"O noble Sasuke, do you not feel the piercing blades of the sun, or do you plan to waste away in slumber?"
"Naruto..."
"Yes?"
Sasuke threw a pillow at his comrade with mighty force. "Shut up."
"Why do your words always sting me to the heart?" Naruto gave a sigh of drama, unmasking the pillow from his face. "Sasuke, there happens to be an old bone waiting for you by the main gate since the deipnon prior. For your peace, the slaves assisted you in through the back, but I would hate to keep the poor fellow waiting any longer."
His only response was a deeper burial in a pauper's blanket. "Let mortals be sent away, lest I prove them true."
Naruto frowned, then smirked in mischief. He swung atop his bedded friend and grabbed him in embrace. Their bodies rolled off the bed, before there came a lone punch and yelp that rose the outside birds.
A disheveled Naruto exited the room, nursing his jaw. "Bah, one would think Athens has sunk civility into his blood by now."
By the gate, he beckoned his defeat to the awaiting guest. "Please excuse his absence and try another day."
The potter sagged, crestfallen, ready to depart when Naruto doubled for a closer look. He blurted, "Eh? I know you!" Of which then his spirit inflated once more. "You're... you're...!"
"No crack, no wrack..."
"No lack o' red nor black!"
"And should there be the slightest slack..."
"Then by the call of Dike your fee flies back!" Naruto cried, in a dance on his heels. "By gods, I've been scouring all of Athens for you! Jiraiya has proclaimed no workshop the finer, and do I have the favor to beseech!"
Itachi opened the door, letting the warm touch of morning fill the workshop. "Was your trip successful?"
The potter dropped his satchel on the table, heavy with his payment, and exclaimed, "Success? Was it ever! The Fates lead us to an alabastron."
Intrigued, Itachi helped his master to the bed, with a cup to quench his thirst. "A gift. For a woman perhaps?"
"I presume the same. Has my workshop been prepared?"
"Almost."
The potter stiffen in the spine and asked his slave, "Almost? That is a word I do not hear from you." He took Itachi by the wrist and led him to a seat to his side. "Tell me, did your back cause you trouble?"
"Ah, no, I was held by the attendance of a visitor from yesterday. He waited for your service, unfortunately while you were away."
"A visitor? For what purpose?"
"To settle a debt."
The potter thought for a moment, but no face came to mind. "If a debt, it is one that has left my memory."
Itachi smiled. "I would worry not. He seemed likely to return."
Several hours later, a fully awakened heir apparent seized his friend by the neck. "What do you mean there was an old man waiting for me? I swear, if that was Danzou, I will skin you alive and take it to the tanner's."
"Cannot- talk- fool!" Naruto choked, before grasping Sasuke's shoulder and flipping him over. Sasuke landed on his feet.
After a few wheezing breaths, Naruto rubbed his treasured neck and huffed, "Danzou! Tell me you did not come all the way to Athens for that old stoic."
"If I did?"
A pause, before a proud declaration and laugh. "Then the shoe!"
Naruto was wise enough to evade the attack, but then felt a pull. In his next moment of awareness, he lied flat on his stomach, his arm bent behind his back.
"Care to explain," Sasuke said, placing Naruto into submission with the lock hold.
"Feu! Everyone in Athens know there is no man more captious than Danzou. He believes no matter how masterful the mold, the product is only worth the material. And it is obvious that you are not his materia- paah!"
Sasuke was not amused, twisting his comrade's arm harsher. "And what would define his material? What quality do I lack?"
Naruto's nail dug into the soil, before he found the strength to switch their position, much to Sasuke's displeasure. With a grin, Naruto peered down and said, "How about strength? I am beating you, fool."
Naruto predicted the reaction and leaped back before his comrade would permanently dislocate his shoulder. He would rather live another day than ride the bull.
"Is that suppose to be humorous?" Sasuke growled, cracking his knuckles.
"Yes! It goes by the name of jest, and I suggest you familiarize yourself with its definition!" Naruto quickly interjected. "Look, brother, all who hears your name knows you are no short of strength, reason, or will. There are men who will pay generously to be your master. But Danzou goes by different measures. He chases the Old Virtues."
"A virtue?" Sasuke demanded. "Which virtue do I lack? Am I not courageous? Just? Prudent?"
"If not a little too much in bed- jest!" Naruto yelled, holding his hands in surrender. "And it would be the one you forget."
Sasuke thought, and by the end of his silence, found displeasure. "Temperance."
"Bulls-eye."
"Now that is humorous," Sasuke scoffed. "I lack control? When have I ever over-indulged? Gave in to hunger, wine, or women? I believe you are speaking of yourself, or of your licentious mentor."
"Might I remind you my mentor is a sage? Indulgence is not the same as lack of control. Jiraiya can pursue a woman a day, but if he is on a mission, not even Aphrodite herself, oiled and bare, can hold him. But I know you, brother. You are calm until it matters, of which then you cannot forgive, only build up then explode in destruction." Naruto paused, before adding, "Although, that is arguably very desirous in bed." He dodged with a spin of the foot.
"Anyway," Naruto continued, "if you are immovable on your decision to gain Danzou's tutelage, as I know you are, then best you understand him. He uses old tricks on new pupils, taking in their impressions, then exposing their weaknesses. To those enslaved to their appetites, he would get them foolishly drunk or humiliated in front of women. You do not give to appetite, so sometime during your meeting with him, he manipulated your spirit instead."
Sasuke gave his full attention. "Elaborate."
"Oh, he jabs straight into the pits of ire. To those enslaved to their spirit, he mocks their ideologies, feeds to their insecurities, injures their honor. A tactic he uses is to find a trivial reason to reject them, then gauge their reaction. If he finds anger, then their reason is dragged through the mud by emotion, and they fail."
When he saw Sasuke tense, Naruto sighed, "How bad was it? Tell me you did not give him a taste of the Uchiha flavor and try to behead him."
"I did not," Sasuke stated collectedly, in sophistication, although his mind was running through a mental list of curses. "He told me I did not suit him, so I left."
Naruto failed to conceal his skepticism. "You did not draw your sword?"
Technically, not to Danzou. Sasuke withdrew his sword no more than a heartbeat after and took his temper out on something else, but Naruto did not need to know the details. "I could have been... brief with my exit, but that is all."
Naruto considered the situation thoroughly, and finally spoke. "That is workable, but the damage done will be difficult to mend."
"What could I have done in such an unreasonable situation?" Sasuke hissed.
"What does your reason say to do?"
"Kill him?" Sasuke offered.
"If your reason tells you that killing the man you traveled six nights for would accomplish your goal, best recheck your reason or recheck your goal. How about accepting his criticism and persuading him for a second chance?"
Sasuke dropped his stance. "You want me to lick the ground I spit," he scowled.
"That is one way of phrasing it. Disregarding your pride is another. No one denies that Danzou is of the highest caliber in strategy, yet he has collected no more than a handful of students in his acme. He refuses to waste time on any man, no matter how great, who is a slave to themselves." Naruto grinned. "So, change thy mentor or change thy self, but whichever path you decide, do that after our fight."
Across the field, Jiraiya joined in as another spectator of the wrestle. The two youths were magnificent in their performance, inexhaustible in their stamina, quick in their thinking and feet, and no lacking in strength. Naruto had spoke in excitement two moons prior to Sasuke's arrival, for the entirety of Athens had ran dry of new challengers, and the fierce edge of Uchiha had been just what he wanted to satiate his thirst for competition.
"I see you have found your entertainment," Jiraiya commented to the man by his side.
"They make me mourn," Orochimaru sighed.
"Mourn?"
"For our youth," Orochimaru said. His fingers danced before finding rest at nook of his jaw, his gaze held on the match across the palaestra. "It is difficult to not be envious of such freedom and health."
"Or beauty," Jiraiya added.
"That, I must respectfully disagree," came the reply. "What good is beauty but to be drunk by the eyes? And yet, the eyes are blind to the self." His lips pulled into a serpentine smile. "No, to the carriers of beauty, I hand not my envy but my appreciation."
At the conclusion of the match, Naruto lied sprawled on the field, sweat gleaming down his bare chest. From his throat came a raucous laughter in the face of the sun, while his friend rested an arms width away, the breath in his own chest gone heavy.
"To the man who could exhaust this fellow, all of Athens gives gratitude," Jiraiya told Sasuke on his approach.
Naruto bolted upright at the appearance of his mentor, although his expression gave way to confusion at the sight of the man by Jiraiya's side. Nonetheless, Naruto was quick to pay his respects. "Orochimaru, an honor."
Sasuke was not as quick to follow his friend's example, instead acknowledging the political leader with a bow of courtesy.
Orochimaru returned his courtesy with a smile. "Naruto, Sasuke, my estate will host a private gathering before time of the next ekklesia. It would be my pleasure to extend invitations."
Sasuke fought to mask his interest. Many parties had been extended to him since his arrival, but this may be the first attended outside of obligation. It helped that this was of the rare socials that Danzou was known to make an appearance.
Itachi was securing the windows against the cooling breeze of a new night when there came a shuffle from the outside.
"How may I help you, Deidara?"
Deidara was a free spirit, one who was difficult to be placed under unease. Yet, to his friend, he felt under obligation to speak his troubles. "The drunk from last night. His residence was the house of Jiraiya, maids and horses and all."
The news did not startle Itachi as Deidara thought it would, as the response was but a simple, "Is he safe?"
"Delivered. As promised." Deidara frowned. "Word in the air, he is a future king. You be careful, ya? Men with that power never bear good news for folks like us. Especially not one hailing from Uchiha. They may be at peace now, but it is one founded on a history of cruelty and violence, and stories tell of the burnt cities in their wake."
Itachi quieted, gaze fallen low. "I know of their reputation," he whispered.
After Deidara bid his farewell, Itachi escaped deeper into his chambers, where hidden from the moonlight, he unhooked his robe. His carelessness had resulted in the return of a tear in his back, and fresh blood was dripping down to his ankle. This was not blood he paid under the law of the Uchiha, however, but under the law of Athens.
Deidara was wise in his advice. To not heed them would be a grave mistake. Itachi told this to himself, as he tried to ignore the phantom touch under his fingertips.
The floor was stained, droplet by droplet. It did not matter what Itachi told himself, for his heart had already betrayed him.
