Naruto would never admit it out loud but Sasuke did look picture perfect leaning on the rails at the bow with the sun high ahead and fluffy clouds scattered everywhere. It drove him to stand back and take it in a moment, wishing he could remember a little more from their past other than just feeling weird all the time. That one breeze then came in and cut through the raven's hair, obscuring a pale face that looked back over a shoulder.

"Naruto."

Sasuke's voice was unintentionally soft and riveting all at once, sending a pleasant nostalgic vibe throughout a tan body. "Yeah, Sasuke?"

"That wasn't that bad, was it?" He asked with a weak laugh afterwards, covering his mouth to muffle it a little. The question itself was rhetorical so he didn't get a response, but he soon felt brawny arms wrap around his waist and pull him back. He didn't panic or shy away. He leaned into it, tilted his head back and welcomed the warming gesture. "It's going to be like this all day, huh?"

"I hope that question was rhetorical too." Naruto chuckled, resting his chin on the raven's right shoulder, refraining from taking a gander to long. He let a few seconds pass before he said, "You better not be beating yourself up over this."

"Nah, I have this idiot that won't leave me alone enough to do that even when he's not around."

"That doesn't sound like an idiot." He tightened his hold, smirking when the teen in front of him tensed and tapped his arm. "Weak! What'd you do that for? Uncomfortable?"

"Not at all. I might have been, you know, punched in the gut some time earlier!"

Naruto faltered from the shout that rung in his ear relentlessly. "Gahh! I'm sorry, geez!"

That should of been the end of it but the Uzumaki fool had to try and make up for it by rubbing the fabric over Sasuke's stomach in small circle like motion. Sasuke's face hit the hot zone as his hand tried to cover it up. Now his body had another reason to lock up. Stifling a vague noise, he mumbled, "What are you doing?!"

"Your stomach hurts. Is this not helping?" He couldn't see Sasuke's face to confirm this so he pulled away the pale hand from hiding it's owner. Then the raven had the nerve to turn his head away more. Ticked now that no matter what he did was working, he spun his friend around to face him. His temper subsided at the sight of such an adorably mad, flushed face. "You stay that color, don't you?"

Sasuke mumbled a curse and crossed his arms, looking away with an annoyed pout. 'Yet you still haven't figured out why.' The blond ruffled dark hair and smiled, startling the pale one for a minute into thinking he'd said it aloud.

"You're to cute when you're mad."

'Cute again, huh? I'll show you cute.' He glared and looked beyond the smug whiskered teen to see his comeback in the distance. He was easily flustered, but so was Naruto. Teasing his friend made him forget his own shyness. Smirking, he leaned up near a whiskered face and said, "You're pretty cute when you're mad too, Naruto."

That closeness was what stunned Naruto a minute before he arched a brow curiously. "I know?"

"Does everyone know like me and Kiba?" The rest played out for itself as planned. Triggered by hearing the nosy teen's name, he looked around and found him peeking over the stairs. "KIBA! What's wrong with you, bro?!"

"Aw come on! I honestly thought you were going to hold him up on the rail like in Titanic to make him feel better, not molest him!" Kiba came into full view, really upset that it didn't turn out his way. "Sasuke even let you do it which is worst!"

Sasuke blanched while Naruto defended like always against the little pervert. "No he didn-I wasn't doing anything like that!"

"Sure, that's what they all say." If he thought he was escaping wrath this time, he was surely mistaken. Shika and Gaara were nowhere in sight on deck. He found that out when he broke out into a sprint away from the blond, not many places to go on a boat. Going back down below deck was out of the question since the door was locked for reasons he'd never know. So he ran back up to the bow and behind Sasuke, human shield activated.

"You have ten seconds to let him go, kibbles. One," he started the countdown, advancing forward each number.

"Protect me!" Kiba thought it was a good idea to grab his timid shield by the waist and pull him back against him, resulting in a yelp from the raven teen.

"Five!"

"You skipped three numbers, man!" He knew that, but the pupper teen hadn't gotten it through his head yet that Naruto had a terrible special temper when it came to Sasuke.

\:: Yo ho Yo ho, where the hell did my cuffs go ::/

"I've never had this much trouble getting an answer out of you, Shika." Gaara sighed from his position against his comrade's dresser drawer near the bed. He'd really tried to figure out why the man was acting ruder lately. All he received for his efforts were misleading responses and or complete off topic ones. "It's either Sasuke or me that's put you on aggro. Pick."

The answer was as simple as the two suggestions and resided within. Shikamaru couldn't out right tell him this because he hadn't worked up the courage to say it or even admit to himself. He'd impounded his feelings for years after they'd first met out of respect. Opening the gates back up last night was a bad idea the longer he thought about it. He had no idea how to properly express himself since all he'd seen most of his life were bad examples. "It's a real waste of time to discuss this right now."

"If we don't talk about it then you're just going to keep lashing out."

"Lashing out? He was seriously taking too damn long." Shika yawned, stretching his arms. "You're being to soft on him."

"That's because he's not like us, but whatever." Gaara shrugged, pulling out one of the smaller top drawers near him and finding a solution within. "I assumed you knew that. Maybe you need to grow up a little more."

Of the five of them on the ship, he felt three or two of them deserved to hear that accusation, not him. "You're joking?"

Gaara shook his head, leaving the drawer open and hopping up on the dresser top. He then crossed his legs and placed his hands firmly down against the wooden surface on either side. "Not at all. I'll even help you."

If looks could kill... Shika found himself drawn in by the other's natural captivating charm. He made sure it didn't show. "How do you plan on achieving this?"

Gaara pressed back to the wall the closer Shika got, mistaking it for a challenge. "By giving you what you need most."

"And what is that?" His hands rested on either side of his teammate, anticipating a move on the gingers behalf before he'd ever do anything. The moment he smirked, a familiar zipping and click noise sounded.

He hung his head to hide his amusement and chortled lowly. "You know I can get out of these right?"

"I know a lot of things about you, Shika. What I don't know is why you won't talk to me all of a sudden, and why you keep handcuffs in your lotion drawer." Another zipping click sounded, confirming the binding of Shikamaru to the metal bed post nearby. "Some time alone will do you good."

Gaara eased up off the drawer, managing out of the small space in between them."I'm locking you in here till I think you're ready to join us."

"Troublesome," Shika grumbled, shaking his bound wrist, making the chains clank against the post. He didn't know if he was pissed that he was this emotionally compromised to get caught and invade personal space, or impressed by the redhead's quick thinking. It was likely a mix of both. "I feel like this is a tad inessential though."

"Like how much lotion bottles you have in there? I need everyone at their best, especially you." The way he smiled so hopefully, gave his chained comrade some motivation to try.

As soon as the door closed and locked, he searched for the cuff key's in the drawer, coming up empty. 'Of course he took them...' He looked on inside anyway for another means of escape involving lotion and other assortments, relieved Gaara didn't notice the rest.

\:: Yo ho Yo ho, come on baby that's low ::/

When Gaara came back out from below, he was hit with an amusing display of Kiba hanging upside down by his ankles from the boom of the mainsail. The poor guy's face was tinted green from swaying back and forth so much. There was only one person capable of lifting the dangling comrade that high. The culprit was currently sitting on a bench, messing with the trainee's hair. "Really, Naruto?"

"What? He was being nosy again!"

Sasuke's salvation had finally arrived. He was tired of the constant questions about how his hair worked, so he moved away slowly, eventually escaping and heading on over to help Kiba down. He could hear the blond curse as a result.

"Dammit! See what you did, Gaara!" Naruto struck his fist against the bench, somewhat really agitated that his investigation was interrupted.

"Something good?" The older one grinned, aiding in getting their comrade down before he hurled everywhere. As soon as they did, the teen threw up some parts of his breakfast off the port-side of the boat anyway. He kept him from falling over, chuckling at how sick he looked. "That's it, let it out."

"Hey, where's Shikamaru?" Sasuke was the first to notice, remembering that guy was next to teach him.

"I locked him in his room. He needs to relax." Gaara pulled Kiba back up when he was done, close to pushing him back over when he thought he was about hurl again.

"You think that'll work?" Naruto received his answer when something wet grabbed his shoulder from behind over the starboard side. He practically screamed to high hell and jerked away, falling off the bench and grabbing the thin patch of wet-suit over his heart. "What the fuck again, Shika?!"

Shikamaru heaved himself over the railing, coming to a cocky sitting position on the bench where he tucked a soaked strand away behind his ear. "Ha, and you wonder why you're last for weapon training," he snickered out breathlessly, intriguing eyes switching to the cute, partially shocked ginger on the other side. "Gaara, love, I'm going to have to teach you how to properly use handcuffs one day."

'Yeah, sure….What did he call me?!' Gaara caught on to late like everyone else but the sickly teen at his side. He told himself he'd misheard his comrade somehow. Glancing over at the still puke-ish but smiling Kiba, didn't reassure him in the least.

"On to the task at hand, Sasuke, get over here" Shika eased up and to the center, tying his damp hair high in a half ponytail, leaving small pools of salt water that'll easily be dried by the sun over time.

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't just jump to something else like that!" Naruto wanted to know what that handcuff joke was and what caused it to be. "Did you and Gaara do something we don't know about?"

"Naruto, the less you know, the better it is for humanity." He really loved riling the blond. It was to easy half the time when the teen wasn't focused.

"How'd you escape?" Gaara could understand him getting out of the handcuffs, but he'd locked the door. "Did you really jump out the window somehow?!"

He smirked his redhead's way. "I'm wet aren't I? Before you ask, yes I enjoyed it."

Sasuke looked back and forth at them during their convo, slowly coming to realize. It came easy to him unlike his blond friend who was at lost about the whole ordeal.

"So you enjoyed swimming and scaring the shit out of me?!"

"Once again, the less you know, Naruto."

Naruto snarled, watching Shika take the raven's hand and lead him to the start of the mini course where four hurdles were placed in a line near the stern of the boat.

"Now, with no further interruptions, hopefully, we'll start here."

Sasuke stopped in front of the first one, observing how broader it was and bolted in likely for him to grab it easier.

"You can't rightly defend yourself and we don't have time to teach you proper guarding so we'll improve your flight response as your key defense. In case you don't know what that means, you're basically learning to run away. Keep in mind of your surroundings though from the first lesson. Something might try to stop you later on." He took a moment to allow his pupil to comprehend before continuing to say, "Running away won't be easy when jumping from buildings for example or simply running through the city. The main place we're going to sounds like it might be parkour central so we're preparing in advance. As for basic running, you'll be going from back here to the bow and then down from the left side dodging those wall panels and back to the stern. We'll do that all at once so you get a feel for it all. Ready?"

'Huh?' Sasuke said that aloud via the look he had on his face because his new teacher had gone through all that rather quickly. He understood the end part. He had to jump over these things and then run up and around. Just thinking about it tired him out already. "Okay."

"So be it. This is the first full run you'll have. Take a few steps back to gather speed."

He did as told, happy for his height since it enabled him to haul himself over the thick hurdles without much effort. The breeze from the rush felt nice at that, but when he got to the runway part, he began to tire. He'd forgotten there were stairs up to the front and so dreaded the journey all the more when he had to run back down and maneuver back and forth between the panels. Upon coming back, he was a tad out of breath, but not like before when they ran in the rain.

Shika gave him a thumbs up. "You're cardio is shit. Other than that, good jumping form."

"Thanks." One praise out of two was better than nothing.

"Do you work out at all, Sasuke, or ever?"

'Why do you call me by my last name then my first at random times?' Exercise makes Sasuke grumpy. He stayed silent with it for his sake. "No. I'm sorry if I mislead you to think otherwise."

"Apology accepted." You can't beat sarcasm with the sarcasm lord. "Since you've no work out experience we'll only do eight runs of each separately. You're main and final test after the full run will involve a chase when I feel you've done this adequately."

"Eight?!" Say that Sasuke ever felt like calling it quits, this was the moment. He could do two runs of each. Hell, maybe even half of three before he passed out. "Can't I just do one full one again and call it a day?"

Shikamaru stood with his hands behind his back, a blank expression on his face. "Move."

There was no other choice. He grudgingly got to it, jumping the hurdles a good five times before his arms and upper core started to ache. The last three runs didn't come so easily then. He slumped the final lap, throwing himself over each one and achieving a bucket of chuckles out of his blond friend.

"Finally, now run. Quick." Shikamaru hadn't found it amusing in the least. They were burning daylight and time with this pace. He almost flipped a fictional table when the raven took off at a terrible speed. He had to remind himself that the teen was new and lived a privileged life, but he did odd jobs? Most were likely arm strength related so that explained his acceptable lifting ability. Sighing inwardly, he somewhat tolerated that for a logical reason that the raven couldn't run a damn lick.

Basically, that meant they were surely going to be there a while and over the time limit again.

\:: Drink With Me ::/

When you need expendable men in a bad way, a run down shady town with a equally questionable bar for all sinners, was a good place to start. Kakashi propped his elbows back on the counter top, lazily leaning against it as his shot glass slid his way. He didn't drink it just yet. Silver eyes were focused on the small TV overhead the pool table area. The news was on and barking about the incident at the High School. Likely due to one of the student's parents. He groaned as a picture of the rich kid flashed up on screen one last time and then disappear to show something else. Taking a swig of his drink, he imagined strangling the raven brat or setting him ablaze with the liquor in his hand. Either way that teen was dying slow in each scenario.

Obito finally came back from the little meeting area, looking bored, and sharp. The cane looked like nothing but a fashion statement. "Did I hear the news correctly? That's a lot of money."

"His family pays well. Hard to believe you're related to them." He scooted over, allowing them some arm room.

"Not by blood, brother."

"Really? You never told me that." Kakashi looked his way thoughtfully, chortling when the man took his shot glass from him and chugged the rest of it. "Help yourself."

"I am? As for your assumption, I never told you because you never asked or made a point of it." He sat the glass back down forcefully, somehow not shattering it. He then slid it back down for the bartender to refill. "My mother married into the family with me. The rest of my stepfather's relatives found out I was a bastard child and so gave my mother an ultimatum."

"Huh, well how was the pampered life?"

"Tedious. I grew into the man I am from living off the concrete jungle. I didn't think she hated every second of it that much much though." Obito then spun around in his seat to look at the TV. "She lived to regret it at least."

"She didn't have any other kids?"

"None that I'm aware of. Anyway, I hired some guys to help us out . They're brainless grunts so they'll work without question and be easy to compensate when we're done. I also have a supplies exchange for cash that we'll pick up tomorrow. "

"Cheers to that," Kakashi said, having no drink to clink with.

The bartender, being observant of this, came over with two filled shot glasses for the gentlemen, leaving them to it.

"Indeed. What did you do?" Obito took up his poison, hoping his partner didn't sit there and mope the whole time like the emotional fool he considered him to be.

Kakashi gathered his own glass and downed it in one go. "Mm, I signed up ten myself. They're idiots to make a buck, but quick."

"Then we're back on track."

"What about our boys?" he asked, assuming Obito wasn't serious about waiting them out. "You know we need them?"

"Of course, but why should we chase our own dogs? We only did that one time so you could learn a lesson." Obi pointed with a pinkie out at the man, cup in hand. "You know damn well they're coming after us. We put a collar on their childhood and a leash on their innocence. We raised them in our way, so vengeance we will be their first instinct off the bat."

"Why don't we send some men to retrieve only him then?"

"Him? You mean the Uchiha kid? You really can't wait to get your hands on him?"

Kakashi shrugged, tapping the bar top to get the young bartender's attention. "Something like that."

"Tough shit. You'll have to wait. Look, they're family is already searching for him and he's not with us. They don't know what we look like, only you since you worked at the school as a cover. Keep that in mind. With the money they're paying, they'll be looking under every fucking rock for that kid and you. There are three good things about that; one is they won't recognize the rest of us, two is that means you can stay out of the limelight now, and three, " he paused at the last and nudged him against the elbow, smiling, "means?"

"Less places for them to hide with Sasuke."

"Bingo!" Thumbs up.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, ever so impatient. "You're going to leave this all up to chance?!"

"What choice do we have? We're not a big organization, nor are we really funded. We've been getting by with my silver tongue and hack jobs for years. Plus, the stones are fading, Kakashi. The search for any last leads on the heir was today before heading off, so get over it." Obito finished his drink, sliding off his seat, black chrome t-handle cane at the ready. "It's now or never. When we succeed, you may go pluck the little raven yourself."

"Should we not?" Failure wasn't even an option and he could see that as clear as day in his comrade's rigid charcoal eyes.

"We leave back to the compound tomorrow come evening. You're either with us or you're dead."

Tough love was what Kakashi would like to have called that. Deep down he knew it was everything but. He so exhaled deeply, weary of the business talk and nodded. "I like living so I'll be there."

"Let's hope so."

\:: This Uchiha be tired ::/

Sasuke was finishing his sixth lap, already out of breath. He had been given a few minutes to adjust and allowed to combine the running exercise with the panel dodging. When it came to that break-point, Naruto was at his side, encouraging him in his own goofy way and giving him water.

"You got this, champ! Look at me, you are king!"

The raven panted, smiling and shaking his head. Bad move. He was forced to look up into dead serious azure by the sudden pull on the back of his pointy locks. "Nhn, pain…!"

"You got this', repeat it!"

"You got this." He laughed when Naruto did, showing off their maturity level.

"Don't get smart with me, bastard."

Sasuke's labored breathing and weak smile went nowhere. "Do you want me to repeat that too, boss?"

"Only if it means you'll give these last two runs all you've got." He released raven locks and took hold of the gem around the teen's neck. "When you finish, you'll get this back," he said as he swiftly removed it, dodging the owner's attempts to stop him.

"That's really not funny, Naruto! Give it back!"

Naruto grinned at how quick that switched on the feisty response he wanted. He stepped back slowly, hinting at his next plan of attack. "Why? It's mine isn't it? If you want it, you'll have to really earn it this time or the sea will claim it."

Sasuke leveled out at the last part, epinephrine one hell of a hormone. As soon as his friend took off, he was right there after him. Impressed were the other three watching, all thinking maybe that necklace was the key to get him to perform at high standards. The blond sure thought so because this was the fastest he'd ever seen him run. It scared him a bit actually when the furious raven nearly caught him at the end of the seventh lap.

During the eighth, he had to kick it into high gear just to get some distance between them. He arrived back first near the stern in front of Shika, a smug look on his whiskered face. "Told you he'd make do with us."

"He's gonna do something else too." The teacher sidestepped as the blond was tackled to the deck, a loud thud resonating. 'Damn.' He applauded the raven in his mind for the extra exerted energy put into that take down.

"Ouch." Kiba winced for his fallen brother, arms up in a bunch. "You guys okay?"

"They look fine to me...I think." The oldest one tilted his head to the side at the odd struggle for the necklace back.

Sasuke eventually won, placing it back around his neck with a triumphant sigh before going completely boneless against a tan shoulder, shallow breaths escaping.

"I think that's it for this session. Well done, Uchiha." Shika opted to help them up but the blond shoved his hand away.

"I got us!" Naruto assured, arms coming around the spent teen's waist to keep hold of him while sitting up.

"So be it. How about we go ahead and have dinner then?" He turned toward the lovely chef on board and held out a hand his way. "What say you? Or should we chain you to the stove?"

Gaara shook his head curtly, a small smile and laugh added in. He headed off with a wave of his hand and saying, "That won't be necessary though I know you'd enjoy the payback all too much, Shika."

...Without a doubt.