Sasuke stared at the drunk man inside the Hokage's office. "What did you just say?" he demanded sharply. Had that drunk guy just insulted his little brother?

Kakashi sighed and lowered his book. "Sasuke, no killing the client."

Sasuke whirled around and glared at him. Kakashi instinctively took a step back before adding: "At least not until the mission is done."

"How about arresting him then?" the Uchiha inquired. "If we lock him up, he will be perfectly safe, and we still get the money for protecting him. Let's just call it protective custody."

Kakashi snorted.

"I am afraid, Sasuke," the Third replied, slightly amused. "that we cannot keep him without reason. And I believe," he added lightly. "that there are already enough people locked up for overly aggressive behavior towards a police officer."

"Their arrests were completely justified," Sasuke answered immediately. They were. Those three had thrown rotten tomatoes at his little brother. "They attacked Deputy Naruto."

"Indeed," the Hokage agreed, a grave expression on his face. "A terrible crime."

Their client kept staring between the Hokage and the Head of the Police force; eyes wide open as he followed the conversation.

"Brother," Naruto finally intervened. "Let's just get on with this, okay? I wanna hear about the mission."

Sasuke immediately relaxed. "Fine," he huffed. "But I am only doing this because you asked me," he added for their client's benefit.

Iruka had heard about this new development, but he still could not believe it. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto had been like oil and water. They had never gotten along.

But for some strange, unbelievable reason the grumpy avenger had changed into an overprotective mother hen, actively shielding Naruto from anything and anyone he perceived as a threat.

He had overheard Hatake telling his fellow jonin-sensei that Sasuke insisted on being present for every spar he had with Naruto; apparently distrustful of having stronger shinobi around his little brother.

According to Morino Ibiki, Sasuke had also taken up his position as Head of the Police Force and was regularly sending… customers over to the man's department.

As far as Iruka knew the boy had been the key to discovering two spies and a rising minor crime ring.

That had been one of the main reasons Danzo's motion to oust Sasuke from his position had fallen through. Why should they get rid of someone who was doing such a good job?

Iruka shook his head and turned his attention back to the team in front of him.

He did not agree with the decision to give them a C-Rank just yet. But he had the strange feeling that it might work out just fine.

Sakura kept her eyes on her two teammates. She was slowly getting used to the strange dynamic going on between them. Still, she was not too happy about the way Sasuke was hovering over Naruto.

But she did not have the courage to object either. The one time she had actually dared to criticize the blond, she had found herself at the wrong end of the Uchiha Brotherhood Lecture.

It had been a traumatizing experience.

So, she reluctantly kept her mouth shut and stayed close to their teacher, who seemed to be equally amused and bemused by the boys' antics.

"He is doing it again," she muttered to the man. Kakashi raised his head to see Sasuke handing an apple bunny to Naruto.

The blonde grinned and obediently ate the offered fruit.

Sasuke nodded in satisfaction and went back to observing his surroundings.

Kakashi shrugged carelessly and went back to reading.

Sakura sighed. Why did she have to be the only normal person on this team?

"Is this normal?" Tazuna asked her, nodding into the direction of the boys.

"You have not seen half of it," Sakura answered blandly.

Their client had lied. He had lied. Sasuke carefully put his hands over Naruto's ears before he started in on the man for endangering his brother.

Kakashi wisely kept out of his way, patiently waiting until he was done and occupying himself by giggling over his favorite novel.

Half-an-hour later, a very meek Tazuna readily answered Kakashi's questions, careful to keep the man between himself and the scary kid.

Sasuke was furious. His baby brother had just charged at a nuke-nin to get his headband! His headband. If he had been less fast, Naruto might have lost his head.

He could have died!

This was personal now.

"You," he snarled furiously at the surprised clone. "You almost hurt Naruto." Sasuke pinned the man with the infamous Uchiha glare. "You almost hurt my little brother!"

Sasuke brought his fist up and punched the clone with such a force that it dispelled immediately, leaving wet patches on the ground.

Original Zabuza instinctively stepped backwards when Sasuke's glare settled on him, and he accidently released the prison he was keeping their teacher in.

Kakashi did not waste any time charging in.

"Tsunami," the old man introduced his guests, "these are the ninja I've hired to help us. Hatake Kakashi," he pointed at the unconscious man hanging limply between two Naruto clones. "and his students, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uz-"

"Uchiha Naruto," Sasuke interrupted. "My brother."

Tazuna blinked in surprise but did not disagree. "Uchiha Naruto," he repeated.

The woman nodded, slightly overwhelmed. "Welcome, please do come in. You can take your teacher upstairs. Is… is he alright?"

"Just exhausted," Sasuke answered offhandedly. "He will be good after sleeping for a bit."

"We got attacked along the way," Sakura added. "He overexerted himself."

Tsunami nodded. "Second door to the right. Once you are done, please join us for dinner."

Their clients watched with bemused fascination as Sasuke filled Naruto's bowl and told him to eat the vegetables. The blond boy did not seem to be too happy about that, but did not disagree.

Tazuna raised an eyebrow when Naruto snuck a piece of cooked tomato into Sasuke's bowl while the black-haired boy was looking into the other direction.

Sasuke refilled his spoon, his eyes lighting up at the taste. Naruto smiled, pleased by his reaction.

"Are you gay?" Inari suddenly asked and Tazuna almost chocked on his rice and Sakura barely stopped herself from dropping the glass she was holding.

"Inari!" the woman scolded the boy, looking embarrassed by the question. Her reprimand was almost overshadowed by the loud, indignant "What?! No!" coming from Naruto.

"We are brothers. Not a couple" Sasuke stated plainly, looking slightly ill at the idea.

"But you don't look alike," Inari retorted skeptically.

"We have different mothers," Sasuke answered curtly and steadfastly refused to answer further questions, opting instead to calm down his brother, who still looked rather unsettled.

That was the moment when Kakashi decided to walk in, awake, but still very tired. "Yo! What did I miss?"

The room remained strangely quiet.

"So, to sum it up," the Third began, looking sternly at the jonin in front of him. "Your client lied to you about the mission rank, but you decided to continue, anyway. Naruto discovered his philosophical side and got a bridge named after him and Sasuke did not only activate his Sharingan but also managed to scare a nuke-nin off by glaring at him."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi agreed happily.

The Hokage rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I am getting too old for this," he muttered. "Kakashi, consider this an official reprimand for endangering your subordinates. You and your team will receive an A-rank pay and I will award a merit to your genin. Now get out! I have a headache!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi repeated obediently and jumped out of the window.

"Why did I even bother to install a door?" the Third wondered dryly and picked up his pipe.

He really needed a good smoke now.

A/N

I had not planned on doing that, but I realized that I wasn't quite done with that concept. I am transforming this fic into a slice of life collection to add to whenever I feel like it =)

This is not going to be a WIP.