夢

Chapter Thirty

カカシ班
team seven

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There's gonna be a note posted later on, so please do check that out when I post it. Kinda some big news?? Also, thanks for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed! :] A non-angst chapter, so yeah, no dramatic flair haha.

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[Six Years Later]

"Kuso!"

Naruto really should have listened to Satoshi the other day, when he told him to check the expiration date of the milk carton.

Dang it. It really seems like Satoshi's a connoisseur when talking about the future or something. He's done this to me a thousand times, yet I've never listened.

Naruto Uzumaki
"Satoshi."

Naruto Uzumaki was now thirteen years old, Iruka had realized. And in a span of three years, he went from a brash, overconfident prankster to a calm, decently intelligent, well-trained almost-genin.

Iruka knew well that Naruto didn't change without help. So, he took it upon himself to visit and find out who this person was. He tracked the boy to a Training Grounds nearby and found him with another man.

A man with brown hair--nothing special, but his cerulean eyes sparked a memory. Iruka was quick to think of who it was. But, there were only two people Iruka knew who had those same blue eyes--Minato Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki. And now, there was this man who had the same exact eyes?

It's no coincidence.

It's the same exact shade. He has to be some sort of relative.

"Ah, Iruka-san! Nice to meet you here, are you here for Naruto?" The man spoke, a wide, bright smile plastered on his face--the same Iruka saw on Naruto and Minato's face. After the academy teacher paused, the man sheepishly continued, while scratching the back of his head. "Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Satoshi."

Iruka reluctantly shook Satoshi's hand, his face expressing an uncertain look, but it went as quick as it came and was replaced with a small smile. "I came here because it came upon my attention that Naruto was being taught, but don't worry, I am not here to stop it. I just wanted to meet you."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Iruka! If you want, you could stay for a late lunch."

But Iruka just kept staring. How had this not come to my attention for the past six years?

...---...

Sasuke Uchiha
"Hideki."

The Akatsuki are still going on missions, but their Leader is planning to start hunting for bijuu.

Right now their Leader has started the mission to acquire the Five Tails.

Itachi Uchiha has known a spy has been watching them for a while. The only reason he hasn't killed him yet is because he recognized the spy. The spy is the same man who confronted him after the Massacre.

Normally, a small bond like that wouldn't prevent Itachi from killing him, but the spy knew something about him, something that Itachi himself had yet to know.

He wanted to know. But he had a mission to get done.

"Later, Konoha spy." He muttered under his breath as he jumped away. When he looked back, his body nearly tensed, because of the sight of two crows flying out of the forest--and it surprises him because only he has a crow summoning.

Hideki knows that Itachi Uchiha knows about him being a spy. But he figures that since Itachi keeps it a secret, he won't confront him. I keep your secret, you keep mine, he thought.

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Kakashi Hatake
"Raideshi."

Iruka couldn't believe it. The man who constantly checked up on three of his students ended up being the sensei for their team.

Coincidence? He thought not.

All those files he examined, and the test results he asked for...

What was he doing with them?

What does he want with my students?

"Excuse me, Raideshi-san?" Iruka tentatively asked while poking said man on the shoulder. It'd taken more than an hour to find him--and when he did, Raideshi was looking through a book shop. "I just needa ask you something.."

"Yes, Iruka-san?" The man turned around, not even the slightest bit embarrassed he was looking through Jiraya's novels.

"Well, I was just figuring..it was a coincidence that you've landed being sensei of your team," Iruka immediately added, "I'm not saying it's anything bad, but you were checking up on them weekly the past year, and somehow how became their sensei."

At that, Raideshi chuckled--a low, raspy chuckle, and Iruka found that it clashed horrible or rather unfortunate with the fact that the two of them were standing in an entire aisle of Jiraya's novels. "Well, that was because the Hokage informed me of my team. I asked, and he allowed me access to their names, and I only wanted to know about their scores and such so I could prepare future teachings."

Iruka nodded and said his thanks for answering his question, but the thought lingered in his mind: Hokage-sama would just give him information like that? And I've never heard of a sensei that did such a thing...usually the Hokage informed them at least a week before receiving their genin teams, but this man asked months before?

Nonethess, Iruka shook his head free of those thoughts and instead tried to fit himself into a friendly atmosphere between him and Raideshi. He apologized for intruding the man's privacy, to which the sensei responded that it was no problem.

"So," Raideshi states after a long silence. "You read Jiraya's novels?"

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春野サクラ
Sakura Haruno

Sakura,

A family from the Land of Waves have requested our help, sent by letter. They state that a man named Gato has been ruining the village, should we go help them? The Land of Waves is a week travels from here.

I'm at the market buying groceries. I'll make you some breakfast when I get back.

~ Miyako