Chapter 7 – Learning from Sensei
Twenty minutes later, Kankuro of the Kazekage's Council was thoroughly shocked at the transformation his beautiful date had gone through. When she'd first arrived in that lovely pink patterned kimono that matched perfectly with her hair, he'd been overjoyed. Now…
"A-and then…" Sakura drunkenly slammed one fist on the table, sending three gourmet dishes crashing to the floor, "guess which Copy-Nin had to carry Gai-sensei on his back? That's right, it was Kakashi-sensei!" She laughed vigorously.
"Oh." Kankuro blinked, "I thought it might have been the other Copy-Nin." He sat stiffly, hands placed on his rigid knees as he watched his date, who had her pink hair unpinned and her beautiful kimono now daringly open, giving him interesting hints of the skin-colored straps underneath. This really wasn't the way he'd planned to see that.
"Sakura-san, I think that's enough," Sai spoke up. He reached over and quickly grabbed the cup of shochu from her fingers, and her drunken attempts to regain it weren't nearly fast enough for success.
Sakura pouted and shuffled over, causing the neck of her kimono to slip slightly further off her shoulder. She stumbled halfway, falling directly into Sai's lap. Instead of getting up and turning red enough to contest a ripe apple like she usually would, she emitted a raunchy laugh.
"Sai! There's two of you! Which is great, cause one's never enough! Never enough emotion!" She stared at his neck, and then traced a finger down it, "why're you so paaaale Sai? I mean, there's creamy, and then there's paaaale."
He removed her fingers from his neck, and then turned to Kankuro with a bland smile, "I apologize on her behalf, Kankuro-san. Sakura-san cannot hold her sake very well."
"I can…see that," he managed, still sitting very stiffly. One part of his brain was slightly jealous that the strong and lovely Sakura-san's chest was pressed up against the otherboy. The other part insisted that Sakura-san wasn't so lovely anymore after a few gulps of shochu.
"Maybe I should take her back…" Kankuro trailed, trying not to look too closely at the open neck of her kimono. The pale boy, on the other hand, was having no trouble at all keeping his eyes away. Maybe he was gay. His clothing supported that distinct possibility.
"It's alright, I think I will have to do that," Sai told him, holding Sakura's hands so that she didn't leap to tickle his exposed stomach. Not that he was ticklish anyway, that had been stripped away with ROOT's conditioning. "Sakura-san's personality seems to reverse when under the influence of sake," he explained, "she'll probably say embarrassing things and eventually try to take her clothes off." He said it all in a thoroughly blank tone that was frankly quite disturbing.
Kankuro gulped at the thought of Sakura-san taking her clothes off, which had been his primary fantasy…until a few moments ago. He stood up slowly, "I will take care of the meal and the…uh…room," he looked around at the food stains and the few broken dishes that littered the place, "er…take her back safely."
"Kankuro!" Sakura slurred, looking up at him from her position in Sai's lap, "you! You're my…problem…" She continued to point, but had forgotten what she was saying and was instead stared at him with a confused expression.
"Problem?" Kankuro pushed. Did she like him back after all? Maybe he could put up with some occasional drunkenness…
"Yeah!" She said loudly, suddenly remembering, "you keep…asking me out! You know how hard it is to get asked out?"
"It's hard?" Kankuro was now completely confused.
"Don't listen to her," Sai advised, "she's not thinking clearly."
"Oi! I'm thinking loads clearly," she drunkenly stated her point by gesturing with her arm, which made her lose her balance. To regain it, she ended up elbowing him in the pants, and he readopted his completely blank expression of pain while moving her arm away from his crotch.
"It's hard thinking of ways to get you to not like me," Sakura explained, "I mean, how much can a girl do?"
Kankuro watched her, tilted his head to one side, "not…like me?"
"H-how…do I make you not like me," She gave him a mournful look, sniffing slightly.
"I'm…um…sorry," he stuttered, "sorry for…er…inconveniencing you." His heart sank slightly, but he supposed that he could always try again later on, when her hands weren't on another guy's crotch.
"Yeah!" She pumped one fist in the air, "success!-Sai, get your hands off my butt!"
Sai, who had simply been trying to push her off his lap, raised his hands in surrender, deciding that he would be in trouble if she decided to use her strength while drunk. Their team had already destroyed one building, and this restaurant seemed much more expensive than the teahouse had been.
"I need to help you stand up," he explained.
"I'll do that myself," she scoffed, stumbling back into his lap when she tried.
"Are you…sure you don't need any help?" Kankuro questioned. Even though he had gotten over his ruined date, he still saw two Konoha nin in clear need of aid.
"No," Sai told him sadly, "I would accept, but Sakura would kill me if someone else saw her like this. She only trusts me because she knows that I've gone through anti-emotional conditioning."
Kankuro blinked, "that…that explains so much," he breathed, "you should wear a sign, or something."
"I'll keep that suggestion in mind," he replied honestly, "now it would be nice if you could leave now. We'll take the window."
He left, and Sai looked down at his teammate, who was desperately trying to stand without toppling over. He sighed.
When Sai arrived through the window of Haruno Sakura's hotel room the next morning, he wasn't surprised at all to find her still in bed. The blankets were wrapped around her form tightly.
"Just kill me," she whimpered, "do it. I don't mind. I've lived a fulfilling life. It's time." Sakura buried her head further into the soft pillow and tried to ignore the way it pounded while she sent her green chakra flowing through her system, desperately trying to fix everything.
"I'm not permitted to kill teammates, Sakura-san," Sai informed her, approaching the bed, "and Kankuro-san has been effectively dealt with."
She groaned, "Alright, if I can't die now, go ahead and tell me what happened. What did I do?"
"You informed him of your plan to make him dislike you, and he seemed strangely fine with it. I don't think he has completely given up on you, but he will wait a while."
"And…that's it?" She asked hopefully. That wasn't too bad. As long as things wouldn't be too awkward between her and Kankuro, she would be fine. The entire point had been to do shocking unfeminine things, after all.
"On the way back, I think you tried to molest me. You had the wrong angle, though. I'm still sore." Sai shifted slightly, "very sore."
Sakura emitted another groan, "I'm really sorry, Sai. I really can't remember a thing." Her voice came out incredibly dry, but getting up to find a glass of water was out of the question given the state of her head. Her face remained pressed into the pillow.
"If you like I can teach you how to do it properly," he suggested promptly, "in case you need to learn for future endeavors-"
"Shut up." She pressed her reddening face further into the pillow. It wasn't her fault her drunk self felt the need to do these things without a speck of experience! None! Absolutely zero! Not even a first kiss! She was as inexperienced as they came, but when sake was involved, Inner Sakura seem to leap onto anyone wearing pants!
He looked vaguely crestfallen. Not because he could feel any physical attraction, but because he had felt like teaching his teammate something after all the things she'd taught him. "I suppose you also don't remember trying to take off your kimono," he went on, "you're still wearing it. Partially."
She leapt up at that, pulling the blankets with her. With a sinking feeling, she realized that the pink kimono was pooled around her waist, where it had slipped down during the night.
"This is not good!" She gaped, looking at the food stains, "I can't return this! It's ruined! Why on earth did you let me wear it to bed?"
"You wanted me to take your clothes off yesterday too," He explained, "I thought you would appreciate it if I didn't. You tried, but the clasp of your undergarments seemed a little beyond your skill level at the time."
She held her pounding head, "ugh. Sorry, you did the right thing. Here's what you can do now," she slid back down, "go pay off this kimono with the money we have so far…there goes five thousand ryo…"
He nodded, "do you want to go to the hospital, after that?" He eyed her messy hair and slightly bloodshot eyes.
"No," she sat up again, new determination in her eyes, "I'm a medic, Sai, this will be gone in a few more minutes. For now, we have to find a way to see Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. I will not give up, not if I have to go through a hundred hangovers!"
Sai simply winced at the thought of the previous night repeating anytime in the near future. He really was sore.
When the new guard led them to the showers the next day, Naruto was in a worse mood than usual. He stalked down the corridors to the shower room with the expression of someone being led to their gallows.
"Two days," he muttered, "Taji-san has been missing for two days. Don't you people have search and rescue services?!"
"We do," the guard said, "we just don't update the prisoners."
"Well you should! We're worried about him!"
"Shut up, I'm not in the mood for lame chatter and Sakumo's bastard isn't either." He shot a casual glance at Kakashi, taunting him. Naruto fisted one hand in warning.
"Stay calm," his sensei instructed him quietly. Naruto waited for the signature hand to fall on his shoulder, but it never came. He looked up curiously to see that Kakashi was walking a few feet away, slightly more slouched over than usual. At this point, he had seemed to become perfectly comfortable with his lack of shirt.
Naruto still found it slightly fascinating to stare sometimes. He added it to his list of pervert-indications. At this rate, he would fill Ero-Sennin's shoes in no time. It wasn't a completely bad idea, Ero-Sennin could be really cool when he tried. Which admittedly wasn't very often.
They stopped in front of the shower room door and the guard followed them in, paranoid bastard that he was. At first, Naruto had wondered why they were so particular on showering; most of the prisoners in Konoha thought a little body-odor was manly. But with the desert sun blaring down on them every day, they didn't have a choice.
Kakashi paused slightly after removing a towel from the rack, and watched his student from the corner of his eye. He stood there for a few seconds holding the towel, as if waiting for Naruto to choose a stall first.
"Oh ew, this one's already wet," Naruto wrinkled his nose slightly and put a towel away, wondering how on earth the towels that Taji had sworn were washed daily could be dirty. It seemed that there were disadvantages to showering after the other prisoners. He sifted through the rack, feeling each towel to make sure they were completely dry.
"This isn't a hotel, kid. Pick a damn towel," the guard told him rudely.
Realizing that he wouldn't move very quickly, Kakashi quickly swung his towel over his shoulder and entered the nearest stall, drawing the screen behind him. Naruto finally found one that he was satisfied with, and walked over to the stall beside the one his sensei had gone into. He took a moment to stick his tongue out at the guard standing outside before slamming the shower curtains closed, as best as one could slam curtains. The guard's footsteps receded, probably to go sit on the far side of the room.
The sound of running water started from the stall beside his, and he reached out to turn on the shower, feeling warm water spray down on him. The showers were made of the same stucco as every other building in Suna; a soft, clay-like material that was formed from the sand. It allowed a startling amount of noise to pass through, and he could clearly hear Kakashi's form disrupting the water in the stall beside him.
Naruto scrubbed himself down quickly and then stood to luxuriate in the spray. Suna's prisons were horrible, but their water was warm and wonderful, really the only kind that could be found in the desert. He vaguely recalled Kankuro's visit the previous day, and how he'd said he had a date with Sakura.
Hah! His Sakura-chan would've shown him to the door!
In that train of thought, he frowned as he remembered how Kakashi-sensei had staunchly refused to let him read Miyu's bedroom scene. It was completely unfair; he'd just wanted to know how people did that. Iruka-sensei had stuttered through basic sex education at the academy while the students giggled endlessly, but Ero-Sennin made everything much more interesting.
For instance, Iruka-sensei had never told them about stroking or licking, and that seemed to be the main theme from what Ero-Sennin had told him about Icha Icha. Stroking seemed straightforward enough; the person just did the same thing he did with his own hands. But how did licking work? He'd really wanted to read about Miyu-chan's talent, and Kakashi had taken the book away at the wrong time…
He stood still under the shower, closing his eyes while he ran a hand through his wet hair. The guard was probably waiting. Naruto reached out to turn the water spray off and grabbed the towel from over the door. Just as the water of his shower squealed to a stop, he heard a different sound.
This time, it was slightly louder. He didn't know why it was louder; they were the same stucco walls as in the cell, after all. But it was, and the sound of heavy breathing and stroking muffled by running water was unmistakable. The image of Miyu came suddenly into his mind.
Naruto stepped to the side, still soaking wet with the towel draped over one shoulder. He placed his hands on the wall and turned his head to press his ear against it. Yes, it was definitely the same sound. Kakashi-sensei was stroking himself in the shower. Was it because of all the Icha Icha he had read the previous day, after he'd decided not to let the book anywhere near his student again?
It probably was. Icha Icha was made for that reason; when he'd first found out what it was about, he'd wondered why his sensei wasn't permanently aroused.
Kakashi's strokes were languid, like the last time. He didn't try to keep his breathing down, since he probably thought it was hidden by the sound of the water. Naruto listened, fascinated, to his deep breaths, which came and went in perfect coordination with each slick of his hands. He could tell that he was already leaking from the sticky sounds, and standing slightly away from the spray of the water to increase the sensitivity.
He thought of Miyu-chan from Icha Icha again. Imagining her licking skill made him shiver slightly. The Miyu in his head was different from the one Ero-Sennin had described, because thinking of Tsunade baa-chan that way was weird. She was beautiful, but she was also fifty.
Instead of the long, silky blond hair that trailed to her waist, Miyu had short yellow strands cut close to her head, almost boyishly. Instead of having breasts that would make carrying her a real chore, she was small and lithe. He kept the bright kimono colors in his mind, though. They seemed to fit well; Miyu would wear something bright all the time, unlike the conservative Katsue.
His ear was still molded against the wall, and he realized that the sounds were coming from a little to the right. That was strange, since Kakashi-sensei seemed to be standing on the far side of the stall. Naruto frowned and shifted over, still dripping with water.
He stilled when he saw the small crack in the wall. It had a small, tapered hole in the centre, which was allowing the sounds to come through louder than expected.
Was he really about to do this? Would this catapult him into official perverseness? So far, he'd only liked the sounds, because…well, he didn't know why he liked them. He just thought the heavy breathing and slicking of Kakashi-sensei's erection were interesting to listen to. But this was different. He would actually see what was being touched, and watch his sensei during his most private time.
Naruto decided that he didn't like over-thinking things. He shuffled over further and pressed his eye to the tiny crack, straining to keep his sight in focus.
Kakashi was leaning against the far wall, on the other side of the shower spray. A small torrent of water ran between him and the crack in the wall, and Naruto had to squint to see. When he did see, his eye widened.
His sensei's perfect form was bent over just slightly, and his arm was held out, palm pressed to the wall for support while his fingers were bent against it. His was looking downwards at the wall, his expression hidden behind the outstretched arm. For some reason, Naruto found a mild pang of disappointment that he couldn't see Kakashi's face. It would have been interesting to see what he looked like when touching himself. But any frustration quickly melted away when his eyes swept down the lean form, all the way to the right hand that grasped his arousal.
Naruto couldn't see very well through the water spray, but what he did see was just as perfect as the rest of his form. Kakashi's hand was spread over his impressive erection, stroking slowly, languidly. His fingers brushed against the head, probably drawing more of the leaking fluid and spreading it down over the length. Naruto squinted as hard as he could, but he couldn't see the drops he knew were there. The water blurred his view.
He imagined Miyu again. Naruto didn't know exactly how it was done in Ero-Sennin's books, but he knew it involved literally licking. He thought of Miyu on her knees, stroking his arousal with her fingers while her tongue darted out to lick his tip, and he felt himself twitch.
Eyes widening, he glanced down to see that his sensei wasn't the only one who needed relief. But how? Why had he gotten hard from watching Kakashi-sensei's naked form?
Naruto figured it was probably his thoughts of Miyu. She was from Icha Icha, after all, she was a character made to get perverts hard. It didn't matter that he'd completely changed her image in his mind, or that he was only blindly guessing what she could do with her tongue from the bits and pieces he knew of licking. Naruto's eyes remained focused on Kakashi's form. His hand ambled down to hold himself, and jacked experimentally.
He began with the rough, full jerks that he always used, the ones that quickly brought him to shudders of pleasure. But watching Kakashi made his hand change in its rhythm, instead settling into something that mirrored his sensei's actions. When Kakashi-sensei moved his index finger lightly over his tip, Naruto did the same and almost lost his stance at the new feeling that spread through him.
This probably wasn't one of the things he was supposed to learn from his jonin-sensei.
He grinned slightly at the thought. But the two images, one of Kakashi in front of him and the other of Miyu's tongue flicking against the tip of the erection she was licking, brought him to another sudden wave of pleasure and he had to bite his lip to stay quiet. He continued stroking, watching the blurry image of his sensei's arousal and the incredible clear image in his head.
Kakashi's hand slid down to stroke the base of his length slowly. Naruto wanted to quickly finish himself with a few more rough jerks, but his hand thought otherwise, and followed what he was watching. His eyes clouded over with pleasure at the feeling, but he managed to keep his vision as sharp as possible as he watched.
This was it, he was a…what did the girls at the onsen call Ero-Sennin? Right, a voyeur. A word that sounded all fancy and complicated but was simply used for someone who got off on watching other people naked. Naruto preferred the word 'pervert', which was a lot simpler. He didn't understand why people used fancy words when they could make the world much easier and use simple ones.
And besides, Kiba had had a theory about perverts. He had thought that the stronger the shinobi, the more perverted. It made sense, when Naruto thought about it. Sandaime-jiji had been a secret fan of Icha Icha, Tsunade baa-chan liked to leer at younger men, Ero-Sennin…was Ero-Sennin, and Kakashi-sensei's hand wrapped around his cock spoke for itself. And they were four of the strongest Konoha shinobi he knew.
He mewed slightly as his hand imitated another long stroke, badly wanting to finish quickly. But his hand wasn't letting him; it was going at sensei's pace, and he was going slowly. In his hazed vision, the two images came together and it was Miyu kneeling there, flicking at his arousal with the tip of her tongue.
How was Kakashi-sensei able to stay so quiet when his hand was moving like that? Naruto could only stumble slightly with less experienced fingers, but he was already struggling to stay silent. He turned a groan into a cough and then realized that he was already at his edge. Naruto's eyes shot upward to where Kakashi's face was still out of view behind his arm, before he came suddenly, coughing vigorously to prevent his moans from escaping.
Curious to see Kakashi finish, he stayed in that position for a few more seconds. His eyes now stayed on his sensei's face, wondering if he would catch a glimpse if his arm moved. When the jonin finally came, Naruto was left slightly disappointed that he couldn't get a clear view of his face, or of his spurting behind the stream of water. The daydream of Miyu had disappeared, but he realized something that confused him slightly.
Why had it been Kakashi-sensei that she had licked in his imagination?
When no answer came, he turned on the shower again for a brief moment to wash away the mess. Then he wiped himself down with the towel and grabbed the grey clothing that was swung over the stall door, wincing at the sensitivity when he pulled them on.
When he walked out toweling his hair, the guard was tapping his feet impatiently, "are you sick, or something?"
Naruto shook his head, remembering his coughs, "my throat just got dry for a second."
"Good, cause you don't want to know what the sick cells are like," the guard's grin was feral, and not good, "the hell took you so long anyway? Next time I'm dragging you out of there, kid."
Naruto gave him a look of absolute horror.
"I believe that would be harassment," an even voice spoke up. They both turned to see Kakashi coming out of the stall. He was shirtless, and his grey hair dripped with water as he dropped his towel over his head. Naruto looked away, reddening slightly. If sensei found out he'd invaded his personal space like that…he had no idea what he would do.
"Ch. Like I care. Rules can be changed for the high riskers," the guard informed them, "get back to your cells."
Naruto hurriedly walked over to the door. There was no way he would risk a guard walking in on him in the shower. No way.
Kakashi remained behind, arms crossed over his chest. He looked around the room, and sniffed slightly.
"You coming?" The guard grunted "or did your superior shinobi senses pick up on a missing-nin hiding here in the showers waiting to prey on prisoners?"
"I didn't," he said evenly, "your showers are perfectly safe."
Two hours before the Suna prison visiting time, Sakura and Sai were once again standing in front of the Kazekage's desk. She had come to bring up the topic of seeing their teammates. Unfortunately, Gaara seemed more interested in how her date had gone.
"You could have gone to Temari," he suggested, hearing from Sai that she'd ruined the kimono, "she would have lent you one for the purposes of this date."
Sakura winced. She really wasn't desperate enough to ask a girl she barely knew for fancy restaurant-worthy clothes. She plastered a smile onto her face, "that…wasn't necessary, Kazekage-sama."
"Indeed," Sai added, "she would have ruined it, too, when she decided to order-"
Sakura discreetly stomped on his foot. She turned to give Gaara a winning smile, "now if we could get on to talking about those marriage papers-"
But the red-haired Kazekage was interested in what Sai had been cut off from. He turned to regard the pale boy, "would you give me your version of the events, Sai-san? It is my responsibility to be concerned about these things, you see."
Sakura felt like sinking into the floor. So far, she had somehow succeeded in keeping the 'drunk' part out of the conversation, but Sai would hold nothing back.
"Of course, Kazekage-sama," Sai smiled a bland smiled, "it started out rather nicely, conforming perfectly to the 'date' subsection of my social interactions book. I played the part of a neutral chaperone, and I believe Kankuro-san was a good host. Unfortunately, Sakura-san made the mistake of ordering shochu." Well, it hadn't been a mistake. But at least he knew better than to reveal her plans to the Kazekage himself. Kankuro had probably kept quiet out of embarrassment.
"And?" Gaara leaned forward on his desk, fingers steepled. Behind him, the wide windows of the Kazekage's office opened out to a balcony, providing a beautiful view of Sunagakure. At that moment, Sakura felt rather tempted to leap off of it.
"She began to relay embarrassing anecdotes about her teammates," Sai went on, "but Sakura-san does not make much sense when she is drunk, so they weren't too entertaining."
Gaara frowned.
"At this point, we decided that she was too inebriated to continue, and I took her to her hotel room," Sai finished bluntly.
There were a few moments of silence in the Kazekage's office, in which Gaara was probably rethinking his brother's life decisions. Sakura was tempted to grab the nearest pointy thing and shove it somewhere creative.
Life just wasn't going her way. Kakashi-sensei's elusive face was just there for the seeing, and she couldn't get to it. All she really wanted to do was grab her lazy sensei and her loud teammate and run all the way back to Konoha's autumn days and cool-but-not-freezing nights, but she was stuck here. And Gaara and Sai were getting alone swimmingly, clearly bonding through their shared social ineptitude.
But she wouldn't give up. She was Haruno Sakura. When Haruno Sakura wanted something, she would go forward and take it. No mere puppet-users, or Kazekages, or sake bottles could stand in her way. That's the spirit, cha! Inner Sakura cheered her on. "Can we please get back on topic?" She pleaded, putting her hands on the desk and trying to convey her utter exasperation.
The young Kazekage nodded reluctantly, mentally noting to take some time off his busy schedule to talk with his brother. "What did you wish to discuss?"
"Um…that family visitation permit," she bit her lip, "I'm getting desperate, Kazekage-sama."
"She is," Sai put forth, "she's even willing to go in as Naruto's wife, if she can get the permit."
Gaara shook his head, and gave them both slightly pitying looks, "I discussed it with my council and they have deemed it illegal. Unfortunately I cannot sign that unless you are actually married."
Sakura's mouth dropped open, "what? Why did you speak with your council?!"
"Because that is what my council exists for," he said, as if it was obvious.
"But…" she cleared her throat, "I thought we could keep this a little...hush-hush?"
"She was hoping that no one else would know," Sai added for unneeded clarification. He stood stiffly. He was still rathersore. And now his foot was hurting too. Being around Sakura-san for long periods of time tended to be painful.
"The Kazekage cannot break the law," Gaara informed them. He pulled back and reached into the drawer of his desk, bringing out a thin stack of paper. Sakura and Sai watched as he spread out the individual sheets, displaying columns of neat writing.
"These are the records for the meeting in which I lowered the sentence of your teammates," he explained, pointing to specific sections, "I called forth the shinobi rights documents, the first Konoha-Suna alliance, and sections fourteen and sixteen on international relations, which were added during the last war. It was all done through perfectly legal means."
Sakura could only stare blankly. She had thought that Gaara would have pulled some strings for them…but this was slightly impressive. That he had been able to do so much without bending a single law…
"Wow," she stated, "you…are a very good Kazekage, Gaara-san."
He seemed to smile just slightly at the praise, but it disappeared quickly. He put the documents away, "now you know that I cannot simply allow you to do this with official marriage."
She slumped. Sai thought about laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. He would have tried, if he didn't have a bruised foot. As it was, he let her go ahead and bang her forehead against the Kazekage's desk with a groan.
"It is only a little over a week," Gaara tried, feeling another inkling of pity, "I am certain that they can survive until then."
Sai realized that he still didn't know about how they treated Kakashi-san because he looked like his father. He thought about bringing it up, but that would probably cause more complications. He looked towards Sakura.
His pink haired teammate was looking up with steel in her eyes, "you don't understand, Kazekage-sama," she said carefully, "I have to see them. I understand that you can't help us, but we'll find a way. And then I have to get back to Konoha. I really miss my hair products."
"Visiting hours today will be over by the time we get there," Sai pointed out.
"Tomorrow, then," she decided, "tomorrow…I'll think of something!"
It took a few hours until Naruto was able to look at his sensei again without feeling the need to bang his head on something, and by that time even Kakashi had noticed that something was slightly off. His book was still in his hand, but he tore his eyes away from it to make sure the boy was still among the living.
"Naruto," he called to his student, who was sitting on the other bed, "you're being strangely quiet." His expression was as lazy as ever but his eyes were sharp.
"I'm not!" The blond boy exclaimed, "I'm just hungry and sweaty and tired and I want Sakura-chan to visit and at this point I even want to see Sai!"
"Do you like being called that nickname?" Kakashi asked evenly.
"Argh!" Naruto suddenly sat up in the bed, pointing out the window, "why won't the sun take a damn break, the bastard?"
"I don't think the sun can make those decisions," his sensei replied.
Naruto gave him a mournful look, "do you think Sakura-chan and Sai gave up on seeing us? Do I have to sit here for the next week with no one else to talk to?"
"I have every confidence that she's going to the ends of the earth trying to get in here," Kakashi told him dryly, "you don't need to worry about her resolve. It's like steel. And Sai will go along with it."
"Can we spar in here?" He tried.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "of course we can't. There's no space."
Naruto spread out on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, "you know, out of everyone in our team I only like sparring with you and Sasuke. Sakura-chan always gets kinda angry when she fights and I don't like it when she's angry at me, and when I spar with Sai I end up covered in ink. And Yamato-taicho is just scary. He doesn't need to use any jutsu, he can just go like this," he sat up and exaggeratedly widened his eyes, imitating the legendary 'scary-face', "and I'll admit defeat. Willingly."
"Yes, my kohai has some strange ways of leading," Kakashi agreed, "but he's the only one I knew who could put up with both you and Sakura. Anyone else would just go crazy."
"Oi! Ero-Sennin was perfectly fine taking us on a mission with him!"
"Yes, and look what he's like." Kakashi paused, "but that mission was a sort of success, I suppose. You did end learn some information."
"No it wasn't!" Naruto protested, "he just went into shady places to do perverted stuff!"
"It's called 'information gathering'," Kakashi said, leaning back against the wall, "as shinobi, we must learn to be versatile. And all he did was talk, didn't he? Probably about the weather, or the history of the village?"
"Yeah, but he talked to pretty girls," Naruto said dryly, swinging his legs off the edge of the bed, "he talks about the weather and they talk back and the idea's perverted because the point is to end up in bed with someone."
Kakashi smiled slightly, "I don't think he has much stamina at his age-"
"You better believe he does," the blond boy interrupted, "he can walk all the way from Konoha to Sugi without stopping once. Now if he didn't make me carry all his stuff, that would be respect-worthy for an old man."
The jonin paused. That hadn't been the type of stamina he was referring to, but he figured he'd corrupted his student enough. He sat up straight and looked out the bars to the door.
"If Taji was here, he would have brought us some food by now," he said lightly, "I guess he's not back yet."
"Don't talk about food, sensei." Naruto groaned and turned down to shove his face into the thin sheets, ignoring the weird smell of cloth, "if you keep bringing it up, I might just eat my pillow."
My conversion rate is different from the one on Narupedia. I use: 100 Ryo = 1 Canadian Dollar, making their fine $150,000. For comparison, the average four-bedroom house in Canada is around $300,000. That means the 500 Ryo Naruto originally had in his frog-purse was $5, they made $600 off arm-wrestling, and Sakura's kimono cost $50.