Naruto yawned lazily as he slouched against his kitchen counter, almost curling around the lukewarm bowl of ramen he had made for his breakfast. Half-closed eyes contemplated the mushy noodles and soggy vegetables in front of him while his mind was sluggishly trying to think about the pain seal he was going to remove in about twenty minutes. Eh, there's not really much to think about, Naruto mused, thoughtfully chewing on a crunchy carrot. Minako-sensei cracked the seal so all we have to do is apply the counter seal and it's done.
Before the sleepy fox could take another bite of his rapidly cooling ramen, his ears pricked up at the sound of approaching footsteps and a sharp knock told Naruto that Minato had arrived. "'S open, c'mon in!" Naruto shouted, leaving his ramen on the rickety table to go get dressed.
Minato opened the door and entered the small apartment, toeing off his shoes in the small shoe area before hesitantly looking for Naruto in the living room and kitchen. Pausing in the kitchen, Minato smiled slightly at the bowl of ramen sitting on the table, abandoned only a few moments ago. "Naruto?" Hearing no response, the older shinobi ventured into the back of the apartment, checking the bathroom before hearing movement in the small bedroom. Poking his head around the doorjamb, Minato was pleased to find Naruto with his back to the door, carefully tying his seal sash into place. "You know, that sash really is ingenious," Minato commented, leaning on the door frame, ignoring the urge to stare at the various scars on Naruto's back.
aruto rubbed at his right shoulder for a moment, drawing Minato's attention to the large circular scar that dominated the area. "I just got tired of lugging around the heavy supplies in my pack," Naruto grumbled as he crouched in front of the mentioned pack to dig through the sturdy bag for a few moments, finally pulling out a reddish vest and standing to face Minato. Minato's attention, however, was still focused on Naruto's right shoulder, and the smaller circular scar that had to have been twin to the scar in back.
"Sasuke managed to uh," Minato made a vague gesture towards the scar and Naruto glanced at it for a moment before roughly pulling on his vest and leave the room, brushing past Minato before replying.
"Punch all the way through my shoulder? Yeah." Naruto led the older shinobi back to the kitchen where he picked up the ramen bowl again with a twisted smirk. "I paid him back for it though. When I bit him on the neck, I hit a pressure point and boom- he was out cold and I dragged his sorry ass back here." Explanation finished, Naruto tilted back the bowl and gulped down the remaining ramen while Minato coughed.
"Unorthodox, but effective," the older man conceded with a nod of his head before he remembered a question he had been meaning to ask. "But why bring Sasuke back," he asked, curiously as he followed Naruto back to the front door. "Why bother bringing him back at all?"
Naruto paused with his hand on the door, curiously neglecting footwear. "I had a promise to fulfill," he spoke quietly before stepping outside.
Minato stopped for a moment, a soft smile on his face as he finally followed Naruto out of the dingy apartment, shutting the door behind himself.
"I think that if we lean the cot against the wall, we can fit the seal in here," Naruto said, trying to decide how much space Sasuke would take up. Minato looked around the cell and nodded in agreement as he set down a small bag of sealing supplies.
"Easier to keep him here without the ANBU freaking out and the floor's concrete," Minato commented with an almost gleeful look on his face. Sealers rarely got the luxury of working with smooth surfaces. The floor of the cell would work just fine- it even was slightly inclined towards a drain in the middle of the floor. Sasuke twitched before Naruto motioned for him to stand up. Reluctantly, the Uchiha did so, moving to a corner as Naruto peered at the cot's legs before easily upending the flimsy bed and leaning it against the wall with the grate of metal on concrete.
Minato nodded easily, pulling out several ink brushes of varying sizes and medium sized bowls. Naruto crouched next to the former Hokage and between the pair, soon had respectable amount of ink mixed with Naruto's blood in the bowls. Sasuke folded his arms across his chest, trying not to look interested as Naruto painted graceful symbols and swirling lines onto the concrete from the gibberish Minato read from a small scroll.
About halfway through the process, Sasuke found himself placed in the middle of the circle, shirtless as Naruto painted signs onto the Uchiha's torso, limbs and around the curse seal, Minato still directing from the edge of the circle. Just when Sasuke was beginning to doubt his ability to hold back his shivers, Naruto stuck the small ink brush he had been wielding behind his ear with a pleased grunt and carefully picked his way through the thoroughly inked floor to stand next to Minato.
"There," Minato sighed, rolling up the scroll he'd been reading from and letting it clatter to the floor. Naruto nodded absently as he sucked on a streak of dried blood on his thumb, Minato twitching slightly as Naruto removed the finger, now blood free.
"So who gets to pump in the chakra?" Naruto asked with a sardonic grin.
Minato shrugged, looking down at the complex counterseal. "I could do….your blood doesn't have any nasty bites or tricks to it, right?" Receiving a shake of the head from Naruto, Minato nodded and crouched down. "Kneel down and don't move," he ordered Sasuke who scoffed before obeying.
Naruto watched as Minato slowly fed his chakra into the seal, the runes lighting up with a soft blue glow before the runes painted directly on Sasuke's skin slithered up to the curse seal and seemed to latch onto one of the tomoe of the seal. Sasuke gasped as the tomoe seemed to resist for a moment before dissolving into the runes of the counterseal. Minato watched with satisfaction as the pain seal- hidden by the tomoe apparently- was dissolved. He gently stopped the flow of chakra, looking down at the concrete when Naruto gasped in surprise. Minato's head jerked up and his eyes widened as the other two tomoes of the curse seal uncurled briefly, revealing the rune blueprints of the curse seal before quickly disappearing.
"Shit," Naruto muttered. "All I caught sight of was a power boost seal- couldn't tell which one. Did you see anything different?"
Minato nodded, pleased. "He used linking seals to hold whatever other seals he used to make the curse seal hold together." He looked up in time to see Naruto's smug expression and rolled his eyes. "We can report to Tsunade after we clean up in here."
Naruto grunted before walking towards Sasuke, who was still crouched on the floor. "Oi, teme," Naruto started as he shook Sasuke's shoulder, jumping back in surprised as Sasuke lashed out in a punch.
"Don't. Touch it," Sasuke growled, hand clamped protectively over the diminished curse seal marking. Naruto shrugged before looking at Minato.
"Don't suppose you know any small suiton jutsu," Naruto asked as Sasuke lay down on his cot, ignoring the pair. Minato felt his heart contract for a moment. Yes, he did know small suiton jutsu- a lot actually. Kushina had been the one to teach him…"Yeah," he said gruffly as he formed the hand seals and held out his palm out over the floor as water from the air condensed and splashed onto the ground. Naruto scuffed his feet over the floor, helping to remove the ink while Minato held the jutsu until most of the ink had been washed away. "We'll be back later," he told Sasuke as Naruto unlocked the cell door.
Naruto stopped for a moment, looking vaguely guilty, spoke up. "Actually…I was hoping to stay and talk to teme- I'll catch up later."
Minato looked surprised but nodded easily. "Okay….I'll go make the report to Tsunade then."
Naruto nodded and Minato left the area without a backward glance. Naruto watched as the former Hokage walked around a corner before letting the cell door close. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Naruto backed up against the wall across from the foot of the cot and slid down to sit on a mostly dry patch of concrete with a soft sigh as his eyes closed. Sasuke stood watching the blonde for a moment before turning away to take down and remake his cot. The Uchiha was sighing in disgust at his wet blanket and pillow when Naruto finally spoke.
"Was it worth it?" Naruto voice was soft but casual, as if commenting on the weather.
Sasuke spread his blanket over the toilet so it could try to dry before turning to look at Naruto. "Was what worth it," he asked, wondering what the blonde talking about.
Naruto cracked open an eye and looked at Sasuke. "Was going to Orochimaru worth it?"
Sasuke drew back a step, a hand drifting over his hips and the small scars there before deciding a change of topic was in order. "Why are you here dobe?"
Naruto shrugged, cracking open his other eye to watch as Sasuke settled gingerly on his damp cot. "I could stay here with your absolutely charming presence, go out into the village in my henge and risk running into the Rookie Nine or prowl the forest. I'm not inclined to the latter options at the moment.
"Why bother with the henge at all? I'm sure the others would be glad," Sasuke sneered at the word, "to see you return."
Naruto growled slightly, eyes narrowing. "What if I don't want to come back," he asked in a dangerously soft voice. Sasuke felt his eyes widen for a moment before he turned away with a grunt. The pair settled in a slightly companionable silence, the only sound being the rustle of clothes as either one shifted slightly.
After what seemed like an half hour Naruto opened his eyes and glanced towards the cell door, nostrils flaring slightly as he drew in a deep sniff of air. "Someone's coming," he drawled lazily as the secure lock clicked open and the door opened to show a seal masked ANBU. The elite shinobi's hand was half raised in greeting when Naruto rose to his feet with alacrity, looking surprised.
"Naruto-kun….I wasn't aware that you were back." If the ANBU was surprised, he hid it well with an icy tone. Naruto's shoulders slumped and his hand crept to rub at the back of his neck uneasily.
"Seal…I didn't know you were active again…" Naruto's voice trailed off as he looked up to see a pair of flinty brown eyes glaring at him as Seal looked over the physical changes in his appearance.
"Tsunade-sama assigned me personally to Sasuke's case," Seal explained in a flat voice.
"Congrats teme- you got the best psychoanalyst and therapist in ANBU on your case," Naruto announced in overly cheerful tones.
"Tch….if there's anyone who needs therapy, it's you dobe," Sasuke grunted from his cot, eyes fixing on the ceiling.
"Been there, done it." Naruto glanced back to see Sasuke's ill-concealed surprise before looking back at Seal, who folded his arms.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to kick you out now Naruto-kun- Patient confidentiality and all that." His voice was a shade friendlier as Naruto strolled out the door.
"Got it. See ya teme, Seal. Tell Iruka-sensei that I said hi," Naruto grinned slightly only to stop at Seal light chuckle.
"I won't have to. You can expect a visit from him yourself and soon. See you around, Naruto-kun." Before Naruto could reply with more than a twitch, Seal shut the cell door with a friendly wriggling of gloved fingers.
Naruto stared at the shut door for a moment with some horror before reluctantly slinking down the corridor and applying his henge as he emerged into the hustle of ANBU HQ. Guess I'll go prowl around the forest…
AN: I have been waiting to introduce Seal to everyone :3 He just rocks.
And Iruka-sensei comes in, next chapter! See everyone next week.