Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy the chapter guys .
They saw the man before anything else. He stood on the very peak of the Yondaime's hair so that he looked out over the village, hair billowing in the wind. He cut a strange figure in his slender as sticks suit, dark hair and hands in pockets.
"I don't remember including a 'bring a guest' option on the paper." He drawled walking down to meet three much smaller figures. "Not very nice at all."
The absurdly dangerous man tipped the air above his head like he was tilting a hat.
"Still it would be even ruder to turn you back now." He mused.
"Would it be considered rude to kill me?" Neji asked a bit of humour leaking through.
"Are you going to try and kill me?" Firudo shrugged at him in answer. "As I have said many times before I try not to harm kids. Where did blondie go?"
"To give Obito a defence." Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. "Neji's here to help to get his cousin back."
"You know I haven't agreed to that yet." The man spoke mildly face indulgent as if waiting for a correct answer without telling them the question.
"Hello." Neji said. "I believe you broke my foot."
"Did you want an apology kid?" Firudo didn't sound at all sorry.
"What do you want in return for helping us get Hanabi back?" Sakura steered the conversation back on track.
That was a very dangerous question. Firudo could state almost anything.
"Don't ask open ended questions like that." Firudo growled at Sakura. "It gives me far too much power. I could ask for you to break the memorial stone and stick to my words if you phrase it like that."
Sakura went pale at the implications.
Firudo nodded slowly as he saw she had understood. "I'll forget that shall I? Try again."
Breathing in Sakura tried again. "What can we reasonably offer you that you would consider equivalent exchange for saving Hanabi?"
"Better." Firudo muttered. "Alright kids I'll help you on one condition. At the end of everything I will state one thing I want you to get for me. You will not refuse am I clear?"
"An object?" Sasuke clarified. The man inclined his head once.
"Is it anything that can cause harm to the village or citizens?" Neji asked sharply.
The smile Firudo was wearing was very indicative of his missing nin status. "Are you really in a position to refuse?" He purred voice a rumble in his chest.
Neji visibly bit back several answers.
"No." He grudgingly forced out.
"You're much better than these lot." Firudo turned amiable again. "Much more polite. Who's your sensei?"
"Gai." Neji answered shortly.
Firudo paused like a great cat coiling for a leap. "Gai?"
"You were his rival weren't you?" Sakura asked.
The man snorted mockingly. "Still am. Don't think that green fool ever replaced me judging by his personality."
"He hasn't." Neji's voice was acidic. "He seems much fonder of you than you are of him."
"Fool." Firudo repeated a minute trace of fondness in his tone, like one had when speaking of an amusing pet or the like. "We're wasting time." He spoke more sharply. "If we want to get the girl back we leave now."
"Now?" Sakura impressively managed not to squeak.
"Or were you hoping for some time to figure out a plan to keep yourselves safe from big bad me?" Firudo laughed at them. "Tough the play's careening straight to Act two, no time for breaks now."
Asking for help seemed like a really bad idea now.
"Can my team help?" Neji asked holding up the mission scroll. "We have a reason to be outside of the village and they're aware of most of the situation."
"Bring your team." Firudo allowed. "But then you go a different route."
Neji paused.
"I'll see you in my Byakugan?" He asked cautiously. Sasuke didn't blame him, and he wanted more Konoha nin near him in the off case Firudo decided to randomly change his mind.
"Yes you can keep an eye on them." The man sounded very amused.
Yes having Neji keep an eye on them was reassuring but if Firudo decided to do anything Neji wouldn't be able to react in time. They were essentially alone, Neji didn't know how fast the man was and with Firudo keeping an eye on them they wouldn't be able to tell him.
Sakura was pale in the corner of his eye and she flicked him a glance he didn't know how to decipher.
Hanabi was one of their own. A future Konoha Nin. It was their duty to do their best to protect her and that included semi trusting a very unpredictable man to do what he said he would do. He did blanch at the thought of leaving Naruto alone in Konoha with no backup without telling him though.
"Sakura." He tried very cautiously. Last time he had tried this she had hit him.
She shot him a disgusted look. "This again? I thought we talked this through."
"It's nothing against you!" Sasuke spoke slightly frantically, voice just a little higher than normal. "I just don't want to leave Naruto on his own without backup." Some of his worry bled through.
Her look softened minutely. "You're the one with the Kekkei genkei heading to the people who steal heirs with kekkei genkei." She pointed out like Sasuke was stupid. "Shouldn't I go instead? No loss if they catch me."
Fury ran hot and quick in his blood before forcibly subsiding. "Hanabi knows me." He bit out. "She's more likely to come with me than you especially if one of her kidnappers is there." He leant in a bit closer. "And when I get back we are having a chat on what you think your status in the team is. You are not the disposable one. Am I clear?" He glared at her ferociously, some of his anger rising to the surface.
Sakura's eyes glinted with a cat like anger and he dearly wished she would not start an argument in front of the Missing Nin. Why did they always have to argue before long?
Luckily Team 7's kunoichi was smarter than that and with a very fake smile and hard eyes she nodded.
"I'm sorry." Sasuke whispered to her as a peace offering. And that apology when he had never apologised for the time in Tanzaki Gai got through to Sakura.
"Heh." She smiled grimly turning away. "It's getting better. You're trying to protect him not me."
"Sweet." Firudo spoke dryly.
"I know you don't trust him." Sasuke ignored Firudo still talking under his breath to Sakura. "But trust me at least. As soon as we get Hanabi back we can get Obito out. There is nothing that will stop me from doing that. I am entrusting Obito to you and Naruto until this is over. Do not let him die."
He stepped back. It was killing a part of him to leave Obito in a cell while he went and saved a Hyuuga but the girl was in far more danger than Obito at the moment.
Sakura didn't respond but her gaze was weighted and thoughtful. Ever so slightly she inclined her head again, almost a fraction of a nod but she had agreed.
Aw shit. He did not want to know what state his mind would be in after spending time alone with Firudo.
"Can you follow?" Firudo was asking Neji.
"Of course." Came the haughty answer. "I will be keeping a firm eye on you."
"Hmm if it helps you sleep at night." The man muttered idly patting the Hyuuga on the head.
"Are we leaving or what?" Sasuke asked abruptly crossing his arms over his chest.
"How do you feel about dogs?" The disguised man asked innocently.
…##################################################################...
"Naruto!" Obito gaped as his blond charge was dragged in kicking and yelling obscenities. He leapt from his bed at once and crossed to the bars where just beyond him Naruto was tossed albeit quite gently by nin standards inside.
"What are you doing here?" His brow creased with anger at the guards. "What the hell has my genin done that warrants a stay in the cells?"
They ignored him and stomped away.
"Naruto!" Obito turned on his genin who was wincing and leaping around the cell like a tree frog trying to find weak spots.
"Obito-nii!" Naruto stopped dead in mid air and bounded over to the bars. "Hey! We've been trying to get you out!"
"I heard." Obito murmured faintly quite horrified as his imagination ran away with him. What had his team done?
"Basically while you got arrested things got fucked up big time in the Hyuuga place." Naruto explained jumping up to grab the top of the bars and swung both feet into the metal rods with crashing sounds. "Let me out of here! I'm innocent of every charge!" He dropped back with a sigh and carried on talking like nothing had happened. "We ran into Firudo and he is Kakashi by the way, well when I say ran into I mean we actively hunted him down and after a lot of events. We got into a fight again and we may have started a coup in the Hyuuga accidentally so sorry about that. And Firudo and the guys trying to come up with a plan to prove your innocence and I was sent to talk to the Hokage since he seems to like me or something." Naruto shrugged not even out of breath.
Obito froze brain still trying to wrap around the sheer torrent of information.
"Firudo can't be Kakashi." He blurted focusing on that major alarm first. "And frankly speaking I don't really care about the Hyuuga at this minute. I will once I get out."
"He is." Naruto nodded seriously. "He's got the dog contract and everything."
"No Naruto." Obito ran a hand over his forehead wearily. "Kakashi's head is locked away in a box at home. He's dead. Has been for years."
Naruto stared at him.
"What do you mean we've been sharing living space with a disembodied head?" He asked eerily calmly.
"I never got around to telling you." Obito rushed to clarify. "What do you mean you're working with Firudo after the events in Tanzaki Gai? Have you all lost your minds?"
"I think that should have been mentioned at some point!" Naruto shrieked at Obito. "And it's the only way to save you." He protested sobering instantly. "Dammit! If he's not Kakashi then that makes no sense!"
"All I need is the head and a DNA test on that head and I'll be cleared of all charges." Obito spoke amused. "I'm not a damsel in distress Naruto, I don't need saving. I have plans too and Gai should be collecting that head for me right about now. Well just consider Firudo as a compulsive liar and save it at that."
Naruto coked his head and Obito felt a trill of discomfort.
"That's funny." Naruto spoke slowly. "Because I swore I heard him yelling about three times louder than usual at some ANBU recruits about how their springtime is full of weeds and how the shears has no mercy."
Obito cursed. They had stopped Gai from doing anything after they had their talk! And to keep an eye on him they had assigned him ANBU recruits, Gai must have been pissed. He needed a new plan to get that head.
"Don't worry Obito-nii." Naruto grinned. "I'll get that box for you."
"Those bars are unbreakable and the cell inescapable." Obito deadpanned. "If you think I can help you, you are mistaken. These cuffs block chakra."
"Kage Bunshin." Naruto sang and a clone appeared outside the cage. Obito shut up.
"And kawarimi." The two widely grinning Narutos traded places with each other. "Where is the head?" His blond genin made a face like he couldn't believe those words actually came out of his mouth.
Obito knew his genin were going to kill him when they found out where it was.
"The Jack in the Box on the mantelpiece." He muttered looking away.
Naruto went very quiet.
"You mean you turned the box containing your team mate's head into a Jack in the Box?" He asked softly. "Was the Jack we were laughing at the actual head?"
It was a ludicrous thing; the box was bright and painted on with cute designs and the Jack was a larger than life sized grinning skull with party glasses and a hat.
"Was that an actual skull?" Naruto asked voice getting higher and higher.
"No! No!" Obito waved his hands. "Any ninja would be able to recognise a skull so I made the hollow skull we have now and sealed Kakashi's head inside it."
It was Obito's revenge on Kakashi. He enjoyed the abject humiliation Kakashi must have been feeling in the afterlife at knowing his head was used for a purpose like that. He sometimes lent it out to birthday parties just so the bastard would finally cause some happiness to other people.
Naruto's jaw opened and closed and he turned away looking like Obito had hit him in the face with a fish.
"I'll just go get a ruined piece of my childhood then." He wheezed finally. "Did you enjoy yourself saying you'd drag Kakashi back when his head was bouncing around our living room? On second thoughts please don't answer that."
Obito rolled his eyes lounging on the bars. Honestly his kids were so dramatic.
…..##########################################################...
Sasuke felt like his brain was going to be shaken out of his head.
True to form Firudo had decided to surprise him to how they were going to catch up to the kidnappers.
Currently Sasuke was in a sled holding to the front with a vice like grip and praying to Kami as a team of eight dogs practically flew through the Konoha forest causing the sled to pitch, buck and roll as if in the ocean. Once or twice they smashed right off a tree or two and he had nearly flown out (only Firudo's iron grip on his collar had prevented Sasuke from killing himself).
He had forgotten one thing. Two things really.
One. Those were Nin Dogs.
Two. Firudo was insane.
The dogs took to the trees, their paws leaping from branch to branch with a nimbleness Sasuke could not appreciate at the minute. Now the sled rolled from side to side as a new dimension of moving opened up and Sasuke found his stomach rising and falling and they skimmed through the trees.
He had tried to make himself stay on the sled with chakra but a solid landing had sent spikes of agony up his ankles and legs and he hurriedly abandoned that.
Twigs scored across their bodies marking them with scratches and cuts, one got Sasuke particularly deep in the cheek but before he could try anything a green glowing finger had poked the wound and healed it back up.
"No leaving a trail for others to follow." Firudo glowered at him.
"How exactly are Neji and his team meant to follow?" Sasuke yelled back over the noise. Whispers in the back of his mind stated that Firudo never meant for Team 9 to follow and that Sasuke was a fool for practically handing the Sharingan over.
"Oh I lied about that." Said the man perfectly comfortably. Sasuke felt the first flash of fright.
"I left Pakkun with them instead." The man smirked at him correctly anticipating what his reaction had been. "Frankly I don't appreciate being spied on."
"Do you mind not looking like one of my family?" Sasuke asked irritated changing the subject quickly. "It's insulting."
Firudo sent him a patient look.
"I promise not to be sick in your sled." The boy tagged on impatiently.
"Of course Sasuke-kun." Firudo inclined his head tone pleasant. His henge fell away lightening the hair to a silvery white (or maybe that was a henge application?) and the black mask wrapped around his lower face. He was such an odd figure.
With a very odd fixation on manners.
The sled careened to an abrupt halt, the frame and people skidding a good part of an arc of a circle sending up leaves and dirt to stop fully. Firudo stepped out not a hair out of place (not that it was easy to tell) and started to fuss over his dogs.
Sasuke was starting to think he had imagined the chills he had got down his spine when the man had moved faster than he could see and trapped him in place with one hand.
"The Hyuuga patrol is near." Firudo told him unbuckling his panting dogs from the harness. "A sled would attract far too much attention in their eyes, we slip through on foot."
"You can't tell where?" Sasuke asked scanning the trees and forests ahead of him. Finding a way through the forest without showing up in one of the patrolling Hyuuga's eyes would be very tricky. It would lead to some very uncomfortable questions as well.
Firudo scoffed. "What have you learnt about psychological applications to strategy?"
Sasuke knew what each of those words meant. And he pieced together what Firudo was asking.
"Make people angry and they don't think as clearly."
"Fantastic." Firudo deadpanned. "Truly an observation a four year old would be able to tell me."
Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms. And tried again.
"Control is the key. If you make the other person lose their control you gain it."
"Better." The man allowed perching on a nearby rock, ankle drawn over one knee. He held up one finger. "Control. Where do you think the Hyuuga would spend their limited forces over such a large area to get maximum control as possible?"
Oh. That was clever. That was really clever. And then avoid the routes which seemed safest because the Hyuuga would have thought of that.
"This is a map of the nearby area." Firudo sketched a diagram into the earth and relaxed back sweeping a hand at it. "Give me your opinion."
Sasuke knelt over the map. First thing he checked was that it matched with a segment of a map he had seen once about the land surrounding Konoha. There were three rivers presumably getting bigger and bigger until they reached the Wave delta. The life blood of the Fire Country as they were. There was quite a bit of swamp land now with mangroves marked on the map with a key. The forest line gradually peetered out into flatland and fields before the borderline. There were seven little villages marked on the map, several bridges, landmarks and check points at the border.
"Assuming each Chunin only has a range of 600m." Sasuke spoke slowly. "And Jonin have ranges up to a kilometre. Then the Jonin would be placed evenly near the border to stop the kidnappers from going too far. A chunin near each village, bridge and evenly placed over the rivers but more gaps allowed there. Then a few independent teams going horizontally side to side to trap the kidnapper in the area."
"You're overestimating the Hyuuga numbers." Firudo drawled. "Remember they don't know which direction my colleague went in. They have a much, much bigger area to cover. And they're chasing him remember." He propped his chin on the back of his hand and kept silent after that.
"The water." Sasuke was hit by a flash of inspiration. "We already have border patrols! But the rivers and the mangroves can be water walked across without detection. There's just so many routes in the twisted mangroves they can't all be checked."
"But the Hyuuga when motivated can." Firudo nodded. "See how they don't do their best to help the collective village until one of their own is in danger? I very much suspect there are two or three Hyuuga still dotted in the forest just in case of the possibility the kidnapper didn't cross the border before them."
"Maximum coverage right." Sasuke muttered kneeling over the hasty map. "Here, here, here and here if we assume four people just to be safe. This covers most area. With three people here, here and here. Two here and here. One. Here. This path isn't covered by any of those possibilities." He traced a line down the dirt earth feeling wet and gritty to his finger tip.
"Psychology." Firudo's voice held a faint trace of amusement. "They're so desperate to be the most efficient that they can that they forget to be the most careful."
Sasuke let out a breath. He didn't know whether to be scornful for this oversight or grateful.
….############################################################...
"Your water walking is pitiful." Firudo spoke scornfully as he strolled across part of a mangrove swamp watching Sasuke jump from tree to tree not used to the sustained constant output needed for water walking.
There wasn't a sound to be heard in the area. Not a bird, not an insect not even ripples of water in the mind.
("That's a bit suspicious.")
("Not really. Tricky places like these are usually blanketed in silence seals just for the suspicious impression.")
"Can you tell me about why someone would want to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress?" Sasuke asked after an hour of silence. "They'd have to be mad."
"Will you tell me why Uchiha Itachi is a missing Nin?" Firudo asked rhetorically ripples spreading out from his footsteps. Black eyes (Obito's eyes were a very dark brown-black but Firudo's were a pure cold jet black and so had far more unnerving power than his cousin) met his in an idle challenge. Like the man knew Sasuke would never accept that deal but offered anyway to see Sasuke struggle internally with himself.
"You said you met him already." The boy pointed out harshly.
"Tell me when you're ready to exchange information." Firudo's eyes crinkled at the corners. Sasuke felt an irrational hatred for him in that instant, hot and fierce. But that might have been him projecting his hatred for Itachi on the nearest and most irritating person.
"Alright." Sasuke swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth. "Who kidnapped the Hyuuga? That I do need to know for this to succeed."
Firudo tossed something at him. Something white and it span in the air like a discus, Sasuke caught it out of the air and was tired of being suspicious all the time. A very bored looking theatre mask stared back eye holes little black pits in the ceramic.
So it was an organisation then. Or at least an organised group of people. He turned it over in his hands; it was an incredibly smooth surface and Sasuke could see a distorted reflection of himself in the ceramic. He very much doubted a small group of people would give out masks to people they hired for one job. So either Firudo was a member or the group was far bigger than he had thought. He then had a thought about how many emotions there were and quickly terminated that line of thought.
"Their name in the underground channels is Chan'neru." Firudo spoke. "The emotion masks are the lowest level operatives and hired help. That is all I know." Sasuke thought he could hear a hint of frustrated longing in that bored directing of words.
"Chan'neru." Sasuke tested out the unfamiliar word. "How did they recruit you? I'm assuming they recruited you before we met you and that you were in Tanzaki Gai for the sole purposes of meeting a Konoha team but you were a Konoha Nin. Why did you need one?"
The answer came to him just after he asked the question. Firudo needed a Konoha team so Chan'neru wouldn't realise he was an ex Konoha nin himself. He probably had no need of them and just waited until he had an excuse to act.
"They operate at the highest level of secrecy." Firudo continued apparently understanding Sasuke had got his answer and didn't seem very interested in answering the other question. "I was approached by a man in an entirely blank mask, no eyeholes or anything, and offered this job. Their offer was intriguing so I accepted but from then on all correspondence was through nin animals not nin."
Sasuke had been wrong. Chan'neru meant channels. Horror and bile grew in the back of his throat; channels for information, for objects…maybe for abilities. It was an auction house. Hanabi was in an auction house. Every single fibre of pride he had balked at the thought of ever being sold as a slab of meat with particularly valuable eyes. And what was to say they would stop there…eyes were only one small part of a very complex system.
Sasuke had the other legendary Dojutsu and he knew exactly what terror the girl must have been feeling at that moment.
"We need to get her back!" He yelled jumping off the tree, skidding across the swampy water in a spray of mud and fluid and stopping before the paused Nin.
"If you want your friends to be able to catch up then we can't rush this part." The Nin stated flatly. "We're going over water. Pakkun won't be able to pick our trail up if we move too fast."
"Where are we going?" Sasuke pressed. There had to be a solution that let them move faster but still let Team 9 catch up.
"The island of the whirlpools." Firudo's eyes glittered. "Break that news to your team mate lightly."
Sasuke felt a piercing injustice on behalf of Naruto. "They're using his ancestral island as an auction house!" He snarled.
"Auction. Slave labour. Drugs. Trafficking. Rare animal trade. All split up over the continents." Firudo counted off on his fingers sounding for all purposes that this was a perfectly normal conversation. "I'm sure there's so much more but that's all I picked up. And no Pakkun needs to take a specific route into the island which I'll calculate once we get there so we can't just leave a message and head off."
Frustration and helpless rage simmered in Sasuke's stomach turning it sour. There had to be a solution.
"You accepted a job to help those disgusting people!?" he snarled. Firudo sent him a cool look.
"Read what's on the Konoha mission roster before casting judgement on my job Sasuke-chan."
Sasuke sensed he had reached the end of Firudo's patience with him.
"How far to Uzio?" He muttered ungraciously.
"Across this stretch, across Wave then on the Bay of Eddies until we reach it. Not far. We'll get there tomorrow."
….##############################################################...
By the time they had crossed the Mangrove swamp and the border into Wave it was well into dusk.
"Have you thought about what the village gains instead of loses when they lose one of the heiress to the Hyuuga?" Firudo asked out of the blue spark flying from his fingers to set the pile of wood ablaze.
What? What the village gained? But they lost a pair of unsealed Byakugan…that wasn't much of a gain at all. It also left Hinata to be leader of the Hyuuga and Sasuke thought she had quite a long way to go before she resembled anything near competent. Firudo couldn't be suggesting the village engineered this! Konoha was honour bound to protect its citizens, child nin even more so. The very thought was unthinkable that the village elders and the Hokage would order something like Hanabi being sold to an auction house.
But what he could see of Firudo's masked face was serious and a shadow fell over his dark eyes from his paler hair and he was completely serious. Sasuke took the question a lot more seriously.
What did the village gain?
The money for the transaction was an obvious benefit. Would they get more say in the internal affairs of the Hyuuga if the next leader was weak? No but that could have worked if Neji hadn't been on the scene as a serious contender for the main heir title. In fact the Hyuuga would lose faith in the security of the village…could they gain in the added security the Hyuuga would insist upon and pay out of their own pocket to be safe?
"Accusing power." Firudo interrupted his train of thought. "Think in that line."
Accusing power. The village must have had the thought before that lone missing nin must have been mad to try and kidnap the Hyuuga heiress. So that meant a suitably powerful organisation or a village. Konoha could accuse any village they wanted for any reason they wanted and since Konoha was the nice village, the truthful village, they would be believed. Sasuke's hands were shaking.
Every single major village apart from Mist could be accused to wanting the fearsome power of the Byakugan. Sasuke remembered how they had sent Momochi's head back to Mist and oh Kami that could have been a first move to ally Konoha and Mist closer together.
This could lead to war.
"You got it huh. Why blame an auctioning third party when you can blame a major village and get the Hyuuga full support? Even if you told people what really happened I suspect you would be shut up in one way or another." Firudo sounded smugly weary. "There was a reason I defected after all. Konoha values life as much as the other villages…and it places a higher value on money and power. Your sensei served Konoha loyally for how long? And look where he is now."
"That's a lie." Sasuke breathed eyes wide and voice a whisper. "That can't be what they're planning."
"There are a lot of things about Konoha you don't know kid." Firudo laughed. "But I think you should know this one." He picked up a stick and drew the spiralling leaf in the dirt.
"The symbol on our headbands." Sasuke shrugged.
"Know where it came from?" Firudo asked lightly, kneeling by his drawing.
"A leaf from the great trees the Shodaime made." Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"What if I draw this next to it?" Firudo etched another design into the dirt. A spiral identical to the spiral in the leaf then the pattern deviated. He brought the stick down to a point from the spiral then curved it up to a point on the other side of the spiral then down halfway in a curved line so that t it nearly touched the spiral side.
Sasuke felt very cold. "That's the Uchiha seal. The third eye."
Firudo pointed the stick at him. "The name of the Leaf came from the Senju but the symbol came from the Uchiha. It was to honour freedom and the fact everyone under its symbol would be free and like a united clan. It was the same time as the Uchiha struck it off every member in honour of this promise."
"But we're not like that." Sasuke stared at the two symbols and felt like they were burning themselves into his brain. He had never known that. He should have known that. It was his heritage.
"We're all segregated and the Hyuuga! And Kami knows how many other clans have branch houses."
"The current leaders are hypocrites Sasuke." Firudo scuffed out the patterns with his foot. "But then again I am a missing nin. Are you going to believe a word I say?" He smiled at Sasuke under his mask and the smile wasn't a nice one. "I assume you are competent enough to set up your tent?"
Whistling the man walked off to find food and Sasuke was left staring at the dirt mind in a muddle.
…#################################################################...
Obito glanced up from his cell as a commotion again disturbed him.
"Oh." He sighed. "Am I going to see Sasuke next? You kids are making a bad pattern of this. How did you get in anyway?"
Sakura held out a plush toy with a completely straight face. "Well it seems you have friends in the gate shinobi who let me in. You have friends in the receptionists who ignored I was even there. And let's see let's not forget you have friends in the ANBU who practically led me where and stopped me from getting lost. And your personal guard accepted the excuse I wanted to give you a toy to sleep with and let me in."
Obito felt a grin crack his jaw joint. Good to know he still had friends even if they couldn't support him directly. He reached out and accepted the stitched shabby rabbit.
"I appreciate it." He said dryly tucking it into a side of his bed. "It really livens up the place."
It seemed just Kurenai and her squad had a thing against him. That made him feel much better.
"So what's happening?" Obito asked turning to face his kunoichi. "I talked to Naruto a while ago, is he alright? And Sasuke? He went off with Firudo didn't he the fool."
From what he had heard of the man from the trio he was torn between being achingly worried and fiercely angry at their rash decision. But he would wait until Sasuke got back (he would get back) to let it out.
"Naruto's fine." Sakura shook her head thoughtfully taking a seat on the floor. "He ran past me in the street and told me to come talk to you. Sasuke's not being as much of an idiot as he was on the mission and it's alright. Team 9 went after him as backup."
Obito's silence told her all she could have wanted to know what he thought about their chances of Firudo decided to get hostile. Her fingers twisted together nervously.
"I ran into Sarutobi sensei actually." She offered.
"Asuma?" Obito asked smiling lightly. "He's a good man. His taste in women is a bit odd though."
Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"Kurenai." He elaborated.
"Ah." Both her eyebrows were high on her forehead now.
"He asked me to ask you for a joint training actually. I don't think he knows you've been arrested. So heads up, Ino talked my ear off about whatever test they had for the Chunin Exams. I assume they're exactly what it says on the tin?"
"Yup." Obito popped the p. "Hundreds of genin all duking it out for Chunin vests. Kami it takes me back." He groaned. "Yeah that's coming up isn't it? Crap." He ran a hand through his slightly greasy hair by now.
"Sakura do not enter the exams without me being there." He stressed gripping the bars. "Naruto and Sasuke may not have a choice but if you say no the entire team can't compete."
"I am not entering anything." Sakura waved her hands quickly. "Are you crazy? We barely survived our first C rank as genin, there is no way I'm trying for Chunin so fast!"
Oh thank Kami, he had a sensible person on his team. She would stop both of Sasuke and Naruto killing themselves due to their pride or curiosity. He let himself sag in relief.
"You know what?" He suggested half-heartedly. "When I get out of here, we can all take popcorn and laugh at the genin teams who took the exams far too early. Sound good?"
"Sounds good to me." Sakura beamed at him and Obito had the slight niggling feeling he was forgetting something.
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