The epitome of friendship is that when you approved your friend's stupid idea with confidence even though you knew absolutely nothing of that stupid idea.
Even though you kinda at the peak of a battle against a literal goddess.
Even though the stupid idea might change the future of the world.
Or the past.
Meh, same difference.
Not that Naruto cared. He trusted Kurama.
So, when Kurama warned him with a simple line of doom;
"Naruto, I'm going to do something stupidly reckless."
Naruto has responded with an urging smile and a fierce;
"Do it."
The world twisted, spinning round and round till everything exploded in a massive burst of light.
When Naruto woke, it was to Sakura's screech.
"What is the meaning of this??!!"
Having been at the receiving end of her anger so many times before, Naruto immediately relaxed his body and was committed to pretending that he was still unconscious. He wouldn't be in the line of fire of her fist if he did that.
Nope nope nope. He was already hurt from the war—
"Ummphhh!!!??" Naruto sputtered when large fluffy thing smacked him flat on his whole body.
"Wake up, idiot. I know you're awake."
"Kurama!!!" Naruto whined, removing the tail that was smothering him and pouted at his partner.
It took him way too long to remember that there was no way for Sakura to be at the same place as Kurama. He blinked at his massive friend, taking note of Kurama's annoyed frown before he shifted his gaze to the red-faced fuming Sakura who was glaring death at the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Standing a few steps behind Sakura was Sasuke, looking no less battered than he was moments before Kurama did the thing, but seemed oddly relaxed for some unknown reasons.
Naruto almost considered slapping himself out of this genjutsu as Sasuke tentatively toed on one of Kurama's tail.
He actually slapped himself when the Uchiha smirked in satisfaction and promptly flopped onto the tail.
That hurt. So, not a dream then.
Naruto held onto the tail that was smothering him just a little bit tighter, because the sight of Sasuke lying on Kurama's tail with his eyes closed oh so peacefully and hands crossed under his head like how Shikamaru was on particularly lazy days, was honestly freaking him out.
So, if he was going down this ridiculous hell, Naruto's gonna drag Kurama with him too.
Friends stick together after all.
"Where are we?!" Sakura yelled up to the annoyed Kyuubi. "What happened to the war? Where is everyone else?"
"I miscalculated," Kurama grunted, opening one red eye to shoot the fuming pink-haired an annoyed glare. "And you're in the bijuu psyche plane."
That successfully simmered Sakura down to confusion. "What?" she squeaked, looking up to Kurama with widened eyes as if she just realised that she was really interacting with Kyuubi no Kitsune. "What happened?"
To be honest, Naruto wanted to know too.
"You did something," Sasuke snorted from his lying spot, not even bothering to open his eyes. "And it backfired."
Kurama groaned and pulled his tail away, causing Sasuke to tumble onto the rippling water of the bijuu plane.
"I was planning to merge that old hag with the Juubi's husk and send them away to a fading timeline," Kurama growled, a bit too defensively. "It didn't work as planned," he sighed, moving the tail that Naruto was holding on to pull his jinchuuriki closer to him. "Now we're stuck together in here."
Naruto blinked, looking up to his partner and instantly knew that Kurama was still hiding something when those huge red eyes refused to meet his gaze. Naruto released the fluffy tail in his grip and leapt up to stand on Kurama's muzzle, extending his arms as wide as he could to bracket the bijuu's face as he tried to coax Kurama to admit his mess-up. He knew that his partner was too proud to admit his mess-up, but he also knew that with the right encouragement, Kurama would be more inclined to share.
He also didn't see Kakashi-sensei in here despite witnessing Kurama reaching out for his teacher before this thing happened.
"What really happened?" Naruto coaxed, voice soft and gentle and he resisted a proud smile when Kurama groaned and resignation flashed in those ruby red eyes.
"The jutsu backfired. It's not the old hag that was merged together," Kurama mumbled in pure resignation, his tone was almost sulky. "And the Juubi's husk exploded, shattering and rewriting the timeline. We're thrown into the past where everything just started to heat up."
Naruto frowned. "We're thrown into the past?"
"The dog brat is a literal brat in this time period," Kurama snorted. "The three of you are not even born yet."
There was a beat of silence as they all tried to take that in.
"Mom and Dad are still alive?" Naruto squeaked out, voice hopeful.
"Minato is not the Hokage yet," Kurama confirmed, closing his eyes when Naruto's hands fisted in his fur. "And I can sense my own self inside Kushina."
More silence.
"We can save them," Naruto breathed out once the realisation dawned onto him, his voice now fierce with joy. "We can save them all."
"Wait, how could there be two Kyuubi at the same time?" Sakura piped in from below, yelling up to them.
"Considering what happened outside, I'm assuming that we're a paradox?" Sasuke pointed out, seeming like he really couldn't care less as he tried to inch closer to one of the tails that were splayed out in the space. "Logic did not apply to us since we're not supposed to exist in this time period in the first place."
Kurama grunted an agreement but growled when Sasuke captured one of his tails.
Naruto wondered why the fuck Sasuke seemed so obsessed with Kurama's tails.
Despite the warning growl, the Uchiha didn't back away from his intention to use Kurama's tail as a bed. Instead, Sasuke pointedly patted the fluffy fur before he promptly flopped back onto his previous sprawled state on the tail.
Only Naruto's gentle hold on Kurama's fur stopped the Kyuubi from retrieving his tail back from the Uchiha.
"What happened outside?" Naruto asked, distracting Kurama from considering the most painful way to swat the Uchiha brat that was abusing his tail as a makeshift bedroll. "Where is Kaka-sensei?"
Kurama grimaced.
"Naruto," Sakura called out, and when Naruto peered down at her, she pointed ahead to somewhere in front of them.
Naruto gaped once his gaze landed on where she was pointing at.
It was like watching a TV, but from the first-person perspective rather than the usual third person point of view. He saw the rippling of water sparkling under the sunlight and it took a second later for the water to calm down and Naruto could make out the reflection in the water.
He almost swore.
It was Kakashi-sensei in the reflection, but it didn't really look like him either. The face and eye shape seemed vaguely similar if Naruto tried to imagine a mask on top of that face, but everything else seemed so out of place. That was the face of a teenage boy in the reflection—not even one or two years older than Naruto himself—and those eyes...
Those were his and Sakura's eyes.
His bright blue eye was on the right of the reflection while Sakura's green was on the left.
It didn't make Kakashi-sensei looked like Hatake Kakashi at all, moreover with the lack of scar on his left eye.
And that nose! It was the delicate slender nose of an Uchiha, the exact same nose like Sasuke and Itachi, which was a striking difference from the vague shape of the sharp strong nose that Naruto often saw hidden behind Kakashi's ever-present mask. He squinted at that vision and saw the little mole on the chin.
Neither he, Sasuke or Sakura had any beauty marks on their face.
"That's it?! THAT'S. IT???" Naruto screeched, pointing accusingly at the vision. "HE WAS ONLY HIDING A MOLE ALL THIS TIME??
"Bummer," Sakura shrugged, frowning as she watched the stranger in the vision inspected his face. "I was expecting something horrendous."
"What a tragedy," Sasuke lamented, sounding flatly amused. "Such an anti-climactic reveal."
Before any of them could start a rant on how horrible Kakashi was for causing them years of struggle to unmask him just for the sake of that one tiny mole, the reflection in the vision moved, pushing long silver bangs off his forehead to reveal the purple diamond that was on Sakura's forehead.
"Oh," Naruto and Sakura breathed out the exact same time the face in the vision contorted to an expression of hysteric panic.
"He has our chakra reserve, Naruto," Kurama pointed out, now curled up on his paws as he stared ahead to that vision. "And your seal power, Pinky."
"Bet that he has my sharingan too," Sasuke called out, pressing the tail that was attempting to swat him away over his body like some makeshift blanket. "Possibly a mixed one with Obito's."
They all watched in awe when the mismatched blue and green eyes morphed to a pair of sharingan with familiar patterns mashed together to become one unique sharingan.
"Called it," Sasuke declared triumphantly as Naruto and Sakura gaped at the sight.
Then, they all stiffened as a wave of panic rippled through the mindscape. It was there for a brief moment, more like a passing breeze than a lingering presence, but it did cause all three of them to look up at Kyuubi for an explanation.
Kurama snorted. "He is panicking," the Kyuubi stated matter-of-factly and when the confused stare only intensified, he sighed and elaborated. "The bijuu plane is connected to the host's heart and emotions. Any strong feelings and we're able to pick it up. If you listen carefully, you're able to pick up his thoughts too."
"Really?" Sakura murmured, walking closer towards the vision. "Are we, like, some form of bijuu now? Is Kakashi-sensei our host?"
Naruto shot a concerned look at Kurama.
"Sort of," Kurama sighed. "I accidentally trapped your souls inside here with me while your bodies merged with his."
"Hence, why he looks so young and have a piece of us in him," Sasuke pointed out.
"Precisely."
"You merged us together," Naruto breathed out, sounding awed and soft in the same time.
He gazed to the panicking reflection in the vision, his smile grew soft with fondness.
When he met Kurama's gaze, his smile was genuine as he embraced the Kyuubi's head.
"Thank you, Kurama."
Kurama's eyes softened. "I thought you would be mad."
Naruto broke the embrace and shook his head, wiping his tears away. He fisted on Kurama's fur, nuzzling at his friend's muzzle.
"I always wanted Team 7 to become one."
"But we literally become one, though?"
"Semantics, Sakura, hush."
"But—"
"Hush, group hug. Now."
"Hnn."
"Oh my god, this is the first time I see Kaka-sensei freaked out HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA"
"Naruto," Sakura sighed, voice edging with a tone of warning.
"He flailed," Naruto snorted, giggling maniacally. "He freaking flailed. He panicked and flailed OH MY GOD."
Sakura sighed and shot a helpless glare towards the Kyuubi.
Kurama, on the other hand, despite his love towards his partner, was also at his wit's end upon Naruto's uncontrollable giggling as Kakashi's adorable panic grew more and more frequent the more the Hatake tried to explore the gifts of his mixed body has provided. He shot a suffering gaze towards the equally annoyed Uchiha.
Kurama exchanged a determined glance with Sasuke.
"On the count of three?" he asked.
"Three," Sasuke hissed.
Naruto stopped laughing to blink in confusion at the darkening aura around the two.
"What?"
Naruto totally deserved it when both his teammate and his partner tried to throw him out of the mindscape.
"You know, Kurama...," Naruto grinned, hugging one tail with one arm while the other embraced Sasuke's shoulders. "If I can't get rid of you when I was your jinchuuriki, you can't get rid of me now."
Kurama groaned, burrowing his head under his paws.
"And you, Sasuke," Naruto giggled, ruffling Sasuke's hair. "You have never been able to get rid of me, right?"
"That's because you're more stubborn than the most disgusting of wart."
"Hey! Meanie!!"
Sakura facepalmed and banged her head to Kurama's side.
"Idiots," she muttered to the red fur.
Kurama silently agreed.
"Well, damn, fuck me sideways but Obito is cute."
Both Sasuke and Naruto very slowly turned around to give Sakura an identical wide-eyed stare.
Sakura scowled.
"What?" she hissed, defensive now. "He is a cutie."
"He is dying out there," Naruto pointed out in pure horror, pointing towards the vision that linked them with Kakashi's eyes, where a battered and mangled Obito was literally bleeding to death. "He is dying."
"Boy still damn cute, though," Sakura responded nonchalantly. "I can see why Kaka-sensei is so hung up over him."
"Are we all going to ignore the fact that Kakashi is running amok out there?" Sasuke hissed, eyeing Sakura with a bit of disbelieving betrayal in his eyes. "He is slipping into the Uchiha's curse."
"But he is no Uchiha...?" Naruto tried to reason.
"He is part me now, dobe."
"And you're the textbook example of the Uchiha's curse, Sasuke-kun," Sakura snorted. "Scoot over," she ordered, squishing herself between Sasuke and Naruto.
"Sakura-chan...?" Naruto squeaked out, sensing Sakura's bad mood.
"Whoops, you're gonna die~"
Naruto very discreetly inched away from Sakura as the pink-haired girl cheered on Kakashi as if she was watching a very engrossing slash-thriller show rather than their teacher running murderous rampant out there. Sasuke sighed but stood as Kakashi grew more violent. They all could sense the mad bloodlust simmering inside their teacher—a form of an emotional wave that sent uncomfortable heat all over the bijuu plane—and Kakashi's own thoughts were louder now.
Those thoughts were all murderous.
Since Kyuubi has pointed out that the barrier between them and Kakashi was thinner when their host was being emotional, Sasuke attempted to communicate with their teacher.
"Don't fall for it, idiot!" he yelled as loud as he could.
Outside, Kakashi halted.
"Oh," Sakura breathed out. "He can hear us."
"Kyuubi?"
Naruto and Sakura promptly stood upon hearing the first direct response from their teacher. They tried to talk to their teacher, tried to maintain the telepathic link, but Kakashi has slipped back into his ANBU mode—his emotional whiplash has calmed down—and reasonably, their voices couldn't really reach him.
Their attempts were useless as Kakashi seemingly waited for their responses, though they had their next breakthrough when Kakashi's calm was replaced with rageful sorrow. The barrier thinned again, and they watched, almost horrified as their teacher drove lightning-encased hand towards the trembling Iwa-nin who tried to heal Obito.
Naruto has promptly rushed towards the vision, yelling with a voice so loud it bounced off the plane;
"Don't!"
Kakashi halted again.
Sakura stepped closer, looking up to the vision.
"That is interesting," she mused, humming thoughtfully.
Kurama cracked one eye opened and resisted a groan.
He would never get his peace again.
"The lady is nice," Naruto started, shifting his gaze from the vision towards his teammates. "But, don't you think that she is a bit..."
"Cuckoo?" Sasuke suggested, this time didn't try to act aloof as he indulged in his own confusion. "Is Obito a girl in this time period?"
"I think so...," Sakura piped in with a deeper frown. "What the hell is this omega and alpha thing?"
"That is the hierarchy thing in a wolf pack, right?" Naruto asked.
"Inuzuka and Hatake too," Sasuke said, scowling at the Iwa woman in Kakashi's vision. "They were the only old clans that practised those things because of their close ties with canines."
"And the fact that they were partly descended from Inugami," Sakura added, shrugging when her teammates shifted their bewildered gaze at her. "Tsunade-sama told me that some of the old clans breed with gods."
"Ehhh...really????" Naruto asked.
"She said that Hashirama-sama's was descended from a nature spirit," Sakura said with another shrug. "But her blood was diluted when her father married a civilian-born shinobi, so that's why she didn't inherit the mokuton."
"I don't know that," Naruto murmured, and though Sasuke didn't say anything, his deepened frown seemed to agree with Naruto's confession.
"It's the Warring Era thing, I guess," Sakura shrugged. "They wanted to create stronger soldiers, so some of Clan Heirs who wanted a bigger shot to become the Clan Head would venture into the other side to find a spouse. Senju Butsuma was particularly infamous of breeding with multiple deities."
There was a beat of silence.
"Shit, were our previous Hokage demigods?"
Sakura shrugged again at Naruto's outburst.
"It could be a legend, though," she hummed dismissively. "There is no confirmation."
Sasuke pondered on that thought, mind reeling back on how powerful the Nidaime's chakra has felt like despite the man was resurrected without reaching the full power of his prime. Orochimaru resurrected the Hokage as best as he could, but he couldn't give the previous Hokage the full power of their prime else they would be impossible to control.
To think that Tobirama would be that scary when he wasn't even at full power...
The Edo Tensei Nidaime only lifted one measly finger and his chakra already felt like he could level a nation with a flick of his hand.
It terrified Sasuke senseless.
(Not that he was gonna ever admit that.)
"I wouldn't doubt it," Sasuke blurted out, face pale and slickened with a sheen of cold sweat. "And I have never heard any of such legends about the Uchiha. Just that our ancestors tamed the fire and all similar legends."
"Does baa-chan mention anything about the Uzumaki?" Naruto asked, leaning in curiously. "Shodai-sama married an Uzumaki, right?"
"Shishou didn't say anything about Mito-sama," Sakura shook her head apologetically.
"Mito was descended from a dragon," Kurama answered out of the blue. "Not as much deity blood as Madara and the Senju brothers, but a piece of her was not human," he huffed, cracking one eye open to shoot Sakura a pointed gaze. "Your brat of a sensei probably inherited her side of blood rather than Hashirama's. Dragon's hatchlings were exceptionally strong."
They all stared up at the Kyuubi with utter shock and bafflement.
Kurama frowned, growling defensively.
"What?"
Naruto pouted.
"Dude, you can't just confirm that when we wanted to believe everything as a legend."
Kurama rolled his eyes.
"So, based on the current evidence, we have to yell for our voices to reach him...," Naruto concluded, whispering at Kurama (and standing far far away from the focused Sakura) as they sat back and allow Sakura the full reign to guide their sensei healing Obito.
"It would have been easier if he is fully expecting to talk to you," Kurama huffed, resting his head on his paws and closed his eyes when Naruto curled against his face. "Remember how easy it was for you to communicate with me once you have accepted me?"
"It worked like that too?"
"More or less."
"Oh, that's nice," Naruto hummed, threading his fingers through Kurama's fur. "I'm glad that we're stuck together," he murmured absent-mindedly.
Kurama snorted but leant his head a little bit closer to Naruto's back.
However, before Naruto could retort with a teasing jibe, Sakura swore.
"That is not supposed to be there. What the fuck?"
Naruto was up in an instant, trotting towards the frowning Sakura. Sasuke seemed to have an internal debate whether he should move away from his comfortable curl against Kurama's side, before deciding that he should and joined them together right in front of the vision that linked them to Kakashi's sight. They tuned into Kakashi's senses, seeing what that has gotten Sakura so surprised.
"Is that—?" Sasuke started.
"Yes."
"But—" Naruto gaped.
"I know."
"What the fuck," both boys said in unison.
"Wait, I'll check," Sakura murmured and planted her hands on the floor.
Naruto could sense that Sakura was trying to manipulate Kakashi's chakra, utilising their sensei's own bafflement to allow her the free reign to check the sheer absurdity of Obito's body. While Sakura focused on confirming their assumption, Naruto squinted at the vision, trying to see if this Obito was really born as a girl. Obito's jaw was softer and rounder than the one that Naruto remembered, but that could probably be attributed to his young age and baby fats rather than the facial structure of a girl. Naruto has never seen Obito as a child after all, and the man that he fought during the Fourth War was well into his early thirties and has long shed every baby fat that he should have at the age of fourteen.
But Sakura sensed the shape of a womb inside Obito.
What the actual fricking frack is happening right now?
Casting a quick glance towards his partner proved useless as Kurama simply shrugged in a quick response that told them even the bijuu has no idea what the fuck was happening outside. Sakura breathed in triumphantly when she was able to manipulate Kakashi's glowing hands lower to check for their confirmation. Hearing that triumphal noise, Naruto and Sasuke promptly leant closer as Sakura forced Kakashi's chakra to wrap around Obito's hips.
Then, the three of them gaped in utter bewilderment.
"WHAT THE FUCK."
Outside, Kakashi echoed their outburst.
"I'm so tired of yelling!"
Kyuubi snorted, opening an eye to stare at the fuming girl that was yelling at the Hatake brat. He folded his ears, going back to his nap when Naruto and Sasuke moved to hold back their frustrated female teammate.
"He can't hear us if we don't yell," Naruto tried to placate. "Kurama said so."
"But I'm tired of yelling," Sakura pouted, kicking the air. "And why wouldn't he just strip Obito?? I want to know how the hell Obito would have an actual womb!"
"Because that would be so rapist-ish," Sasuke huffed, toeing one of the fluffy tail that was spread out across the mindscape. He flopped down onto the fur, pointedly ignoring Kurama's annoyed grunt. "Let him be."
"You're oddly fine with this, Sasuke...," Naruto mumbled.
"Because we couldn't do anything," Sasuke yawned. "Waste of time to regain our bodies back."
"Keh," Kurama huffed. "You just have a kick out from your sensei's suffering, brat."
Sasuke didn't deny that one.
"Ugghhh!!!!" Sakura yelled, pulling on her own hair. "STRIP HIM, KAKA-SENSEI. I WANNA SEE IF HE HAS A VAGINA."
Naruto sweatdropped.
"You seemed oddly chill after sort of seeing a guy's privates, Sakura."
"I'm a medic nin."
"And that is supposed to matter because....?"
"I trained in the hospital and have seen literally everything, Sasuke-kun."
"Oh."
"Holy shit," Sakura mouthed, turning to look at her teammates the moment Kyuubi cut off their connection with Kakashi's eyes. "Holy. Shit."
"Awh," Naruto pouted. "We are actually that strong if we combined our powers together....," he mumbled, kicking the air.
"Too bad that your teamwork is worse than my brotherhood with Shukaku," Kurama commented, muzzle pulled to a smug smirk as he side-eyed Sasuke. "Ne, little Uchiha?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, pointedly ignoring Sakura's accusing eyes and Naruto's sad sulky pout. He then sniffed delicately.
"Shut up, kitsune."
"Naruto, stop sulking."
Naruto turned around to give both Sakura and Sasuke the good ol' dirty look before he angrily returned to his sulking on top of Kurama's head.
"Naruto," Sakura called out.
"If we worked in a team since the beginning, we would have been hella powerful like sensei right now," Naruto grumbled, before he stood on top of Kurama's head and pointed accusing fingers towards his teammates. "But nooooo. One of you decided to leave the team while the other one didn't want to work with the stupid, dead last, Naruto."
"Naruto," Sasuke sighed.
"My teammates are assholes," Naruto ranted, holding on to Kurama's furs. "My sensei is perpetually late to everywhere and favoured one student over the rest," he screeched, causing both Sakura and Sasuke to flinch. "One of my teammates is so wound up with hatred that HE DIDN'T SEE HOW BAD I WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH HIM. LIKE AN IDIOT, I CHASED AFTER HIM EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOTHING BUT HURT ME. AND GUESS WHAT? I STILL LOVE YOU LIKE THE BROTHER I NEVER HAD, MORON."
Sasuke flinched.
"And, oh, let's not forget my other teammate, shall we?" Naruto was not finished, nope, he was definitely not finished. "I knew that my love to her is one-sided, and fine, it took years for me to get over my crush and notice the love from someone else who has always loved me. I know it was annoying to have an idiot like me crushing on you, and I'M SORRY. BUT DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO BE MEAN TO ME ALL THE TIME? WHY DO YOU SAY THAT YOU LOVE ME WHEN YOU DIDN'T? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HIT ME? ARE YOU EVEN AWARE ON HOW STRONG YOU ARE? YOUR PUNCHES HURT LIKE HELL, OKAY?"
Sakura lowered her gaze.
Naruto huffed and buried his snot-infested face into Kurama's fur.
Kurama resisted a groan but couldn't help but burrow his face under his paws.
He was too old for this.
"I just want a family...," Naruto sniffled, again smearing Kurama's fur with tears and snot. "When I first see you, I thought we could relate and be friends, cuz we're both orphan and all."
Sasuke grimaced but forced his body to relax all the same. It took them an impossibly long time to pry Naruto away from the Kyuubi, and even more time to coax the sulking blonde into a group hug. Naruto has always been a bright ball of sunshine—so cheerful, strong-willed and stubborn—that it didn't even cross Sasuke's mind that Naruto was capable of feeling offence and holding that offence forever in his mind.
Kakashi's training in Uzushio has opened their eyes to possibilities—to their own unexplored potentials as a team.
It ached to know that they would not be able to achieve it for real.
The consecutive sequence of attacks that Kakashi constructed using their combined attributes and techniques would've been epic if it was done in a team of four instead of one lone man merged from the power and bodies of four different people. Sasuke only learnt the satisfaction of good teamwork when he worked with Naruto against Juubito and seeing from Kakashi's eyes the potentials they could have worked on together instead of against one another....
It ached.
It really ached.
A lost potential.
Sakura shifted, pulling Naruto close to their centre while squishing herself to Sasuke's side.
Sasuke stared at the hunched form of his teammates.
He hurt both of these people.
He trampled over Sakura's heart, dismissing her love in favour of his own hatred and despite that, she still loved him, perhaps no longer romantically, because her gaze on him has lost the devoted love that has always been there since their Academy years—he apparently has trampled over her feelings way too much for that to remain—but from the way she held both him and Naruto close, snuggled up against Kyuubi's side like this, it was evident that there was still a form of love in her for him.
Shifting his gaze from pink locks to blonde spikes, Sasuke couldn't help but resisted a flinch.
He treated Naruto even worse than Sakura.
He didn't only trample over Naruto's heart—crushing the blonde's yearning to be friends and brothers to him—but he has hurt the blonde in so many ways. Blood has been spilt, flesh being torn apart, time wasted and so many other pains he has intentionally inflicted on his friend.
Yet, Naruto still loved him. Naruto still wanted to be friends.
Naruto still wanted to be brothers.
To know that they were reincarnations of actual brothers, the reincarnation of Indra and Ashura—brothers broken apart by hatred, greed and envy—it made holding the blonde in his arms meant more than a mere group hug to placate a sulking friend.
He has lost Itachi.
But looking down at his teammates, both were tucked close in his arms and snuggled to his chest, Sasuke felt something warm grew in his chest.
He has not lost Sakura and Naruto yet.
Deep down, Sasuke knew that he wanted a family too.
He wanted to feel belonged too.
"The Sanbi's name is Isobu?"
Naruto blinked, shifting his gaze away from their links to Kakashi's vision towards Sakura.
It was odd, because after his own outburst the other day (which was then followed by long sulking and group hug) there was a major shift in the dynamic of their relationship. Both Sasuke and Sakura grew more tactile and less mean to him. The only insults thrown his way was more of a fond joking rather than something that was meant to offend.
They joked and messed around with each other a lot nowadays. They exchanged comforting touches more frequent than usual—little shoulder bumps and nudge from Sasuke, while Sakura no longer hesitated to reach out to hug them both when Naruto was craving for a human touch.
It was kinda nice.
And they slept together nowadays too. They no longer separate to sleep on different parts of Kurama's body, but instead has chosen to pile together in the crook of Kurama's arms while the bijuu napped with his head aligned with their piled tangled bodies.
Sasuke was still tensed around intimate comforting touches, but he was more receptive to it now.
Sakura was more open in giving comforting touches now and has substituted her usual violence with fond bopping and forehead flicking.
Two years ago, Naruto wouldn't even dream to have Sakura freely leaning on his shoulders—already halfway to sleep—while Sasuke was lying with his head over Naruto's sprawled legs, also already halfway to sleep.
(Of course, two years ago, he didn't expect that he would be trapped in the bijuu plane with his teammates, watching over their sensei wreaking havoc on the outside world through whatever link that connected them to Kakashi's sight like how one would watch an engrossing TV show.)
It was really nice.
"Mmhmm," Naruto nodded to her groggy question. "They all have nice names."
"Kitsune's Kurama?" Sasuke mumbled sleepily.
"Yep."
Kurama huffed.
"What's the others' names?" Sakura asked again, reaching over Naruto's lap to thread her fingers in Sasuke's hair.
"The other bijuu?" Naruto prompted, just for confirmation.
"Mmm," Sakura affirmed with a sleepy nod.
Naruto grinned mischievously, lacing his fingers with hers when she reached out for his hand as his other hand joined Sakura's lazy strokes in Sasuke's hair. Then, he started singing;
"One, "sleep is better than humans," says Shukaku,
Two, burning in fire, Matatabi,
Three, leave the water to Isobu,
Four, hot as lava, Son Goku,
Five, always on the run, Kokuo,
Six, taking it easy and not in hurry, Saiken,
Seven, the flying insect, Chomei,
Eight, "Yeah!" is all it needs, Gyuuki,
Nine, "Ko-kon!" cries the mighty Kurama,
All the tailed beasts have finally come together,
They're a little hard but they're nice names,
They're all splendid names,
They're all wonderful names."
Sasuke snorted once Naruto finished singing.
"You make a song for them," he mused, rolling around so that Sakura and Naruto have more access to his hair.
"Is it a good song?" Naruto grinned.
Sasuke huffed, said nothing, but there was a tiny smile on his face.
Sakura giggled. "It is."
Naruto leant back against Kurama's body as they watched over Kakashi, Sakura's humming of the bijuu song was a pleasant background noise in the mindscape.
"Hey, did you guys notice that we don't have to yell to talk to sensei now?" Sakura mused out of the blue, the edge of humour was still on her face as she watched Sasuke's silent sniggers and Naruto's howling laughter subsided to calm giggling. "Like, we only have to intend to talk to him and he would hear us. And we can even show him our memories?"
"Oh," Naruto snorted, struggling a bit to hold back his laughter but was failing at it when his gaze fell to their link to Kakashi's eyes and saw Obito's fuming red face. "Kurama said something that when sensei accepted our presence, it would be much easier to communicate with him."
"Thank god," Sasuke grinned, swallowing in the remnants of his snickers. "That was hilarious."
Sakura rolled her eyes.
Sasuke shot her a leering knowing look. "You enjoyed trolling him too."
"It isn't every day I get to fluster a full-grown man over the horror of period," Sakura huffed, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "And it's funny."
"Point," Sasuke nodded triumphantly.
Sakura quirked a smile.
Naruto was still wheezing in laughter.
Kurama fondly rolled his eyes.
"Is it me, or Kakashi is a worse ball of angst than me?"
"You're a ball of angst AND anger, Sasuke."
"Sakura, I'm serious."
"So am I."
Sasuke groaned. Naruto giggled.
Though, Naruto's giggles winded down to a soft smile not long after that, his gaze stared ahead towards their link to Kakashi's eyes, his shoulders hunched upon the waves of emotions that vibrated from their sensei into the bijuu plane.
"He went through a lot, hasn't he?" he murmured, seeing Obito through their sensei's eyes.
It was painful to watch.
It was even more painful to feel.
"He lost everything," Sasuke added, his expression went crestfallen for a moment before it shifted to a flat poker face, though there was a sheen of deep thoughts glazed in his eyes. "Yet he chose a different path than mine."
"Make it hard to see him as that laidback, lazy jerk anymore, eh?"
"Everyone coped differently," Naruto defended, sending a pout in Kurama's direction before he squared his shoulders and tried to beam brightly. "Make me respect him even more now."
Sakura's gaze softened too. "We'll try for a happier end for him," she decided, determination coloured her cheeks as stubbornness burnt in her eyes. "We'll help him fight. We'll help him save his friends and family. We'll make sure he has his happy end this time."
Naruto beamed brighter this time. Sasuke huffed and curled a smirk.
"Might as well," the Uchiha shrugged. "We don't have anything to do anyway."
"Yosh!" Naruto cheered, bright blue eyes glowed in burning determination. "Team 7, new mission! Let's secure a happy end for Kakashi-sensei!"
Sasuke smirked. "Hnn."
Sakura grinned. "Mm!"
Kurama huffed, gazing at the trio with fond eyes.
"Sakuto."
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a confused look.
"First day of the lunar month?" Naruto blurted out, honestly so confused at their sensei's choice of name.
"I was under the impression that he would go with his father's name," Sasuke mused.
"Sakuto is pretty close to Sakumo, though," Sakura countered. "Maybe he changed the last syllable to avoid suspicions?"
Before any of the boys could strike up an argument, Kurama chuckled, successfully halting their arguments. They turned around to shoot the bijuu a confused gaze, only to blink in wariness when the bijuu mimed the gesture of silence.
"Listen."
Thus, they did, falling into dead silence as they tried to perk up their sense to pick up Kakashi's thoughts.
Sakumo and Obito.
"Oh," Naruto breathed once they picked up on that thought.
Sasuke , Sakura, Naruto.
That, had all three of them to freeze in shock. They heard that thought crystal clear, along with the emphasis of each syllable from their name that was taken to form Kakashi's new alias.
"He made a name out of our names," Naruto breathed out, his voice was a trembling whisper of horrified awe. "He made a name out of our names," he repeated, lips trembling.
"Oh my god, sensei," Sakura whimpered, hands twitching as if she wanted to reach out and embrace their sensei right now. "That's so sweet and thoughtful."
Sasuke remained in silence, eyes still widened in disbelieving shock.
"That's so, so, sweet," Naruto murmured, already tearing up. "I don't know he cared about us that much," he whimpered, exhaling a deep breath before he wiped his eyes with his sleeves. "Oh my god, Kaka-sensei," he exhaled, forcing a tiny grin out.
Sasuke seemed like he was in a daze as he shifted his gaze towards Kurama, looking so lost and shocked.
"That wasn't you, right?" he asked the Kyuubi no Kitsune. "You didn't do this to mess with us, right?"
"Do I look that bored, brat?"
Sasuke blinked, shifted his gaze to his hands, before moving his lost gaze to the vision of smiling Obito as seen from their sensei's eyes.
"Sasuke?" Sakura and Naruto prompted.
"I disappointed him. He trained me and I betrayed him," Sasuke breathed out, sounding so lost and horrified. "Why he includes me too?"
Kurama swatted Sasuke's back with a massive fluffy tail.
"Because you're his student too."
They all pretended to not see the glazed look in Sasuke's eyes as Naruto pulled everyone (including Kurama's muzzle) into a group hug.
"Yooooo, Kaka-sensei nailed that evil insane laugh."
Sakura narrowed her eyes judgementally. "I think he can work on the evilness, but he did great in playing that insane part."
"Obito looks terrified," Sasuke deadpanned.
"Who wouldn't?" Sakura countered back. "That is scary."
"Is it?"
"Sasuke, you have never heard your own laughter, have you?"
"Tch," Sasuke huffed, flicking two fingers at Naruto's forehead. "My laughter is fine."
"Insane fine, you mean," Naruto huffed, grinning even when he rubbed his bruised forehead.
"I don't know...," Sakura pondered, giving Sasuke a critical once-over. "The Uchiha kinda have the mad laughter perfected to the T," she added teasingly. "Do you remember how Obito laughed? Madara too? They are the masters of the villainous evil laugh."
Sakura smoothly evaded Sasuke's hands when the Uchiha reached out to flick her forehead.
"Was Kaka-sensei's sudden mad laugh a side-effect of being merged with Sasuke's body?" Naruto pondered out loud, teasing too, as reflected from the mischief in his eyes and the gleeful quirk of his grin.
"Oi."
"Probably," Sakura agreed. "His laugh kinda reminded me when Sasuke laughed that one time he claimed that he wanna kill us all."
"Oiii."
"Which one?" Naruto frowned. "He claimed to kill us all in multiple events."
"God damn it, you two."
"Eyyyyy, Kakashi-sensei's thoughts are hella depressing," Naruto commented, wincing as they all once again got a glimpse of their sensei's tragic memories.
"You know, if we ever got out, the first thing I wanna do is force Sandaime to enforce a new rule so that all war veteran needed to undergo therapies. This is so painfully depressing," Sakura fumed, turning her gaze towards Naruto. "And I'm gonna punch your dad because no reasonable adult would put a grieving child with major PTSD, who literally watched one friend died and killed the other with his own hands, into ANBU—NO REASONABLE ADULT WOULD PUT SUCH TRAUMATISED CHILD INTO A LITERAL ASSASSIN SQUAD."
"I punched him once before, if that would placate you," Naruto said, crossing his arms behind his head in a completely uncaring relaxed manner "Not gonna stop you to punch him for the second time, because as much as I adore my dad, this is bullshit. He didn't handle Kaka-sensei well."
"Can you punch Sandaime too while you're at it? He kinda made Itachi killed the whole clan instead of going with a more peaceful, less bloody path," Sasuke randomly pointed out, voice bitter. "And he also let Danzou do whatever the hell he wanted. Bad leadership. Old man is too soft."
"Hashirama's solution to the Go-Kage's protest of Konoha having a jinchuuriki was to hunt all other bijuu and gave us away like a peace offering," Kurama piped in. "My siblings would have been free if he just stopped at me."
"I'm gonna punch Shodai-sama too then," Sakura hissed.
"Ooooh, do it!" Naruto cajoled, mischief gleamed in his eyes. "He wouldn't see it coming. Sasuke and I will distract the Old Man Second so that you won't be stopped."
Sasuke nodded grimly.
"The adults suck," Sakura lamented.
"Agreed."
"I want to very lovingly pat Kaka-sensei's head with a brick."
Sakura glared at Naruto. "Get in line. I claim first."
"His self-blaming is getting out of line," Sasuke huffed, annoyance dripping from each syllable. "I understand that survivor's guilt is a thing but this—"
"This is bullshit," Naruto finished.
"Yep."
"You couldn't say it any better," Sakura agreed. "This is utter bullshit," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "What kind of normal people would shrug off his own death just like this?? This is insane!"
"Oh, my younger self died!" Sasuke mocked, voice going higher in hysterics as he acted out his sheer frustration. "Oh well, nothing can be done. Let's rescue everyone else and completely ignore the fact that MY OWN YOUNGER SELF DIED," he added, mimicking Kakashi's deeper voice. "God damn it, Kakashi. What the actual fuck, you lazy pervert."
"He wants everyone to be happy and safe yet completely disregard his own share of happiness in that future," Naruto sighed, wiping his brows with both of his palms before attempted to pull his hair out due to the sheer frustration their sensei's selfless masochistic behaviour has inflicted on him. "I don't even think that we're a living being at this point, yet I could've died of stress attack right now."
"This mission is harder than it seems," Sakura pouted, pacing in methodical line in front of her teammates. "How could we secure a happy future for him when he didn't care about it?"
There was a dreadful silence.
"You fight back," Kurama suddenly mused, red eyes glinted in a taunting challenge. "If making him happy is your mission, your biggest villain is him. Fight him like how you fought Juubito. Fight him like how you fought Madara. The three of you are stubborn fighters."
He eyed Naruto near the end, muzzle pulled up to a knowing smirk.
Naruto huffed and quirked a smile.
"And we never give up, right?" Naruto grinned, raising his fist towards Kurama.
Kurama closed his eyes and nodded approvingly.
Hatake wouldn't know what would hit him.
Notes:
Now you know what Team 7 has been up to during the time Kakashi conquering the spotlight.
And I was half-convinced that at least the Warring Era generation is sort of demigods. Minato was insanely strong in the last war because he has half of Kyuubi inside him. Without the Kyuubi, he would've be like Sarutobi, and although I do think that they are strong, but TobiHashiMada made they looked like academy children. And although people has been saying that Minato was the strongest Hokage, but looking at the zombie Hokage, and saw the part where Orochimaru admitted that he resurrected dem Hokage close to the strength of their prime, made me think that TobiHashi would be far scarier and more powerful than SaruMinato if they were resurrected in full power and Minato didn't have the Kyuubi. Just my personal thoughts tbh lol
As for Naruto saying something about first day of lunar month, I was referring to the meaning of the name Sakuto that I found online. (Here)
I also found this site that give some kind of personality analysis of this name and I thought it was so cool too. (Sakuto)
P/s:I also am deeply in love and obsessed with the bijuu song tbh.