STARDUST SKETCHES

Disclaimer: Yeah, no. I don't own the characters, songs or whatever else aside my imagination.

Summary: Works, bits and pieces from different fandoms and crossovers. Unlike Scrapbook Jewels not likely to be developed into longer stories. Additional warnings within chapters.

Shout Out: Yes, I know I should've been working on my other works, most notably ATHD, HILY and ITBT. However, with the idea of doing kind of a spring cleaning through my papers, I've decided to upload them in order to give them chance to see the light of the world and grow, even if as someone else's story. If you are interested in up-taking one of them, or at least the idea of it, please PM me, because I would love to read what you came up with while reading those little sketches of mine. To stardust and magic!

Warnings: Crossover (HP/Naruto), minor violence, hard home truths. And yes, the title inter-charging here is intentional.

In which Kakashi discovers that the old adage of absence makes the heart fonder doesn't hold in his case.

"Oh?" Yuugao quirked an eyebrow. "And who will teach your team in your.. absence?" The silver-haired shinobi eye-smiled.

"Why, Harry, of course?"

Yuugao sweatdropped. "You mean… you let a civilian of all people teach those greenhorns?" She asked, incredulous at her senpai's latest hare-brained scheme. Humming cheerfully, Kakashi nodded, enjoying the beautiful day, unspoiled by his trio of bra - ahem, team.

"Didn't you forget something? Yuugao prodded him. Kakashi frowned his eyebrows. Forget something…?

And then, he paled, his skin changing to a stark white color.

"Uh…" He gulped. "I forgot to tell them that Harry dislikes tardiness… Intensely."

Harry was grumpy. Then annoyed, And then… Pissed off. He hated tardiness, and his wayward pupils were just that… Tardy. Silently, he swore to himself to never, ever coach Kakashi's team, or do Kakashi any favors. Period. Or coach any team for that matter.

Well, his first pupil - err, victim, was already on the way, He smirked a dark smirk.

Sakura was skipping a little while humming a happy tune. She had a beautiful dream last night. She dreamed that Sasuke proposed to her and -

She blinked. Someone was already at Team 7 designated gathering place.

That someone was a male, clad in black leather trousers with knee high boots and loose fitting sleeveless shirt along with black coat. His hair was also black, with auburn highlights and for some reason, some of his tresses were colored white. The mess of strands was pulled back into a half-ponytail with some locks escaping and framing a handsome face with the greenest eyes she had ever seen.

Sakura drooled.

The next 'victim' was Naruto. Actually, the blond didn't even notice the ominous presence leaning against one of the trees, but rather he concentrated on greeting his pink-haired love of his life, who sadly had her eyes only for the hot, green-eyed Adonis in front of her.

The Adonis in question still didn't answer her questions, much to her chagrin.

The last one was Uchiha Sasuke. He sauntered to the meeting place, noting with a relief that the pinkette was for once attracted to someone else than him. His eyes widened marginally at the man's appearance.

The green-eyed man exuded a … presence. A feeling of repressed danger, if you will. He was only leaning against the trunk, green eyes half-closed had with arms crossed on his chest. He didn't seem to be armed; and if not for Sasuke's instincts, he would've been perceived as a harmless civilian. But now –

Those green eyes snapped open, pinning him with a piercing glare which had frozen him stiff on the spot.

"You. Are. Late." The man growled out, clearly pissed off at them. Sasuke gulped.

That was not good.

Harry was pissed off. His erstwhile…. pupils were late by three hours and he had enough.

Critically, he eyed the brats. The pinkette was unsure whether to drool some more or to cower in front of him.

The blond… was dumb. There was no two ways about it. Who on God's green earth wears on potentially dangerous missions orange, of all the colors? And the raven, while he didn't have the obvious faults of his teammates was arrogant, angsty little shit.

Naruto gulped. This stranger… was obviously someone NOT to be crossed. And what did he mean, they were late?

He cringed under the intense glare of disapproval. Not even Sasuke was exempt of the glare's effect.

"W-Where is Kakashi-sensei?" The pinkette managed to stutter out.

Harry eyed her silently until she began fidgeting under the weight of his glare. "On a mission." He retorted shortly. Pushing away from the tree, he then straightened out from the half-slouch he had been while leaning against it. "And for the time being, I will be your…. Instructor." His displeasure with the position he had found himself in was keenly heard in his voice, causing the children to cringe even more.

He eyed them again. "Introduce yourselves. Names, rank, abilities, and your aspirations."

"But what about you, sensei?" Sakura dared to inquire, only to squeak fearfully under his glare which seemed to go up a notch. "My name is not important," the man dismissed her question brusquely. "I am here as your instructor, and that's all you need to know. So cease wasting my time and begin!" He snapped at her, causing her to flinch and squeak.

Sakura was terrified. This - this man was scary! "I-I am Haruno Sakura. I am Genin kunoichi, Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi. I – " She swallowed, but braved on "I was a kunoichi of the year. I know Bunshin, Kawarimi and Henge. My aspiration is - " She quickly looked over to Sasuke and blushed.

Harry nodded. "Next." He pointed to Naruto.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto!" The hyper blonde exclaimed, grinning his usual goofy grin. "I am Genin, Team 7. As for my asi-aspuh – " he grimaced at the word " - I will be the greatest Hokage ever." He pumped his fist iup. " Believe it!"

"And your abilities?" Harry asked, his face stony, obviously unimpressed with the blond's high flying plans. Sheepishy, Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Um. Same as Sakura-chan, just I use Kage Bunshin instead Bunshin."

Mentally, Harry sweatdropped.

"Now you." He nodded to Sasuke. Sasuke straightened up, dark eyes zeroing to green ones. "I am Uchiha Sasuke, Genin of the Team 7. I can use Bunshin, Kawarimi, Henge and Katon: Fenikkusu no jutsu. I don't have dreams. I will kill my brother and resurrect my clan."

"So cool, Sasuke-kun!" sakura squealed out, her eyes shining with admiration. A moment later, she was sprawled on the ground, her palm tenderly cradling her slapped cheek, green eyes wide with shock.

"Hey! What are you do – " Naruto tried to berate the man, only to be punched into gut "-Urk!" he kneeled - more like crashed on the ground, clutching his stomach.

Seeing the two of them down, Sasuke began to make seals for the fire jutsu, before he was kneeled to the gut and slapped for a good measure. Only then, the man dropped him on the ground with an uncaring look of someone who didn't give a shit.

"Oi!" Naruto protested at the harsh actions, his blue eyes blazing with indignant anger. "What did you do that for?!"

Harry glared at the village idiot. "I wonder how Kakashi ever let you three pass." He growled out, causing Naruto to back away. "You three are singularly most pathetic group of genin I've ever seen." He snapped as he began to circle them, prompting the trio to unconsciously huddle together while trying to keep him in their sights.

"Let's begin with the pinky there, shall we?" Harry drawled out, disdainfully prodding her knee with the tip of his book, causing her to flinch away, cringing into her two teammates fearfully. "The screechy, violent banshee of a fangirl. Weak, she expects to be saved by her 'Sasuke-kun' if she ever gets into trouble and daydreaming of her happily ever after of being Mrs. Uchiha." Harry eyed the shaking girl for a moment.

"She uses more time to pretty herself up than to train seriously. In fact, her stamina is nonexistent, passable knowledge of survival and overwhelming brain smarts." he sneered the last two words as he stepped away from the girl. "In one world. Pa-The-Tic. Whoever heard about the pink-haired shinobi on the battlefield? If anything, such a bright color would kill you faster than you could say Henge!" By the end of the sentence, Sakura was crying, small, wounded sobs tumbling out of her throat as she pressed her hand to her mouth in vain hope to silence the shameful sounds.

"Oh look, a crybaby. " Harry coldly remarked. "How do you expect to survive through the missions higher than C-rank? With overwhelming your opponent via bawling your lungs out? Or…" he paused. "Spreading your legs, like a whore?"

Naruto saw red. "YOU!" He lunged at the man who dared to hurt his Sakura-chan. Harry let him come, before punching him into face and then he grabbed him by the throat, choking him. "Lookie what we got here…" He muttered , his voice an omen of death. "A village idiot." Uncaring green eyes roved over Naruto's body, from top to bottom, making him squirm at the very unwelcome attention. "A typical street bum, who wishes to be a Hokage… and thinks he could accomplish that by wearing a neon orange jumpsuit and pure dumb luck. Do you think the pranks alone will get you that hat? " Harry asked the now frozen whiskered blond. "Or your Sakura-chan?"

Naruto paled at the tirade. "I don't tolerate stupidity and you have excesses of it." Harry concluded quietly, before he released him none too gently.

Sasuke gulped as the man turned to him. Green eyes, like frozen lightning clashed with black orbs.

"Arrogant, useless, whiny brat. All hail Uchiha Sasuke, the Emo Avenger." Those words were like acid for Sasuke pride, but he grit his teeth and bore them. He couldn't do anything else. But Harry wasn't done with him yet. "Blind to everything except how to power for his revenge. " Harry snorted. "You'd betray anyone if that would mean getting more power. Hotheaded idiot who thinks he's a genius just because he's the last Uchiha, while in reality he's still a milk-toothed brat. " Harry eyed him with derision clear in his orbs. "You could've been a Hokage and I still wouldn't respect you. Respect is earned, not given, and out there, there is always someone who had it worse than you. " Sasuke's blood boiled at the insults, but he forced himself to be still.

Harry stepped back to critically eye them before looking to Hokage Mountain.

"What a pathetic bunch." He sighed. "I've had better wooden soldiers when I was young, even if they were broken." The three Genins were quiet, with an exception of Sakura's sniffling.

Harry eyed them again, this time, his expression was the completely neutral one. "As I said, I am your instructor for the time being. However, I don't intend to train whiny pansies. Who would second-guess my every order. Soo…" He trailed off.

"This day - use it to re-evaluate your goals and your resolve to reach them. If you still want to be shinobi, worthy of their name, then meet me tomorrow here at 4 AM for training. If not, feel free to drop out of the program. " At this, Harry have them a stern look. "If you are stupid enough to come… I won't tolerate tardiness. Dismissed."

He spun around and vanished in a gust of a wind, leaving behind three Genin, shaken to their cores.

The next day

Harry eyed the sleepy children standing in front of him. Contrarily to them he was wide awake, a remnant of those days of war. This time, he was clothed in baggy black pants with dark grey sweater and black vest.

"Why are you here?" He asked, not bothering with niceties.

"Um… For training? Sakura timidly spoke out. Harry sighed.

"That would be a reasonable assumption, yes." He bit out, making her flinch. "So why are you still primped out?" This time, Sakura cringed.

Harry paused as he looked over her. The pinkette was clothed in almost same clothes than yesterday, but her hair was messy and she had dark bags under her eyes.

"Are you even prepared to train?" His voice was cold, impersonal. Sakura gulped, but nodded. Mentally, Harry's eyebrows rose with doubt. But…"No caterwauling after your Sasuke-kun, no bugging him about dates, no hitting Naruto for unreasonable things."

The girl cringed. "If you peep out even the tiniest complaint, you are out. If you moon over the Uchiha, when you should've been training or working… You. Are. Out." Harry's eyes bore into her own green orbs. He lifted his hand, making her flinch. He tapped her forehead protector. "Do you know what waring this means?" He watched her as she blinked, wary of him like a caged animal. "That we are shinobi and we are adults." She whispered, biting her lips, trying to refrain to wringing her hands, but not with much success.

He nodded. "Good girl. But that also means you are responsible for yourself. You can't rely on your teammates to drag you out of trouble forever. Out there you won't have time to play a damsel in distress. It's do or die, kill or be killed. So… If you are ready… Cut your hair."

Sakura's eyes became the size of saucers at the demand. "N-Now?" She stammered out. Harry nodded. She gulped.

Screwing her eyes together, she took her kunai with trembling hand and -

Snickt.

Long pink tresses danced slowly to the ground, a mournful goodbye to innocence, both Naruto and Sasuke watching the scene with horrified fascination.

Everyone knew just how much her long mane meant to Sakura.

Everyone.

"W-What have I done?" Sakura whimpered, horrified, letting the kunai fall from her lifeless hand to the ground, her eyesight blurring as she felt the unbearable lightness of her head.

Harry tilted his head. "You've taken your life in your own hands." Then, his gaze turned to Naruto, who looked like he wanted either to bolt or maul Harry for forcing her to cut off her tresses. But again, Harry was wholly unsympathetic to the blond's plight.

"Why are you here?" He asked again.

Naruto's eyes flicked to the sheared off pink tresses lying on the ground.

Then, he swallowed and turned to their devil of an instructor. "To be a Hokage. And to protect my precious people." Harry frowned, causing Naruto's heart to sink.

"And if you can't be a Hokage? What will you do then?"

The blond froze. This… idea was incomprehensible to him. To not become a Hokage? He swallowed harshly.

Harry waited patiently, watching him all the while. He knew it was cruel what he was doing to the whisker-faced boy, but better to disillusion the brat now than to give him any unrealistic expectations.

"I'll - I'll still try…" he mumbled out.

"Oh?" Harry drawled out. "Life isn't a fairy tale you are picturing it out to be. Sometimes, dreams remain just that - dreams. What will you do if you are, despite all your hard work, still rejected from being Hokage?"

The blond gulped, now feeling an acute pressure in this serious green-eyed gaze resting on his person.

"Will you betray them? Will you shun them, just like they shunned you?" Harry continued mercilessly, both Sakura and Sasuke silent shadows in the background, not doing anything but listening to the man slowly ripping Naruto's dreams apart with almost surgical precision.

"I don't know." Naruto admitted dully. Green eyes looked in the blue ones in searchingly.

"Think on it, then, " Harry ordered the boy. "There's more to life than chasing after revenger or Hokage's hat or pretty boys." He continued drolly, blithely ignoring their reactions.

"You will hate me; despise me with every fiber of your being. You'll wish I would drop dead." Harry sighed. "And you know what? I. Won't. Fucking. Care. Now, what did that cyclops taught you?"

Half an hour later the torture - uh, training began. For being a civilian, Harry was surprisingly ruthless, and true to his prediction, his pupils hated him for his unusual and painful methods of keeping them… motivated.

Three months later, there was a group of Genin waiting for their errant one-eyed teacher at the (for most of sane people) unholy hour of 6 AM at morning.

And what a change that was, considering the beginning.

Sakura now covered her hair with a black scarf, pirate-style, her hitai-ate sitting proudly on her forehead. She was clothed in dark red and black ensemble that was more practical than her old dress. She was reading some medic scrolls, tapping her foot idly as she contemplated the contents.

Sasuke's hair was longer, and he was clad in black and blue colored clothes, but with no Uchiha emblem in sight. He was idly flipping through the hand signs, each hand going through the different set, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

Naruto was the biggest change of them all. Once a loser, clothed in orange – a neon orange at that – he now wore black and dark green with his hair likewise covered with a navy blue scarf with hitai-ate on his forehead. He was frowning in concentration as he levitated five leaved on his right hand, one for each finger.

In past three months their instructor had ruthlessly piledrived them into the ground. He had exposed their faults and made them fix them. He had forced them to train beyond their limits and think over their beliefs and plans alike. He had made them think with their heads – not an easy task, but they made progress in that area nonetheless.

Sasuke contemplated the enigma that was their instructor. At first, he had hated the man. He feared and hated him but now, he respected him.

Truthfully, the young Uchiha dreaded the day when Hatake would take over the Team 7.

The instructor had taken care of him - checked on him, rebuked him when his plans or actions were foolish. In some perverse way, he had become the brother Sasuke wished for - his pilar of support and the one who understood him. So it was no wonder that Sasuke lived with him…

It all began one stormy night. Sasuke couldn't bear the silence of the compound anymore. It was too big, too much and too silent – and in a flash of inspiration (craziness back then, ) he grabbed his duffle bag, stuffed in some of his clothes and took off to the instructor's house.

And this was the best decision he'd ever made.

The instructor was a gruff man, who reminded him of some old soldiers - always alert and wary, yet their eyes were weary with bloodshed they had seen. Sensei, as Sasuke called him, became his confidant and trusted ear and mouth in the matters of life. Sasuke liked that Sensei didn't sugarcoat the matters, no matter how bad they seemed to be. He wasn't pitied or worshipped - so Sensei, he was just a normal kid who had survived a horrific tragedy and was also a shinobi. He treated Sasuke as a person, never hinting that Sasuke was too young or too childish to understand something. And that alone made Sasuke respect the man.

Naruto, who was beside Sasuke the most rebellious in the group, practically adored the man. The lone Uzumaki was, for the first time in his life, treated as a valuable person, with unique insights and ideas. Of course, at first he didn't like the instructor.

But slowly, Naruto came to understand Sensei's point of view, on certain matter and he had to admit that Sensei was right.

He had been taught, questioned, nagged at, prodded, and most importantly, guided. From ignorance to knowledge, from being judgmental to being understanding, from being reckless to seeing tactical advantages and disadvantages and using both of them when it befitted him and his team.

Of course, he was still rough around the edges, but he was learning.

Sakura had improved the most. She wasn't as strong as her team mates, but she discovered she had other advantages. With Sensei's help, she began taking being a shinobi seriously - she stopped dieting and started training. She still liked Sasuke, but she wasn't a mindless fangirl anymore. Oh the wonders of having to be in another's proverbial shoes…

In the past three months, Team 7 became a cohesive unit with good teamwork and understanding both of the world and each other.

Kakashi appeared - as always - late. "Yo." He eye-smiled at his cute little genins, not letting himself show his surpise at the change in their attire . Well, Harry at least managed to do something useful here…

Three pairs of eyes looked up at him calmly. A silence stretched between them.

Kakashi smiled uncomfortably at their expressionless faces. "What? No greetings for yout old, weary sensei?" He joked, but a joke fell flat.

The three Genin still stared at him.

"You."

"Are. "

"Late." Each of them spoke out one word, beginning with Sakura, Naruto continuing and Sasuke ended the chain.

Now, Kakashi began to get nervous. That wasn't how his cute little Genin usually behaved!

"Look, my cute little Genin – "

"The three Genin in question abruptly stood up and marched past the one dumbfounded scarecrow.

"Hey, hey, hey! Where are you lot going?" Kakashi called after them nervously.

"To the Hokage." Naruto deadpanned. Kakashi blinked, stupefied. "Uh… Why?"

Sasuke fought the urge to twitch.

"To get a new team leader." He bit out, barely leashing his killing intent.

The trio left the gaping Kakashi staring after them incredulously.

They wouldn't do that to him, would they?

Harry was enjoying his time off and away from the brats.

They were now Kakashi's problem - and that was that.

He smirked to himself, humming as he was enjoying his jumbo-sized piece of a treacle tart.

That would teach Kakashi to foist his horde on him, oh yeas, it would.

(He was almost sad he couldn't watch the ensuing fireworks.)

"Hokage-sama, Team 7 wishes to lodge a complaint."

Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of the Konoha, blinked with confusion at the wording of the request.

"Is something wrong?" He asked curiously, calmly looking up at the tree irate Genin standing in front of him.

"Why yes, it is." Sakura replied waspishly, prompting Sarutobi to blink at her incensed tone.

"Hatake is no leader of ours. He's late, teaches even less and expects us to follow him when he did nothing to deserve our respect, much less our trust. "

The Hokage winced at the unexpectedly acerbic response. In Konoha it was almost unheard of for the whole team to revolt against their leader, but if the team stating that was Kakashi's own team, then something had to be exceptionally wrong.

"Hatake was needed for a mission of a high priority," He volleyed back.

Naruto growled. "And he pawned us on someone who had no idea about being a shinobi! He– "

"Shut up, Uzumaki!" Sasuke bit out, making the blonde growl at him.

Sarutobi became serious. "This is indeed a worse offense." He said calmly, surely wishing for his pipe. "Because you are not operative – "

"On the contrary, we lucked out." Sakura interrupted the old man, her green eyes hard. "We are operative, because Sensei beat the snot out of us and sense in out skulls. He has our respect and trust. Hatake doesn't. Thus, we want to be reassigned from Hatake Kakashi to Sensei. "

Now, Sarutobi had to gape. Not that it was hard to do. "You want to switch your leaders? " He asked, incredulous. "Are you sure?" Three firm nods answered him. Clutching at straws, Sarutobi looked to Naruto. "Naruto. Are you sure? Kakashi is the best one to – "

"Teach us? Lead us in the field? Support us? Have our backs?" Naruto droned out, his usually cheerful ocean blue eyes blazing with anger. "Hatake taught us precisely nothing – not even tree walking and we were already a month since we've became a team when that important mission he had to go came in. On the other side, all other teams were taught it second or third day since their official formation. We've mastered water-walking but no thanks to him." The Uchiha seethed at the foolish man, black eyes bleeding into red and black in his fit of fury.

Speechless, Sarutobi stared at the activated Sharingan, utterly shocked. "You have – "

"Unlocked it, yes." Sasuke dismissed the feat with a wave of his hand, but that didn't deter him from glaring at the old man. "Each of the teams, they are trained for their purpose. What about us? For a team intended to be deployed to first lines, directly against the enemy, we sure don't have the associated training program!" The Uchiha barked out, and for a second, Sarutobi saw a younger Fugaku Uchiha imposing over his youngest son's image.

"He helped me with my clothed and the apartment." Naruto added his bit calmly. Too calmly, in fact. Blue eyes were frosty when he continued. "He taught me how to read and how to fight, even knowing about the furball." Sarutobi paled at that little tidbit, and outright blanched when Naruto's facial features became more animalistic, the whiskers thickening slightly, becoming more jagged in process. "And you know what? The furball likes him." He showed sharp canines, while grinning mirthlessly at the shocked village leader.

"Transfer us, old man."

Sighing, Sarutobi leaned back into the chair and rubbed his nose bridge, irritated.

"Who is he?" He finally asked, his voice gruff.

"He's Sensei." Sakura answered guilelessly. "We don't know his name and didn't ask for it."

The Hokage's eyebrows rose at that little tidbit.

"Are you aware that he's a civilian?" Sarutobi pressed on, his face grim. Three pairs of eyes glared at him.

"Yes, will you transfer us now?" Sasuke growled, his patience finally frazzled.

Sarutobi really wanted a smoke. And a drink to go along with. And to forget the entire thing.

"Under one condition." He said wearily.

"Win against the other rookie teams and I'll consider it. If even one of you loses, the deal is off." He growled out, fed up with the entire clusterfuck.

Hearing that the Team 7 god bloodthirsty smirks on their faces.

"You are on, Old Man." Naruto growled a wolfish grin.

Sarutobi fought the urge to whimper.

This was NOT going to end well.

Harry sighed, content. It was all right and dandy in his little world - Hatake had his brats back, Harry managed to finish one of his pet projects - successfully, might he add, the sun was shining, warming his body pleasantly the birds were singing - the day was close to being perfect.

He should have known it wouldn't last long.

The rumors were spreading with almost inhuman speed. How the Team 7 demanded to switch the leaders, to top of it all, their new demanded-for leader was supposed to be a civilian of all things and -

Team 7 disregarded the questions, demands and outright mocking.

And then, the fight with Team 8 was on.

Team 7's teamwork was scarily seamless, they also employed some very unusual formations and traps.

Naruto overwhelmed Kiba, Sasuke won over Aburame and Sakura defeated Hinata with creative use of medicine techniques.

Second round, Sasuke went toe-to-toe with Lee, Naruto got one over the Hyuuga genius and Sakura immobilized Tenten with a well-aimed chakra punch.

Ino-Shika-Cho trio was the hardest. But thanks to Naruto's creative use of battleground and Sasuke's Sharingan - Sakura won over Ino with laughable ease - Team 7 was once again victorious.

These - these Genin were scary! This was the main thought of the shinobi who watched the matches. Just what kind of training from hell did they endure to become so strong in such a short time?

Mentally, Kakashi was drooling over the possibilities of having the command of such a prodigious team…. completely forgetting exactly what the stakes were.

"So. We won. Can we switch the leaders now?" Naruto whined, an old shred of impatience glinting in his eyes.

Sarutobi sighed. There was no use in convincing them otherwise, anyway. Not when they won the wager. "Yes.2 He agreed heavily. "From this moment on, the Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi is disbanded and reformed as Team 7 under the command of their Sensei - get me that man's name soon – " he commanded at the beaming Genin - well, Sasiuke was smirking, Sakura was beaming and Naruto was grinning one of his foxy grins – crankily as he glared at the still daydreaming Kakashi. "And Hatake, you're with me - and no Icha-Icha for you!"

"Sensei!" Harry twitched at the rampage of his three-ex-students into his garden.

"What now?" He asked gruffly. "Don't you have Hatake to bug now?" He became wary at seeing Sasuke's smirk. It was way too smug to be normal.

"We got you." The last Uchiha purred out, dark eyes glinting with amusement and fondness when Harry's jaw dropped with disbelief.

Harry wanted to whimper.

Naruto insisted to have a barbecue to celebrate their reunion.

Sakura agreed, with provision that Naruto has to eat at least as much of vegetables as he would meat.

(If they thought Sensei was beastly before, he was now downright sadistic in his training. The missions were much-coveted reprieve from the torture they went through every day. And they still didn't know Sensei's name!)

(Team 7 of Konoha quickly became famous through Elemental lands - they were practically the only Genin team with S-rank classification to their name.)

(Uchiha Itachi had the misfortune to meet one Uchiha Sasuke. Despite having Mangekyo Sharingan he was defeated and then dragged off to Sensei for one of his infamous lectures.)

(Team 7 as a whole - read: the three terrifying brats – was completely unsympathetic to his plight.)