu of thinking about her parents' deaths.

Yeah, yeah, horrible ending point but this chapter has literally been rewritten 3 times. Like I said above, this has been a bit harder without my background notes and since this chapter is pretty much about background...you get the idea. It's also weird because both Sakura and Naruto are meant to be acting completely unlike themselves which seems to annoy readers a lot. I was gonna hold out for a longer chapter but I figured you guys had waited long enough, after this notes will be up on the blog as usual.