SUMMARY: Kankuro's father had been many things to him over the years, but never his 'dad'. It wasn't until after the Fourth Kazekage's death that he acquired the name from his eldest son. As he grew older Kankuro learnt many lessons about his father and himself - some good and some bad - even if it was sometimes hard for him to admit. Snippets of Kankuro's changing views on his father and brother.

DISCLAIMER: Kankuro and all other characters with a name are copyright to Masashi Kishimoto and Shounen Jump. The lyrics are from the song 'The Living Years' by Mike and the Mechanics.

Every generation blames the one before
and all of their frustrations come beating on your door

Countless times it had been done. And because of it Temari and Kankuro had grown physically unable to emotionally attach themselves to new people. They had come to learn that people only come and go, they never stick around long enough to matter. They couldn't remember how many faces they had seen coming in that nursery door, and every new face that had come had left again. They had never had the same nanny for more than two months at a time.

One of the first things that shaped them was the uncertainty. The knowledge that life could change as quickly as the wind, people were unimportant, and to be strong was to not weigh yourself down with petty attachments to those who would most definitely just leave you when the time came.

At the age of four and five, the siblings blamed this array of nannies solely on their father. They were under the impression that every nanny who had left had left because they had been fired. This wasn't entirely true. They hadn't realised, that although a number had been fired, there was also a vast number whom had quit themselves – of their own free will.

Many a nanny took on the job of caring for the Fourth Kazekage's children with the vision of being the first, the one who would finally be able to do it, the one who could manage to tame the two mischievous children. None had succeeded. The brother and sister duo were experts in driving their carers mad. They refused to listen, did everything they were told not to. For they knew that if they did so for long enough they would be sent off to their father – a rare sighting that they had come to think of as a novelty.

And like clockwork they did. When they were eventually kicked off to their infuriated father, their tails between their legs, (it took far longer for some nannies than others), they adorned the sweetest faces they possibly could and just relished in the contact. It took few of these situations for the nanny to either be fired, as the Kazekage had deemed them incapable of being able to control the two, or for the aforementioned nanny to hightail it out of there themselves – having come to the conclusion that no one, not even supernanny, would be able to make a conformed pair out of the children.

From a very young age the eldest two of the Fourth Kazekage's children learnt the art of twisting others to do what they wanted. They could play a situation and know exactly what would happen.

Even before he entered into school Kankuro was learning to pull the strings of things bigger and better than his toy puppets, he was learning to control people.

As Kankuro grew older he learned his father wasn't worth the effort. But he continued to get in trouble on purpose, only now it was because of the satisfaction it brought every time he saw his father become enraged.

It didn't take Kankuro and Temari long to realise the power they had over making a nanny quit. Their intentions changed from being badly behaved in order to see their father, to doing it just because they could. The apparent routine of misconduct they had set in place didn't just limit itself to their nannies either. Soon after Kankuro's sixth birthday the nannies began to be completely replaced by home school tutors, a minor difference in title that Temari and Kankuro didn't care much for. To Kankuro, it just meant there was someone else for him to make quit. The game was still just as fun and exciting.

He was sitting in the old-nursery-turned-schoolroom with his sister planning his next tactic for disposing of the unwanted teachers when their father stormed in, hands on hips and frown set firmly on his facial features. Kankuro smiled, it always brought a smile to his face when he saw his father as mad as he was now.

"Father," Temari said in acknowledgement.

"Isn't this exciting? A visit, and in school hours!" Kankuro cried, mocking excitement. The Kazekage's eyes narrowed.

"Just for that, you can have double the kunai training tonight." He said.

"But you've already given me two hours extra of puppet training to do." Kankuro complained.

"Misbehaviour doesn't come without its punishment." He responded pointedly. "Now, I have a busy schedule so I am going to make my point clear now." Kankuro restrained himself from making a snide comment, going so far as to forcibly bite down on his tongue to stop any words from slipping out. He knew that if he didn't, he might end up with triple the training for the entire next two weeks. "I received a piece of disgruntling news not that long ago. And I must say, I am growing quite tired of its form. If the two of you make even one more tutor quit, I'll send you to a regular school." The Fourth Kazekage said threateningly to his two children. He was not impressed when he was informed that their tutor had decided to quit. That was the third tutor who had resigned that month. Kankuro and Temari's games were beginning to go a little too far.

Kankuro shrugged, he'd never really cared that much for his father's threats; he was indifferent to them. "Whatever."

"This is your last warning." With that said, he turned and walked out the room, as quickly as he'd come.

It didn't take long for another tutor to be hired, and it took even less time for the tutor to call it quits. True to his word, the Kazekage sent his two children straight off to a regular school. Its punishment seemed to be lost on Temari, for she actually enjoyed it. She did all her work, made the top of her class, and made some friends in the process. Kankuro on the other hand seemed to think of it as an extension of his sleep and free time. He didn't entirely see the point of it. He was training to be a shinobi, not an academic. All his ninja training he did outside of school, with other qualified shinobi, when other kids would be having their free time. So he decided that he'd just do it the other way around.

Despite the fact he found it useless, that didn't mean he wasn't going to do any of the work. He knew that if he skipped out on all of it he'd have to repeat and that meant even longer in the hole. So he made sure to put enough effort in to just scrape by with a pass. Anything extra, he considered to be a waste of time and effort.

If going to real school taught him one thing, it was that he was definitely going to be a shinobi.

A/N: Next chapter will hopefully be up soon. Let me know what you thought!

God Bless

ARC