Quick AN: People, seriously. If you like this fic enough that you put it on your alerts list, click the little review button and give me your thoughts. If you didn't like the way something was done, let me hear about it. If you didn't think something made sense, let me know. I like to work answers to reviewer questions into the chapters, but I don't know to if you don't tell me.
Chapter 7: Points of View
Konoha's Godaime Hokage was known to have multiple flaws. No one really minded, it wasn't like all her predecessors hadn't as well, even if they were more willing to go to the effort of hiding them.
Her love of sake was of no concern to anyone. After all, the job was stressful, and who could deny her the chance to relax every now and then. Her gambling tendencies were a lovable quirk of a Hokage who had a few more than her fair share of them.
Her tendency to throw desks out the window, however. That one got to some people.
"The desk didn't do anything, Tsunade."
"What do you want, pervert."
The Toad Sannin put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "For you to calm down. That boy won't let anything stop him. You know that."
"He's running out of time! Sakura's dying."
"And he knows that. He still has two days. Trust me, my apprentice would die before letting yours do so. How do you think he got Kyuubi to cooperate?"
That got her attention. She looked at Jiraiya, who pulled out a small package, and put it in her hand. It was an empty poison container.
"He slipped that into his drink right in front of me. Sorry to say, I didn't even see him do it." She cocked an eyebrow at that.
"Naruto? Mr. Flashy himself slipped one over on the great information gathering machine? No whores to watch his hands for you?"
Jiraiya didn't bother blushing. "As flashy as he is, Naruto's capable of hiding things."
"They're generally exclusive of one another. All that smut-writing must be killing your ninja skills."
"Not necessarily. The best place to hide something's in plain sight."
"And how does that tie into Naruto?"
The team quickly materialized floating in the middle of a very grainy darkness. Their eyes immediately focused on a sphere of light floating in the distance.
"Naruto, what was that about?" Yamato's voice cut through the air to his right. Naruto forced himself not to look at the older ninja.
"They gave us the antidote."
"But that does not seem to be all they gave you, friend Naruto." Lee said, his eyes riveted to the light. "Did the power of your youth impress them so much?"
"Of course Lee! The spring of youth cannot be resisted! Naruto must have shown them the power he possesses in the spring of his youth, and they could not help but wish to aid that power!"
"Oh please. It would have been five against one, and we were all bound. You really think he impressed them?"
"Tenten's right."
"See what I mean."
"But then why did they give you those, if not for the power of your youth, friend Naruto?"
"Some old law. Supposedly, whoever would try and get Kyuubi out of their hair would be given gifts to help them."
"And with the demon locked inside of you already, you figured they owed you." Neji said.
"Actually, I didn't know about it until the guy in white brought it up. Next thing I know, they're giving me stuff. Useful stuff, but still."
"How useful could that necklace be to you? Seems like you were cheated."
"Actually, it's a way to activate that elevator in the circle room without waiting eight hours. And without blowing people up if you're the wrong color."
"Oh… I guess not blowing people up is good."
"You guess, huh Neji?" Tenten smirked teasingly.
"Shut up."
Guard duty, was boring. And not generally work that sat well with ANBU. Especially the one on duty today. But considering the story behind the only truly forbidden area within Konoha's immediate area, he could understand the reasoning. Not that he particularly liked it.
He had heard from yesterday's guard that a mission had been sent into the ruins, although he didn't really know why. He couldn't care less, although the Kyuubi brat was supposedly one of them.
Who knows, maybe he'd be one of the ones who didn't come back this time.
It wouldn't matter that much in the end, anyways. Lord Danzou's plans were coming along quite nicely, even after that set-back with 'Sai' breaking his orders. Soon enough, they would have the support needed in the council, and then they could get rid of the brat. And to dothat, that Kyuubi-loving Hokage, and all the ninja she had infected with her sickness had to go. Sure, they'd be lower on manpower than even during the worst point of the Rock war, but the survivors would all be elite, ANBU level ninja.
He heard the flitting of jumping ninja. Looking up, he saw the six who had entered the day before pass overhead. Oh well, he'd survived. He nodded, and returned to his watch.
Half a continent away, one of the only surviving pairs of Sharingan were searching for their sensei. He was late for their training, again.
Even if he was much more powerful, the man was almost as bad as that silver haired, spineless pervert, Kakashi had been. Timeliness was not an attribute he weighed heavily upon.
His ears, in fact, found his sensei long before his eyes did. He strode confidently towards the door. A second voice was inside. Kabuto, no doubt.
His hand closed in on the door knob. Kabuto would have to suck it up.
"…Sharingan."
The word stopped Sasuke cold. Closing his eyes for a second, he pressed his ear to the door. They were discussing Itachi, they had to be!
"Three years is not that long, Lord Orochimaru, especially for you, with yourbody stealingjutsu. You've waited it once before. This is nothing more than a minor set back. Unlike Kimimaro, we have the Uchiha's medical records. Nothing will happen to Sasuke before you can claim him as your container."
"True. But those Konoha brats worry me. They don't know when to quit."
"He has already given into your seal, Lord Orochimaru. No one has ever broken free of it before."
"There is always a first time, Kabuto. We have never had someone quite like Sasuke under it. His will is as strong as Kimimaro's was."
"Kimimaro was dedicated to you."
"Sasuke is not. We both know that much."
"True. If you're so worried, why not reconsider with that Danzou person." A pause, "Isn't Sasuke expecting you to meet him about now?"
"He's probably gotten impatient. I'd better go, before he starts destroying this lair too."
Sasuke heard the shifting of a chair. That was all the signal he needed. Making sure not to jostle the door as he stepped back, he disappeared down the corridor.
Kakashi looked up tepidly at the nurse. Her perfume was driving him crazy. Stark raving bonkers. And not in a good way. He hated the scent of lavender.
Hadn't always. But it had too many painful memories to it now. Faces that he couldn't bear to see but saw every time he went to stare at the memorial stone for hours on end and why the hell had he let her take that fucking mission to bust a slave ring and why hadn't he been able to tell her everything and why the hell couldn't his eye stop crying and why the hell wouldn't his words stop being so true and why the hell did his team have to be so much like them and why the hell wouldn't it all just stop.
"Are you okay sir? Can I get you anything?"
"I'm fine." He said, his eye curving into a smile as best as it could.
Black arcs of energy appeared in the center of the ruins, white filling the gaps between them. Moments passed, and they expanded. Moments more, and they disappeared, leaving six Konoha ninja in their place.
"Let's go! We've gotta get this antidote to the old hag."
"Don't talk about Lady Tsunade like that!"
Naruto suppressed a laugh, as they burst into a run. Lunging over the fence, Tenten saw an ANBU nod at them, before returning to watch. Taking to the trees, they made their way for home.
"I'm sure you've heard of Naruto's talent for pranks when he was younger."
"Of course. One of the reports says that he 'defaced the Hokage Monument.'"
"Hey, they could use the paint job. The point is that he's developed a real talent for keeping your eyes where he wants them to be."
"Right on him, where he can't sneak anything by you."
"Except that he does, constantly. Even with people who know to be expecting it. He muttered something about it in Sakura's room before he left. I read his lips. I knew what he was planning."
"And he still slipped it by you? Your skills are slipping."
"He kept my eyes on his ramen by not eating it. He fiddled with the water a bit, but I was watching the ramen."
Tsunade paused at that. Considering Naruto, him not eating ramen would have been worrying.
"He was even toying with it. Normal enough, but I figured he was trying to stir in poison. Poking at a few things to keep up the semblance of the act, but mostly just swishing it around."
The Hokage's eyes widened a little. Shaking her head, she grinned a little. "He is a crafty brat, isn't he?"
"Like a fox. Hiding in plain sight."
The door opened as Genma and Raidou wordlessly carried the Hokage's desk back into the room. Jiraiya and Tsunade watched the two jounin. A grin split Jiraiya's face. "See what I mean."
Tsunade slowly turned to face Naruto, grinning cheekily from outside her shattered window. "Got it, granny!"
