Author's note:

Dedicated to Angelus Animi and Flower of Venus because their lovely reviews motivated me into picking up the slack with this story :) I did this incredibly annoying thing where I got an idea for something way down the timeline and just had to write it, so now I have this huge gap that needs to be filled out, though thankfully I know what I want to happen. Oh, and then there's that muse who continuously wacks me my poor head with that harp of hers, demanding that I follow up on all those new ideas for stories - no seriously, I have like 7 ongoing stories, one of them even longer than this one..

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Kaze no Uchiha

"But he said not to eat anything?" Naruto said groggily, having been shaken awake and placed at the bar with a healthy portion breakfast in front of him. Looking up from the small bento she was putting together for their female teammate, Aya asked "Did he now?" Sasuke wasn't looking all that fresh either as he slid onto the place beside the blonde, but he at least understood her meaning and responded "No he didn't; he advised us not to". She could almost hear the cogs slowly starting to turn en their heads, but prodded them along nonetheless by presenting the situation a little differently "So, you have essentially been given a mission of unknown duration and without a clear goal to accomplish other than demonstrating your skills. The only confirmed information you have is when and where it begins, plus that the three of you will have to go up against your elite jounin- level sensei while he evaluates whether you are ready to become part of Konoha's shinobi force or not. Those are the hard facts. Furthermore you were advised that you might throw up if you eat beforehand. Now, are there things we can surmise, either from implied information, our own basic knowledge or observation?"

She was aware that it wasn't very civilian of her to put it like that, but the boys had been around her enough that they had long since stopped being surprised when she stepped outside the persona most of the village saw. And most importantly it worked; both Naruto and Sasuke caught on. Uncharacteristically the Uchiha was quicker to answer "That there will be heavy physical exertion or possibly something traumatizing enough to make us puke involved. The first seems more likely considering our training up until now and that Konoha isn't in any wars, though the latter could be achieved through genjutsu". Of course his rival wasn't far behind and in typical Uzumaki-fashion leapt right to the heart of the matter by asking the first two questions that popped into his head "But what kind of wimp would go hungry on a mission like that for fear of throwing up? Fighting on an empty stomach is stupid and besides; won't we have plenty of time to digest while waiting for Sensei to show up? Iruka-sensei wasn't surprised at all that he was super late yesterday, so it probably normal"

Silence followed as the two Uchiha's looked at him bemusedly, until Aya shook her head to clear it and smiled proudly as she said "Keep thinking logically like this and I won't have to worry even a little about you today. You should probably start getting ready; I have packed some of those boring ration-bars for you in case the test draws out and you can borrow extra weapons from my collection if you want to – yes that includes real tanto and ninjato. In exchange, will you boys give Sakura this bento for me?".

She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her at seeing the suffering grimace on Sasuke's face as he asked her "Why?", to which she lifted a brow and countered "Can't I just be nice to your future teammate?" The boy wasn't moved though and stubbornly kept looking at her until she rolled her eyes and relented "I don't remember any clan by the name of Haruno, so odds are her parents are civilian and won't have thought as far as you two just did. Even if they did try to make her see sense and eat, they likely won't have succeeded as many young girls suffer under the delusion that dieting will somehow make them more attractive. Now, seeing as I have never heard about anyone beneath tokubetsu jounin-level taking on missions of any rank worth mentioning solo, I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that there is a good reason you were divided into teams of three. Teammates work together and help each other out, right?"

Evidently he couldn't argue with her logic since he then pointedly pushed the bento towards Naruto for him to pick up, but she suspected his reasoning ran more along the lines of a full kunoichi being less of a bother than a hungry one. Not quite what she was aiming for, but he was slowly getting better.

After wishing the boys good luck and seeing them off, the redhead stretched out on her couch, thoughts straying to a certain silver haired jounin. He was still mostly asleep when she slipped out earlier and very reluctant to let her go, which brought a smile to her lips at how cute the feared nin could be. "Well, no rest for the wicked. I should be going too" she said to herself while getting up to change her clothes and get her gear. She and Genma had a training-date in an hour and Aya wanted to do her full morning-routine and limber up before he arrived.

Snaking strong arms around the slim waist of his target, Kakashi nuzzled her neck from behind while asking "You wouldn't happen to have had a hand in my genin being unusually well-fed and -equipped today all things considered, would you?" He really tried to make his expression stern as the fiery haired beauty blinked big blue eyes up at him innocently, but must not have been very successful as she merely pulled down his mask and caught his lips in a quick kiss.

In truth he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about her meddling, other than a bit of fond exasperation. He supposed he should have been cross with her, but from what he had deduced, she hadn't actually given them any answers or instructions, only provided the tools and nudged them into thinking more like shinobi much the same way the boy's parents would have done it had they still been alive. Similarly he couldn't quite figure out his feelings regarding actually having passed a team for the first time ever or how much they reminded him of his own genin-team, though it had been extremely funny shocking the other jounin-senseis with the news.

Any further musings were cut off when Aya turned around completely and put her arms around his neck, leaning on the kitchen counter even as one leg came up to wrap around his and she said "I was planning on using the steam room and taking a nice long soak to loosen up my muscles tonight – you are welcome to join if you want to?". Lifting a brow in incredulousness and amusement at her very obviously deliberate selective hearing and the questioning tone, he responded "Thank you. Rough day?"

His amusement only grew when she looked at him sheepishly and answered "Not exactly. Well, Genma and I might have gotten a tiny bit overzealous in our training, but it certainly didn't help that I never got around to stretching properly afterwards, since Naruto and Sasuke arrived here only a few minutes after me". Shaking his head, he thought to himself 'A tiny bit overzealous, huh? The boys couldn't have gotten here until well past noon…' Having talked to Genma the day before, Kakashi knew they had agreed to meet up already at 8 o'clock, meaning they had been going at it for four hours and before then she had likely been training by herself. Out loud he said "Speaking of the boys, how did they like their presents?" Aya's eyes lit up at the thought and she responded "Oh you should have seen them! I swear I saw little stars appear in Sasuke's eyes and I was almost afraid I would crack a rib when they hugged me after Naruto stopped bouncing off the walls. Of course then they had to try them out straight away and since there is no way I am letting those two go at each other with such sharp blades until they get to know them, I somehow got pulled into the role of opponent instead. In hindsight that probably wasn't such a good idea; they wouldn't stop hounding me about training afterwards, even though I told them they should be taking advantage of having an elite jounin for a sensei for these things". At the last she shot mentioned sensei a pointed look.

"Hooh? But you have done such a wonderful job earning those two hotheads' respect; they actually listen to what you say and I think your little impromptu lessons may actually have given them more in the way of real life applicable skills than the majority of those they attended in the Academy. In fact, maybe you should just take over for me? You would make a much better sensei and could probably successfully make Sakura see sense before reality decides she's been coddled for long enough" he asked, only half joking. Sadly the Aya was not convinced if the eye-roll was anything to go by, but she couldn't hide a small smile when she responded "Flattery will get you nowhere on this, Mister, and you'll do fine anyway. I don't mind going along for moral support or helping out sometimes though, if you really think having little civilian me pitch in will help any".

Now it was Kakashi turn to roll his eyes at her, teasingly replying "If only Konoha had more cute little civilians like you we wouldn't need half the shinobi we do, never mind Academy instructors - fact not flattery. Now, you were saying something about a bath…?"

Actually he had washed before coming over, but Aya's bath was something else entirely compared to his mini shower cubicle and then there was the company… He also knew there was no way he was getting out of telling his version of how today had gone - though thankfully she wouldn't push him on the matter of how he felt about it -, so he might as well be comfortable while he did it, plus he figured she deserved a nice throughout massage for chasing away the ghosts of the past last night and substituting for no less than two sets of parents the day after. Now, if he happened to enjoy giving as much as she did receiving... Well, he didn't think anyone would begrudge him the treat after today.

…apart from those annoying pups panting after his lady, but that really just made it more enjoyable.

Over the following half year's time life settled into a new routine for Aya and the current Team 7, but though school was replaced with D-ranks and team practice, many things remained the same. Among these were Naruto and Sasuke's daily morning workout at Aya's before meeting up with the rest of the team, or usually just Sakura really; Kakashi was still consequently late, though not by as much as he would have been if his lady hadn't made it a habit to drop by the Memorial before heading to her workshop. The silver haired jounin still spent time there every morning he could, but even then it was frankly a small miracle the boys hadn't run into him in the mornings yet with how often he ended up sleeping over.

They would have had to be idiots to not notice that something was going on between their sensei and whatever-it-was-Aya-was-to-them - Naruto still stuck to his Aya-onee-chan, while Sasuke had gradually fallen into calling her Aya-oba-san because that's what she technically was, if not by blood - though, especially since Kakashi visibly perked up whenever she showed up during training. In the beginning they had tried deluding themselves into believing it was the refreshments she brought along that had the jounin in such a good mood, but then Sakura made it all a wasted effort by commenting on how cute a couple the two made and since then it had been impossible to ignore. Shifting tactics they had instead taken to trying to keep one of the two occupied whenever she dropped by - one a whole lot more discretely than the other, but it was the intent that counted -, since no matter what she said, there was just no way their tardy and lazy - even perverted, if what they had heard of his favorite book was true! - sensei who couldn't even make up a believable excuse was good enough for their Aya.

Speaking of Sakura, she had made the mistake of wondering out loud to her teammates - i.e. Sasuke - how their sensei could be so irresponsible so as to allow a civilian onto the training ground the first time Aya came by, which had earned her a scoff and the annoyed reply that in that case Sakura herself shouldn't be there either, because Aya-oba-san was ten times the kunoichi she was, civilian or no. After getting over her shock at hearing her crush utter so many words in one go and in the defense of someone too, the poor girl had then realized this was the woman she owed her not embarrassing herself completely by falling over from hunger during their sensei's test to and went to thank her.

Initially she had also tried to get closer to Sasuke through his obasan, but quickly found that while the red haired Uchiha listened politely enough during the moments she managed to get her alone - and there was far between those despite them both being of the fairer sex, which logically meant they should have had more to talk about - she had a tendency to nimbly change the topic whenever it fell on the wonder that was her nephew. Usually the boys drew her into discussions on weapons, training or even the world outside Konoha though, taking her contributions on the topics bafflingly serious considering she hadn't even gone to the Academy, never mind made genin unlike herself.

That is, baffling until Naruto and Sasuke managed to badger Aya into helping them with their kenjutsu one day after Kakashi had gotten called away and therefore cancelled their ordinary training. The pinkette had mostly tagged along in the hope that her crush would say yes to a date and because she had long wanted to see the Uchiha compound from the inside, but instead of getting a date she learned exactly why he had said what he did that day two months prior, when they ended up sparring in the huge backyard; even two against one and dressed in a ankle-length yukata Aya completely outclassed the boys, without even breaking much of a sweat. That had been a real eye-opener since up until then, Sakura had naively assumed their sensei had merely been humoring his girlfriend when she once overheard him asking her what she thought of their progress.

Afterwards, when her and Naruto were walking back towards their respective homes, the pinkette had asked the blond if he didn't think it even a little odd that a civilian was that good and gotten the cheerful response that while Aya-onee-chan was awesome, she had also handled weapons for most of her life and kept in form by working out every morning; in fact that's where him and Sasuke always went before going to wait for their tardy sensei to show up, so if Sakura wanted to get in some extra training too, he was sure she was also welcome to join.

That had gotten her thinking and by the time she got home, the pinkette had felt like the world's most lousy excuse for a kunoichi; she had often marveled at how long her teammates could keep going during training and wondered how they had the energy they did after doing missions, when they usually sparred to pass the waiting-time, while she - who conserved her energy by merely observing - was beat by the end of the day, but had she ever done anything about it? No, and now she found that neither her being a girl nor her wanting to stay pretty for Sasuke-kun were viable excuses for the huge gap between their endurance and skills in fighting; Aya had looked beautiful whirling around with the two wakizashi she wielded and not the least bit gross from sweating, because unlike herself she was actually in great shape. How could someone like her or even Ino-pig stand a chance with their crush as they were, when a civilian woman like that was the female role-model he saw the most of and would probably compare the girls around him to, along with his mother who had probably been an equally amazing Uchiha?

It took her one week after that, but when she next met her sensei's girlfriend, Sakura had found her resolve and the courage to ask about joining them in the mornings like Naruto had suggested. Aya had been happy to oblige after her boys' teammate had agreed to abide by the following rules: first, fan-girly behavior was banned while on her property and that included ogling Sasuke - second, no hitting Naruto outside spars - third, no giving up halfway through training unless genuinely too tired to continue; not wanting to feel gross afterward was no excuse since there was a perfectly functional shower just inside - and finally fourth, eating proper breakfast was mandatory and a small bowl of cereal or a piece of fruit did not count as that.

Needless to say a certain young Uchiha hadn't been very happy about having one of his few fan-girl-safe zones compromised, but while she obviously couldn't keep up with the others, the pinkette did stick with the rules bar a few slipups and it got easier for her over time as the results of the training started to show in her endurance among other things. Unlike her teammates she didn't really take to any weapons in particular - that she admitted to at least; Aya still thought a steel club or armored gauntlets would fit her splendidly based on the punch she packed when Naruto annoyed her too much and had actually made her a pair of the latter - instead opting to work on improving her taijutsu, precision with thrown weapons and overall physical shape.

Kakashi had teased his fiery haired lady relentlessly about having taken another 'duckling' under her wing when he found out and again suggested a change of sensei for Team 7, but backed off as quick as lightning the moment she sweetly suggested that he take over their morning workout, while she went and got a good chat with her Oikko-kun. There was no way he was going to compromise even the slightest improvement in the one of his students he could relate to the least and knowing Aya had about as much patience for fan-girls as himself, he was doubly grateful that she had decided to give Sakura a chance when she had started making an effort.

The months wore on like that until the boy's eventually got so fed up with D-ranks that they put their feet down - loudly in Naruto's case from what she heard from Iruka - and somehow landed Team 7 a C-rank escort-mission to Wave. Aya herself had been drafted by her Saru-jii-sama to help with the arrangements for the Chunin Exams at the time, so while she was excited that they were travelling outside Konoha for what would be the first time in Naruto and Sakura's case, it was mostly during the mornings that she worried about how their mission was going. The rest of the time she was either keeping busy in her workshop, seeing friends or taking care of the parts of aforementioned arrangements that required a certain diplomatic touch, which essentially translated into formulating a whole lot of letters in a tone befitting whoever the recipient was as she corresponded with both Kage and the other important people entitled to an early notification of the exam. Or rather the people who took care of those peoples' correspondence; Honoohime happened to have had the honor of meeting not only the Fire Daimyo, but also the Raikage and there was no way in hell the current A had written the politely worded rejection of the invitation to send any genin Kumo deemed ready to become chunin. As the replies started ticking in, she also took care of making seat reservations on behalf of those who were certain they would be attending and made sure people who definitely shouldn't be placed near each other weren't.

Aya did rather miss snuggling up to Kakashi in the evenings and having him drop by at random times, but just like the other times he had been gone on missions it meant she saw even more of her friends. First and foremost that meant Genma and Iruka, but Anko, Raido, Gai, Asuma, Izumo and Kotetsu also dragged her out a couple of times, though she honestly wasn't sure if she should run off or smile when Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey showed up on her doorstep, standing up-side-down because he had decided walking on his hands was youthful that day. Sora and Tsubasa kept her company too, though she had to be careful that a passing ANBU or the like didn't spot the latter; two meter tall falcons weren't exactly native to Konoha and Aya didn't much fancy trying to explain that one without revealing Kurohyou.

All in all time passed by fairly fast for her and finally Team 7 returned victorious from their first C-rank.

…that had somehow turned into an A-rank, where they faced not only the chunin-level nuke-nin known as the Demon Brothers, but also Momochi Zabuza who just so happened to have been one of Kirigakure's famed Seven Swordsmen, member of their ANBU and nicknamed Demon of the Hidden Mist for an extremely good reason, plus his apprentice Haku, who was an insanely fast ice-user and good enough to easily pass for a hunter-nin. All this because the richest man in the world - a power-hungry shipping magnate named Gatou who had a hand in just about anything illegal - had decided he wanted Wave for himself and the client Team 7 had been guarding turned out to be the driving force behind building the bridge that would break Gatou's control of the land.

Aya really wasn't sure what to feel when they told her, other than insanely proud that they had somehow managed to survive against those odds of course; getting a delayed panic-attack seemed kind of silly when they were sitting right there in front of her with all limbs accounted for and no serious wounds. Similarly it was great that they had all mastered the tree-walking exercise and the weapons she had made for them had been put to good use protecting their and the client's lives - she rather suspected Sakura had gotten a little fond of her gauntlets actually - but the circumstances were a far cry from anything genin should ever have gotten mixed up in. Hell, if they hadn't had an elite jounin and former ANBU like Kakashi with them they likely wouldn't have made it and even then they had had to risk their lives to save their sensei at one point.

Kakashi on his part was just grateful that the fiery haired beauty didn't immediately kick his ass for almost getting himself killed and opting to not send for her afterwards when he knew who they were facing; he had briefly contemplated it during the week both him and Zabuza had spent recovering, knowing that she would have no issues at all seeing through the mist or simply dispersing it, but had felt confident that they could handle the upcoming fight and frankly the very thought of his lady going up against someone like Zabuza still had chills running down his spine no matter how capable he knew her to be. In hindsight her wind-fire combination jutsu probably could have wiped the floor with Haku's ice though, meaning Naruto would have been spared the experience of nearly losing himself in the Kyubi's power in his rage at his rival-brother's perceived death and Sakura from experiencing the malicious feel of the demon's chakra. Who knew, maybe the two nuke-nin that had turned out not to be so bad after all would even have backed down with the arrival of another jounin-level opponent and settled for plundering their back-stabbing employer instead?

Still, he didn't regret his decision since they had all made it through okay and his students were stronger for it, each having gotten a serious reality-check and realized their own mortality. Other's too, both enemy and friend, which was an altogether different cup of tea than merely knowing about the ever-present risk of death intellectually. They had also proven they could function as a real team when shit hit the fan so to speak, and not just the two boys either, though they obviously knew each other's styles the best from all their sparring and hence covered for each other almost without conscious thought. It hadn't been enough against an opponent like Haku with his ice mirror-technique and hail of precisely aimed senbon, but they were getting there. He could readily admit to nearly having gotten a heart attack back when Sakura had moved to block the Kubikiribōchō of one of Zabuza's mizu bunshin, but as it turned out his student had known what she was doing, having figured out that chakra could be flowed through the black, elbow-length armored gauntlets Aya had made for her to strengthen them and the move had surprised the bunshin enough that the pinkette had been able to get in a good swipe, thus dispelling it.

Yes, things were definitely looking up for Team 7, continued fan-girly obsession aside. But with that being said he was more than ready to go back to relaxing - for him - D-ranks for the next while and definitely to spend some quality time with someone he had been missing while gone. Preferably alone, without a bunch of preteens of which two-thirds were jealously guarding the very person he wanted to get alone.

'This is going to be so much more difficult in a few years, but until then…' the silver haired jounin mused to himself even as he acted. The last thing he heard before being halfway across the village with his precious and very amused cargo was two outraged squawks '…you've got to love the Shunshin no jutsu'.