Yumetsuki was in quite a hurry to head back home to the village of Konohagakure, knowing that she was getting late for Naruto's graduation. She had not expected that her mission would take such a detour toward the Fire Temple in the middle of the Fire Nation. The only solace the young woman had was that she had gotten to wish her godson good luck before he had gone in for his exam.
"Naruto-Chan, you must not be hasty today," Yumetsuki told him gently as she fixed Naruto's jacket, taking out the wrinkles that he had put onto it just by messing around with it. She spread his collars properly. "Do not let yourself get overwhelmed and just focus on doing your best. I believe in you,"
"Yes, Meiko-Chan!" Naruto replied eagerly, hopping up and down, and as soon as she was finished, he raced out toward the front door, hurryingly pulling on his shoes to head out. "I will!"
"I just told you to not be hasty today..." trailed off Yumetsuki wearingly. "Come along, I will walk you to your academy today," She held her hand out to him. "I want to see you off today,"
Both Yumetsuki and Naruto had set off to the Ninja Academy together, with the woman listening into her godson's excited chatter about how he wanted to wear his forehead protector quickly. Yumetsuki had smiled at him, and she hoped that he would be able to graduate properly.
When they had reached the boy's school, Naruto had quickly hugged her before rushing off from there as Yumetsuki wished him, "Good luck, Naruto-Chan," and she kissed his forehead before he left. She stood in wait until he vanished into the school and then turned with a smile to look at the boy who had made his way to the academy right behind her –
"Good morning, Sasuke-Chan," Yumetsuki greeted the young boy, and she watched as he turned his face away, being tough as always. She was not deterred by this, however, as she was used to his behaviour. "I wish you all the best for your final exam today. I believe in you,"
Sasuke had only really hummed in response, keeping in pace with his exterior but Yumetsuki's smile only widened in response. She was not bothered by it, rather she always found it faintly cute that he had to be tough with her as well, even if he always sought her out. She reached out to take his face in her hands as well, pressing a kiss against his forehead that flamed his pale skin completely red.
"Good luck to both Sasuke-Chan and Naruto-Chan,"
That had been very early that morning, and then Yumetsuki had parted ways from the two boys to head off in the direction of her medical conference. She had spent her entire day there and had wished to be in Konohagakure by the time it was four in the afternoon. But before she could return home, she had received letter to redirect toward the Fire Temple for a quick meeting.
Evening had fallen already as Yumetsuki rushed into Konohagakure, and she headed quickly toward Hiruzen's office to inform him that she had arrived. She did not have the time to give any briefing right now and would do it later – she only wanted to drop the documents off before she went to look for both Naruto and Sasuke.
But what awaited for Yumetsuki at the Hokage Office was something that she had not expected in the slightest – the news that Naruto had somehow done the unthinkable and somehow managed to steal the Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage Tower. Every single Shinobi was looking for Naruto.
"Sensei, please call back every Shinobi," Yumetsuki said to Hiruzen, bowing her head apologetically. "I will personally locate Naruto-Chan and have him return the Scroll immediately, I apologise,"
Never before had Naruto ever done something of this nature – Naruto had never been a thief and he would never steal something like this. There had to have been a reason behind and Yumetsuki spread her Chakra, knowing where she would find her godson. And as she left the Hokage Tower, she dispatched her Summon Foxes, spreading them around the forest.
There were traces of Naruto's Chakra leading him toward the nearby forest, not very far from where their home was located – and she could also feel other Chakras there: belonging to Umino Iruka and Mizuki, both being Chunin instructors at the Konoha Ninja Academy.
If things had been stranger before, Yumetsuki was now starting to wonder if she was having a strange dream: She found Naruto in the clearing, and he had excitedly turned to look at her while Mizuki laid in the back, thoroughly beaten up. There was a large amount of Chakra in the area, and for a moment, she was worried that Kurama's Chakra had seeped out of Naruto.
But the moment that Naruto noticed his godmother, he let out a loud cheer and came rushing toward her, bouncing up and down as he pointed to his forehead, "Meiko-Chan! Meiko-Chan! Look at this! Look what I got here! I passed my exam! Well... not exactly, but I got to graduate!"
And with that, Naruto began to ramble about a long story about Mizuki was really strange and that it was Naruto who had managed defeat the Chunin by making hundreds of Shadow Clones – and that he had learned it through the Scroll of Sealing and that he had to do it because Iruka was hurt.
"Wait, Naruto-Chan," Yumetsuki said, putting his excited storytelling to a halt as she grabbed his shoulders quickly to get his attention. "Your Sensei is hurt? Where is your Iruka Sensei?"
Naruto led Yumetsuki to where Iruka was trying to fix himself up where he had gotten stabbed in the back by a Giant Shuriken. Yumetsuki hurried forward, quickly descending into her Medi-Nin mode as she began to instruct him how to sit so that she could get started with healing him quickly.
"... Yumetsuki-San," spoke Iruka, who appeared to have stopped bleeding simply because all the blood had rushed to his cheeks upon her sight. "Please don't blame Naruto... it was all Mizuki's doing..."
And now, following his student and quite the same manner, Iruka began to ramble about how Naruto had failed his final exam, how Mizuki had taken advantage of the boy's emotions to make him do this, and that Iruka was at fault for not understanding how his students felt.
Hearing all of this, Yumetsuki had no idea where to begin or where to end. But all she knew was that they needed clean this up. She finished patching Iruka up and stood tall to her height as she turned to Naruto.
"Naruto-Chan, I am happy that you graduated on your own accord," Yumetsuki spoke. "But I do not want you to ever try something like this. I will never forgive stealing. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Meiko-Chan," Naruto mumbled, and he appeared rather sheepish as he looked down. But then he perked up, looking back at her with sparkling eyes, "Iruka Sensei said he's treating Ramen!"
"Your Iruka Sensei needs to go to the hospital first," Yumetsuki responded, and Iruka flushed in embarrassment. "And I have to take Mizuki in for interrogation. And you need to come with me to apologise to the Third Hokage. Ramen can wait until later, you will have homemade dinner tonight,"
Things went on in that manner – Yumetsuki took Naruto with her, and they dropped Iruka off at the Konoha Hospital before having the Chunin arrest Mizuki for attempting to steal the Scroll of Sealing. And then Yumetsuki and Naruto went to apologise to Hiruzen. By the time that they were finished, Naruto was already dozing off out of exhaustion as he stood. Yumetsuki turned to look at the Third Hokage.
"I apologise, Sensei," Yumetsuki said, bowing deeply in front of her former teacher. "Naruto-Chan did not mean to do this. I know that he is a prankster, but he would never hurt anyone's sentiments by stealing. I will have a talk to him about it as well,"
"There's no need to apologise, Yumeko," Hiruzen replied as Yumetsuki raised her head. "I know what sort of boy Naruto is, and I know that you have taught him well. Leave everything to me and go home, I'm sure you'd love to celebrate the graduation of your boys,"
Yumetsuki had thanked Hiruzen before she set off from the Hokage Office with Naruto hanging on her back, the boy's snores against her shoulder. She was quiet as she made her way out of the building, thinking over everything that Naruto and Iruka had told her – and then she found herself smiling.
Her godson had been very brave.
The air was cool that night and Yumetsuki was lost in her thoughts as she walked out toward the direction of her and Naruto's home, carrying the sleeping boy. She did not like the idea of young children becoming Ninjas, but she believed in her godson, and she believed in Sasuke. She could only pray that they would become Shinobi who inspired others.
Naruto was snoring rather loudly by the time Yumetsuki set him on the sofa to sleep, much to her amusement. And she busied herself at once, heading to the kitchen to make a celebratory dinner for her boys. She smiled to herself, seeing how different they were even in their choice of food.
For Naruto, Yumetsuki made special homemade Ramen with freshly strained miso soup and gently cut pork fillet that she roasted to the perfect degree that she knew Naruto liked. And going with the Ramen, she also put a serving of his favourite red bean soup, albeit he only ever liked it if she made it.
On the other hand, for Sasuke, the most essential part was to incorporate tomatoes into his food. Yumetsuki had been rather amused when she had noticed that he always picked at the tomatoes first and had thus then gone out of the way to add more of it into her recipes.
Thus, the bento box being packed up to the brim was an assortment of Sasuke's favourite side dishes, a juicy roasted fish along with his most beloved okaka onigiri. Yumetsuki carefully placed the star of the box: roasted tomato onigiri that happened to be the first recipe Sasuke asked her of.
When Yumetsuki had arrived on Sasuke's doorstep, it almost felt to her that he had been waiting for her. She had quite barely knocked on the door when it was swung open, and she from the pinkness of his cheeks and the haphazardly tied forehead protector, Yumetsuki could tell Sasuke definitely was waiting for her to arrive. She smiled at him as she held the bento box out, the furoshiki wrapped into resembling cat ears.
"Congratulations on becoming a Genin, Sasuke-Chan," Yumetsuki spoke gently. "I apologise for being so late in saying this to you... but I hope that this would make it up for it," She gestured to the dinner. "I made all of your favourites, just the way you like them... oh, and look at that forehead protector..."
Before Sasuke could set the bento box down to correct his forehead protector that he had so hurriedly placed back on for Yumetsuki to see, the older woman smiled and reached out to it, fixing it properly in it place and pressing a kiss against it, "You have made me proud, my boy,"
"... thanks," Sasuke mumbled, looking away in an attempt to hide his embarrassment from her but Yumetsuki could only ever smile at him as long as he was being like this.
Both Naruto and Sasuke had enjoyed their dinner that night, even if separately, and Yumetsuki could not be any more relieved by it. She felt like all the rushing had been worth it as long as she could have the two boys sleeping in their beds, with their tummies filled with warm, homemade food.
Yumetsuki finally changed out of her clothing and into her nightwear, wrapping her blanket around herself as she slipped into the softness of her bed. She let out a sigh as her eyes fell onto the full moon in the distance, but she also felt rather content with how the night had wrapped up.
Her boys were her sources of pride.
❄️
It was the following morning that Yumetsuki joined the Third Hokage in his office, going through the Ninja Registrations forms that were being submitted. Yumetsuki had never had her own formal ceremony of such registrations as she had been granted early graduation from the academy but since the day, she had started working with Hiruzen, she had gone through hundreds of such applications. Many of them were now full-fledged Ninjas... and some of them were no longer alive.
But never before Yumetsuki had seen the sort of registration form that she was seeing right now – and it belonged to none other than her own godson. There it was, that identification picture in the corner of the form: it was Naruto, his face painted red-and-white, reminiscent of a Kabuki performer.
"I couldn't make a nice face, so it took three hours to make it look like that," Naruto informed them happily as he laughed heartily, laughing. He was seated on the stool in front of Yumetsuki and Hiruzen as they went over his registration form for him. "But – but isn't it artistic, or like, cool?"
But where Yumetsuki was trying to see what had even prompted her godson to do this strange pose, Hiruzen was clear-cut in his order to the boy, "Take it over,"
"No!" Naruto shouted in defiance of his order, and Yumetsuki knew that was to come. "Meiko-Chan, I won't!"
"Re-take the picture," Hiruzen repeated himself without missing a beat.
"No way!" Naruto responded yet again in an effort to be rigid.
As Naruto and Hiruzen stared at one another intently to see who would back down first, Yumetsuki was suddenly unsure who was stranger out of her godson and her Sensei. All of a sudden, Naruto leaned back in his chair and shouted – "Transform!"
There was a bout of smoke that surrounded Naruto, and then it slowly subsided to reveal the blond in a rather... strange appearance. In place of the boy was now a young voluptuous woman with long blonde hair tied back in pigtails. This female blew a kiss toward the Third Hokage –
"Hokage-Sama, please..."
If this sight had not taken Yumetsuki by surprise, she was utterly scandalised when the reaction her former Sensei, the Third Hokage gave – Hiruzen flew from his chair, the force of his nosebleed sending him dropping on his back with his chair still with him. Yumetsuki had no idea what to do.
Am I surrounded by... perverts?
One look from Yumetsuki had Naruto quickly transforming back into himself, although he still supported a rather triumphant look on his face. She turned to look at Hiruzen, a bit concerned and plenty embarrassed by the reaction that he had given to Naruto's strange behaviour, "Uh, Sensei?"
"I'm okay, I'm okay," Hiruzen said as he finally got himself together, wiping the blood off his nose. "The temptation technique, eh...? What an absurd technique..." He looked to the blond. "By the way Naruto, where is your forehead protector?"
"I'm not going to wear it until the explanatory meeting, since it will get scratched," Naruto explained as he placed his hands on the goggles that he was wearing over his head.
"Putting that aside," Hiruzen continued. "This Ninja Registration Form is something of the utmost secrecy that will remain in the village so it's an important document even to you," He took the form from Yumetsuki. "So, what is with this face?"
"I don't understand those complex things!" Naruto said.
"Naruto-Chan, this form requires a formal picture," Yumetsuki exclaimed to him. "It is your information data that will remain with the village in case of any issue. It is your identity in the Shinobi system,"
Before Naruto could respond to her or even think of anything, Yumetsuki turned her head to look at the office's door as it suddenly slid open yet again, for the umpteenth time – and in jumped Sarutobi Konohamaru as he attempted to 'take his grandfather' by surprise and 'defeat' him.
"You old geezer," shouted Konohamaru as he ran at Hiruzen with a Shuriken. "Fight me! The title of Fifth Hokage belongs to me, Konohamaru!" He suddenly tripped and face-planted himself onto the floor. "Ouch..." He sat up, holding his head. "Is this a trap?"
Following right after Konohamaru was another Tokubetsu Jonin that was teaching the young boy, Ebisu, "Are you okay, young Master?" He noticed Yumetsuki and straightened up. "There are no traps by the way,"
"I got it," Konohamaru responded, and he decided to head right up to Naruto, who was watching him with curiosity. The boy pointed at the blond's face. "You did something, didn't you?"
"You just tripped on your own!" Naruto said, annoyed by the boy and for some reason, went a bit too far in that frustration as he caught Konohamaru by his blue scarf.
"Naruto –" began Yumetsuki calmly but was swiftly cut off by Ebisu.
"Hey!" shouted Ebisu at once and Yumetsuki glanced at his reaction as well, her lips pursed at being interrupted like this. "Let go of him! He is the grandson of the great Third Hokage!"
Naruto looked toward Ebisu, toward Yumetsuki, and then at Konohamaru with a blank expression.
"What's the matter?" Konohamaru shouted Naruto. "Why don't you hit me if you can? You're no match for a grandson of a Hokage!"
This only served to annoy Naruto further as he shouted at the boy, "Like I care about that!" He raised his fist and punched Konohamaru over the head. "You idiot!"
Konohamaru reacted to this punch by falling to the ground in a rather slow-motion fashion and Yumetsuki noticed his strange expression – she wondered if Naruto's punch had somehow also knocked some sense into the boy because he was suddenly very placid.
"What!" shouted Ebisu in shock as his jaw dropped at what he was witnessing.
"Oh well..." commented Hiruzen wearily, watching the scene unfold between his grandson and Naruto. He turned his head to look at his student. "Yumeko?"
In the end, it was Yumetsuki who had to separate Naruto and Konohamaru from one another. She did not want to scold Naruto in public so she informed him that they will be having a serious talk very soon. As Naruto left, she turned to check on Konohamaru's injury only to find Ebisu with him.
"Listen, you are the Third Hokage's grandson," Ebisu told Konohamaru. "Even though he hit you, you cannot get involved with a guy like him. No good will come out of dealing with him," He pumped his chest out. "I, the elite teacher Ebisu, am never wrong,"
"Ebisu-San," interjected Yumetsuki coolly. "I may not understand the need you have to fluff yourself up... but I would like it if you would steer clear of besmirching Naruto,"
It was clear that Ebisu was rattled by Yumetsuki calling him out for it, and he tried to compose himself as he returned to Konohamaru, "You wish to be the Fifth Hokage, don't you? If I teach you Ninja Techniques, it will be easy to gain the title of Hokage," He corrected his glasses once more. "Yes, the quickest path to becoming a Hokage is to learn from me, do you understand, young master?"
There may have been a way for Ebisu to believe in his ability to create the next Hokage in a breeze but what the man did not realise was that the boy himself had left his teacher in a dust, vanishing out of the office. Yumetsuki rubbed her forehead, wondering what was to come next.
"He's gone!" exclaimed Ebisu in shock.
"It seems like he went after Naruto," Hiruzen commented.
"What?" asked Ebisu as he rushed out as well. "That's an emergency! Young master!"
"How did he grow up to be like that?" Hiruzen spoke as he voiced his thoughts out to the now emptier room. "That was the twentieth ambush today. It worries me even more if he's with Naruto... I hope he doesn't teach Konohamaru weird things,"
"There is not much different between the two of them," Yumetsuki admitted as she stacked and filed the registration forms. "They both seek their own idea of acknowledgement from others," She looked toward him. "I will be taking my leave now, Sensei,"
"I suppose you're right," Hiruzen replied. "You should head out," He smiled suddenly as he looked at her. "I think I have an idea of how I want the Genins assigned to their teachers..."
When Yumetsuki found Naruto again, he was right where she had expected him to be – and she was also not very surprised upon seeing Konohamaru with him. But she was certainly suspicious of whatever that Naruto was attempting to teach the already out-of-bounds Konohamaru.
"Naruto-Chan," Yumetsuki spoke up as she walked over to the pair of them, not wanting two kids going around and making voluptuous fakes. "It is time for dinner. We have to head home now,"
"Ramen!" Naruto cheered at once, but Yumetsuki shook her head no. "Meiko-Chan, please!"
"We are having something healthy tonight," Yumetsuki replied. "We had Ramen yesterday,"
"Who is this, boss?" asked Konohamaru as he looked between Yumetsuki and his 'boss'. "Oh, oh!" He suddenly moved his hands in a wave. "Is it – big, small, big?"
Yumetsuki looked at Konohamaru as he made those motions and she recognised at once that he was talking about her proportions. Her expression flattened at once and Konohamaru winced at the iciness of her disapproval as she stared him down with those pale blue eyes.
"Hey, you can't talk about Meiko-Chan like that!" Naruto told Konohamaru as if the younger boy had not gotten the news already. "Meiko-Chan's my Nee-Chan!"
"Boss's Nee-Chan?" asked Konohamaru as he returned to looking between Yumetsuki and Naruto. "But you don't like each other at all, Boss!"
"We've got the same eyes!" Naruto replied. "A little bit! We have blue eyes!"
"So do I!" Konohamaru said. "But aren't they all different shades?"
"Naruto-Chan, it is time to head home," Yumetsuki reminded him. "And Konohamaru-Chan, you should be heading home as well. It is getting late to be out in the forest by yourself,"
"Hey, I'm coming with you!" called Konohamaru
And Konohamaru came running after them in a hurry. Naruto was not very amused by his little student anymore as the brunet caught Yumetsuki's other hand. But Konohamaru was unfazed. Yumetsuki could only sigh to herself, letting them hold her hands even if she was being pulled from both ends.
❄️
It finally came the morning of Naruto's first day as an official Genin and he was ready to set off on his classroom where he would be assigned a team to look after. Yumetsuki woke him up early and made sure that he would have his breakfast before he headed out for the newest phase of his life. She wished that Sasuke could be right here with them as well so that she could give him the same love.
"Allow me to tie it for you," Yumetsuki said as she held her hand out for Naruto's forehead protector and he eagerly handed it over to her, standing in front of her to let her do it.
Yumetsuki gently brushed Naruto's sunshine hair out of the way of his forehead before reaching around his head to tie the forehead protector on carefully. She held his shoulders as she looked at him and she found herself smiling at the sight of him with unblemished new symbol.
"Thank you, Meiko-Chan!" Naruto said eagerly as he held up a thumbs up, even without looking in the mirror to see how he looked. "How do I look?"
"Naruto-Chan looks handsome," Yumetsuki said. "Let me take a picture of you before you head out," She got up to fetch the camera and Naruto hurried to stand outside in the garden.
As she returned back to where Naruto was waiting for her, she found the boy shining golden under the morning sunlight. For a moment, she was transfixed, and then she felt a sense of relief on the sight of him – that she was truly someone that she could trust unreservedly to be a golden boy.
"Off you go now, Naruto-Chan," Yumetsuki said as she gave him a goodbye hug. "We will have your favourite ramen in the evening so let us be back on time, alright?"
"I will!" Naruto replied, perked up at the thought of it. "See you later, Meiko-Chan!"
Naruto rushed out of their garden and off to the direction of his Ninja Academy one final time. Yumetsuki stood there, watching him leave until he vanished from her eyesight and even then, kept a long interest in his Chakra until she was sure that he reached his academy safely.
These worries were now supposed to lessen, Yumetsuki knew, given that Naruto was no longer a little boy – he was twelve years old and was now also a Genin. He was much older than her when she had become a Ninja. Yet the concerns for his safety could never leave Yumetsuki. She had lost many a young Ninjas just like Naruto and could not stand seeing her godson hurt in anyway.
It was similar concern that Yumetsuki felt about Sasuke – she knew that he had also suffered very much in his youth. She worried for his mental health and his drive for life. She knew that he wanted to avenge his family by seeking revenge against Uchiha Itachi. Yet she still wished that he would find a Nindo that would lead him to live a happier life.
With Naruto out of the house, it was time for Yumetsuki to get going as well. She had taken up the night shift at the Konoha Hospital, and she had a few hours off before she was to head out for a conference in the afternoon. There was also a grocery list waiting for her to go through.
Yumetsuki looked at the kitchen table where she had cleared out the fridge and sighed, knowing that she wanted to get rid of all the expired food before she brought anything new in. She needed to clean up the house before she took a nap as well.
Everything was spotless by the time that Yumetsuki laid in her bed to rest but rather than going to sleep, she found her thoughts trailing off to the thought who Naruto will be in a team with, and who would be his Sensei. Yumetsuki tossed and turned in her bed, trying to find any soft spot.
That was the thought that kept Yumetsuki on her feet the entire day – she was constantly thinking about it in bed, throughout the conference at work and even during the grocery run. All the way until Naruto returned back home.
"Meiko-Chan, I'm back!" called out Naruto as he came bounding through the kitchen door and then he sighed and dropped onto the sofa with his limbs spread like a starfish.
"Good to have you back, Naruto-Chan," Yumetsuki said curiously as she looked toward him from the stove. "Is something the matter? Did you not have a good time?"
"We have the weirdest Sensei ever!" Naruto answered as he sat up, pulling off his forehead protector. "He's such a weirdo, Meiko-Chan, a total weirdo, total!"
"Is that right?" Yumetsuki asked as she turned back to the stove, working on the miso soup. She was a bit amused by his complaint. "Who is your Sensei, Naruto-Chan?"
"His name's... what was it?" Naruto said thoughtfully as he sat up, crossing his legs and grabbing his chin with his forefinger and thumb, thinking hard. "He was so weird... he didn't tell us a single thing about himself... Hatake Kakashi!"
As soon as the name left Naruto's mouth, Yumetsuki found herself halting in midst of stirring the soup. For a moment, she was confused, and then bewildered and then confused again as to why the Third Hokage had not told her that he would be placing Naruto under the tutelage of Kakashi.
"He came so late!" Naruto continued. "But then..." He suddenly laughed. "I got to prank him! When he opened the door to the classroom, the duster fell onto his head! And then he told us he hated us. But then he also refused to tell us anything about himself,"
Naruto jumped to his feet to imitate Kakashi, "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dream... hmm..." He gave a weird smile. "And I have a few hobbies,"
"Is that what he looked like?" Yumetsuki asked, a strange sense of amusement seeping into her voice as she watched Naruto try and copy Kakashi's behaviour. "Your Kakashi Sensei?"
"Yes, Meiko-Chan!" Naruto replied at once. "You won't like him one bit, Meiko-Chan! He's so not like you – he's so weird, and he's so lazy and late to everything, and he wears this weird mask!"
"I see," Yumetsuki said, trying to imagine how Naruto would react if he knew that his godmother and his Sensei had a long intertwining past together. "I see..."
"And you know what, Meiko-Chan?" Naruto went on as he slumped back in the sofa. "He wants us to come all early in the morning tomorrow! And he doesn't want us to have breakfast! Isn't that wrong, Meiko-Chan? You said that breakfast is the most part of our day! See? He's so opposite!"
"There must be a reason why he made such a request," Yumetsuki reasoned to the boy fairly. "You should have a good dinner and have a good night's sleep before your meeting with Kakashi Sensei,"
"Why couldn't I have had you as my Sensei," Naruto mumbled. "It would have been so much fun if we got to go on missions together, Meiko-Chan! I wanted to go with you!"
"It would be nice to go on a mission with Naruto-Chan as well," Yumetsuki agreed. "But unfortunately, I am not taking any students... maybe in the future... but you never told me about your teammates,"
Naruto perked up once more, sitting up straight to look at her with a grin, "I'm in a team with Sakura-Chan!" He was over the moon and Yumetsuki knew that he had a soft-spot for that pink-haired girl, having had a crush on her since he first met her.
"Haruno Sakura, yes?" Yumetsuki said as she thought of the young girl. "She is a very good student, yes... does struggle with Ninjutsu a fair bit... but otherwise, her control over Chakra is brilliant,"
"There's also that Uchiha Sasuke with us," Naruto added, rolling his eyes as he huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why couldn't it have been anyone else? I don't like Sasuke!"
"Sasuke-Chan is a brilliant student as well," Yumetsuki said fairly. "I am sure that the two of you will get along with one another in due time... there is a lot you can learn from each other,"
"I don't like sharing anything with him," Naruto muttered. "I have to share you with him, Meiko-Chan, and now I have to share a team with him? I don't like it!"
"Now, Naruto-Chan, that is a bit unfair, no?" Yumetsuki asked. "Sasuke-Chan could have the same grievances with you. You are my godson, and I love to take care of you and live with you. He has dreams and aspirations just like you... that is why I think you both can rely on one another,"
Following this, Naruto had not said much about his team and instead focused on the ramen that Yumetsuki brought forward for him. She had not been a mood for noodles that night but compromised by having some. She could have some fish and rice later once she had her shift. The two of them did the dishes together and then it was time for Naruto to head for bed.
Given that it was only going to be a simple duty at the hospital, Yumetsuki dressed in a sleeveless blue wrap-dress that fell just above her legging-clad knees. She pulled on her Medi-Nin coat over her clothing and tied her hair back into a long high ponytail.
"I will be out late," Yumetsuki informed her Summons as she strapped her feet into her gentle heels. "Around about one in the morning? If something came up, it may take me until two,"
"Do you want me to come with you?" asked Raijin at once but Yumetsuki only smiled at him.
"You do not let anyone come close to me," Yumetsuki told him, bopping at his snout. "And that is not good for a doctor serving her shift around the hospital, you know?"
With that, Yumetsuki had set off for the Konoha Hospital, knowing that there was another shift of seven gruelling hours of caring for her patients. There was a surprising number of emergencies that night. But as she logged out of her shift later in the night, there was only one thing that Yumetsuki desired and that was to head home, have something quick to eat and then go to bed.
Not many places were open so late at night, it was one in the morning after all, and only the weary adults and the sleezy side of the village was awake. Yumetsuki was walking down the street, her mind only upon returning back to her home when she felt a hand reach out and tap on her shoulder.
Yumetsuki turned around swiftly only to find someone who took her breath away in a surprise – it was the man who had been on her mind all day... Hatake Kakashi. It had been such a long time since they had met like this, yet she found him smiling as if they were still teenagers.
"There you are, Yuren-Chan," Kakashi spoke, and that nickname hit her right in her chest. "I have been meaning to meet you all day long... it's a shame that we have such a strange routine, isn't it?"
Kakashi looked at the surprised expression on Yumetsuki's face, yet he could not tear his eyes away from her. Her white hair shined like a silver halo under the moonlight, straight as the cupid's bow, and the love god's bow sat in the shape of her pink lips as they parted in whisper of his name. The mere sight of his beloved was nothing short of ecstasy, and it was just as hard for him to meet her as it was to receive that thrill.
"Kakashi... Kun?" Yumetsuki asked, causing Kakashi to lean back and let out a chuckle, unable to control the bliss that had spread through his chest at the mention of his name in that soft, gentle voice of hers. "I did not expect to run into you here..." She straightened up. "It certainly has been a while,"
"Well, if I do end up teaching Naruto and Sasuke..." Kakashi said thoughtfully. "I would hope that the two of us would get to meet one another more often... it has been terrible being unable to talk to you as often as we used to,"
That was only a silver of what Kakashi truly felt about it. He had so thoroughly wanted to be a part of Yumetsuki's life – yet in the last few years, the two of them had been far apart more often that they had been together. And even when they did get the chance to meet one another, there was little more than those furtive glances with one another in the crowd of their friends.
In reality, Kakashi wanted to tell Yumetsuki that it wasn't just terrible not talking to her. It was downright debilitating for Kakashi. He had never felt so lost in what he wanted. He had never felt so lonely as he did then. He missed those days where the two of them were Ninjas who relied on one another.
But they had to grow up. Yumetsuki was no longer a young girl who had all the time for him. She could no longer randomly expect him to show up on her front door during the pouring rain so that they could snack on warm food together. He missed those days from the bottom of his heart.
Yet those days had long gone by, and they had grown up. Yumetsuki had taken up the responsibility of two very handful boys that kept her busy day and night. And from what Kakashi heard from Kurenai, Yumetsuki had taken Shisui's death and the Uchiha massacre hard, and rarely went out of her home during her free time. Even Kurenai had to squeeze into Yumetsuki's life.
"Yes, that is true," Yumetsuki agreed, almost a bit shyly as she herself knew that she missed talking to Kakashi. They had been very close in their teenage years, after all, more so than with anyone else. Yet she had had no idea how to approach him again until now. "I... I was wondering about that as well,"
"You must have had a long day," Kakashi said. "It must have been hectic at the hospital, right?" He reached out to gently tuck her silky hair behind her ear. "How about we grab something to eat?" He looked down the street and smiled. "I'm feeling some barbequed fish tonight... I would love it if you could join me, what do you say, Yuren-Chan?"
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A/N: Kakashi's back! What will happen next? What ya wanna see?
I need plenty of ideas, lol, I had better time writing pre-Naruto than Naruto, tbh.