Inevitable
Chapter Ten

The laptop was slowly becoming overheated and the underside of it was burning Jiraiya's leg, where it was currently perched. He paid no mind to it, however, as he continued typing at a feverish pace. He was on a roll and no damn machine was going to stop it now.

Jiraiya had long since created a way to do everything with one hand; which meant, of course, that Jiraiya could use any jutsu he wants one-handed and had learned to transform his body into a body with two arms. The toad-sage is a very resourceful, and very clever, old man. This idea, the one which gave him an added arm, wasn't technically all his idea. Naruto had been a huge help in that department. Of course, he still used the other jutsu that typed everything he spoke, but sometimes it was just easier to type what comes to your head instead of forming it into verbal words first.

Pausing his typing for a moment to use the keyboard shortcut for save, another thing Naruto had taught him, Jiraiya shook a stray piece of white hair from his face. He glanced up, seeing the sun rising on another beautiful Konoha day, and realized he'd been typing for a good four hours. The laptop was burning his leg and nearly dead, as if the burning sensation was supposed to be a warning. Sighing heavily, he saved again, just for good measure, and closed the machine. He'd need to let it rest and charge before he started again, but he had one hell of a start. Four hours and twenty pages later, Jiraiya was well on his way to the eighth installment of the Icha Icha series, and the seventh wasn't even published yet.

He sat back on the park bench he was currently sitting on and let the jutsu fall. The pain in his left shoulder was back again, with a vengeance, as it normally was in the mornings. Tsunade called them phantom pains and said he'd experience them for the rest of his life, there was really no cure. With his good arm, Jiraiya rubbed at the painful stub. Only having one arm was a bitch, Jiraiya had said that on many occasions. But, in all honesty, Jiraiya was just glad to be alive. He could deal with a missing arm after a particularly horrendous battle. Even if the pain was, at most, unbearable.

The memories of that day, that fight, would still haunt him, but he took comfort in knowing he'd never have to repeat it. As far as he could remember, he'd only ever had three apprentices, and he now knew where all three of them were. Pein was dead, Minato was dead, and Naruto was the Hokage, and he could live with that.

Feeling a presence, Jiraiya looked up and saw Tsunade standing in front of him. She paused to watch him still rubbing the painful stub and grimaced.

"Still hurts, huh?"

"Yeah." He tried to shrug, but it was harder with only one good shoulder. Instead, he offered her a weak smile, which she didn't buy.

Her eyes showed an emotion he couldn't quite name as she sat down beside him, opposite the side he put the laptop, and began examining the stub. "I could try to deaden the nerves there. It might do something."

Jiraiya did a half-hearted shrug again and shook her off his missing arm. "I'm fine, Tsunade. Really, I'm fine."

She scrutinized him again. "You sure?"

"Yes, Tsunade. I am sure." Jiraiya said, over-pronouncing each word to emphasize his point. "I promise."

She snorted, but sat back anyway. "It'll be three months really soon, you know?"

Jiraiya looked at her, slightly puzzled, until he figured out what she was talking about. "Oh, Naruto…yeah, it will be, won't it?"

"I made the right choice." Tsunade said, letting the sentence hang there. Jiraiya wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, so he didn't reply. The look in her eyes kind of made him think it was more of a statement.

She may have never reconsidered or regretted making Naruto's dream come true, but that didn't mean she, sometimes, wondered if the council allowed her to choose him for the right reasons. Reasons she, at this moment, couldn't quite figure out. But she was damn sure going to try. She could feel Jiraiya still watching her intently, so she decided to tell him what she tracked him down to tell him in the first place.

"Jiraiya, the council…I think they're trying to start some trouble."

"With who?" It was a good question, an honest question, but Tsunade found it really hard to say the answer.

The pause she took seemed to last forever, yet not nearly long enough. "They're messing with Naruto." She glanced at Jiraiya's face, only to see the determination and raging war built up in his eyes. He was angry, but she couldn't blame him. They both held Naruto close to them, especially since they'd told him the truth about his parents. If someone was messing with their pride, their joy, their god-child (only because Jiraiya said she always took care of Naruto like a god-mother is supposed to), they will answer to Jiraiya and Tsunade.

"Well," he growled out. "Who do I have to put a hurtin' on this time?"

It had been three days since Sasuke's house arrest began, Naruto noted as he gazed absentmindedly at the calendar on his desk. Instead of worrying so much about Sasuke, Naruto had dived head first into his Hokage work, focusing entirely on the tasks at hand.

Sakura fluttered into his office, scratching at her arm a bit and plopping down in the seat in front of his desk. He glanced at her briefly before finalizing a paper. Setting it to the side, he looked back up at her and raised an eyebrow. She didn't say anything at first, just watched him.

"You're different." She finally said. He cocked his head to the side and gave her a questioning look. "Since you did that jutsu, you've been different. Are you ever going to tell me what happened?"

"Nothing happened." He said, shrugging it off and pulling out another piece of paperwork. He knew that he wasn't acting like the same Naruto, but it was to be expected, wasn't it?

"You're a bad liar," she sad very matter-of-factly. Then she stood up and walked toward the door. "I have a date tonight. I need time to get ready so I'm leaving early."

"Again?" Naruto asked, a smirk playing on his face.

She turned and gave him a knowing look. "You haven't figured it out? It means someone will have to take Sasuke his dinner." When the smirk fell from Naruto's face, she continued. "Konohamaru's off tonight and you can't just send random ANBU…guess it'll have to be you."

He tried to say something, to talk his way out of it, but she just shook her head. "No, Naruto. Don't sweet talk your way out of this. Whatever happened between you two, and I know something happened, needs to be fixed. Maybe talking will fix it?"

When she shut the door Naruto growled in frustration. How was he supposed to ignore the stoic Uchiha if he was forced to be in his presence?

Kakashi arrived at the clearing in the woods, exactly forty paces southeast of the gate at exactly sixteen minutes and eleven seconds after four o'clock, just like planned. He glanced around the small clearing and kept his eye peeled for anything out of the ordinary. For being an ex-ANBU agent, Sasushi sure did some strange things when trying to send him secret information. And, besides that, he hated being on time for anything.

He did exactly like Sasushi had asked and not breathed a word of that secret meeting to anyone. He'd had many thoughts against it, many thoughts that told him he was doing something wrong. He had very nearly let Jiraiya in on his secret, and was still considering it to this very second.

The first piece of information she'd handed him was a secret file on Teushi, who turned out to be nothing more than a daiyamo from a village very close to where Sound used to be. He'd come to the village as a young man, barely twenty-three, after his parents had fallen ill. They came seeking Tsunade's medical expertise, but was too late to benefit from it. Now, at age fifty-four, Teushi harbored a deep-seated hatred in his heart, a hatred that didn't quite make sense.

The jounin was slowly turning in circles in the clearing, trying hard to find the information she'd hidden for him this time. With everything he needed to think about, his thoughts got cut in half. One half dedicated to what he knew, the other to what he had to find. His mind ran over the information floating through his head and – that space over there doesn't look quite right – was trying to put it where it belonged. He'd long since – nothing, just a lost kunai imbedded in tree bark – learned how to separate his thoughts in neat little compartments. Maybe my Sharingan can find it – it wasn't hidden in plain sight, but that wasn't all that surprising - a slight spark of something hidden barely – she was an ex-ANBU after all – a manila envelope disguised to look like leaves and tree bark, clever.

Glancing around to make sure no one had seen him, Kakashi teleported back to his apartment and spread the contents on his desk. Another set of files on Teushi, but these were classified ANBU level. He didn't want to imagine how she'd gotten them.

There were files on the Uchiha Massacre in there, mostly about a woman named Shouko. The files claimed that she was Teushi's sister, and that she was also married to an Uchiha. Shishimaru Uchiha. Shouko, along with Shishimaru and their three children, were slain in the massacre.

…you'll see that an Uchiha can't be trusted. None of them could be.

Everything made sense now. But it still didn't solve anything. Kakashi wondered what Sasushi might have in store for him next.

Gamatatsu perched himself on the railing of the bridge, watching as his brother kept mental notes of every move the Uchiha did. They were both transformed into a smaller version of themselves, much like they were when Naruto was thirteen, and hiding deep in the pond. It wasn't Gamakichi's idea to bring his brother along. He would have done perfect well with this mission on his own, but their father insisted. No one disobeys a direct order from Gamabunta.

"Brother," Gamatatsu began, nudging his brother with his knee. "What are we doing here? Why are we watching him? You can't see anything from down here."

"We can't get any closer, 'tatsu. He's an Uchiha, he'll sense us immediately."

"So what?" When his brother simply scoffed at him, Gamatatsu crossed his arms and huffed. "C'mon, 'kichi…I wanna go play. I wanna do something fun!"

Gamakichi gave a sigh before turning to his brother. "We can't right now. After we do what we came here to do. It's a mission, 'tatsu. Can't you understand that?"

Gamatatsu huffed again and turned away from his brother. He muttered something under his breath but Gamakichi ignored him.

Nearly two hours later Gamakichi spoke again. "Damn, I can't see what he's doing. I hate when he works at that countertop." Gamatatsu turned to his brother and then followed his line of sight. The orange toad was right. Sasuke was leaning against the counter fiddling with something. There was no way they could see from the angle they were at. "I wish I could get closer."

"I'll find out, brother!" Gamatatsu said, eager to help. Gamamkichi tried to grab at him, but toad legs aren't good for grabbing anything. And Gamatatsu was a quick toad when he wanted to be. He followed the yellow toad up to the landing of Sasuke's balcony and wished he'd transformed into something that could grip his brother.

Gamatatsu, in all his glory, was standing up on his hind legs, his front legs and face pressed tightly against the window pane of Sasuke's balcony door, peering inside. Gamakichi tried, again, to pull him away before Sasuke saw them, but failed.

"Brother, he's playing with a photo!" Gamatatsu said, loud enough for Sasuke to hear inside the apartment. The next thing those two toads knew, a pair of gleaming red eyes was peering down at them before the balcony door got ripped open. Gamakichi flailed back, falling out of the landing and into the high weeds of Sasuke's unkempt front lawn. Gamatatsu wasn't as lucky. Sasuke snatched him around the middle and squeezed tightly.

"You are spying on me, aren't you?" Gamakichi heard his brother give off a weak yelp before he heard the balcony door being slammed shut.

"Shit," Gamakichi hissed. "This is definitely not good."

Along the main street of Konoha, the one that leads from the main gate to the Hokage Tower, is a row of restaurants. Of course they're not the only restaurants in Konoha, but they're said to be the best. Truth be told, they're merely a tourist attraction for visiting feudal lords and such. Unfortunately for Naruto, these restaurants, as expensive as they were, were the only ones that served the simple, plain food Sasuke loved so much.

Naruto debated between two of them, remembering Sasuke asking to eat in one of them once when they were a lot younger. He just couldn't remember exactly which one it was. He would start for one and then change his mind and start for the other one, repeating the cycle each time. If one were to watch him from afar, as many of the villagers were, they'd think he was dancing. All the while he'd been standing there he'd been trying to summon the memory of eating in whichever restaurant Sasuke dragged him and Sakura into before. The damn memory was coming in bits and pieces, and none of them were making sense.

For the first time, Naruto took notice of the villagers watching him warily, as if their Hokage wasn't feeling quite right. Naruto decided that Sasuke wasn't worth this aggravation and just headed toward the restaurant he was closest to. If Sasuke didn't like it then oh well. Too bad for Sasuke.

Sakura was glancing at the clock on the wall, impatiently awaiting her date. He was never late for anything, which is why his lateness this time was drawing on her nerves. As of right now, Neji was fifteen minutes late for their date, a date that he asked for. The waiter came buy, pouring her another glass of champagne, before asking her if she wanted to order an appetizer while she waited. She sighed and ordered a hot fudge sundae instead.

Twenty minutes later, Neji finally arrived in the restaurant. He was covered from head to toe in dirt and blood, his clothes torn up. Caught between being pissed off and concerned, Sakura attempted to look him over, but he pushed her hands away.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. My mission took a little longer than expected." He was wavering slightly as he stood there, and Sakura could tell it was from chakra exhaustion.

"Oh, Neji." She brushed a piece of his hair behind his ear and healed the cut on his cheek. "You boys never know how to complete a mission the normal way, do you? Has Naruto rubbed off on you in all those missions you two did together?"

Neji chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess."

Taking a look at her empty sundae and the empty champagne glasses, Sakura figured it wouldn't be much of a date anyway, at least not here in a fancy restaurant. "Neji," She asked, healing another cut on his hand that caught her eye. "Want to come back to my apartment? I'll cook you something and you can take a shower."

Neji raised an eyebrow but then noticed the stares and glares he was receiving. Realizing he was probably quite a sight in this fancy restaurant, Neji agreed and let Sakura lead him out the door.

Gamakichi was hopping as fast as he could through the streets of Konoha. Leave it to Naruto to not be in the Hokage tower right when the orange toad needed him the most. If anyone would save his brother from the Uchiha, it was Naruto.

The toad stopped in front of Ichiraku and jumped on the seat, onto the table, and then onto Ayame's head. She froze, her body stiffening as she slowly looked for a place to catch her reflection. She found it in the grease her father fried the noodles. Her mouth opened to scream as she caught sight of the toad placed on her head, but her father was way ahead of her.

"Aren't you that toad that hangs around Naruto?"

Gamakichi felt relieved someone recognized him and smiled immediately. "Yes! Yes I am! I need to find Naruto right away!"

He looked from Ayame to the empty tables in front of him and back to Gamakichi. "Haven't seen him all day, have you Ayame?"

"N-no father. I-I haven't."

"Well…thanks anyway." Gamakichi said following a loud sigh. As he hopped off the tables and onto the ground again, he mused to himself, "Why is it he's the most important person in Konoha and no one ever knows where that kid is?"

With a whole container full of onigri and fried rice, Naruto made his way to Sasuke's apartment. He was nearly there, only one street away, when he heard his name being called from behind him. Naruto turned around he saw Kotetsu and Izumo running full speed toward him.

"Hokage-sama!" Izumo yelled, sliding to a stop in front of the blonde. "There you are!"

"We've been looking everywhere for you, man!" Kotetsu said, also sliding to a stop in front of him.

"What? Did something happen?"

"Well…" Kotetsu scratched the back of his head and looked to Izumo.

The chuunin took the hint and sighed at his friend. "That orange toad, the one that is usually nearly seven feet tall –"

"Gamakichi?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, that one." Kotetsu said. "He's been looking for you. Says it's really urgent."

"Oh…" Naruto said, looking around for the toad. "Where is he?"

The two chuunin exchanged looks before shrugging. "He went the opposite direction to find you."

Naruto took a deep sigh before setting Sasuke's food down at his feet and looking around the village. "It shouldn't be that hard to find a seven foot tall toad, should it?"

"Well," Kotetsu said, "he's in his smaller form, sir."

Naruto nodded and looked around again. This would be slightly harder than he previously imagined. "Did he say what he wanted?"

They shook their heads. The Hokage sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Gamakichi's secret mission was to spy on Sasuke, who Naruto was on his way to see right now. Of course, the toad couldn't have known that, when Naruto himself didn't know until a few hours ago. What could have been so urgent, so important, that Gamamkichi would abandon his mission to tell Naruto? Why not just send one of the smaller toads, his underlings, to tell Naruto instead?

The blonde told the chuunin to go back to the guards post, that he'd find Gamakichi himself. They promised to relay the message of where Naruto was if they saw Gamakichi first, but Naruto figured he'd see him before they would. When all else failed, surely the toad would return to his post, and Naruto would be waiting.

Not even five minutes after Izumo and Kotetsu left Naruto to sit on a bench right outside Sasuke's apartment, which was extremely quiet, as normal, he heard the hopping sound of a toad. Gamakichi was nearly out of breath and quite a mess as he jumped on Naruto's leg and slapped him across the face.

"Stay where you tell me you'll be, bastard!"

Naruto's mouth dropped open as he rubbed his cheek. "What the hell, 'kichi?"

"I've been searching all over this village for you! What kind of Hokage isn't there when people need his help?"

"You're not a 'people', 'kichi! You're a toad!" Naruto huffed, pushing the toad off his lap. "What is your problem, anyway?"

When Gamakichi didn't speak at first, Naruto gave him a quizzical look. "Gamatatsu…Sasuke has him."

"Huh?" Naruto picked the toad up and held him in front of him. "What happened to Gamatatsu?"

"He went with me this mission. Pop told me to bring him along. Gamatatsu was never very good at stealth, ya know? He got caught…I don't know what Sasuke would do to him." The orange toad sniffled as Naruto sat him down on the bench. "I would go get him myself, but that Uchiha scares the shit out of me."

Naruto chuckled. "I'll get him, 'kichi. I promise."

"So," Sasuke said, a smirk on his face as he looked down at the petrified yellow toad. "Naruto has been bribing your brother to spy on me?"

Gamatatsu nodded. "C-Can you let me go now? P-Please?" He struggled against the restraints, which were impairing his ability to grow bigger or smaller. He couldn't bust out of them, it was like they were sucking his chakra. In an effort to take his mind off the numbing sensation, Gamatatsu spied a few sticks of pocky sticking out of a bag on the kitchen counter.

"No. Not quite yet." Sasuke walked toward his window and spied the bobbing of bright blonde hair coming up the walk, towards his apartment. "Let him come find you, first."

"Mr. Uchiha, sir?" Sasuke turned around and eyed the yellow toad curiously. Gamatatsu was still eyeing the pocky. "While we're waiting…can you feed me?"

Sasuke groaned, but stuck one of the pocky sticks into Gamatatsu's mouth. He heard a mumbled thank you, but ignored it. At least it would keep him quiet for a few moments. Sasuke was getting quite tired of the incessant stuttering Gamatatsu seemed to be doing. Going back to looking out the window, he heard the bag rattling again. His head whipped around to see Gamatatsu's tongue wrapped around a handle in the bag and slowly pulling it closer.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm still hungry." He said around his tongue, which was still stuck to the bag. Granted Gamakichi was sitting on the kitchen counter, at the opposite end, but the fact that his tongue reached that far was pretty impressive. Sasuke shook his head and turned back to the window. Leave it to him to kidnap a toad that was more trouble than he was worth.

Sai shifted uncomfortably in his tree, still watching Sasuke staring out the window. The toad seemed to be okay, so far. He glanced to his side, where the Naruto clone was still perched.

"Gamatatsu can eat through anything, I swear."

"What are you going to do?" Sai asked.

The clone turned to him and smiled. "Don't worry, Sai. I can handle Sasuke. I only got better since he was in prison…he won't know what hit him."

When the clone 'poof'-ed away, Sai realized Naruto never told him any resemblance of a plan. Except that the ANBU should not get involved. So Sai kept his orders and told his men to stand down.

The bright blonde hair Sai could see through the trees became clearer as he neared the front door. He watched the tan hand knock on the door and merely a second passed before the Uchiha opened it.

"You have something I want, Sasuke."

The Uchiha raised his eyebrow and looked down at the food in Naruto's hand. "Apparently, you have something I want."

Sai sighed. Sakura had taught him about sexual innuendoes, and those two just said a mouth full. This was turning out to be one hell of a night.

Special thanks to my beta, SoulSpirtHeart.
Much love to all of you for reading! Tell your friends! XD And remember to review, reveiw, review!