Changing the River of Time

Meeting Team 7

"If I'm that late?" A lone, gray eye shifted towards Aki, guarded yet questioning. Not underestimating the red-head, but... curious.

The red-headed man nodded. "I'm actually already there."

And then he poofed. Kakashi blinked at the now-empty space while a single thought ran through his brain. 'I didn't know that was a clone... I could sense and smell it... this guy's good.'

Meanwhile, the real Aki watched the entire day from the classroom ceiling. He was there from the start and let a shadow clone take his place after he finished breakfast- before even waking his kits. Somehow, no one noticed him. To be fair, not many people looked up in the day unless they were lost in thought and Aki was used to hiding his presence from literally everyone. Is it my chakra suppressing seals...?

He shrugged from his place upside down and continued watching the kids. When 2 hours rolled around, he laid back so he was flat against the ceiling, feeling the boredom pile up.

...He had immense fun by slowly dripping light, scentless, room-temperature glue onto Sasuke's back. The glue didn't weigh anything and didn't soak the boy's shirt, so the brooding Uchiha didn't notice it. And he didn't do it to Naruto because they didn't need another Great Prank War so soon after the previous.

This is gonna be good. I wonder how Kakashi and Sakura will react? Sakura might faint and Kakashi... my Kakashi would just sigh and move on. What do you think, Kurama?

I think you're still an idiot.

Hey!

But you're a fun idiot. This'll be good.

As Aki mentally snickered, he watched Naruto set up the eraser prank.

Except... The kid didn't just use the eraser. Thanks to Aki's teachings and his Uzumaki blood, Naruto was quite the sealing prodigy. The blond already mastered the basics of using, reading, and writing seals and was working on making his own and testing them. Just last week, he made a camouflage seal that painted the entire house hot pink.

Aki was so proud. He reviewed his levels of pride and saw that, yes, this accomplishment was the proudest he'd ever been about anything.

"What are you doing now, idiot?"

With a sly grin, the blond answered without looking up. "Painting a masterpiece."

Sakura feigned surprise. "Two large words in one sentence! Don't think too hard, you'll melt your brain."

Sasuke, meanwhile, was curious. What is the dobe doing?

Naruto stuck the then-finished seal onto the floor in front of the door. The seal glowed blue, then vanished. To top it off, he set up the eraser prank.

When Kakashi opened the door, the eraser fell on his head. The man took a step forward to tell his first impressions of them when...

Poof.

A cloud of silver glitter erupted from the floor up into the jonin's nose, eyes, and hair through the mask. Aki noticed the surprise in the Hatake's posture and nearly fell off the ceiling from trying to hold his laughs in. Kurama wasn't making it any easier with his loud, booming laughter echoing in their mindscape.

"My first impressions of you... how do I put this?" Kakashi said in a surprisingly calm voice while bringing his hand to his chin in mock thought. "I hate you. Meet me on the roof. Now."

Aki flickered to the roof and waved at Kakashi. "Told ya so, y'know."

At Kakashi's deadpan stare, the jinchuriki let his laughter out and hopped onto the roof awning. He let the Hatake try and brush some of the glitter away (without any luck, as this was shinobi glitter. It stuck to chakra like one of the Aburame's bugs- not that anyone knew that but the Uzumaki clan within Konoha. It was one of the inventions in the vault), knowing the other man wouldn't want a stranger coming up and having physical contact with him. Once he calmed down, Kakashi spoke. "Where were you? You said you were here but..."

"You didn't notice?"

Kakashi stared at the other man. "You're one of the- if not the- best trackers in the world and you didn't notice me laying on the ceiling? I've been there since before class!"

It was at that moment that a squeal sounded throughout the land and the red-head remembered the glue. "Oh!" He created a shadow clone that then teleported. At Kakashi's raised eyebrow, the man explained. "I got bored so I dripped glue onto Uchiha's back."

"...glue?"

As the clone's memories filtered into his head, Aki burst out laughing again. "It stuck his pants to the seat! I thought it'd stick to his shirt, but he's always leaning forwards!"

He'll never forget Sasuke's red face, Naruto's laughter, and poor Sakura on the floor with a nosebleed. She did faint!

...Safe to say, it took a solid extra 15 minutes for all the genin to make it on the roof. Sasuke was fuming and blaming Naruto for the... incident... but couldn't find any proof or situational evidence. Kakashi just sighed and continued on. "Let's just get this over with. We'll start with introductions."

"Introductions?"

Aki let their introductions go just like they did last time, only during Kakashi's introduction, he snuck behind the genin and sat cross-legged behind Naruto. When Sasuke finished, he started. "My turn."

The children whirled around at the voice. "Aki-nii! When'd ya get here?"

Aki grinned. "Before you did. I was on the ceiling for the entire day, then beat you guys here."

"The ceiling?"

He nodded at the pinkette. "I got bored, though, and meant to stick his-" Aki pointed at Sasuke. "-shirt to the back of the bench, but... That reminds me! I shoulda pranked you, too," Aki said, turning to his younger self.

A chill crept down Aki's spine. "It. Was. You?"

The Uchiha was kinda... cute when he tried to be scary and intimidating. "Yep," Aki chirped, a bright grin on his face. "And there's time for more shenanigans!"

'NO SHAME,' three people thought simultaneously. Sasuke glared at the newcomer but was cut off from saying anything.

"My name, as you may or may not know, is Aki Uzumaki. I'm your other jonin sensei."

"Our... other sensei? Why do we need two?"

"Dunno, don't care. I'm here to help Kashi whip you into shape and keep you alive."

"... 'Kashi'? Am I a joke to you?"

"Anyway, I like ramen, sealing, my family, gardening, pranking, and my friends. I don't like...dead people that don't stay dead, those that can't differentiate between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed in, weeds, Madara, bullies, self-centered brats that don't know the power of friendship, fox-haters, aliens... and a bunch of other stuff. My hobbies are training, pranking, tending our garden, sealing, and weed-killing. Oh, and befriending literally every enemy I've ever faced that lived. My dreams for the future..."

Aki frowned as he thought about it. "I don't have dreams, I have plans. But I won't share any of them."

"Why not, Aki-nii," Naruto whined.

The strange man smiled and ruffled the blond's hair. "Too many of them. I'll tell you when you're older." If I live to see that day.

Kakashi clapped, said some stuff, and left, taking Aki with him. Kashi dragged Aki to the Memorial Stone and started explaining what they'd do the following day.

Aki was all for making the cute children suffer. Especially Naruto.

He had to get back at the blond for the house thing, after all. It was simply the responsible thing to do, despite his pride of the prank.

... He decided to ignore Kurama's comments on it. The fox simply didn't know the meaning of 'responsible', in Aki's humble opinion.