Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, some mild to moderate character bashing where unavoidable (mostly Dumbledore & Danzou with some Sakura & potentially lots of Sasuke), alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), OCC behaviors and personalities, a number of original characters and obscure canon characters to flesh out family trees, random chosen last names to give a number of characters surnames, and who knows what else.
AN1: Partial credit for the Story Prompt/Challenge used to create this story goes to the Guru of Challenges; Challenge King. For details, see the first author's note at the top of the first chapter.
AN2: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Goodbye Wave (Mission's End)
May 08, 1990, 11:51 PM
Tazuna's House, Nami no Kuni
Elemental Nations
Naruto absently dragged his foot back and forth through the water as he sat on the end of the dock that jutted out into the lake beside Tazuna's house. He stared at his foot and wriggled his toes in the water next before he turned his head to the side to glance at Haruo. The two of them had only just been allowed out of bed and while Naruto had pretty much fully recovered from his injuries, Haruo was not. Well, Haruo hadn't exactly been injured aside from a few scratches and the burns on his hands and face but he was still suffering from chakra exhaustion and therefore wasn't fully recovered.
He was at least physically recovered but his chakra reserves were still rather low.
It wasn't Haruo's slowly recovering chakra reserves that were weighing on Naruto's mind though. He was far more worried about the fact that Haruo wasn't acting like himself. He didn't joke. He didn't laugh at Naruto's jokes. He didn't even smile. Not only that but he had barely said two dozen words since he'd woken up the second time. And lastly, Haruo absolutely refused to let Naruto out of his sight for even a second (though that wasn't exactly something new) and insisted on maintaining physical contact whenever possible (their legs were touching at the moment).
Naruto didn't like the change in his friend even if he didn't mind the younger boy being clingy.
He also hated the fact that he had no idea how to help his friend.
Normally, he'd tell a joke or plan a prank to make his friend laugh again but jokes weren't working and Kakashi wasn't going to let him pull any pranks while they were still in the middle of a mission.
Sighing, Naruto dropped backwards so that he was lying on the wooden deck and stared up at the sky only to close his eyes a moment later because the sun was practically right overtop of him. Aside from being frustrated over his inability to cheer his friend up, Naruto was also bored out of his mind because Kakashi had told him that he wasn't allowed to train even though there was nothing wrong with him now. Not that anyone else was really allowed to train either; Haruo and the teme were both still recovering and Sakura was spending most of her time on the bridge watching over Tazuna.
He wasn't quite sure what Kakashi was doing. Their sensei would leave early each morning and not return until after supper each night ever since they had fought Zabuza and Haku on the bridge. That's not to say that they had been left unsupervised. Kakashi had summoned all eight of his ninken and left all but two of the dogs to watch over them while he took the last two with him each time he left. Buru usually stood guard over their prisoners (because he was the most intimidating) while the others all took turns watching over the four Genin, Tazuna, and Tazuna's family.
Well, technically, the other five that were left each day fought over who was going to keep an eye on Haruo.
The dogs absolutely adored Haruo and they often complained that Kakashi never let them spend enough time with the younger boy.
Today, Guruko had won that 'privilege' and the small dog was currently curled up in Haruo's lap and Bisuke was not very far; the tattooed ninken was currently on Inari duty and Inari had taken to following Naruto around like a lost puppy ever since he had learned that Naruto had killed Gato from one of the other villagers. Naruto didn't mind so long as the boy didn't pester or make fun of Haruo. Though, the blond was not quite certain what to think of the slight hero worship he saw in the boy's eyes.
Naruto also didn't know how to feel about sort of killing Gato.
It hadn't really been on purpose; he'd just been so angry at the man for threatening Haruo.
And he hadn't even touched the man!
Naruto's brooding was interrupted at that precise moment when Sakura called his and Haruo's names; her presence here a clear indication that Tazuna had come home for lunch again today. Naruto sat back up and twisted around to find his pink haired teammate carrying a tray of onigiri as she made her way across the deck to reach them.
"Tsunami-san sent me out here with lunch," Sakura needlessly announced as she sat down a short distance away from the two boys. "She sent me with enough for all of us and there's some deboned fish for Kakashi's ninken." Sakura then glanced over to where Inari's shoulder could be seen sticking out from behind one of the pillars supporting the pier to state, "There's enough here for you too, Inari."
"Thanks," Naruto murmured as he snagged two pieces of onigiri and handed one to Haruo while an embarrassed Inari (he had just been caught spying on the two boys by a girl)joined their little group.
The four of them ate quietly for several minutes while the two ninken scarfed down their fish in record time. Naruto thought it was kind of nice, sitting there on the dock eating onigiri in the sun; almost like a picnic with friends. Of course, it would have been far nicer if Haruo had been in a better mood but it also could have been far, far worse. Sasuke could have been there, after all. After they had sated their hunger for the most part (though Haruo had only picked at his food), Sakura broke the silence.
"Haruo, can I ask you something?" Sakura tentatively asked after watching Naruto's green eyed friend for several minutes. Haruo glanced up to briefly meet her gaze before he shrugged his shoulders in response. Sakura took the non-answer as an affirmative reply as she then asked, "Why did you put me inside of the dome with Tazuna and your clone? Was it because you think I'm weak?"
Haruo shook his head no.
"Then why did you do it?" Sakura demanded with a slight frown.
"You only speak Japanese, sempai," Haruo grudgingly answered in a near whisper. "Naruto and I don't. You also haven't learned any of the sign codes we use. So, we had no way of communicating the plan we'd come up with to you without the risk of our enemies overhearing us. It also would've taken too long to explain things to you and we'd have lost what little advantage we had. I also figured that you were the best one to guard Tazuna in case my clone was killed since you were still fresh while Naruto and I had been fighting for almost five minutes before you got there."
"Oh, I thought you just wanted me out of the way."
"Nah," Naruto countered in Haruo's place. "You don't really get the in the way at all any more; not like the teme."
Sakura let out a soft snort before she offered Naruto a small smile in response to his comment.
"How come you guys are so strong?" Inari inquired as he frowned at them. "I mean, you're still kids like me." The eight year old then jabbed a finger in Haruo's direction as he added, "And you're my age!"
"No, I'm not," Haruo corrected with a slight frown. "I'm only a little younger than Naruto and mostly just short."
"Haruo's eleven," Sakura added as she glanced between Inari and Haruo a few times. "But he does look like he's closer to your age. He's probably just a late bloomer."
"And we're strong because we train," Naruto offered in order to draw everyone's attention away from Haruo's age since his friend technically was only a year older than Inari but no one was supposed to really know that.
"But that other boy, Sasuke, he trained all the time too. I even saw him sneak out of the house at night to train but two of Gato's thugs that tried to take my mom almost killed him. Shouldn't he be stronger than you three because he trains more? I mean, Haruo hasn't really done any training since he got here!"
"That's because Haruo couldn't do any serious training while he was recovering from chakra exhaustion," Sakura explained patiently. "Haruo took a big risk when he made that shield to protect your grandfather because that technique was far too powerful for him to use but he did it anyway to save Tazuna-san."
"It isn't training that makes a person strong anyway," Haruo interjected as he sneakily slipped his uneaten half of onigiri to Guruko when he thought Naruto wasn't watching. "Well, training helps. So does knowing a lot of strong jutsu. But one person fighting all alone is never as strong as two people who fight together. Naruto and I always fight together as a team. That's what makes us strong. Without each other, we would be far weaker. Without Naruto, I would be nothing."
"You mean sorta like how I shot that one bandit in the butt while okaasan bashed him on the head with her favorite rolling pin?"
"Yeah," Naruto agreed with a small smile as he imagined the kid shooting the bad guy in the butt with an arrow. "That's exactly what Haruo meant." His words drew a smile and a pleased blush from the younger boy.
"Hey, Haruo, why do you keep calling me sempai?" Sakura asked several minutes later with a slight frown.
"Why shouldn't he? You're old than him," Naruto answered when Haruo just shrugged in response to the question.
"It's just weird," Sakura murmured as she too shrugged her shoulders. "No one's ever called me that before. We were also in the same classes at the Academy so it's kind of strange for him to call me his sempai. That's especially true when you consider the fact that he's actually better than me at some… well, many things."
"Yeah, but you've also gotten much better than you were back at the Academy," Naruto pointed out.
Sakura gave him a beaming smile in response to the praise and Naruto blushed a bit. He wasn't quite used to pretty girls smiling at him like that. They usually just smiled at Haruo like that. He glanced sideways at Haruo, half expecting his friend to be smirking at him because he was blushing over Sakura's smile but Haruo wasn't even paying attention; his green eyes staring out over the lake they were sitting next two.
Naruto sighed a moment later as it became obvious that Haruo hadn't suddenly bounced back to his normal happy self even if he'd spoken more in the last ten minutes than he had over the last three days.
May 09, 1990, 7:31 PM (Moon Rise)
Central Tower, Training Ground 44, Hi no Kuni
Elemental Nations
Jiraiya winced as he watched Lupin-san's body snapping and twisting as it changed from human to wolf and listened to the man's pained howls and cries. The transformation was no where near as smooth or as painless as Black-san's earlier transformation into a large dog. If the spy master hadn't already known what was happening, he would have sworn that someone was torturing the Trueborn. Actually, he was pretty certain that it was torture. It certainly looked and sounded like torture.
It was almost enough to make Jiraiya regret sticking around to observe the phenomenon.
Thankfully, the transformation was over relatively quickly and Jiraiya leaned closer to the monitor to observe the wolf-like creature that was now sprawled on the floor in the safe house that had been secured for Lupin-san.
At first glance, the creature looked like a normal wolf but the moment you looked closer, it became obvious that there were several differences. Those differences included the fact that the werewolf was far taller than a normal wolf, slender to the point of looking emaciated, had a shorter snout that was wider than a true wolf's snout, and was rather sparsely furred. The creature looked sickly, for lack of a better description; like it had picked up a serious case of mange.
Jiraiya had to admit that the werewolf looked nothing like he had expected it to. He had actually imagined that such a creature would look like a more feral version of the Inuzuka's Shikyaku no Jutsu with more hair; basically a humanoid form with animalistic features. Of course, that assumption had been based upon fictional depictions of a werewolf from books and movies. So, it wasn't really surprising that his expectations hadn't been fulfilled.
Shaking off the tangent that his thoughts had turned down, the fifty-year old shinobi returned his attention to the monitor in time to see the large black dog that he knew was Black-san prod the newly transformed wolf with his nose. The wolf's reaction to having his personal space invaded was immediate and violent as it sprang up off of the floor to attack the dog with unnatural strength and speed. Jiraiya twitched as he suppressed the desire to go save the dog that looked like it was about to be killed by the werewolf.
"I thought Inoichi's report said that Lupin's wolf form would ignore Black while he was in his dog form," Jiraiya commented out loud as he frowned at the vicious fight taking place on screen.
"Lupin did warn us that the wolf would be confused at waking up in an unfamiliar place and angry at his companion due to the events that happened around the night that Haruo was orphaned when he locked himself and Black in the modified safe house," Kuma pointed out with a voice that practically dripped with discomfort.
Jiraiya hummed an acknowledgement before he refocused his attention on the fight just in time to see the dog slam the wolf into a wall to dislodge the feral creature from its back. The wolf staggered from the force of the impact and shook itself out before it sat down and let out a long, mournful howl. The dog's voice soon joined the wolf's voice and Jiraiya felt a shiver walk up his spine in response to the palpable grief he could hear in the duet. Silence fell over the room a moment later and the two beasts began nosing one another before the dog instigated a game of tag with the wolf.
The Gama Sennin was a little surprised that the fight had ended as abruptly as it had started and that there hadn't been a clear winner. He was also a little concerned about the injuries that the two Trueborns had inflicted upon each other. At least they didn't appear to be in immediate danger of bleeding to death; their wounds shallow enough that they'd already stopped bleeding. Then again, it was possible that their mahou had sped up the healing process.
After another minute of watching the dog and wolf play, Jiraiya couldn't help but feel rather amused that the two animals were acting like children. Dangerous children, Jiraiya silently amended as he recalled the short but vicious fight between the transformed pair. He then made a mental note to reinforce the barriers around the small safe house once the moon had set and Lupin had returned to his human form; he did not want to face the werewolf in a fight on the off chance that it ever got out.
Nor did he ever wish to face his sensei's wrath should his barrier allow the vicious counterpart to the mild-mannered Trueborn ever escape its cage.
Despite what others might think, he was not suicidal.
And the Sandaime would kill him if the failure of his barriers allowed the werewolf to harm one of his shinobi or one of the village's citizens.
Growing bored with the view on the monitor, Jiraiya let his thoughts drift to the report he'd received from one of his contacts in Cha no Kuni earlier that day. According to the old merchant, Gato Senshu had recently been assassinated and the army of mercenaries that he had commanded had been permanently disbanded. A frown worked its way onto his face as he tried to recall where Gato's most recent base had been located and who might have had the power or money to get to the ruthless businessman.
Gato had been amassing power (and money) for close to four decades now and the immoral tyrant had easily avoided numerous assassination attempts in the past. In fact, half of the assassinations the man was rumored to have financed were suspected to be retaliatory attacks on those enemies that had tried to off him first. He had also earned the loyalty of close to a dozen hard core mercenaries that obeyed him without question and his bodyguards were extra diligent in protecting their boss.
Jiraiya didn't know how a man as slimy as Gato had managed to buy loyalty like that but knew it had to be something better than cash since mercenaries were well known to switch loyalties at the drop of a ryo. Money alone wasn't enough to keep men like that chained to a man they didn't respect. It was possible that the mercs had feared their employer but that still wouldn't be enough to keep them loyal. In fact, fear had a greater chance of instigating betrayal than it did of inspiring loyalty.
The only other depraved person that Jiraiya knew who could inspire such blind loyalty in his followers was his former teammate; Orochimaru. As deranged and sadistic as the traitor was, Jiraiya would be the first to admit that the snake summoner could be charismatic when the mood struck him and he inspired absolute loyalty in his subordinates. The man also inspired fear in his enemies; most of it on reputation alone.
Gato's death would undoubtedly impact Gato Corporation's various business dealings on both sides of the law; though it was hard to say whether that impact would be good or bad for Konoha. It would really depend on who stepped into fill the void left by Gato and which country ended up taking control of Gato's empire. Jiraiya felt rather ill when he considered the possibility of someone like Orochimaru getting their hands on Gato's vast wealth. That wasn't even touching on how much damage could be done if one of the hidden villages picked up the reins.
Jiraiya's frown deepened as he recalled the vague hints he'd gathered over the years that Orochimaru regularly did business with the shadier side of Gato Corporation. The rumors indicated Orochimaru dabbled in the Flesh Trade. While Orochimaru had no interest in slaves he was fascinated with human experimentation. So the idea that Orochimaru bought those people that Gato wanted or needed to disappear wasn't exactly farfetched. And since so few people survived the teme's experiments, Gato wouldn't have to worry about anyone being found once they'd been sold.
Jiraiya had been trying to confirm the rumors for years but all of the leads he'd dug up always led to dead ends; quite literally 'dead' ends around sixty-eight percent of the time.
He dropped that line of thought a moment later as he instead focused on the important issue; the fallout from Gato's death. He was going to have to figure out which contacts he needed to get in touch with in order to get more information on the circumstances surrounding Gato's death. He needed to find out where the despot was at the time of death and who was ultimately responsible for said death. Knowing the motive behind the assassination would be nice too but ultimately unimportant.
An irritated scowl soon pulled the corners of Jiraiya's mouth down as he realized he was going to have to put off the toads for a little while longer in order to look into the mess. When he had summoned Ma and Pa for the interview with the two adult Trueborns four days earlier, they had informed him that one of the prophecies surrounding the little Trueborn had been fulfilled recently and that Gamamaru (the Great Toad Sage) wished to speak with him on the matter at his earliest convenience. He would have traveled to Mt. Myouboku immediately after the meeting but Kasai had asked him to stick around to set up the barriers for the werewolf's full moon sanctuary.
And that had inevitably meant sticking around long enough to ensure that the barriers would hold in the event that Lupin's security measures proved insufficient.
Most people would think that popping off to the toads' home wouldn't take long but due to the fact that time flowed differently in the Summoning World, a quick hour long trip could take anywhere from one to five days depending on the time of day, position of the stars, and the method used to travel there. The very first time he'd that ended up in Mt. Myouboku, he'd spent what he'd thought was a mere day and a half with the toads before earning the right to sign their contract only to learn that he'd been gone a full ten days instead!
His sensei had not been impressed. Well, he had been rather impressed with the fact that Jiraiya had earned the right to summon the toads but he'd been far from impressed with his brief disappearance.
So, no, he couldn't just nip on over to Mt. Myouboku for an hour long chat and come right back.
All that meant was that he was going to have to look into the Gato mess before he went to talk to the toads though; since gathering information regarding the fate of Gato Corp and Gato's vast wealth was imperative to the safety of Konoha.
"Chikushou, I need a drink and the soothing view of boobs," Jiraiya muttered as he climbed to his feet and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a few hours, gaki; try not to let anything go wrong while I'm gone."
All he received in reply was a huff of exasperation and an eye roll.
May 10, 1990, 8:13 AM
Tazuna's House, Nami no Kuni
Elemental Nations
Haruo tried not to squirm as Kakashi pulled the back of his jumpsuit jacket and his undershirt up so that he could remove the disruption seal he'd placed on Haruo while he was unconscious. The moment Kakashi peeled the tag away from his skin, Haruo felt the world around him snap back into clarity and he barely held back tears of sheer joy when Naruto's chakra signature lit up his senses for the first time since he'd regained consciousness after facing Zabuza and the creep that had tried to take Naruto away from him.
Closing his eyes, Haruo simply basked in the feeling of finally being whole once more.
He hadn't realized just how disconnected he'd felt from the world until Kakashi had removed the seal tag disrupting his chakra network. It was like he'd been trapped inside of a thick-walled glass jar; he had been able to see outside of the jar but everything he saw had been washed out and slightly distorted while he hadn't been able to feel anything. Now that he was no longer trapped inside the 'jar' he could actually 'see' and 'feel' everything clearly.
The nine year old wriggled like a worm on a hook once he'd finished cataloging everything he could finally sense around him so that he could escape the Jounin's hold in order to pull his shirt and jacket back down into place. He then flashed a relieved grin at Naruto before he spun around to face Kakashi to see if their sensei had any new orders for him.
"Well, someone's in a good mood today," Kakashi observed as he inspected Haruo with both eyes before he covered his Sharingan once more.
"Everything finally feels right and I can sense Naruto again now without having to touch him."
"Hmm, that's rather interesting," Kakashi mused thoughtfully.
"Are you going to let us do any training now?" Naruto demanded before Haruo could ask Kakashi what he meant.
"Yes, I suppose the two of you can do a little light training. You're to keep it simple though; nothing beyond a little stretching, taijutsu katas, and meditation. That means no sparring, no calisthenics, no chakra exercises, no ninjutsu, and no rough housing. And it especially means no clones! I don't want either of you to push yourselves until a medic has had a chance to give you a once over to make certain there aren't any lingering issues."
Naruto pouted for all of one second over the restrictions while Haruo dutifully nodded in acceptance. Haruo personally didn't mind having his training limited at the moment. Now that the initial rush of having the chakra disruption seal removed had worn off, he was feeling somewhat stiff and groggy; as if he'd slept outside in the cold all night in an awkward position.
"Naruto, I fully expect you to keep an eye on Haruo and keep him from tiring himself out," Kakashi instructed before he crossed the room to check on Sasuke's injuries.
"Hai, sensei," Naruto readily replied and this time Haruo pouted at their sensei for ordering Naruto to basically babysit him but Kakashi easily ignored him.
The two of them left the guestroom without a backwards glance at that point; they had no interest in sticking around to get an update on Sasuke's condition. There was also training to look forward to. And while Haruo wasn't all that eager to jump straight back into things, he knew that Naruto had been slowly going crazy from the training ban that Kakashi had placed the two of them under and so was extra eager to finally be allowed to do something other than 'sit around and rest'. So, he'd quietly allowed Naruto to drag him along and put forth the effort to train for Naruto's sake.
Besides, training alongside Naruto was usually fun; even if they weren't doing much of anything.
May 14, 1990, 9:31 AM
Tazuna's House, Nami no Kuni
Elemental Nations
Sasuke scowled darkly as he watched Kakashi secure their injured prisoner (who had only regained consciousness the previous evening) to the back of his largest ninken before he slid his gaze to where their other prisoner was observing the process with glittering dark eyes. The scowl morphed into a sneer of disgust when he slide his gaze further left to land on the dead weight that was holding him back; his three so called teammates. He refused to believe that the three of them played any part in capturing Zabuza or his accomplice.
There was no way any one of them could have faced the stronger two shinobi and lived to tell the tale. Not when he, the strongest Genin of their generation and the most recent Rookie of the Year, hadn't been able to land a single hit on Zabuza the first time they'd faced the missing nin. He completely ignored the fact that the crybaby and the dead last have been out-performing him since the day they were placed on the same team. He also chose to forget the little tantrums he'd had over the fact that he could never seem to catch up to them.
He'd recently come to the conclusion that it wasn't that the two losers were stronger; it was that everyone was holding him [Sasuke] back.
Sasuke pressed his lips together until they all but disappeared as he let his gaze return to the injured prisoner. Despite the bruises that marred the teen's face, Sasuke had easily recognized the older boy as the civilian girl that he'd encountered in the forest over two weeks ago. Anger bubbled up in his stomach over the memory of how easily the boy had fooled him just by simply dressing up as a girl.
His anger soon turned to dark satisfaction as it occurred to him that the fact that the girl-turned-boy had been captured vindicated Sasuke's firm belief that hate and anger made one stronger because the teen who had stupidly claimed that 'precious bonds' was what made a person strong had been defeated. It never occurred to him that the only reason why Haku had been defeated was because of the bond that Haruo and Naruto shared.
Turning away from the scene in front of him, Sasuke pressed his left hand to his lower abdomen as the half-healed gash there throbbed with pain due to the way he'd moved when he turned. His right arm was currently trussed up in a sling to keep him from jarring the injured arm; he'd nearly had the arm cut off at the elbow when he'd reflexively thrown it up to block the sword swipe that would have potentially removed his head. The only reason why he hadn't lost the arm completely was because he'd been wearing Itachi's old arm guards under the arm warmers he wore.
There was a reason why Itachi had stopped using those particular arm guards long before he'd massacred the clan though; and that was because they had grown brittle from repeated exposure to large amount of chakra. The guard on his right arm had cracked the moment the sword he'd blocked had impacted the guard, allowing the sharp but poorly cared for blade to bite deeply into the bone less than an inch below the elbow. The pain of the sword biting into the bone had distracted him just enough that the other thug had managed to slice him across his lower stomach and he was damn lucky that the sword hadn't cut deep enough to slice open his intestines or he'd be dead.
The most galling part about the injuries he'd received, aside from the fact that it had been a pair of what he saw as weak civilians with the paltry training of a samurai that had injured him, was that he'd been saved from certain death by the annoyingly loud crybaby civilian and his mother.
He was an Uchiha, damn it, he wasn't supposed to need saving!
And to add insult to injury, Kakashi had grounded Sasuke and locked him up in the guestroom with the dead last, the crybaby, and the injured prisoner that had duped him. He'd also been forced to remain on bed rest until two nights ago; the self-titled avenger intentionally overlooking the fact that he'd been seriously injured. Even once he'd been allowed out of bed, Sasuke hadn't been allowed to train. Or do much of anything but sit and rest. He couldn't even sneak off to do a bit of training anyway because Kakashi had set one of his stupid dogs to babysit him.
It was humiliating to find out that his sensei didn't think him important enough to personally watch over him.
No, he had sent a dog to do it.
This time, Sasuke conveniently ignored the fact that Kakashi's dogs were highly trained summonses and that he'd left them to stand guard over all four of the Genin, their prisoners, and their client's family. He had also disregarded the fact that they'd been in the middle of a mission at the time and that Kakashi couldn't just drop everything to nurse him back to health. That was on top of the moody pre-teen forgetting that he still might have lost half of his right arm if not for Tsunami's initial first aide and Kakashi's field medic training (or that he [Kakashi] had nearly exhausted himself to save Sasuke's arm).
One could almost say that Sasuke was wearing permanent blinders when it came to certain aspects of his life.
About the only good thing to come out of that mess was the fact that Sasuke had unlocked his Sharingan when he'd blocked the sword that had been trying to take his head off. He hadn't actually told anyone about that though. He himself hadn't even known it until he'd seen them in the mirror (he'd been snarling at his reflection at the time) when he'd gone to take a shower two days earlier after he'd finally been allowed out of bed. In his mind, there was no reason for him to tell anyone about his new eyes. He could easily train them on his own once they returned to Konoha and his clan archives.
There was no need for him to even bother asking Kakashi for help.
The man might have a Sharingan but it was obviously a stolen eye. If it wasn't, then he'd have two Sharingan and he'd not have to hide it from the world. The fact that he did hide that lone Sharingan meant that he was trying to hide the theft in Sasuke's mind. He'd have to check the archives to see if his father and the rest of the clan had known about Kakashi's theft and why they'd allowed it to stand. He also didn't discount the possibility that Kakashi had stolen the eye from the dead after Itachi had killed everyone.
A brief burning itch in his eyes immediately followed by his vision morphing into gray-scale let Sasuke know that he'd unintentionally activated his Sharingan and he hastily cut off the chakra flowing to his eyes to prevent anyone else from noticing.
The sooner we leave this blasted island, the happier I will be, Sasuke silently growled to himself as he dropped his hand away from his stomach once his vision had returned to normal. As far as he was concerned, this mission had dragged on for far too long and they should have left the minute Gato had been declared dead instead of waiting for the drunkard that called himself a bridge builder to finish building his bridge. Once again he completely overlooked the fact that he, two of his teammates, and one of their prisoners had been injured.
"Alright, my cute little students; does everyone have all of their things?" Kakashi asked as he clapped his hands together and made that stupid face of his that made it look like his eye was smiling. Sasuke hated that look; it always made him feel as if Kakashi was mocking him. "Because I'll tell you right now, I'm not turning around just so you can come back and grab something you left behind."
Sasuke ignored the question; he didn't need any one to tell him how to pack his things or hold his hand like a baby. In his mind, the question and the veiled threat had been spoken for the sake of his teammates and not him. The fact that all three of them answered the Jounin only solidified that impression in his mind.
"Hai, sensei!"
"In that case, I believe it's time for us to get moving if we hope to cover a respectable distance before supper time."
"Finally," Sasuke muttered under his breath as he headed for the road that led towards the main village on Nami and the bridge that now connected Nami no Kuni to Hi no Kuni.
The lone Uchiha was rather pleased when Kakashi didn't bother ordering them into a team formation as they made their way towards the newly completed bridge. He hated being ordered around. Uchihas were meant to lead because they were the best and following someone else's orders, even those of a Jounin, chaffed.
The thought that it was his birthright to stand above no-name orphans the likes of Naruto and Haruo buoyed the injured Uchiha's mood as they made their way into town. By the time they reached the bridge though, Sasuke felt like his stomach had just been sliced open instead of half healed like it was. His abdomen burned and throbbed in turns and it was only his stubborn pride that prevented him from walking half hunched over to lesson the pain. He was startled a moment later when Kakashi unexpectedly popped up in front of him and thrust a vial of liquid pain reliever in his face.
"Drink," Kakashi instructed as he wriggled the vial back and forth in front of Sasuke's face. "And before you think to protest how you aren't in any pain, I will give you a choice; either drink the medicine to relieve the pain or I will tie you to Buru alongside of our injured prisoner. You will also sit down and rest for the next half hour while I tie up a few loose ends because if you tear the stitches out, you will be carried to Konoha. I would also advise you to reinforce the muscles around the gash with chakra once we start moving to prevent your movements from tearing that gash open again."
Sasuke grunted in reply, grudgingly accepted the vial of medicine, and downed the contents when Kakashi gave him a pointed look before he glanced at the vial and remained where he was until Sasuke had emptied the vial. Once he'd stopped gagging over the taste of the liquid pain reliever (damn baby medicine), Sasuke took a seat on a pile of crates stacked off to one side of the bridge to rest. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips when he immediately felt his pain lesson the moment he was off his feet and his stomach muscles were no longer being stretched taut by his posture.
As he waited for the pain killer to kick in and blunt the rest of the pain he felt, Sasuke let his gaze slip towards where his teammates were chatting with the bridge builder's grandson and a gaggle of dirty village children. His lips curled up in a sneer as he watched the crybaby acting like a little kid around the other children. If not for the hitai-ate wrapped around the crybaby's head, it would be easy to mistake the boy as one of the village urchins. Sasuke couldn't help but think that the little brat was a disgrace to shinobi everywhere with how much like a baby he acted all the time.
Unable to stand the sickening display in front of him, Sasuke tore his gaze away from the children and glanced out over the ocean. He clenched his jaw and fisted his hands reflexively as he ignored the view and focused instead on the power he needed to defeat Itachi. No, not just defeat the kinslayer; he needed the power to utterly destroy him. This mission had only driven home the fact that he was still far too weak. He'd never catch up to Itachi at this rate; let alone surpass him.
Sasuke had no idea how long he'd been sitting there glaring out over the ocean before he heard Kakashi's voice calling out, "Let's shake a leg, my cute little students! It's time for us to say goodbye to Nami."
Sasuke gingerly abandoned his perch (part of him pleased to note that the pain reliever was working) even as he sent a flood of chakra to support his stomach muscles and began making his way to the bridge where the rest of his team was marching off without him. He'd just stepped onto the bridge when he overheard part of a conversation between a group of villagers that included Tazuna and his grandson that would set his blood to boiling.
"So, have you come up with a name for your bridge yet, Tazuna?"
"I always wanted to call it The Great Tazuna's Super Bridge."
"That's a terrible name!" several individuals all hollered at the same time.
"Well, what would you name it then?" Tazuna demanded in a tone thick with injured pride.
"I'd name it after Uzumaki Naruto!" Inari blurted out and Sasuke nearly tripped over his feet while he choked on the air he'd been breathing in at the time. "Naruto saved us. He took down Gato. He also shared a bunch of food with everyone but didn't charge us anything for it. He's not just a great shinobi – he's an awesome hero!"
"You know, Inari, I think you have something there. I think the Great Naruto Bridge has a nice ring to it."
Sasuke opened his mouth to tell the villagers that that was the worst name ever when Kakashi yelled, "Sasuke! Get a move on before I toss you on Buru's back!"
After sending one last dirty look at the cheering idiots that had just named a bridge after the biggest idiot of all, Sasuke stalked off after his pathetic teammates.
Translations: English to Japanese
Ano – er, um, uh
Arigatou – thank you
Okaasan/kaasan/kaachan – mother
Shikyaku no Jutsu – Four-Legged Technique
Notes:
Kakashi's Ninken Pack
Pakkun (the talking pug)
Shiba (the one with the black crest on his head)
Bisuke (little one with tattoo on forehead)
Akino (one with glasses)
Guruko (little one with the hitai-ate on his forehead)
Uhei (one with bandages)
Urushi (the white one)
Buru (the big black bulldog)
AN: Haruo's brief period of 'detachment' and 'extra clinginess' while wearing the displacement seal will be explained in the story; so please don't hound me for answers since I dislike handing out spoilers to my own stories. On the same note, his extreme dependence on Naruto will also be addressed within the story. ~ Jenn
04-15-17: More minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.