Uchiha Kakashi

"Woof, woof, woof!"

Puppy Translator Kiba explained, "Akamaru says Sasuke is back."

The moment Naruto heard Sasuke's name, he rushed over to Kiba and asked where the Sasuke on top of his head was.

Shikamaru couldn't stand watching anymore. "Behind Kiba! Behind him!"

Sasuke, beneath the hood, had already returned to his original appearance. "I ran into Shino on the way. His outfit really was much more convenient."

Naruto looked confused. "Who's Shino? Did you strip him of his clothes?"

The real Shino, standing behind Naruto, said coldly, "If you're asking who I am, all I can say is that I'm in the same class as you."

Sasuke did not explain further. "Transformation Jutsu."

Once she discovered Sasuke had rejoined them, Ino immediately found her place again and hugged one of Sasuke's arms to her chest. This time, she was very careful not to chatter loudly and let the other girls find out.

The Festival Stalls were not very long, and at most, they took everyone two hours. As the cooking smoke faded and the lights gradually returned to normal, the event naturally came to an end.

"What do people usually do afterward?"

Shikamaru explained beside Sasuke's ear, "Since we're already out, there'll be fireworks at midnight. After that, most people go to the cemetery at the first moment of the new year to pay respects to departed Friends and Family, or find somewhere with a good view and wait. We usually go to the Memorial Monument. What about you?"

They couldn't spend the whole day "bonding" only to split up at the very end, could they?

"I don't know. I'll go with you."

Ino went home to get flowers for Grave Sweeping and Offerings. By the time she returned to the group, she had brought several parents along with her.

Most of those who came to visit relatives in the cemetery where the Memorial Monument stood were Ninja Families. Their individual Small Gravestones were one thing, but anyone wanting to offer flowers at the Memorial Monument in front had to line up, with On-duty Ninja managing the queue.

Ino handed him a bouquet. "Where are your family members? Everyone's gone off to find their own Friends and Family. You don't have to wait here, do you?"

It was hard to explain. Saying it too plainly might make her uncomfortable, so Sasuke gave a slight shake of his head. "Go on. I'll wait for you here."

After the others had walked some distance away, Naruto muttered, "Sasuke, you don't have to stay here with me. I don't even know who my parents are, but there were so many powerful ninja in your Uchiha Clan. How could there be nobody at the Memorial Monument?"

What kind of Dark Humor was this brat spouting?

Sasuke ruffled Naruto's hair and said indifferently, "My family isn't here. There are a few Uchiha buried here, but I wasn't close with them."

Naruto fixed his hair and argued back, "You're always saying you're the Head of the Family of the Uchiha Clan. Since you're already here, even if there are only a few Uchiha, shouldn't you go see them?"

"You're right, but I don't think I know the way. Aside from that most impressive Memorial Monument in the middle, there seem to be other smaller monuments too."

"I'll show you the way! My parents aren't here either, but when I was looking for them one by one, I saw a few Uchiha!"

Sasuke figured there was no harm in it. "Then lead the way. Your memory's that good? Why are your grades always so bad, then? I'll leave behind a Shadow Clone."

Realizing one small problem, Sasuke asked doubtfully, "You don't even know who your parents are. How were you looking for them?"

Naruto spoke as though he were explaining some incredible secret. "My surname is Uzumaki. At least one of my parents must have been called Uzumaki something-or-other, right? I just had to look through them one by one."

"So you still couldn't find them that way?"

"Nope. There wasn't a single person with the surname Uzumaki. Maybe they were buried somewhere else."

Sasuke silently gave the Uzumaki Clan a +1(s) in his heart.

That was just too tragic.

The Memorial Monument bore the names of ninja who had died on missions, but its surface area was limited and the names had to remain clearly visible. The grandest monument in the center had apparently been nearly filled up many years ago, leaving only a few spaces for figures on the level of the Hokage. Those who came later could only have their names carved onto the smaller Memorial Monuments in the neighboring cemetery.

"I remember, it should be this way."

Following Naruto's gesture toward the smaller Memorial Monument, Sasuke looked over and saw nothing but people...

Quite a line, really.

"It's okay! There are corresponding gravestones beneath every name on it. I remember—uh, we'll know once we look!"

Naruto quickly came up with a solution and planned to drag Sasuke around to check them one by one.

"No need. I think I found him."

With his Sharingan activated, Sasuke pointed toward a head of white hair.

Well, look what I found. A lone Kakashi.

"That person's spot? Who is he? Didn't you say there was only one Uchiha left—you? Is he a friend of the Uchiha Clan?"

"Kakashi. Someone acknowledged by the Uchiha. He has a Sharingan too."

Though they were some distance away, neither of them had deliberately lowered their voices within this range. Kakashi naturally heard someone calling his name.

The way he turned around was more like an acknowledgment that Sasuke had not called the wrong person.

"Sharingan? Like the eyes you use to read?"

"Mm."

A figure appeared before Naruto and Sasuke.

"Kids, don't you know not to talk about adults behind their backs?"

No one knew what Naruto was thinking. "Uchiha Kakashi?"

Before Sasuke could explain, Naruto received a light smack.

"He has his own surname. Though if he wanted to take the Uchiha name, I wouldn't object."

"He's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke announced Naruto's name for him, his pair of Two Tomoe Sharingan fixed on Kakashi before him.

That spiky golden hair... The Fourth Hokage's image gradually overlapped with Naruto's. It was that child, his teacher's child.

"He couldn't find his parents, but he said he'd seen a few Uchiha, so he brought me over to take a look."

Seeing that this man knew his name yet did not regard him as a calamity or a monster like everyone else, Naruto grew a little bolder and introduced Sasuke.

"He's Uchiha Sasuke, the Head of the Family of the Uchiha Clan. He's super amazing. If you hit me again, I'll make him beat you up."

Sasuke said calmly, "Can't beat him."

Naruto: "???" "Then let's run!"

The hair Sasuke had messed up not long ago had only been fixed for a little while before it was ruffled again. This white-haired guy was the culprit.

Sasuke looked directly at Kakashi, then glanced sidelong at Naruto. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself? Otherwise, he'll get your name wrong again next time."

"Hatake Kakashi. And you two, remember to add 'senpai' when addressing me, got it?!"

Sasuke's hairstyle did not escape the same cruel fate.

"Go look around yourselves."

Kakashi pulled back his hand and was just about to slip away.

"Could you introduce us to this member of the Uchiha Clan? We came all this way, and we only saw a name without learning anything else. If you knew him, that is."

"I didn't know many clan members. For many of them, only their names remain."

Kakashi: You're trying to learn about something that absolutely cannot be touched.

"Obito... he was a hero of the Third Ninja World War..."

Kakashi began carefully choosing his words as he spoke of his own sneaky Daji story, the story of a Dead Last.

He did not say much. Even if he had the nerve, he would not dare go into too much detail. "Thank you for the introduction. I wonder if there are any other Uchiha here. I'd like to take a look."

Kakashi hurriedly pointed in a few random directions, said he was not very familiar with the place, and slipped away.

Naruto asked doubtfully, "Didn't you say he had a good relationship with the Uchiha? Why did he run away?"

Sasuke casually made up an excuse. "Look, he wears a mask and wraps himself up so tightly. He's probably just too introverted and shy."

"Like Shino?"

"...Right."