Ch. 24 The Peach Tree trio and the Rose Quintet

The three boys appear atop the cliff above the great stone faces overlooking the village. Having returned to the outside world they see that it isn't much longer until the sun is about to rise on a new day. "Oh it's almost morning? I guess we were talking for a while…" Yo says noticing the hints of sunlight beyond the horizon.

"Indeed? Shall we go get food now?" Benimaru suggests. "I know of a good restaurant that should be opening its doors about now."

"Hold your horses, little man." Yo says. "Stop and smell the roses sometimes. The sunrises are nice from up here."

"Fair enough." Benimaru says sitting down in the grass and he fishes a bag of candy out of his pocket. He holds out the bag to Yo who takes one, and then to Toneri who takes one as well.

"Wow these are delicious," Toneri's face lights up.

The three of them eat candy while they watch as the rising sun casts its light over the whole village. "I imagine that the sunrises look pretty cool on the moon, but this isn't too bad either is it?" Yo asks Toneri.

"Not at all. They are both beautiful to watch...It's so vibrant and colorful here." Toneri marvels while looking out over the now illuminated village.

"Right?" Yoriichi agrees while taking in the view one last time. After a good stretch and a deep breath, he's ready to go. "Alright you guys lets-"

"You're right, the sunrise is really nice up here." Someone says putting their arm around Yo's shoulder.

"Shisui, what's up?" Yo says trying not to look surprised in his reaction. 'I can't believe I let him take my back again…I didn't even sense him coming.' Yo is much less calm internally. His cousin, just a couple of years his senior and easily one of the most talented in their generation of Uchiha. Shisui is one of the few people Yo felt could challenge him. There's the fact that he also trained with Yo in the past, what could he have spent the five years refining since then?

'Shisui … I can't say I have met him many times, his missions often keep him roaming to all corners of the land of fire. Judging by how close he is with brother I can assume they were peers. However, thanks to Yo's memories I know he was a splendid ninja who met a tragic fate..." that reminded him to be wary when he meets with his master Hiruzen and the rest of the council again, especially Danzo.

'His breathing pattern seems controlled like Yo and the others, though I won't know what style until I see him fight… And the fact that we couldn't sense him coming speaks volumes of his skill. Not only that he already has a Mangekyo sharingan…' Assessing everything he knows about this new arrival he still can't accurately gauge his strength.

"Itachi sent me a message that you woke up, and I came rushing home. Kojiro is here too," Shisui says.

"Yup," Yo says still a little irritated that he got taken by surprise. "We're unveiling the Zodiac to the village."

"Hey! That's big news! Plus, the peach tree brothers are back together again after five long years!"

Even though he is upset, a five year reunion is something to celebrate. His mood quickly lightens and the two of them are hopping back and forth with fists in the air chanting 'peach tree brothers!'

"You must be Benimaru?" They are startled again when another Shisui appears besides Beni. "Last time I saw you, you were still in diapers."

"Wha- another Shisui!?!" Toneri gasps.

"It should be a clone," Benimaru says dismissively. Though his sudden appearance did startle him, being prideful like his brother he tries his best not to show it.

"Or am I the clone?" The Shisui next to Yoriichi asks playfully.

Yoriichi and Benimaru quickly realize that even with the plethora of sensory abilities between them they can't tell which one is real.

"Your clone jutsu has improved a lot…" Yo says with a defeated grumble. There wasn't the slightest of differences in them.

"Thanks," Shisui chuckles as the ones next to Yo vanishes. The other turns his attention to Toneri. "White hair, skin and eyes that's a pretty neat look you have there. Who might you be?"

"I am Toneri Otsutsuki," the boy responds.

"Otsutsuki? Not Hyuga? But you have a byakugan?" Shisui inquires after noting the boy's unique appearance.

"No, we just have a shared ancestry." Toneri shakes his head.

"Oh really? Are you Yo's disciple?" Shisui questions farther to which Toneri nods affirmation. "It's only been a day and you've already yourself got a disciple, you're not wasting any time at all are you Yo?"

"You know me, eager to teach." Yo says. "I've got high hopes for the kid."

"If you've got Yo interested, I know you're going to be something special. My disciple is pretty interesting as well. I just picked him up not too long ago." Shisui says with a confident smile, the boy he found was rather talented.

"Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to meeting him." Yo answers, who could he have found that makes him feel confident that he'll be able to compete with Toneri? You can tell he's unique just by looking at him. "What kind of person would make you decide you're ready to teach? I didn't see you having a disciple anytime soon."

"Heheh, I was surprised by you taking one so soon as well. So, you'll just have to wait and see." Shisui answers.

"If you don't mind, may I ask you a question as well?" Toneri interrupts.

"Go for it." Shisui answers.

"What do you guys mean by peach tree brothers?" Toneri asks.

Yoriichi answers the question for him, "well the two of us and our friend Kojiro are sworn brothers. We took an oath to always look out for one another and fight beside each other like brothers, til the bloody end…and we took the oath under a peach tree. Like the original peach tree brothers from the romance of three kingdoms. Long story I'll tell you about them later."

"Yeah, we even did this cool little ceremony where we all drank sake. Yo insisted we find a peach tree for it though." Shisui adds. "Then we had a feast…it was great." Shisui says thinking back fondly. "Good times, good times."

While the feast did sound great to Benimaru, having his own group of sworn brothers who would bravely stand shoulder to shoulder with him at the forefront of the coming battles sounded legendary. As of now the only people he could think that of that closely are Naruto and Sasuke… even though they still had some maturating to do. This Toneri fellow could be a good addition to the team too. In terms of potential all three of them could go on to attain similar greatness. 'One more than Yo's group too,' he snorts to himself as if he's one upped his brother somehow. Still, the peach tree brothers are going to be a challenge to surpass…stealing sake shouldn't be difficult though.

"Hey, you guys hungry?" Shisui asks. "Kojiro is hosting breakfast at his place, I actually came to get you guys."

"Sounds like a plan, lets go." Yo says at the ready.

"Good, I'll see you guys there!" Poof! Shisui disappears.

"Wait…" Yo looks around.

"Were they both clones?" Benimaru asks equally surprised. That may very well be the best clone jutsu he'd ever seen performed.

"That guy is full of surprises," Yo says. "Welp let's make our way on over to Kojiro's."

"Umm may we make a couple of stops first?" Benimaru suggests.

.......

"Sasuke wake up."

"Huh…Beni? Yo? What's up?" Little Sasuke sits up groggily rubbing his eyes, wondering why his cousins and some other boy were in his room this early.

"Prepare yourself. You are spending the day with us." Benimaru says rummaging through his stuff for an outfit for Sasuke to wear. There wasn't much variety, so it wasn't too hard pick something out.

"But it's so early…" Sasuke says still trying to figure out why they would be awake right now. "Can't I sleep a little longer? We can play later."

"The greatest swordsman in the world would already be up practicing his technique," Yo says with a defeated sigh. "I guess Kojiro was wrong about-"

Not even a minute later Sasuke was wide awake and fully dressed, his wooden sword tied to his hip. "I wasn't really even tired," he says trying to look cool leaning against a wall with his arms crossed but he was still fighting sleep.

Fugaku wakes up hearing rustling from Sasuke's room. "What is that boy doing so early in the morning?" Going into his room he sees Sasuke climbing out of the window. He starts to say something but he sees Beni and Yo too, so it should be alright. With a deep sigh he accepts that he is up for the day and goes to get ready for work.

......

"….uto…Wake up Naruto."

"Just give me five more minutes mom…" Naruto waves for them to leave while putting his blanket over his head.

"Get up you brat, I'm trying to do something special for you." Benimaru shakes him.

"…Let me sleep a little longer, then I'll study…" Naruto rolls to the far side of his bed. "…always so extra mom…"

"Look here…" Benimaru says with a twitching brow. "I am not your mother, it's me Beni. Now wake up." Sasuke and Yo barely stifle their laughs. Toneri just stands there looking confused.

"…nagging so much will give you wrinkles…" a drooling Naruto mumbles rather clearly.

"I said wake up," Benimaru whispers intensely. He smacks Naruto in the forehead and covers his mouth with his other hand. "Good morning. Don't yell when I move my hand, we're going out."

"Oh ok…" he answers sitting up, "and ow jerk." He swings a punch but misses and has his clothes thrown at his face.

"Get ready before your mom wakes up." Benimaru says as they can all hear Kushina snoring.

"You'd think she already did…" Naruto grumbles getting dressed.