══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

SLEEP OVERTOOK the household for another night. The pairings for bunks remained the same as the previous night, however, Kakashi had so graciously offered the futon mattress to Yuri since he had recovered slightly and had slept on it last night while she chose the wooden floor for her resting place. But it was proving difficult.

"Yuri. Take the mattress." Kakashi grumbled behind his mask. He had already ditched his uniform to don his sleeping attire, as well as Yuri and the rest of the ninja in the room.

Yuri stood across from him on the other side of the mattress with her arms crossed over her chest. "You take it. You're still on one crutch. You're hardly recovered."

With a sigh, Kakashi peered at the young woman opposite him in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"I am."

The two bickered for a while as their squads watched impatiently, trying to go to sleep.

"Would you two knock it off?!" Naruto finally yelled over the pestering argument between Kakashi and Yuri. The two jōnin looked over at the tired-looking boy with furrowed brows. "We want to sleep so shut it!"

Yuri tutted in anger as she shot Kakashi a glare. " You really need to teach him some manners." She grumbled under her breath as she crawled under the covers of the futon mattress. The white-haired man sighed with delight that the small dispute was over and proceeded to lie down on the hard cold floor. Without any pillows, it was rather uncomfortable, especially since he had to hold his arm in the air to read his book.

Yuri rolled her eyes at the display and tossed him one of her pillows which he gratefully took and slipped under his head. Though he smugly smirked at the action which caused Yuri to groan and turn her back to him, he was surprised by her generosity.

══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

THE SUN rose in the brightening sky as morning settled amongst the village. One by one, each ninja rose from their mattresses and headed to the kitchen. Naruto was first but he was nowhere to be found in the house. Next was Yuri and Kakashi. Then Yaragi, then Sezaki. After them, it was Sasuke and Doremi. Finally, Sakura emerged from the bedroom to join the rest of the household for breakfast.

"Good morning everyone," the pink-haired girl yawned.

"Naruto's not here. Looks like he was out all night." Tazuna spoke.

"He's gone crazy," Doremi said after gulping down her food. "Climbing trees in the dark. He's probably dead by now." She shrugged as Yuri slapped the side of her head, disapprovingly.

Tsunami approached the table, offering more food for her guests. "Well, I certainly hope he's all right. A child out in the woods at night," she tutted to herself.

"There's nothing to worry about. Naruto's a goofy kid but he's also a fully-fledged ninja." Kakashi reassured the naturally worried mother. "He can handle himself."

Sasuke shook his head. "Doremi's right. Naruto's such a loser. He's probably lying out there dead somewhere." Then, he stood and made his way to the front door.

"Sasuke?" Sakura called out.

"I'm going for a walk." His tone was rude and condescending towards the girl, the sort a grumpy husband would use toward his 'overbearing' wife.

Sakura furrowed her brows. "But we just started eating?" She looked down at his plate to find it cleared. "That was fast."

"That guy is creepy." Yaragi shuddered, his voice trembling as he did as if someone had stepped over his grave.

Sezaki and Doremi nodded in return. "Yeah, kinda a basketcase." Doremi joked with her teammates who chuckled along.

Yuri scowled at her team, her eyes burning through their skin as they visibly shrunk at her gaze. If there was anything that the three feared, it was the disapproval of Yuri Ren. "I taught you better than to be so rude."

"Sorry, Sensei." The three spoke.

"It's not me you should be apologising to, is it?" Yuri questioned. The three grew uncomfortable. "It's fine. Just don't do it again. Now, don't you two have training to do?" She pointed her chopsticks at Yaragi and Doremi. The two's eyes widened and shot up from their seats to follow Sasuke.

Yuri looked down at her remaining genin and sighed. "You and Sakura may go too once she's done eating." The blue-haired girl grinned over at the pink-haired girl who returned the gesture.

Yuri heard Kakashi whistle lowly from his spot on the ledge by the door. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Yuri narrowed her eyes, suspiciously.

Kakashi shrugged slightly. "Deal with children."

A snort escaped Yuri's nose at the question. "And I thought you said you were the fathering type now. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"I didn't finish." Kakashi smiled under his mask. Yuri squinted with a raised brow. "How do you deal with children... when you're so heartless?"

Yuri gasped in horror at his statement causing him to snicker slightly. Tsunami and Sezaki held the woman down and moved all the ceramics out of her reach so she could not throw them at the man.

"Kakashi Sensei! That was mean!" Sakura gasped with an angry expression.

The leaf ninja shrugged as he stood up from his seat. "But it was deserved."

══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══

ONCE YURI had come to the rational decision to not chop Kakashi's head off, the remaining ninja wandered off to the training site the Leaf jōnin had allocated the previous day. On arrival, the four ninjas were met with nothing. Naruto, Sasuke, Doremi and Yaragi were nowhere to be found.

"Naruto?!" Sakura called out. "Knowing Naruto, he could be anywhere. Sasuke hasn't come back either. I wonder where they both are." She pondered.

"Yaragi and Doremi aren't here either," Sezaki commented.

Soon, three kunai shot down from the sky and landed by their feet. Yuri, Kakashi, Sezaki and Sakura looked up to see Naruto, Doremi and Yaragi smiling down at them. Naruto was lying on his stomach on a high branch. Doremi, on another tree, knelt down on a higher branch. While Yaragi stood straight with his hand on the trunk of the tree - his branch was the lowest of the three.

"Wow!" The two young girls were awestruck at their friend's abilities. "That's great, guys!"

Naruto, growing cocky at his abilities, stood up on his branch and put his weight on one foot as he leaned against the trunk. However, his confidence in his balance was misplaced. He slipped off the thin branch and began falling from his great height.

The four ninjas below gasped in shock. However, they soon sighed in relief as Naruto's foot found the branch once more, he swung himself to dangle below it, using the chakra in his feet to keep him from falling. Naruto laughed as well as Doremi and Yaragi, as if they had planned this prank a while ago. "I got you! You really thought I would fall!" Naruto laughed.

"He's an idiot," Yuri muttered with a tense brow.

"We were worried about you, Naruto!" Sakura shouted up at him.

Kakashi sighed. "Why do I think this will end badly?"

And as he spoke those damned words, Naruto's chakra ran out. His feet unglued themselves from the bottom of the branch and he began to fall. The four shiobi below gasped in fear once more. But Doremi and Yaragi sprung into action as if they were prepared for this. Yaragi threw several kunai at Naruto, aiming perfectly at his baggy clothes, hoping to catch him against the tree trunk, whilst Doremi jumped from her tree to his and ran down the trunk to catch up with his falling figure.

Before he could hit the ground, Yaragi had pinned Naruto to the trunk with two kunai and Doremi had one hand clutching his foot while her other was gripping one of Yaragi's thrown kunai. "You're such a loser." She spoke to the yellow-haired boy who grumbled and huffed in response.

"Doremi!" Yuri yelled up at her student. This caused Doremi to drop Naruto's foot, leaving him to dangle with the support of the two kunai pierced through his jacket. "What did I tell you about being rude?!"

"Sorry, Sensei!" Doremi winced.

"And?" Yuri called up, expectedly, her magenta eyes darting towards Naruto.

Doremi groaned. "I'm sorry, Naruto."