Disclaimer: I don't own 'Naruto'.
Warnings: Strong Language and Mild Violence
The New Team Seven
Chapter 2: Odder Days Have Come to Pass
Act 1: A Mission at last!
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"GIVE IT TO ME!"
"No…" Kakashi says sighing into his open paper.
"Chichiue! Give me, my money! You owe me 27 Ryu for Hahaue's dinner two weeks back, I need that money for a mission today!" Obito burned holes in the back of his fathers head, he was fuming. It was rare for the youth to be angry at his father over anything, well… there was that one time where Kakashi played a prank on him. It involved a tube of toothpaste and Obito's hair. Obito shuddered at the thought. Sakura came out of the kitchen rubbing her belly.
"Anata, just give him his money. You did say you would pay him."
"Oh… did I?"
"Yes, please… just do it for me…" Sakura pouted her lips at her husband; he sat there staring at her lips not saying anything. Obito knew his mother had an appeal and a strangle hold over her husband. Frightening really, he sometimes wondered how they actually ended up together. Wait on second thought… I really don't want to know. Kakashi sighed at the pouting woman.
"Fine… here Obito; just don't spend it all in once place." Kakashi placed two 20 Ryu bills in Obito's hands, "I expect …" before he could say change Obito was gone, "Well… shit." Sakura giggled behind him, "Not funny."
"But it is why would you really care about 13 Ryu anyways?" Kakashi rubbed the back of his head thinking about it.
"True eh? What's done is done, I'll teach him a lesson later." Rubbing his hands together he was thinking of something… something evil to do to his own son. His thoughts were derailed by his wife sitting next to him handing him a small box. "What's this?"
"Happy Valentines day!" she said with a smile, it was inevitably twisted he knew what this meant.
"Oh… shit. Uh… Call the Hokage, I'm suddenly feeling sick…" He began to get up from where he sat, Sakura pulled him back down and snuggled closer to him. Within reason really, her belly was rather large.
"I'll call, but…" She whispered in his ear, "Your time is mine then." She watched the look of horror drop from his face into a catty smile.
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Obito closed the gates of his home, he sighed he knew that his father was going to plot something horrible to do to him later for what he did. What's done is done, I'll just have to retaliate myself then. Obito thought about what he might do to Kakashi, the corner of his mouth twisted up when he got an idea. Red dye… hm … lime jello and apply it liberally to the hair. Obito cackled in the thought,stupid Chichiue… you'll pay! Straitening the collar of his uniform he set out for the office. Ugh… is it a holiday or something? Looking around he didn't see anyone on the streets, what the hell is going on? He blinked a few times looking around. In the distance he heard something, it almost sounded like… "Thunder?" Before he realized it Minato was running at him, there was a huge dust cloud following him.
"OOOOBIIIIITOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo…" A blond flash Streaked past him, in the distance he heard a faint, "... RUN!"
"What the…." Obito's eyes widened in horror, Minato was being chased by no less then thirty girls. He too set into a sprint after Minato "Holy shit!" He said catching up to his teammate. "Minato what the hell is going on?!"
"Obito… Val… Val…" He stumbled over the words.
"Val…? What?"
Minato gasped out when they rounded the corner and instantly they found themselves face to face with fifteen more girls. "Valentines day!" Obito shot a glance at Minato as the blond jumped to the rooftops; Obito didn't have to be told, he too fled to the roofs. That didn't stop the girls though. They were in hot pursuit of the two boys with chocolates and candies in hand.
"I don't believe this!" Obito shouted to Minato who simply nodded, "This…" he rasped out, jumping to the next roof dodging a couple of girls. "Is why…" He continued while jumping over a girl who lunged at him. Obito flew over one of the light posts tapping it with his foot to get leverage and shouted, "I HATE GIRLS!" Landing gracefully on the next rooftop, he caught the smirk on Minato's face. "Shut up! Why in the hell did you bring them my way anyways?!"
"More fun this way my friend!" Minato laughed sprinting to the next rooftop sidestepping around two girls that tried to force candy in his pockets.
"I hate you!"
"Na… you love me, good warm up don't you think?!" Minato took a quarter-step to the right before placing his hand on the head of the closest girl. "Not to day my dear," She looked somewhat in shock when his body twisted away from her in almost a pirouette into a cartwheel over the next rooftop.
"You are enjoying this… you sick bastard." Obito twisted left, ducking backwards and under the arms of three girls. They were in awe by the way he moved, his body bent almost on itself as he placed his hands down on the roof, rounding his legs right he spun his body away from them. He swore he heard some clapping in the distance. God damn holidays… it's just an excuse for people to go stupid.
Minato pointed ahead of him, there! It was at least one hundred feet from where they were. "That's our way out! Let's hurry"
"Don't need to tell me twice." Obito and Minato dashed into a heated sprint over the last few rooftops, Obito's lungs were on fire, it's been awhile since he's run this hard. He realized the last time was when his father chased him around Konoha for putting his hand in warm water while he was sleeping. Surprisingly the girls were keeping up, well… shit. Then it dawned on him, in the last ten feet of the sprint jumping high into the air he turned to face the girls chasing them, he began to forming seals with his hands.
"Obito, your not going to attack them are you!?"
Obito quirked a smile on his face while he flew threw the air he shouted at the top of his lungs after the final seal was formed, "Katon: akatonbo koudai no jutsu!" Taking a deep breath he let out a rather large red dragonfly that swirled in the air dancing before the girls. Who promptly stopped dead in their tracks, Obito smiled "Bye-bye!" he said before twisting back around tapping off the rooftops and continued the sprint with Minato to the destination.
"Where the hell did you learn that?" He smiled watching the dragonfly perform for the entranced girls.
"Sasuke-san on my seventh birthday, granted…" he paused mid-jump catching his breath, "I've improved on it."
"So I see… You have talent Obito-chan."
"Chan … Zakenjaneeyo!" Obito shot Minato a dirty look who smiled sheepishly. The last five feet were somewhat uneventful, Obito's Firefly stalled enough girls that it seemed they would make it to their destination unscathed. Jumping down in front of the building dust clouds picked up again.
"My Gods…" Minato whispered.
"Hn… these aren't the ones that stopped to look at the firefly, we need to hurry." Three feet… the dust clouds got much closer, two feet the door was in sight almost in grasp. Before either of them could get a hand on the handles the doors flung open before them. A couple of ANBU grabbed the two of them and threw them into the building shutting the doors again and sealing them shut. "What in the hell was all that about… I mean besides it being… that day, there must be something more to it." Obito panted out looking around him; there were indeed a few girls about, none of them glommed onto the two new boys. In fact they had a very serious air about them. What in the world is going on?
"Indeed, there is something going on." One of them said before looking away, it almost seemed as if they were hiding something or rather it seemed they were trying to restrain themselves from whatever the problem might actually be, either way Obito had a bad feeling about what was really going on.
"An-ya," Whistled one of the many guys lounging around the room, "We have a bad case this year." Tipping back his chair he looked out the window, his eyes seemed forlorn. "I would love to go out there, but I don't think I'd make it back alive… or at least wearing clothing."
One of the girls shot him a dirty look, "At least some of us are still sane; don't think that we won't kick your ass Genma!"
His lips pouted glancing over at the woman, "It's not like that, and you know it. I'd really like to get some work done, this… whatever it is, is really causing a problem. Don't you agree? I mean think about it, half the village is in chaos… bad omen if you ask me."
"I didn't ask you!"
"Tisk… Ah well."
"ENOUGH!" A rather loud voice boomed across the halls and echoed off walls of this small room. All eyes turned to the man at the top of the stairs. "Really… don't you two have anything better to do then bicker all damn day?"
"Sorry Hokage-sama."
Naruto sighed, "Whatever." He sat down on the top of the stairs looking down at the men and the few women that stood, sat and crouched in the room below him, "Look I'm going to be honest…" he said before adding, "Even if the council doesn't want me to tell you the truth." There were a couple of snickers in the background. "Right so this is what we know, some of the girls… and guys are sick. It's been coined as…" Naruto coughed, he seemed embarrassed to say whatever it was coined as. "The Love bug, yes I know corny as it sounds it's serious. We have a few doctors working on the problem as we speak. We don't know what caused it but the outbreak took place a little after ten a.m. today…" His voice trailed off as he looked around the room, no one seemed like they were really taking him seriously about this issue. Even Obito felt his face drop slightly to what Naruto had said. The underside of his eye twitched… Love bug that does sound corny.
"Hokage… sama?" A tall lanky man spoke up in the crowd, he seemed unsure to speak up but he did anyways.
"What?" Naruto questioned, looking rather annoyed that no one was taking him seriously.
"You don't think it has to do with it being Valentines Day do you?"
"Hell no, has nothing to do with it." He said promptly before pulling out a small box of chocolates, "This is the culprit; oddly enough we have yet to find one with candy inside. So if you find one bring it in." The box was purple in color with pink pin stripes a small bow placed on top; it looked like for all intensive purposes like an ordinary candy box. "Now you are probably asking how we know this, I know I know! We found one in one of the victims bags when she was brought in. She won't tell us who she got it from or how she obtained it. So we have to think it was an outside source." Naruto sat there thinking for a moment, "I'm sure you are wondering what the hell we are going to do? Well I'll tell you. It sure as hell won't be sitting around the office all damn day that's for sure. We'll be splitting up into teams to discover the problem. Mostly for safety really, the teams that is. Now Please be careful don't injure these girls… and guys. They don't know what they are doing, it's all instinct… or at least that's what we think anyways."
Naruto sat there for a good while before speaking again; he wanted everyone to really think about what he said rather then pushing forward. "Look, I know some of you won't be up for the task. I assure you that those that can't do this mission have refuge here, I really expect some of the younger members to stay behind and survey from here. No need for unnecessary injuries." Obito nodded, however he really wanted to be out there. Unlike some of the adults he could move fast and silently between crowds of girls… just give him a mask. He smiled slightly at the thought. Naruto stood from where he sat; he looked over the small crowd of Shinobi. "Alright, I'm sure there's some still out there. We need to prioritize getting them to safety as well. So here's the deal," Naruto said pulling out a portfolio from his inner pocket, "All none teamed Jounins are to go to meeting room one, Jounins without Genins are to go to meeting room two. Jounins with Genin students are to split teams one, two three, four, five, and six are to go to meeting room four. Teams eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen are to go to meeting room five. All of Team Seven I want you in meeting room three."
Wait… did I hear that right? Why did we get singled out? "Ah-no… Hokage-sama, why just team seven?"
Naruto smiled, "I have a special job for you…" Obito didn't really like the look on his face, it usually meant trouble. Oh geez… He sighed. "Medical-nin's are to report to room six and the remainder are to meet in room seven, also while waiting for your team captains please move to room eight and nine. We need to keep this room clear to catch stragglers." He motioned with his hands, "Alright lets get moving." Obito was impressed with how quickly the room cleared, Damn teleportation no jutsu… He looked around for his team; Minato was standing next to him. Kouryou was sitting near the stairs he looked fairly unhappy needless to say, but when ever did he look happy? Shikamaru was no where to be seen. Obito and Minato came over to where Kouryou was. Minato looked around.
"Where's the Captain?" he asked.
"Late? I don't know, maybe he got mobbed on the way here." The two of them stood there while Kouryou sat looking at each other for a moment before looking at the door, they could hear rumbling outside the building. Minato looked quite frightened; his pearly white eyes darted around. "Mina-chan its ok… I think."
"Shh… no the captain is coming." Just as he said that, Shikamaru came flying though the door. His hair dangled around his face, he looked almost like he'd been molested. His shirt was hanging off his frame at an awkward angle; his pants were ripped in several locations. Shikamaru looked quite disheveled his eyes wide in horror.
"You ok Shika-captain?"
"No… Mendoukusei… What the hell is wrong with those people?"
"People?" Minato blinked looking at Shikamaru as he fixed his shirt adjusting his hitai-ate on his sleeve.
"Yeah… I had a few guys chasing me; care to tell me what's going on?"
Obito nodded, "Yeah we'll fill you in on the way to the meeting room."
"Mendoukusei… it's that bad?" He sighed moving towards his team. "Which room?"
"We are to go to meeting room three."
"Alright let's get moving them." He said brushing off his pants; Kouryou stood up to follow them. Obito got a good look at him for the first time. Almost shocked when he saw what he saw, Kouryou had a large bruise on his neck.
"Kouryou … you ok? That bruise looks like it hurts."
"It's nothing; I didn't uh… get away in time." Obito just looked at him blankly, get away… he thought about it a moment before his face made an Oh I see face. "Yeah…" Kouryou said shaking his head, following them up the stairs.
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On entering room three they were greeted by Kamizuki Izumo, "Good morning, round of coffee or tea?" He said with a smile, he had already brought cups to the table as if he had anticipated them being late.
"Sorry we are late." Shikamaru said before sitting down in one of the head chairs.
"Not to worry, I'm not the one briefing you. Naruto-sama will be doing that. I'm here for assistance; I'll also be working with your team."
"I see, so some of the none-teamed Jounins will be working with us then?"
"Just me, although I think Kotetsu may also join us later."
"Alright then, do you mind holding down the fort for a moment? I need to go to the supplies window and see if I can get a new pair of pants." Izumo nodded as Shikamaru got up from his chair, "Ok Izumo is in charge, settle in and think about what we might be doing." The three boys nodded at their captain, better Izumo then me… Obito thought. Shikamaru left the room, as the door clicked shut Minato let out a sigh. Kouryou sat down in one of the chairs, Obito came over to him.
"What?" Kouryou shifted in his seat to look at the silver-haired boy.
"Would you like me to heal that bruise?" Kouryou nodded slightly, it's possible that he was in a lot of pain and just didn't say anything. Izumo came over and inspected the situation.
"What happened?"
"Girls mobbed me."
"Ah…" Izumo smiled slightly, he did know what happened. Kouryou looked just like Sasuke normally he could just bat an eyelash and girls fell stupid around him, but not today. It seemed they had more courage to go after him then normal days. Scary sickness, whatever it really is.
"Kouryou, are you hurt anywhere else?" Obito asked while he healed the large bruise on his friend's neck.
"Yeah I have a couple of scratches too, but don't push yourself to hard, Obito."
"It's not a problem, let's see it." Removing his hands from Kouryou's neck, the dark haired boy removed his shirt. Sure enough he had a few scratches, some three long some four long. "Ouch… Finger nails?" Kouryou nodded and hissed a little when Obito inspected some of the deeper ones. "This won't take too long." Flexing his fingers he preformed three short seals before his fingertips glowed with a light green hue. This was the first time that Izumo had seen the ten year old perform medical jutsu; needless to say he was impressed. Kouryou sighed a little was the chakra touched his torn skin, he trusted Obito to heal him. Trust is a factor that you should have with a teammate, without that there is no team. Obito had been taking care of the four of them for a few months now, even he was impressed by Obito's skills.
Obito gently rubbed his fingertips over the wounds, a couple of them were indeed deeper then they looked. He sighed; pressing his chakra further into the wounds he could feel the tissue knitting itself back together. Once the job was done, he flexed his fingers and shook them out. "Feeling alright?" He asked poking the area's lightly.
"Hn…"
"Good." Obito walked away as Kouryou put his shirt back on. Sitting down in the chair across from Kouryou he slouched slightly tilting his head back and stared blankly at the ceiling. Minato sat down next to him folding his arms sighing lightly before crossing his legs to get comfortable. Kouryou sat forward resting his head on his hand and twisted a lock of hair with the other. Izumo poured some coffee into the cups; he took the coffee pot back to the hot plate to keep it warm. After doing this Izumo came over and sat in one of the head chairs tilting the chair back he folded his arms looking about the room. They would sit there waiting for a good twenty minutes before Shikamaru came back with a fresh pair of pants on.
"Wow… you four look like the living dead." He said in jest. Kouryou shot him an ugly look, "Now, now… I'm just kidding; Naruto-sama hasn't come down yet?"
"Noooo…" Minato whined, "Bored…"
"Tisk, Dobe… The Hokage is busy, just because he's your father doesn't give you the right to act that way."
Minato shot up from his seat and stared down the Uchiha, "Act WHAT way? Uchiha?" There was a small sense of malice when Minato said his name. Kouryou stood up looking him dead in the eye.
"You know what way,Dooobe."
"Say that again,Uchiha... I'll send you to next Wednesday!"
"Doooooobeee…." Kouryou wasn't one to back off even if it meant getting punched in the face.
"Knock it off you two," Shikamaru warned with a rather amused look on his face. "I really don't want to deal with you two fighting while we are on a serious mission."
"Serious my ass, love sick girls is hardly something to be serious over."
"Say the man that had nail gouges over his back." Minato shot at him before sitting down again looking away.
"Shut up." Kouryou snapped sitting down again himself. Shikamaru noted that Obito acted as if he was totally oblivious to their fighting. Obito sighed lightly when they stopped, he hated when they fought and Shikamaru knew it. Izumo sat there silent watching the whole fiasco; he gave Shikamaru a look of… Is this a regular thing? Shikamaru nodded and sighed as he made his way to the second head chair next to Obito.
"What do you make of all this Obito?"
"Well… It's probably either chemically induced or genjutsu, I highly doubt it's a massive Genjutsu or we'd all be out for the count right now."
"Indeed, so there was something in the candy then?"
"Yes, probably granted I'd have to see the candy to confirm but seeing as they haven't found any filled boxes it leads me to wonder how did they get the candy in the first place."
"And that is a good question Obito." Shikamaru leaned back in his chair; he looked as if he was deep thought. Closing his eyes he sat there. Obito observed Shikamaru closely… sure enough… Shikamaru began to wheeze out of his nose. He's sleeping… Whatever, I'll kick his chair over when Naruto comes in.
They would sit there in silence for the remainder of the time, which needless to say was over an hour. Kouryou went back to playing with his hair, while Minato eyed the coffee suspiciously. Obito tried to maintain some form of sanity by thinking about what the candies could actually be. It could be herbal, there are several types of plants that make one feel or act as if they are in love. Or it's all mental; it is possible that it is a genjutsu can't actually rule that out until I get a hold of one of those candies. Now… there is also a strong possibility that it's all a contest, which is stupid but none the less I won't rule that out. Who could have done something like this is the question. There are not too many people in the village that have access to herbs or medication, let alone a large amount of chocolate with out spending quite a bit of money. Obito made a mental note to large amounts of chocolate and the boxes. I'll need to get my hands on one of those boxes, to figure out where it came from. After all, Hahaue loves chocolates. Obito sat there thinking about the different possibilities. Chemical though herbs, Mental though Genjutsu or a contest which in his mind came in dead last due to the nature in which Naruto had described. While he was thinking the door opened, Naruto came sauntering in with Kotetsu right behind him holding a rather large box. Obito looked up and eyed the box.
"Sorry that too so long, some of the teams were being obstinate. Now let's get down to business." He gestured to Kotetsu to put the box down on the table. Naruto came around the front to the head chair and sat down. "You've probably figured out why I singled out Team Seven."
"Yeah," Shikamaru said casually "You want us to find out how it was done and possibly who is behind this."
Naruto nodded, "Correct. Kotetsu open the box." Kotetsu opened the box and upended it. Out spilled tiny purple boxes with pink pinstripes. "These boxes here are the one's we've found so far. There's not that many…"
Obito looked at the number of boxes, "This can't be all of them."
"Yes so far, I have a couple of other teams dedicated to finding these boxes. Hopefully with a little luck we'll get one with candy inside." Obito nodded, "I need all of you to be careful, it might be a prank and it might not be. I'd like to think the former rather then latter."
"Any suspects so far?" Shikamaru asked picking up one of the boxes.
"What do you think?"
"A couple of people come to mind."
"Indeed, we have a couple of suspects in mind. Although I didn't think he would stoop this low honestly. But let's not rule it out."
Shikamaru nodded and looked over at Kouryou, "I want you to take notes while we are in the meeting." Kouryou agreed. He went over to the desk in the far corner and got a note pad, coming back he sat down. He gave a silent ok ready. "Jiraiya-san, Tsunade-sama, Shizune, let's not rule out Gai and Lee. Sate who else?" Shikamaru looked down at Obito.
"Anko, Ibiki, Umi, Megume, and Miyaka."
"Ibiki?"
"Yeah, logically speaking he could do something like this on a grand scale."
"But he's not a prankster…"
"Doesn't matter really, he likes messing with peoples heads. We shouldn't rule him out just because he doesn't fit the type, so to speak."
"Alright, fair enough," Shikamaru waved his hand at Kouryou to read the list back.
"Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Gai, Lee, Anko, Ibiki, Umi, Megume, and Miyaka."
Naruto listened to the list; he knew darn well that any of those people on the list could have done something like this. Although a few names on the list surprised him to hear. Umi, Megume and Miyaka were quite types they were the head of the class last year. However… now that he thought about it, it did seem logical quite types sometimes have a bad side. Good not to hold prejudice to the situation.
"Alright for those on the list I need a break down of what motive they would have for doing this."
"Forgive me Naruto-sama, but I think there might not even be a motive behind it."
"Obito you think it's a prank then?"
"For all intensive purposes, yes I do believe that."
"I see what if it's not?"
"I would like to think that one of our own isn't sabotaging us from the inside."
That wasn't something that Naruto had thought about, "We'll go on prank then. We'll reserve the done on purpose as an extreme then. I'll leave this all in team seven's hands, Izumo and Kotetsu will join you in this investigation. We'll let you know if we get a hold of a filled candy box. If you'll excuse me I have to deal with some raving luna… er… I mean council members in my office." Naruto stood up to leave the room, adjusting his robes as he walked Naruto noticed Obito's serious face. "If you need my assistance let me know, I'll grant access to areas that you need. Like… the chemistry lab in the hospital, if you need it."
Obito smiled. "Thank you Hokage-sama."
Naruto shook his finger in Obito's general direction, "How many times do I need to say this, Nar-uto-sa-ma. None of this Hokage crap, ok?" Obito nodded as Naruto left the room with a click to the door.
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"Sate… let's get to work." Shikamaru stood up looking at all the boxes, he sighed. "How many are here?"
"One hundred and twenty-seven." Izumo and Kotetsu looked at Minato, the number he said seemed so natural and very sincere.
"Alright, so that's the current number of 'infected' girls and guys. I must say though it seemed like a lot more when I was out there."
"Indeed, Minato and I were being chased by at least forty-five girls and there were dust clouds to prove that there were a lot more then just that."
"Hn… I was also chased by a few girls myself."
Shikamaru nodded at Kouryou, "I see, we should probably survey how many people are truly infected then. Any idea's how we should go about doing it?"
"You mean besides throwing ourselves out there in the madness?"
"Yes besides doing that Minato."
"Well… this is stupid." Minato said he looked like he had an idea.
"Not as stupid as your face Minato, spit it out."
Minato glanced over at Kouryou, "I'll kill you later." Kouryou replied with a 'hn' as Minato continued, "Sexy no Jutsu, we transform ourselves into girls and survey from inside the madness. This way we might also find out who or what is actually behind it."
"Not a half bad idea. However, I personally don't like the idea of trying to pass myself off as a girl."
"I don't blame you captain, although Minato could pull it off with out a hitch."
"I'll ignore you said that Kouryou."
Kouryou smirked at Minato's comment. "Bring it bitch."
"For the love of Kami, shut the hell up." The two boys looked over at Obito who seemed rather agitated at the fighting. "Sexy no jutsu might just work; we might be able to smoke out the prankster this way." Shikamaru inspected one of the boxes while listening to suggestions. "Think about it, we pretend to be girls and the person or persons involved might, I stress might here. Come to us and give us one of these boxes…"
"Do you really trust Minato with trying to pull that off? Knowing him he might eat the candy."
"Kouryou, despite what you think of Minato he's not stupid."
"I never said he was, I'm just saying that he might get caught up in the moment… and… mess up."
"I'm sitting right here, boke." Minato flicked a wad of paper in Kouryou's direction which ironically enough hit him square in the middle of his forehead. Kouryou stood up throwing the paper back at him.
"What did you say Dobe!?"
"I called you a boke, boke baka… Need I say more?" At this point Kouryou had lunged over the table, small purple boxes scattered all over the floor. While Kouryou grappled Minato to the floor Minato kicked with his legs to get his teammate off of him, "Get off Boke!"
"Not till I give you a good smacking around Dobe!" Before Kouryou could land a punch to Minato's soft face, Obito had grabbed him by the arm. Wrenching him off Minato, Obito pushed Kouryou lightly away. Lightly as in Kouryou flew about three feet before coming to a halt on his bottom; Kouryou looked up in shock at Obito. His face dropped slightly from the look on Obito's face. It wasn't a face he had ever seen on this boy, this person he called teammate… the face that said, 'if you do that again, I will kill you.' Pushing himself up with his hands he came around the table and sat down. Kouryou made special care not to make eye contact with Obito as he said under his breath, "Sorry won't happen again."
"Good now that you understand where you stand, I don't want you two fighting for the rest of this mission. If you do I will personally send you both to the emergency room. Understand me?" Obito mostly directed this anger at Kouryou; he really had had enough of this spoiled brat. This was a side of himself that he didn't want his team to see, it was better now in the conference room rather then out in the field where he might actually take Kouryou's head off. Minato sat there on the floor looking up at his friend; he had never in his life seen the look on Obito's face as he had seen at that moment. It terrified him. Mental note to self, never piss off Obito. Minato flinched as Obito turned to him; rather then hatred in his eyes, Obito was smiling. "Are you alright? Here let me help you up." Gently grabbing his friend by the arm he lifted Minato off the ground. Obito's actions were completely three hundred and sixty degrees from where he was originally at. It was obvious that he didn't want to hurt Minato, or any of his teammates for that matter. And it was all too clear where he stood now, he was their superior in several ways… and Kouryou now understood why Shikamaru said that age didn't matter when it came to rank. Rank is Rank and this is why… Obito is scary when he's really truly upset.
While the display of power presented itself, Izumo and Kotetsu watched the ten year old put his two teammate's in their place. My god, he really is Kakashi's son they both thought. While they were standing there dumbfounded as Obito took command of the fight, Shikamaru had a very wide smirk on his face. Thank god, maybe we won't have too many problems in the future. "Alright now that this is settled, let's clean up the boxes and get back to work. I'll take it that if there's any fighting that Obito will take care of it. I will warn you though; if you are sent to the emergency room over a petty squabble I'll make sure that you are out on sick leave without pay." Minato and Kouryou groaned slightly but nodded in agreement, as they both started to pick up the scattered boxes off the floor.
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-
Minato and Kouryou finished cleaning up the small boxes just as a knock came at the meeting room door. Shikamaru went over to answer it, "Yes?" Opening the door he wasn't surprised by the person on the other side. Genma stood there holding a rather large box.
"I have a delivery for team seven."
"More?"
"Yeah"
Shikamaru sighed, "Alright bring it in and do you have a count for us?"
"Count? No I'm just delivering." Genma came waltzing into the room with a commanding air about him, even if he was just a delivery boy at the moment he was a force to be reckoned with. He is Intelligent, strong, sharp witted, rather good looking and a master at Senbon use. Genma kept to himself when it came to personal matters, on the outside it seemed that he was a womanizer and a drunkard, but to Obito… it seemed that was all a façade to keep people away. For what reason, Obito has yet to discover.
"Genma-san, what are you assigned to?" Obito inquired, Genma looked over at him with a hint of a smile on his face.
"Delivering"
"That can't be all."
"Your right it's not, honestly it's pretty lame but I have to go on orders. If you need anything let me know, I'll be around the office." Twisting his senbon in his mouth he put down the box and left the room before Obito could ask what it was he was doing.
Minato opened the box and sighed, "It's rather full."
"What's the count Minato?"
"One second, Byakugan…" Activating his ability Minato looked at the box a short time after, "Three hundred and seventy one and… we have a full one." Shikamaru and Obito lunged at the box.
"Really?" Shikamaru asked pulling boxes out of the large box.
"Yes, it's near the bottom." Minato also helped pulling boxes out, Obito made room on the table for more boxes. Kouryou did what he did best; he found another box to put the empty ones in. Setting down the box on one of the chairs he looked over at Izumo and Kotetsu who started to put the small candy boxes in the large one.
"Can I ask you two to count the boxes while putting them in there? I want to make sure we have an accurate count per large box. Not that I don't trust Minato, he's really good at knowing how many of what are in front of us."
"Kouryou, did you just complement me?" Minato asked, blushing slightly.
"No…" Kouryou said sharply looking away.
"We can recount them and tally them up. That is not a problem. You four find that filled one." Izumo gestured to their other teammates, as he handed a few boxes to Kotetsu who counted and tallied the number on a sheet of paper. "So all in all we should have four hundred and ninety eight?"
"Yeah roughly," Obito commented pulling more boxes out looking for the filled one. "Where is it Minato?"
"Near the bottom," He said looking at the box, and then he pointed roughly where it was. "Right around there."
"Great." Shikamaru murmured before delving back into the box. "We could upend it but that might cause some problems." The four nodded while pulling out more boxes. It was like a horrible hunt for a needle in a hay stack, but much worse. They knew where it was but getting to it was the problem.
"Why the hell did they pack this so tight?" Kouryou sighed shifting off more boxes towards Izumo and Kotetsu.
"To piss you off," Obito smiled gently handing him more boxes.
"Probably" The air that loomed around them that was once stagnating had left as they discovered a break though in their theory. A full box was a great find and they wondered how it slipped past the team that was filtering though this stuff. Obito placed his fingers around one of the boxes, it felt different. Pulling it out and inspecting it he saw that the seal had not been broken.
"Found it!"
"Great, alright let's get these out of the way. Izumo please continue to count."
"Right o, we stand at two hundred and forty one so far." The large box that arrived was quickly shoved to the side as well as the other boxes that were on the table. Izumo and Kotetsu worked around this and continued to count the purple boxes. Troublesome task but they needed a written number for the Hokage and the council members.
Obito placed the box on the table. It was the same as all the others but the ribbon around the top had not been severed from crease of the box. "So… who wants to open it?"
"You asked you do it." Kouryou said sitting down looking at the box.
"Fair enough, Mina can you check for traps or seals?"
"Sure thing" Minato took his time and looked at the box and inside, "Nothing unusual that I can see, clear."
Obito sighed, clear is a good sign. Placing his fingers on the box he worked the seal off the box. Everyone watched in anticipation as he lifted the box lid off. Looking inside Obito nearly fell over. "What the hell is this crap?" He asked painfully, "It's like something Hahaue would buy." Shikamaru put a towel down on the table; Obito upended the box on the towel not touching the candy. Out came a small bunny shape chocolate.
"Cute…"
"Cute? Kouryou… you said it's cute."
"No not like that!"
"Like what?"
"Cute as in slightly twisted."
Minato blinked, "I don't understand. What you said made no sense at all."
"Never mind!"
"Alright…" Minato turned his direction to Obito who was looking at the bunny with interest. "So?"
"Not sure yet, there might be a skin contact on the outside. We should get some gloves."
"Better idea," Shikamaru pointed out. "Let's get permission to use the lab in the hospital."
"That's an idea I like. The only problem with that is…"
"How are we to get there unharmed? Yeah I thought of that too. We should probably go under Hengan."
"I agree with that, we'll need to talk with the Hokage."
"Let me take care of that, you guys finish up counting the boxes. Obito try to carefully put that thing back in the box."
Whimsically Minato said under his breath, "Put the bunny back in the box." Kouryou laughed although he wasn't quite sure why it was so funny, it just was. Obito eyed the two suspiciously as he put the chocolate bunny back in the box. Could it be an air born contagion? … God I hope not. Izumo and Kotetsu continued to count as the other two boys kept tossing them small purple boxes. Finally after what seemed like forever the second large box was empty and the first large box was filled to the brim with tiny purple and pink pined stripped boxes, sitting down Izumo looked over the tallies.
"Minato has good eyes. There are Four hundred and ninety eight boxes." Minato smiled at the thought he was right on the dot for the number of boxes.
"This leads me to believe that there are more out there." Obito said poking the filled box, "Did we count this one?"
"Oh no we didn't, its ninety nine then." Minato frowned at Izumo, "Hey did you count this one when you did the first count?"
"Oh now that you mention it I didn't. Ok, I'm alright with the number then." Minato nodded rubbing his eyes with his fingers. "How long do you think Shika is going to be?"
"Hm… we might hit some red tape getting into the lab. It shouldn't take too long though Shika always pulls though for us when we need something."
"True, but Naruto-sama said that he had some problems with the uh... you know."
"Mina don't worry about the old people too much, they probably won't mind a few of the people that have this sickness to do whatever it really is they want to do under it."
"Obito… that's sort of cruel to say."
"How so, Izumo? I'm stating the truth, the council members are old they would like nothing more then to see some of the girl ninja's pop out babies." Izumo was slightly alarmed by the ten year olds statement. Kotetsu looked at the boy,
"Are you sure about your statement Obito-kun?"
"Yes Kotetsu why wouldn't I be? I'm sure Kouryou and Minato feel the same way. They also would like nothing more then to keep people like us under lock and key."
"Like us…?" Kotetsu asked he was worried what the boy was implying.
"Yes those of us with over-average abilities and strengths. They hate Chichiue, they hate Hahaue, and they hate me. I'm fairly certain they hate me even more because of my eyes. I'm also certain that they hate Minato for his looks and Kouryou for his heritage. Need I go on Kotetsu-san?"
Kotetsu blinked rapidly from the spinning words that the young Shinobi threw at him, "My god… You know something don't you?"
"Probably, but I can't talk about it if I did. No offense to either of you, but you two are not on our team normally. However we have some confidence in the two of you simply because you are the Hokage's personal assistance."
Izumo and Kotetsu looked at the silver haired ten year old with almost disbelief that he would just out right say he didn't trust anyone outside of his normal team. "So do you Minato and Kouryou feel the same way?"
"Pretty much, I know the older members of the council don't like me because I'm half Hyuuga."
"Same, they are not so welcoming to the Uchiha clan. We both know that Obito has problems simply because he is the son of the Copy nin Kakashi. Think about it a moment if you will… His father is famous, what kind of life could he live other then in a great shadow?"
"Also on that he has to live up to the standers that the council expects from his father, Think about it. Obito has it harder then we do and he's only ten."
"Wow, I didn't expect you three to be so… so…"
"So…? Kotetsu-san?" The boys questioned in unison.
"So … smart? sharp? Intelligent? I'm not sure what word really fits there."
"Tensai," Said a voice from the doorway, they looked up to see Shikamaru. Lazily he came into the room holding a manila folder. "The three of them are Tensai; don't take it the wrong way Izumo, Kotetsu. They are hard to deal with. Please don't take what they say to too much heart; all three of them love their village with their lives."
"True enough," Minato puffed up a little. Kouryou smiled at his captain.
Obito also smiled. "Did you get permission Shika?"
"Yes, sorry it took so long. The council members were being obstinate about letting us use it."
"Told you so," Obito said under his breath.
"Yeah apparently they want to ride this out, whatever happens, happens. Personally I think and apparently I'm not the only one that thinks this." Smiling at his team, "That letting it ride out is a bad thing. Honestly it demoralizes and might even traumatize the girls when they come too."
"Understandable, Shika did you actually say that to the council members?"
"Hell yes, I don't run team seven to be a push over pansy-ass. We need to get to the Lab and fast, I have a bad feeling that the candy might expire if we don't do something with it soon."
The boys smiled at their captain, we have someone who really understands us.
Izumo and Kotetsu stood up looking at the boys, Izumo spoke up first. "I'm sorry if we've made you feel hurt in anyway and I hope we can continue to work together on this mission."
"I also feel we should stop this, letting it ride out is a bad idea. I do feel sorry for the girls that really don't know what they are doing."
Obito stood up and gave the two a smile, "No worries, we were testing you anyways. Now that we know you are on our side we'll let you in on a secret."
"What's that?"
"A team member without trust creates distrust between all the members. And thus it makes teamwork dissolve into nothing. We firmly believe in teamwork, glad to have you aboard for this mission." And with that Obito picked up the small box and walked out of the meeting room.
"Holy shit," Izumo said under his breath. "That kid's got balls." The other remaining members of Team seven smiled at the two men.
"He sure does, you should see his negotiation skills in the field." Minato said with a laugh.
"Negotiation my ass, I don't call a kunai to the eye socket negotiation Minato."
The two older men had no idea how to react to what they said; instead they decided it was best not to ask. Minato and Kouryou left the room after Obito, leaving three in the room. Shikamaru came over, "Sorry if they did something weird when I was gone, I will ask you not to talk about what they said to anyone." Patting them each on the shoulder he left the room.
"There's no way in hell I would mention that to anyone."
"No shit, those kids are going to be something in the future."
"Yeah, I can't wait." Izumo said with a smile on his face. The two of them left the meeting room locking it behind them. It was going to be their room for the remainder of the mission and they didn't need anyone tampering with the goods, so to speak. Steady pace they caught up with the other members of Team seven. Getting to the hospital would be interesting; Izumo and Kotetsu couldn't wait to see what the three boys had in store.
-
TBC… Act 2: Forget-me-not blues
Translators notes:
Chichiue: Father
Hahaue: Mother
(Both of these are very formal, mostly used in samurai families)
Ryu: Money
Anata: you; dear (what a wife calls her husband)
Valentines Day: On February 14th girls give chocolates to boys as an expression of affection. Also in March is the counter part to this where boys reciprocate by giving girls gifts from February 14th
Katon: akatonbo koudai no jutsu: Fire element: Large Red Dragonfly Technique (This is the same as the small firefly technique that Sasuke used in the 'Birthday Present'. Obito has improved on the technique making it his own.)
Zakenjaneeyo -vulgar- This word can be translated in several ways. The best way to describe it in this instance is; don't screw around! (Obito wanted to make sure that Minato knew he isn't in the mood to be messed with.)
Mendoukusei: How troublesome
Dobe: Dead last
Kami: God
Boke: Idiot, fool, moron… etc.
Baka: Idiot or stupid
Author notes:
This is going to be a multi-act chapter; it's the first time I've done something like this so hopefully it won't turn out too bad.
Obito has matured again, yeah he's scary when mad. Although I think it's a good thing, Minato and Kouryou have finally seen why he's a chuunin and maybe they'll follow his lead… maybe. You never know with adolescent boys.
I might end up changing the rating to M on general principal. I don't trust myself with a T rating, which is sad. Any Grammar or horrible spelling/word mistakes are my own. Please PM me with errors, I'll look into it.
Special thanks to ShipperTrish, Equivalent Exchange and LinxxChan for encouraging/motivating me to continue this story.
There's a movie quote somewhere in the story, what movie?
See you next Act.