LMAO uh hi I didn't know people were actually still reading this story? Why are you all here? Uh. Well I guess that means I should make another chapter then, huh? It's currently like four in the morning so this might not make any sense, and I'm just hammering it out as I go, but I saw someone request a chapter where Kakashi finds out about Naruto's furry little... talent? Is it a talent? Anyway, uh, I hope you enjoy. Also, warning for excessive use of ellipses. I like them.

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Sasuke had been acting... odd... for the last few days, and Kakashi was concerned. Especially since whatever had the boy's feathers ruffled seemed to have something to do with Naruto. The Uchiha kept sneaking looks at the other boy, and when he was caught, he didn't even have the decency to look embarassed or turn away. Instead he just... kept staring. It was weird, and it was clearly making Naruto uncomfortable. That was okay. Kakashi was uncomfortable too. He didn't know how to deal with this... whatever it was.

At least Sakura was being normal. He had been doing his best to train the fangirl out of her, and it appeared to be working. Instead of sighing after Sasuke all day, she was focusing on missions and actually putting effort into improving herself as a kunoichi. At the rate she was going, it wouldn't be out of the question for her to surpass both Naruto and Sasuke. It might take a while, but... he was getting off track here. He was assigned this genin team specifically to keep an eye on the last Uchiha and make sure there was no question about his loyalty to the village, and here he was wandering off on mental tangents while there was a D-rank to supervise! What fun. This was probably at least the tenth time his team had been told to catch Tora in the last month, and at this point Kakashi was pretty sure the Hokage was just assigning this mission to his team to spite him. That old bastard KNEW cats hated him, and yet somehow almost every time the mission came up, it was assigned to his team.

As a demonic screeching echoed through his ear piece, nearly blowing out his eardrums in the process, he once again thanked his lucky stars for Sakura. She had, from the sound of her quite frankly very impressive stream of curse words, managed to tackle the damn cat to the ground after launching herself off of Naruto's head. Unsurprisingly, he was cursing incessantly as well, and some of the phrases he knew were almost enough to make Kakshi blush. Well, that must be what happens when you grow up as the village pariah in a bad part of town. With the ease of constant practice, Kakshi effortlessly ignored the twinge of guilt caused by thinking about how he had failed his late teacher's son in yet another way, and went to go rescue his team from the cat-shaped demon.

Hopping down from his perch on a nearby building, he clapped his hands together to get their attention, and eye-smiled when he found himself on the receiving end of three incensed glares. Well, he amended after a moment, two incensed glares and one disturbingly neutral expression. So, pretty much par for the course.

"Well well, my little gremlins. Good work capturing Tora yet again. Let's go see the Hokage and get our pay, shall we?" Sasuke of course ignored him, opting instead to grunt noncommittally and shoot another glance at Naruto, Sakura nodded with a grumble and a vicious shake of the cat she was still grasping, and Naruto? Well, Naruto exploded.

"HEY HEY KAKASHI-SENSEI, I'M TIRED OF CATCHING THIS STUPID CAT!" He stomped his foot on the ground and looked at Kakashi with a pout, and Kakashi came disturbingly close to cooing and ruffling the boy's hair. He cleared his throat and adjusted his mask, wondering if it was even worth it to play dumb. Oh, who was he kidding? He'd be insane, well, even more than he already was, to pass up a chance to mess with his gremlins, er, his genin.

"Maa, Naruto, I'm sure there are fences you gremlins could paint, or gardens you could weed. Would you like to do that instead?" Privately, he doubted the Hokage would let him get away with refusing the Tora mission whenever it came up again. The old bastard seemed to have made it his life mission to make Kakashi's as difficult as possible. But anyway, he thought with an amused huff as Naruto's already red face began to resemble a tomato, that wasn't the point. He knew what Naruto meant, and Naruto knew that he knew.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI YOU JERK! YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! WE'RE READY FOR A C-RANK!" There it was. That's what Kakashi had been looking for. He could get away with asking for a C-rank if he had the excuse that his gremlins had demanded one. He looked to Sakura and Sasuke with a questioningly raised eyebrow.

"Well, my little gremlins? Do you agree with your teammate? Do you think you're ready for a C-rank?" He sincerely hoped they said yes. If he had to supervise another D-rank he was going to do something... drastic. Like kidnap his gremlins and take them on an adventure-slash-training-mission. Actually, now that he thought about it, he might do that anyway. It would give him a chance to figure out what was going on with Sasuke and Naruto and okay maybe he was just bored. At this point, figuring out what was going on between the two boys was less important than getting some god damn entertainment. But anyway, he looked to the rest of his team, who appeared to still be reeling from Naruto's volume. He was normally loud, but apparently his max volume was only somewhat quieter than a fire jutsu gone wrong. Kakashi was honestly surprised no windows had shattered.

When they recovered, even Sasuke looked slightly determined. Sakura appeared to have literal fire in her eyes, and Kakashi shuddered ever so slightly at how much she resembled Gai when he got "youthfully determined."

"Naruto is right, Kakashi-sensei. We've been ready for something more challenging for a while. Plus," here she stopped to shake Tora again, silencing the cat's protesting wail with a fierce glare, "the next time I lay eyes on this damn cat, I might just have to arrange an... accident for it." Sasuke nodded slightly, and Kakshi didn't know whether he was agreeing with Sakura's decision to accidentally-on-purpose kill the Daimyo's wife's cat, or the fact that they were ready to move on. Probably it was a bit of both, actually. While Sasuke never really got up close and personal with Tora, he seemed to have a healthy dislike of it anyway. The few scratches he received for his efforts definitely helped that along.

"Well then gremlins, I suppose we have something else to talk to the Hokage about today." He let himself acknowledgethe warm and fuzzy feeling he got in his chest when Naruto and Sakura broke out into wide smiles and, in Naruto's case, raucous cheering. Even Sasuke let the corners of his mouth curl upwards, and that? That right there? Kakashi was proud of that. The Hokage may be on Kakashi's shit list for a lot of things, but these gremlins had potentially saved his life. He wasn't about to be ungrateful for that.

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Hhhhhhhhhh this was supposed to be just like the first chapter. A short little thing where Kakashi sees Naruto transform and has a mental breakdown. Short and sweet, right? WRONG. He ripped this chapter out of my hands and made me FEEL FEELINGS. THAT'S ILLEGAL. Anyway, I may or may not be attached to this fic now, and also very soft for the found family trope. Also, Sakura is mine, and Kishimoto can't have her back. My girl WILL RECEIVE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, DAMN IT. Okay enough rambling I hope you enjoyed. Oh also, This may be completely incomprehensible but, it's here, so. Yes. Okay bye.

-Rawrs, LauraDragon (why do I still say that? I'm gonna stop saying that.)