Wandering Years

1 Year Later

Kakashi stepped out onto the Hokage balcony with a solemn expression behind his mask. He put up a fight, he threatened, tried to blackmail, and even begged for a year; on his knees … but Tsunade was not persuaded to give up on her foolish idea. Kakashi was now the Hokage. Big stupid hat and all.

He was already dreading the paperwork.

The village cheered for him; he could see familiar faces in the crowd looking happy for him; old comrades that were probably as surprised to see him standing there, as he was to be standing there. His heart had closed a year ago, but he could feel it cracking a little. As shocked as some of those people are, they were still happy to see him there. He would do the job, and he would do his best. Kei had given his life for this village and he was going to protect it. He was going to raise Konoha to new heights and make Kei proud of him. He would protect his people, civilian and ninja alike, so that the next Hokage didn't inherit the shitshow that he had.

He let the people cheer, he threw platitudes in the form of a speech- he thinks- and then he returned back to his office. It was wiped clean, there were stacks of paper neatly organized on the desk, and had zero personal affections of Tsunade's. The gambling drunk could not have moved out any faster.

First things first.

"Makoto," He called firmly. An ANBU detached from the shadows and stood in front of him. "Remove your mask." In a flash, the mask was gone, attached to the man's belt, and he was staring at his brother's long-time partner.

"Hokage-sama," he was acknowledged.

Kakashi was ready for his first act in office. "You are going to need to change your wardrobe."

Makoto sent him a confused and scared look, his hand moving to hover over the mask he had worn for a long time. "Yes, Hokage-sama." He would comply, obviously. Kakashi was the Hokage now, and Makoto had to listen to what he said. He didn't know if he liked that power.

"I watched for years as you worked with my brother. I know how great and valuable a shinobi you are. I have personally trained you at times, and I have always trusted you with Kei's care. Time and time again you proved that you would always bring him home; One way or another. I wish for you to continue your great work, and be the Head of my Security."

Makoto's eyes widened in surprise. "I am honoured, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi reached behind him, and then presented Makoto with an armband, that proclaimed his new rank.

Makoto hesitantly took the new piece. He gripped it firmly with two hands and brought it up to his chest. "Shindou rule number one: Always get the Hatake's home." He whispered.

"That's a good rule." Kakashi smiled a genuine smile at the younger man, "I look forward to you making sure that this Hatake, makes it home too."

o.O.o

Kakashi's second act of Hokage, was to refresh the yellow paint in the office. It had dulled slightly over Tsunade's term, and there were some suspicious stains and holes in the walls. It looked like she tried to hide some behind some furniture and pictures. He appreciated the art work that she had up.

He made the ANBU dust and clean the rabbit pictures of Kei, Makoto, and Sai. He moved them so they hung directly across from his desk, so he had a great view of them. Tsunade had excellent taste in decoration. She even had a fridge!

Nodding that his office was finally complete, he was happy with his work.

Hopefully the atmosphere, would help his shinobi make quick and concise reports so he didn't have to listen to them for long.

o.O.o

Itachi smiled as three genin ran around him. They were celebrating as they had successfully passed their test and become an official team.

"You have more patience than I thought," Sasuke spoke up from the treeline.

Rolling his eyes, Itachi turned towards his brother. "It will be fun. I used to enjoy teaching you when you were little. I needed a purpose and well they are so cute, how could I say no when the Hokage asked me." Raising a questioning eyebrow, Sasuke took in the scene of the three rambunctious brats. Itachi smiled, "The are cuter than you were, but not the cutest I have seen."

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke took a step away. "The Hokage has a mission for me. I will be gone a couple weeks. I thought I should let you know."

Itachi grinned. "What wasteland is he sending you to now?" It was a long road. They still had so many things to talk about, but Sasuke was happy that they were together again. Itachi told him the truth. Every question, no matter the pain, he told the truth. Sasuke appreciated that more than he would ever say.

"Land Of Silence."

"Be safe."

Sasuke watched him for a moment. "You could just make your own. Then you wouldn't be stuck doing D rank missions. You know, if you want kids so bad."

Itachi laughed. "Get out of here and maybe take a cue from your destination."

2 Years Later

Kakashi would never admit to being startled when the owl flew into his office. It was a beast of a thing. It had a stern look and parchment clenched in one foot. He was wondering why his guards had not stopped the monster when it approached, but looking and seeing the fond look on Makoto's face… Well. It seemed it would be okay.

What followed was so amazing and saddening that Kakashi knew he could only send one man to help.

o.O.o

Sasuke grumbled as he broke onto the castle grounds. Some woman had contacted the Hokage about some threat or whatever at some distant castle in a foreign land. Kakashi had only been too happy to send him off with little to no intel and barely an explanation. All he told him was that Kei had worked on this mission and he needed to go clean something up.

Sneaking through the forest, Sasuke heard a loud roar from his right. Not wanting to be caught off guard, he went to investigate and found a clearing full of men and… dragons?

There were dragons…

Dragons were real…

Kakashi was only paying him for an A rank mission and this was clearly a SS mission.

Sasuke was out.

o.O.o

Kakashi giggled as he hid under his desk, reading a special orange book.

"Hokage-sama," a tired voice called. "The Sand delegation will be here soon."

Reading another page, Kakashi ignored his security. The meeting would be fine.

After all, Kei left him a great guide when dealing with the Sand Jinchuuriki.

o.O.o

Naruto grinned as he puffed out his chest to show off. As a chuunin, he got the pleasure of working at the academy. He wasn't one for classwork and history, but he was great at throwing things.

One of the academy instructors had fallen sick, and while Iruka could combine classes, he wasn't fond of the idea of teaching double the number of rambunctious children. So, he brought in a few chuunin to help cover the classes.

Sakura was stuck inside teaching history, and Naruto got to do all the cool things outside! Like how to throw a kunai, and teaching them kata. It was so much fun, and Naruto wouldn't mind being an instructor if all he had to do was have fun all day.

3 Years Later

Makoto barely supressed a grin as he waited for his new bride. It had taken him no time at all to find his footing as the Head of the Hokage's Security. He had done a thorough check of all shinobi in the ANBU Corp. He tested them, trained them, and made sure they were loyal to Kakashi and only Kakashi. He would not stand for any betrayers in his ranks. Having such a well-oiled machine guarding the Hokage at all times… it gave Makoto time to mingle.

Kakashi was a wonderful Hokage. Despite his chronic lateness – that will never be cured- he was loved by his village. He reworked the schools, improved the orphanages, and was harsher on any and all who harmed children.

The only thing he needed to work on -besides being late- was his treatment of Sasuke. The man had never forgiven the Uchiha for marrying his brother. Makoto thought it was because Sasuke had never asked his permission. But since the story was that it happened while Kei was a ghost, he could hardly do it before hand. Kakashi should have been honoured that Kei spent his last few ghostly moments with him.

The Uchiha had been sent on a mission to Hogwarts a year ago, and had yet to return. Kakashi was waiting a few more months before sending a team to see if the Uchiha had died. Makoto had snuck some notes into his pack before he left, just some contacts to help him. He wasn't sure if he found them yet.

A hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. Looking over, he smiled as Ayame took the space beside him. He gently grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze.

Hatake's were hard work. They took a lot of time, effort, and patience. He loved working for Kakashi, but it wasn't just his job. Kakashi was family, and although now that he was married, his purpose has shifted. Before it was to be the best, and he was paired with the best. But now…. He lived to love his wife. To make a family with his wife and to protect his family, new and old.

Shindou Rule number two: to live for those you love.

o.O.o

Sasuke lounged on the ceiling beam, listening as the meeting under him progressed. He retreated from the dragons, not out of cowardice! But so he could track down the people he needed to meet and learn about the ones he had to kill.

Turns out some Orochimaru 'Wanna live forever' type came back to life, spouted his 'I Will Rule the World!' propaganda, and now he was here in a rundown home, watching a bunch of grown men play dress up. Listening as they plotted some new attack on 'Whocares', to kill a bunch of people, Sasuke was glad his mission ended with him killing them all. Frankly, Sasuke was bored of them. Their whole ideal was to rid the world of the people they don't like.

The pure logistics of that was absurd. Their only plan was to kill people, little by little. There are tens of millions of people living in this foreign land, and as far as he gathered, they hated 95% of them. The speed at which they were working would mean it would take then hundreds of years to reach their goal. And that wasn't taking into account that these 'muggles' would be reproducing, growing, reproducing again.

Honestly, it was more than biting off more than you can chew. It was pure delusion, and he had enough of that in his life.

He studied how these magic men fought. It was sad really. They stood in one spot, depended on their magic, refusing to believe that some mundane could kill them. Well, here he was. He snuck into their ultra-secret hideout, eavesdropped on their meeting, and now…

He was going to kill them.

Pulling out his katana, Sasuke rolled over and dropped into the middle of the room. He didn't let anyone register his presence before he was moving. Blood was flying, bodies dropping, and a small thrill ran through his body. When 99% of the bodies were on the floor, he turned to address the man on the gaudy throne.

"That was very impressive, but highly inconvenient for me," The man drawled as he tapped his wand against an armrest.

Sasuke stared at him. "You tried to kill Kei."

The man frowned. "Who?"

Throwing his tanto, he nailed the snake that was trying to hide in the shadows. It squealed as it died a very kind death. What could he say, he did have a small soft spot for snakes, despite Orochimaru.

"That wasn't very nice. I will have to kill you now child!" The man hissed. He started to rise, his red eyes almost on fire as he glared down at Sasuke. He was a disgusting looking thing. No hair, no nose, grey skin… a true monster. He was happy to kill him. It was too bad he couldn't torture the monster first. You know, places to be, things to do… Brother-in-law's to annoy…

Throwing a handful of shuriken that he retrieved from his pocket, Sasuke raced to the left of the throne. A magical shield appeared, deflecting the metal stars around the room and sending a few careening back to where he stood previously. He pulled two kunai from his pouch, gripping them hard. The second the shield dropped, he pounced into the man's personal space. In a blink, he had one kunai in the man's heart, and then other in his skull.

He pulled out a pendant from around his neck and rubbed the metal. It warmed up in his hand, sending out a couple pulses, and then a woman appeared in a puff of smoke.

She took a moment to look around, her face not even flinching at the mass amounts of blood running along the marble flooring. She was composed, and then finally looked at him. "Not even a scratch on you. I am impressed Mr. Uchiha."

"Bones," Sasuke grunted. "I killed the snake, did your teams get the others?"

Madam Bones smiled. "I believe some are still working on it. You were rather quick, and some will need to catch up."

"Is my mission here done?" He asked. This land was tiring. He wanted to return to Konoha. And wasn't that shocking. He didn't think he would ever miss Konoha. But now… he missed the Uchiha compound, he missed his brother… he also missed that ramen stand the blond idiot liked so much.

"Thank you, for helping the wizarding world," Bones said.

Sasuke grunted and took off.

o.O.o

When Sasuke got home he stared down into two tiny dark eyes.

"You didn't have this before," he pointed out to his brother.

"I wasn't married before you left," Itachi responded.

"That's a baby."

"That is your nephew."

"I didn't agree to that."

"You don't get to decide if you want to be an Uncle. You are one."

Sasuke frowned. "I don't have to hold it... right?"

"Eventually."

That didn't sound good.

4 Years Later

Makoto smiled as the nurse handed him his first child. A little boy. Ayame watched him, exhausted, from the hospital bed. She reached out her hand, and he gently grasped it.

"We do good work," he commented quietly.

"I think so too," she agreed.

"What will you name him?" The nurse asked from the side.

"Keitaro," the both answered.

o.O.o

Kakashi pouted as Makoto chirped over his shoulder. "You will have to forgive him at some point," he pointed out. "You can't keep sending him on the worst missions hoping he won't come back."

"I am the Hokage. I will send the shinobi I believe best fits the mission." Kakashi grabbed some paperwork, trying to ignore the pest.

"You sent him to clean the marshes in the Land Of Swamps… We weren't even hired to do that. You made up the mission." He didn't enjoy having his flaws pointed out.

"I am sowing good will with the Land Of Swamps," he reasoned.

"Leading to what? A trade agreement?"

Kakashi really hated his Head of Security. He didn't remember the boy being this chatty with Kei. But maybe he was right. It had been 4 years, and he had done a great job on that England job. Sasuke took every mission without complaint. He completed them to perfection, reported back, and then moved on.

He had hoped that he could crack one day. He honestly thought he would crack after he had Sasuke weed the Forest of Death. It had taken him two weeks! Two weeks, sunrise to sunset, in the forest pulling weeds. The animals and bugs attacked him all day.

"What do you think should do with him," Kakashi reluctantly asked.

"ANBU. His skills are too good to be wasting."

Kakashi considered it. But alas… "He didn't pass the mental evaluation."

Makoto sighed. "The last mental evaluation he had was when he passed his Genin exam."

"Yes, and they were concerned because he wanted to marry a ghost named Yuki and, in the end, Sasuke claims that he married his ghost brother." Well, wasn't that a twist. He should probably have him tested again and possibly committed.

"Forgive him for that already!" Makoto sighed heavily again.

"You may have a point though," Kakashi said. "in ANBU, I can send him on even more dangerous missions!"

Makoto sighed. Kakashi could only shake his head, there was no reasoning with that man.