Chapter 10

For reference: Naruto (or Narutomaki) is a fishcake slice used in ramen. They have this pink swirly thing in the middle. Just google 'ramen fish cake' and see for yourself.

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Shikamaru wasn't sure if he should feel as relieved as he did. He, team eight and the pirates were on their way to Tsunade's office. Ino and Chōji had taken the unconscious Akatsuki member into custody. More accurately; the blonde one. The other one was lying in pieces, left for the ANBU to collect.

The thing that left him rather confused was the three so called pirates. It was apparently thanks to them that only one person got hurt.

The genius examined the three. The most inquiring person was the young man with a strawhat who was currently being carried by Akamaru. Hinata was mending the worst wounds as they walked. Though for some reason the man insisted he didn't need the help. The only reason they didn't drag him to the hospital was because the man refused to go.

The strawhat wearing man had singlehandedly defeated Sasori of the Red Sand and the worst damage he got was a few holes through his torso. According to Kiba he had been poisoned as well. And indeed after a throughout inspection of the criminal's weapons, they confirmed that all of the arsenal had been covered in a potent poison. Yet even after both Ino and Hinata had checked the pirate's injuries and found traces of the same poison, the pirate showed no signs of discomfort. It was as if the man's immune system was strong enough to counter the completely unknown poison.

The two other pirates were in a better condition, but Shikamaru suspected it might have been so because their fight had been three on one. Though even then the feat was admirable.

The genius watched the pirates joke around with Kiba as he pondered exactly how Sanji had made such powerful friends. Maybe it had something to do with the strawhat wearing man. The young man acted awfully similar to how the blonde himself used to all those years ago.

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Sanji cursed inside his head as head eyed the familiar walls of the Hokage residence. He could tell Luffy and his group was already inside, but he couldn't help but hesitate at the front door. If the Hokage knew he was there…

The blonde felt his finger twitch. He needed a cigarette.

Kakashi lead them inside and the chef pulled one stick out of the package. The others must have heard about the Kyūbi by now too. He dug out his lighter as he tried to keep his breathing normal. They walked through the hallways. The blonde felt like the walls were closing in on him. Sakura was also inside there. He really needed the nicotine. Sanji tried to light the cigarette between his lips, the lighter making a small clicking noise as it failed to light. What if the crew begun to treat him like everyone else back then? The blonde's hand started to shake, making his attempts at using his lighter even more difficult.

"Need help, cook?" the marimo headed swordsman teased. Annoyed, the blonde chef glared at the man to see his smug expression. Though as Sanji looked closer, he thought he could see a trace of something else in the dark eye of the swordsman as the man glanced back at him. Was the brute actually concerned for him? He had been looking his way a lot lately…

"Fuck off." the blonde muttered and hoped that the marimo was smart enough to realize he didn't mean it. His hand had stopped trembling.

They reached the door to the Hokage's office. Sanji swallowed before taking a deep breath full of nicotine.

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The room was silent as its occupants stared at the strawhat-clad man. Especially the shinobi were flabbergasted.

"P-pardon?" the blonde hokage questioned. Had she heard that right?

The young man had on a blank look as he stared at the woman. "I refuse. I don't want to hear anything about the nine-tails." he said and started to pick his nose. The read haired woman behind him sighed as the man continued: "It has something to do with Sanji, right?" Tsunade nodded. "Then I don't want to hear it."

Tsunade watched as the red haired woman shrugged agreeably. "For once he has a point. It's Sanji-kun's secret to tell isn't it? He'll tell us himself if he wants to." The hokage had to admit she was surprised, and perhaps a little clad, that the jinchūriki had friends that trusted him so much.

An awkward silence fell into the office again as no-one seemed to know what to say. It lasted for so long that Tsunade wondered if Kakashi was determined to be late again. The quiet was broken by a knocking sound from the door.

The door was opened and the gray head of Kakashi peeked in for a second before the man decided to open the door all the way.

"Hokage-sama, I brought them." After the information was proclaimed, two men and a clothed reindeer followed after the silver haired shinobi. The blonde woman raised an eyebrow at the three. At least it was easy to tell which one was Naruto, even despite the curled eyebrow. She opened her mouth to address the group, but was interrupted by the reindeer.

"GAH! Luffy, what happened!?" it screeched and changed into a smaller form that rather resembled a raccoon. Tsunade felt her eyebrow twitch. The thing ran to the strawhat wearing man and begun to examine his wounds. Was it a doctor? An odd group indeed… "Unbelievable. You just can't stay uninjured no matter what you do!" The thing started to rant and Hinata joined the conversation, telling the reindeer about the injuries she helped heal.

Tsunade turned to the newcomers again. "It's been a while, Naruto." The curly-browed man cringed a little before inhaling some smoke from the half smoked cigarette in his mouth. Then the green haired man next to him burst out cackling. The blonde grit his teeth.

"Naruto?! You name used to be Naruto?!" the man seemed to have trouble breathing. "You mean to tell me you really are a curly!?" The curly-browed man actually broke the cigarette by biting the cancer stick in half as he seethed. The blonde's face turned red in anger as the skeleton started to laugh as well. The strawhat wearing man looked on confused before joining in on the laughing with Kiba.

"You shut up, shit-swordsman!" the blonde screamed and spun around with the intent to kill. The blonde's foot came up fast enough to make it seem like a black blur, but the green haired man managed to block it anyway. Tsunade felt the vein on her forehead throb painfully as the two proceeded to fight. Foot met sword as the two exchanged blows and insults. The rest of the pirates didn't even blink at the out of nowhere battle as if they were used to it. In fact, the red haired woman sighed and rubbed her forehead tiredly.

Turning her head, Tsunade saw both Kakashi and Shikamaru stare at the fight with exasperation. She wasn't sure why her advisor looked like he'd seen the event before, but she decided to ignore it to avoid the headache. Sakura was staring at the brawl in shock, along with Hinata who had been startled out of her conversation by the blonde's scream. Shino, as usual, didn't show his thoughts on his face.

The combined noise of the arguing two men and the laughing onlookers of the fight grated the Hokage's nerves more and more every moment it went on. So she snapped.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" she ordered and banged her fist on her table. The solid wooden table cracked in half by the power of the punch and effectively drew the attention of every person in the room. However to the displeasure of the blonde Hokage, only a few of the room's occupants looked in any way afraid. Most of them seemed surprised or just stared at the table's remains in annoyance. "I will NOT accept this kind of behavior in MY office!" she scolded, locking eyes with the two who started the mess.

The green haired swordsman frowned her way, but sheathed his swords nonetheless. Sanji on the other hand, paled a little. He raised his hands in front of him defensively and looked away before digging through his pockets and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. The redheaded woman sent a weird, confused look at the blonde man.

"Now that the...interruption, has been dealt with." Tsunade sent another glare at the two men. "I think we can address the reason you're all here." She took a moment to make sure they were all paying attention before turning to the group who fought Akatsuki. "First and foremost the six of you. You ran into a pair of S-rank criminals, part of the organization Akatsuki. Have they been eliminated?" The red haired woman looked disturbed at the insinuation.

Shikamaru stepped up at that. "The one as Deidara has been taken into custody. Ino and Chōji can tell you more about that. The other one, Sasori, is assumed to be dead."

"Assumed to be?"

"His body had been made into a puppet, by himself no doubt. The only thing left of him on the battlefield are pieces of wood and metal. We considered it safe to leave him there for the time being."

"Wait, he was a puppet?!" the strawhat wearing man exclaimed suddenly and got smacked by the redhead. Tsunade couldn't believe this idiot was supposed to be strong. Then again… She glanced at the curly browed man as a memory of a certain obnoxious boy flashed in her mind.

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For the sake of his own sanity, Sanji pretended he didn't notice being the center of attention in the room. For the shinobi that is, his crew was thankfully looking somewhere else. They obviously hadn't heard the full story about the nine-tails yet. On the other hand he was glad they didn't, but on the other hand he dreaded the moment he had to tell them himself. It's not like he was going to just not tell them.

Luffy tried to defend his own stupidity and Sanji could feel the long gazes all the shinobi of the room threw him. He took a deep breath and tried his best to ignore it.

Brook seemed to notice his discomfort as he touched the blonde's shoulder. Despite the hand being made out only bones, the gesture was comforting. The chef supposed it was because it was a familiar hand. It reminded him that at least he wasn't stuck there alone. The same reason helped him deal with Zoro as well. The man at least distracted him from his own mind.

"If I may ask: Was there any other reason why we're here?" the skeleton prompted, further easing the blonde's discomfort by gaining the room's attention. Though he had to admit he was a tad surprised the musician hadn't asked for any of the girl's panties yet. He himself knew that the Hokage was, despite her appearance, at least sixty years old. He was quite sure that Brook didn't have this information.

Tsunade visibly shook her head to shake herself out of it. "Right. You six are pirates, correct?" She pointed at Sanji and his crew, looking doubtful. The chef wasn't surprised. The Five Great Shinobi Countries were part of a continent, the Land of Water being an exception. He highly doubted there were any other pirates around.

Luffy was being strangled by Nami, but he turned his head to see the blonde woman anyway. His neck bended in an impossible twist, shocking some of the shinobi. The ones who didn't probably knew to expect weirdness by now. "Yep." the rubbery captain stated with a blank face.

"I-I see. And what is your purpose here?" the blonde hokage questioned after getting over her shock, still staring at the young man's neck. Taking pity on his former friends, Sanji explained his strange captain:

"He's made out of rubber…" The clueless looks he got in response told him that his explanation had only made them more confused. "He…ate a…" It suddenly hit him that Devil Fruit didn't exist in the world they were in. The blonde sighed. "It's a long story. Forget it. We're only here to regroup."

The rest of the pirates nodded.

Shikamaru cleared his throat. Sanji glanced at him and a got a strange feeling of foreboding. "You do realize we might be obligated to keep you here, right? Because of the…you know. " he uttered and after the pirates sent him a few confused looks, continued: "I won't mention it out loud since your friend over there…" The genius gestured at Luffy. "…insisted we won't tell them a thing unless you yourself do it before us, so…"

The blonde chef looked at Luffy in shock. He knew they hadn't been informed about the Kyūbi, but he didn't expect this. Somehow, he felt relieved. The blonde opened his mouth to answer the genius when the ever familiar ringing noise interrupted him. It seemed to happen a lot.

"It's Robin and the others! Answer it!" the rubbery captain cheered excitedly. Sanji eyed all of the room's ninja with hesitation before just sighing tiredly. He out pulled the Den Den Mushi.

"Hello, Robin-chwan?"

"Ah, Sanji-kun. You answered. Good. I called to let you know we have reached Konoha. We're by the north gate." The archaeologist's voice rang in the air as she talked, easily heard by everyone in the room.

Another uneasy glance at the shinobi. "Err…"

"…Sanji? Is something wrong?"

The red haired navigator came up and snatched the Den Den Mushi from the blonde's grip. "Robin? Nami here. Our group got here just an hour or so ago. We met with some trouble and we're being questioned by the village leader right now so we're a bit busy." she reported and took a small pause to send an encouraging smile at the chef. Apparently she had sensed his discomfort as well. "There's something else too, but we can talk about that later. Just come to the tall circular building for now. We'll meet you outside if we can." she instructed and handed the snail back to the blonde man once the archaeologist had understood the directions.

"If there's something you need to go through here, the rest of us can go wait outside…" Nami suggested carefully and Sanji could spot a hint of worry in her brown eyes. The blonde chef took a moment to think the suggestion through.

Rolling his cigarette in his mouth, he looked through his friends. They were all waiting to see what he would do. Even the green haired swordsman left out the mocking look for once and simply stared back with his one dark eye.

"We're not quite done here with any of you." Tsunade threw in after a second, looking at the pirates. Sanji quickly glanced back at his friends and made a decision. For the first time since arriving to the Five Great Shinobi Countries he felt secure. His crew wasn't going to just leave him behind. He turned to the Hokage.

"I'm pretty sure I can answer whatever questions you may have for them." He sent a small grin at his friends who all smiled back at him. "You guys go to meet up with the others. I'll be fine." Luffy's grin was the widest of them all.

"Right! Let's go guys! Make it quick, Sanji! I'm really hungry!" the strawhat wearing man shouted. Sanji couldn't help but grin wider as the man ran out of the door. The red haired woman ran sighed and ran after him, dragging the swordsman behind her. Chopper, worried about being left behind, dashed out next, changing into his Walk Point mid step. The crew's musician gave him a final pat on the back as he walked out, spinning his cane and humming.

The door banged closed after them, leaving only Sanji and the seven shinobi in the room together. The blonde's grin died down as he turned to face the Hokage. Time to get this over with.

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When the blonde man turned around, out of all of the people in the room, Sakura was the first one to speak.

"You're back." Her words had no particular meaning. They were burst out reflexively, without any thought behind them at all and Sakura knew it. She hadn't spoken to the man yet, never having had the chance because of the presence of the pirates. The pinkenette still found it hard to believe the blonde was a pirate.

The curly browed man's lips twitched and Sakura assumed he might've tried to smile. "Hello again, Sakura-chan. Sorry about earlier…" he apologized weakly.

Sakura waved off the apology, noticing the man had trouble looking at her. His eye was darting everywhere but her. She thought back to the red haired woman who managed to calm the man down with a simple smile. The thought made her a little sad. He had other friends now. It made her realize exactly how long it had been.

"Where have you been and why did you return? It doesn't seem like it was for any of us…" Tsunade questioned. Her words seemed cruel but the tone was gentle and careful. She must've been just as glad to see him…

The blonde man stayed silent as he bit into his cigarette. Sakura could see the man's distress as he wondered what he should say. No one spoke as they waited for his answer. Eventually, after a minute or so, he opened his mouth:

"No. My return had nothing to do with any of you. I was forcefully dragged back here." The blonde man exhaled some smoke and took the cigarette from his mouth. He licked his lips as he retrieved a portable ashtray from his coat pocket and disposed of his smoke. "By a member of the Akatsuki." The man locked eyes with the hokage. "As for my whereabouts…" He fell silent again and pulled out yet another cigarette. Sakura couldn't help but scrunch up her nose. That was the third one already.

"The place I was in for nine years was a different dimension. How that bastard of an Uchiha found me, I have no idea."

The room was coated in a surprised silence for a moment before it exploded in noise.

"Uchiha!?"

"Another dimension?!"

"What in the-"

The hokage banged her hand on the other broken half of the table to silence the room. "SHUT UP! Explain." she ordered the curly browed man after the room's occupants were listening attentively again.

The blonde man sighed before he started telling them about his encounter with a masked man and a Sharingan.

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Robin listened very carefully Nami's explanation about what had happened up in the Hokage's office. It seemed like the blonde chef of the crew was the one holding all the answers to what was happening. About the nine-tails, Akatsuki and the world they were in. The dark haired archaeologist wasn't sure if her friends knew about it but she herself had come to the conclusion they were in a different dimension from the one they had been in.

She had yet to tell the crew about her theory. She had wanted to wait until all of them were there to hear it. Though as it was, it seemed like Sanji would be the one to drop the bomb as the saying goes.

Robin examined her friends as they silently pondered about what was going on. The navigator and the sniper both looked very contemplative, as well as worried. Most likely about the chef. In fact, Robin was sure every one of them were. The man had been acting rather strange ever since their arrival. The shipwright was staring into nothing and the musician stood quietly, unmoving. Even the energetic captain of the crew looked a little out of it.

What caught the archaeologist's interest was the remaining two members of the crew. The swordsman and the furry doctor were staring at the tower, their gazes were towards the top of the building where Robin assumed the village leader's office was. The two were the ones who had been together with Sanji, so presumably they might've known more about the situation than the rest of them. Maybe they had been informed about their true whereabouts as well.

The archaeologist turned her eyes to see the top of the tower as well, where a large window resided. She considered trying to eavesdrop on the conversation no doubt happening above, but decided against it as she realized the blonde chef would be upset if she did. If they were discussing something private the man was going to tell them anyway then there was no point. Just this once, she didn't mind waiting for a while to get her information.

That in mind, she turned to inspect her surroundings to pass the time until the chef joined them again.