To Go Back

Plans, Training, And Shenanigans

Once Itachi awoke he was embarrassed by his behavior. "Sasuke, you wouldn't say anything about what you saw... right?" He asked with a soft smile as he stood up.

"What did I see Nii-san?" Sasu asked with a tilt of his head.

Sasuke facepalmed at how his child-self agreed so quickly. 'Can it be that I actually had a brother complex? Ugh, embarrassing' he though as he peeked through his hand. He still had to make sure Itachi wasn't suspicious of anything.

Itachi smiled at his brother. 'So smart and cute.' He thought before recalling what he saw. His eyebrow twitched as he debated on asking.

In the end he decided not to. He didn't know how to bring it up. How could he question his brother and not make it apparent that he was distant? He couldn't.

"Ne, Sasuke?" Itachi asked softly.

"Hm? Are you alright Aniki?" Kid Sasuke asked as he tilted his head.

Itachi gave a sad smile before faking a bright one. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said as he brushed off dirt. "Let's go home ok?"

"Ok, Nii-san!" Sasuke shouted with a bright smile. Itachi looked down fondly as Sasuke ran to him. Just as his younger brother stopped, Itachi poked his forehead with his fingers.

"Itai!" Sasuke yelped as he rubbed the sore spot. He glared at his brother who merely chuckled before the two brothers walked home.
________________________________________________________________________________

Later that night:

The time travelers are once again meeting up but in a more dangerous setting. Seeing as the training ground 44 (the Forest of Death) was unavailable, the young leaf-nin decided to use the Uchiha Forest. Naruto was the one who suggested it, much to Sasuke's horror. Shikamaru agreed as they all had a good grip on their chakra signature and decided it could serve as training to concealing longer.

Currently, light sparring is in session with pauses to focus on hiding their signature and sensing for any intruders.

"OW!" Naruto cried out as he slammed into a tree. With a groan he rolled away from the tree and held his head.

"Shhh!" Neji hissed at the blond who was his partner this time. He looked around to see Sasuke and Shikamaru pausing in their spar to take in their surroundings. He cringed internally as he received a look from Shikamaru. A slight reprimand for putting them in danger of being caught.

Well, better than the glare of death he was receiving from Sasuke. You'd think the guy never hurt Naruto let alone almost kill him. Neji lowered his head in slight apolgy which was grudgingly accepted with a nod and pursed lips. Sasuke stopped glaring and gave a worried glance to the blond who had not gotten up yet.

Naruto was not inclined to be subtle or quiet and glared before standing on wobbly legs. "Don't shush me!" He hissed before tackling Neji causing the Hyūga to screech in surprise (much to his mortification). Both began to tussle as they rolled on the ground. Neji at this point didn't care about acting dignified when his Hokage was trying to bite him.

"StOp HiTtiNg ME!" Neji screeched as Naruto pulled on his hair. He ignored the way his voice increased and decreased in volume, far more concerned with making sure his hair wasn't getting ripped out of his scalp.

"NO, YOU FIRST!" Naruto yelled back as he was pushed into the ground when Neji rolled. He kept a firm grip on long brown locks of hair. They rolled back and forth, neither getting the upper hand as they screeched and exchanged insults.

"Should we stop this?" Sasuke asked with a sweat-drop as he looked around nervously. They may be deep in the forest but they were still fairly close to the Uchiha grounds. What if a night guard heard them?

"Probably," Shikamaru replied with a sigh as he turned to Sasuke. "You got this?" he asked feeling lazy. He received a nod and then sat down to watch the show.

"Oi!" Sasuke barked when the duo rolled by. "Quiet or I'll rip out your tongues!" he hissed and let the atmosphere darken with his displeasure. Shikamaru shivered at the feeling and watched as Naruto and Neji froze as they were closer to the source. Slowly they turned to the annoyed Uchiha.

"Heyy Sasuke..." Naruto began as he began to sweat nervously. He let go of Neji who quickly scooted away from him and gave a short nod to Sasuke.

"Ah, hey is it?" Sasuke said softly as his aura died down. "Are we being pleasant now?" He asked with a tilt of his head as he looked between Naruto and Neji. Silence filled the air before a foreboding pressure surged. "Well? Are we?" Sasuke growled as he leaked his aura.

Beginning to fear for his life, Naruto lunged at Neji who was frozen. "Yes!" Naruto squeaked out as he hugged Neji who nodded furiously.

"Good." Sasuke said as the aura dissipated and he turned away, walking back to Shikamaru who smirked at him.

Naruto and Neji separated and exchanged looks of relief. "Sooo... back to sparring?" Naruto asked with a nervous smile. Before Neji could answer Shikamaru called for them to walk to his tree.

"Oi, move faster we have lots to discuss." The Nara said with a yawn as Naruto and Neji approached. "Now that we're settled," Shikamaru said as he stretched before looking serious, "how is Gaara? Anything new to report?"

"Nothing, Gaara is still with me but sometimes he goes back to his mind to ease the effects of madness and train his body," Neji reported. "He says he'll deal with his uncle and things in Suna are still the same, as if the kidnapping didn't happen."

"Hm, it may have been years but I would have presumed they changed something," Shikamaru muttered. "Heck, our village still has there increased security and my clan has curfews and headcounts."

"Same here, perhaps because he holds a tailed beast?" Neji mused as he closed his eyes to contact Gaara.

"Most likely, they can't increase security or anything that can be obviously seen because Gaara is safe with his sand. They may be doing a subtle approach. Perhaps asking around and spying on any leads that may have led to the kidnapping." Sasuke said contributing to the list of ideas.

"Yea, still that isn't gonna affect any of our plans unless they find someone to blame," Naruto said with a shrug. "Coming back may ripple time but it should have settled down, otherwise we wouldn't be able to change anything." When he straightened he saw everyone staring at him. "What?"

"Huh, you said something smart." Sasuke huffed with a playful smirk. Naruto gave him an offended look before gasping dramatically.

"How dare you! I was-am-will? uh... I HOKAGE! I can be smart!" Naruto huffed as he laid on the ground tuning red.

"Pft... I Hokage?" Sasuke snickered as he tried to regain his composure. He wasn't the only one as Shikamaru's shoulders were shaking and Neji's lip twitched incessantly.

"Oi! Stop laughing at me! Do you know what tense to use?" Naruto hissed as he crossed his arms.

Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru exchanged glances before replying in unison, "Nah, but saying 'I became the Hokage' is better".

Naruto gaped at them before scooting back. "That's creepy, ttebayo..." he muttered. The other males simply smirked further increasing Naruto's terror.

Shikamaru was the first to break the atmosphere as he stood up. "We should get going, it's getting late."

The rest nodded in agreement. "Next time we'll plan the outcome of my clan," Sasuke said as he sent his peers away.

"You got it teme!" Naruto said as he pressed a small peck on Sasuke's cheek before dashing off.

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered as he watched them dissapear into the trees. He turned away and walked down a worn dirt path that would lead him home.
_________________________________________________________________________________

A.N: Well this took awhile my bad. This took awhile because I had no idea on my outline for the Massacre, like I can picture it but had no way to put it into words. So then I thought, hey why don't I just put a lil filler to build up comradeship.

Hope you enjoy!