Chapter 8
Pein dismissed Itachi and Deidara after spending an ample amount of time staring at the tiny blond, no expression shown on his face apart from the shock in his ringed eyes. He led the blond to his office, seating himself behind the large, paper strewn desk and gesturing for the younger shinobi to take a seat in the chair opposite him.
The blond did not follow, though, instead moving around his office and taking in the floor-to-ceiling bookcases going along the whole of one wall, filled top to bottom with books and many different, expensive looking artefacts.
"Naruto-kun." He started.
"Pein-san." Naruto interrupted before he could continue. He snickered at the orange haired man's glare before sobering and moving to sit in the chair previously indicated.
"We have heard of your treatment at the hands of the Konoha citizens." Thin lips tightened on the heavily pierced face. "I can do nothing but offer apologies for their actions, even though I have nothing to do with it." He said before the tiny blond could interrupt. "We have offered you a place here because we believe that your abilities, you past and you, yourself, would be a major help to our organization." He held up a hand when the blond opened his mouth. "No, you have abilities that our current members do not have full capacity at, and although we have yet to find you a partner, you will be moving around the teams to help when your expertise is needed." He explained.
Naruto nodded, and only after giving the smaller male a searching look did Pein continue.
"You have got until Monday to get unpacked, make your room your own and get to know the others.
You may train with the others. None of them have any missions apart from small ones from the local town, so they should be in every night if you want to train or get to know them, and although they'll never admit it, they're all excited to meet you." He gave an exasperated sigh at this, as though he was just dealing with unruly children.
"Do you have a healer?" Naruto asked when Pein had made it obvious he was finished.
"Why? Are you injured?" Pein looked sharply at the small blond, not having heard about any injuries.
Naruto shrugged, averting his eyes slightly, not ever having liked lying.
Pein sighed, giving up on his non-existent questioning when he saw the other wouldn't answer him.
"Yes, Konan is our healer. If you need her help, she is probably in the kitchen, it is her turn to cook dinner." He said.
Naruto nodded, giving his new boss a small smile.
"Alright, thanks." He said, getting up and walking towards the door.
Pein watched in silence, his mouth closed until Naruto was through the doorway.
"Be here in two days. I will have all you need to become a recognised member then."
. . .
Naruto talked to Konan in the kitchen, where she was cooking a dish of what looked like seasoned rice and pork. She set up an appointment with him early the next day, as he had told her they weren't serious, and she was quite busy that evening.
He didn't see any of the others until the only woman on the base called for dinner. He had spent the half hour until that time talking to the blue haired woman, learning more about the organization from her than he knew before. She was a brilliant woman, observant and intelligent, telling him all he needed to know about living with eight other males and a living plant who was mostly male - although she wasn't exactly sure. She had told him that even though he wasn't a girl, being the youngest, the closest in age being Deidara, and looking and acting like he did, was going to be even harder then she had when the others joined, but she also said that once he had proved himself, he would have an easier time.
"Itachi was younger than you when you joined, by a few years, but he had proved himself before he showed up, as well as already having a formidable reputation that was both feared and renowned." She said. "You are know, but not as the person you are, but the person you pretend to be." She had looked at him like something was wrong with that, but had not said anything when he had inquired to the look.
It was ten to seven when all eleven people in the base were sat at the large wooden table, eating their dinner.
The only time any of the members took their eyes off Naruto was when he either caught their eye, or they looked down at their food to make sure that they actually got some.
Deidara, who sat next to the younger blond, was finding it the hardest to study him. The blond was absolutely tiny, and staring down at the top of a messy head of blond hair was doing nothing to help him in his observations. Though not very tall himself, he still thought that he could carry the younger boy around all day if the need arose - or if he just wanted to test it out and the other let him.
"So, Naru-chan, have you seen Sasuke lately?" Deidara eventually asked, slightly mischievous as he knew that was what Itachi wanted to know, and ever since he had joined, he had made it his mission to annoy the Uchiha genius.
Naruto looked up at him hesitantly before glancing around the table, and seeing everyone looking at him curiously, even Itachi and Pein, although it was rather hard to tell, he decided that it couldn't hurt.
"Well. . ."
. . .
Tsunade hated Thursdays. She wasn't sure how, or why, but every Thursday something bad happened. One time, war had been declared on Konoha, another the Last Uchiha in Konoha had left to go to her megalomaniac, snake obsessed former teammate, and another time she had completely run out of sake.
So as she sat behind her desk, chair swiveled around so she could gaze out the window, she had the foreboding feeling that something big had happened.
"Tsunade-sama!" She spun around the moment her door was flung open, and was faced with a red-faced, panting assistant. "Tsunade-sama! We can't find Naruto!"
"What!?" She shouted, standing up to slam her hands down on her desk, causing it to groan loudly.
"He hasn't been seen in over a week, and Sakura found this taped to his door." She said breathlessly, placing a creased piece of paper on her desk.
Tsunade grabbed it, unfolding it. Quickly reading it, her face paled dramatically before reddening in anger.
"Shizune, call the elders."
"But they're having fits over their Jinchuriki leaving." She spat out bitterly.
"Call the elders!"
They had some explaining to do.
