Chapter 35: It's time
14th of January
They did it on purpose. They had let him make a promise, a big one too, but of course that wasn't enough. They had to rub it in. It just wasn't fair. This was very difficult for him already without them making it any worse. Maybe he deserved it, but he was just like this, had always been, and would always be. And his team was just so perfect, they were fooled so easily.
Naruto looked with pain in his eyes, pain from not being able to do anything, while Kenji stared up at him, watching him, keeping an eye on him.
"Oh, come on," Naruto whined silently.
"What's wrong, sensei? Can't keep to your promises?"
Immediately Naruto gave him a serious look. "I always keep my promises, it's my nindo!"
Kenji grinned a tad evilly.
Standing on the ground was a bucket with red paint. The brush was resting on top. Next to it stood Kenji, his arms crossed; nothing out of the ordinary, but on the other side of the bucket…
Ryomaru, wearing his mostly white shirt, had his back to Naruto, all open… open for a prank… but he couldn't, he had promised them not to play jokes on them for a month. A whole month! He didn't know how to survive, he had only promised them four days ago… just four… and it was hell!
Naruto looked away, trying to distract himself, but his fingers were tingling. He wanted so badly… It was unnatural not to use this opportunity.
"How's he doing?" Ryomaru asked.
"Not that great, he's shaking."
"Shouldn't you two be painting?" Naruto asked.
Eri frowned at him, turning her head away from her paintjob. "You promised good missions."
"And I told you that you have to do this one before I could get you a good one."
"At least he'll treat us to dinner after the mission."
Kenji bent down to pick up his brush, and continued to paint the flower box behind him.
Naruto breathed out in relief, the danger of a prank-to-be-made was over… for now anyways.
"I must admit that I don't like the painting," Eri said, stepping back from her plant box, "but when I'm finished, I have to admit it looks so much better."
Ryomaru nodded.
"You only did four," Naruto told her, "You better get on to it; a whole street is waiting for you. It will be a late dinner otherwise."
"Now he's getting grumpy," Eri muttered. "I wonder what he will be like after a month."
"Dead, I'm sure."
"Hé, you can't say that, Kenji," Naruto told Kenji off, hitting the back of his head.
"Ouch." Kenji rubbed his head.
"I am not grumpy," Naruto told them.
"Ha, then what?" Eri asked, grinning. "Does this have to do with Sasuke-sama?"
"Eh, no… why?" Naruto asked confused.
"Oh, no reason." Eri turned her back to him, starting to paint the next box.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Is Sasuke-sama coming to dinner too?" Kenji asked, trying to be subtle.
"Don't know, maybe if he and Akira-kun feel like it."
"Maybe you should ask him… to come too?" Kenji tried.
Eri smiled at what Kenji was doing.
"I could," Naruto said while watching Ryomaru paint, having a bit of a fight with his brush.
"Maybe Gamatebukuro can help, we haven't seen him for such a long time," Eri helped Kenji.
"Tebukuro?" Naruto asked, looking over to Eri. "You want to see him again? I thought you didn't like frogs."
"I don't like toads, frogs are fine. Plus I like his tiny gloves," Eri giggled. "They're so cute."
"You will summon him, sensei?" Kenji asked, realizing that was a bit too straight forward, he added, "Maybe he can help us paint."
"If you want to," Naruto said. He un-crossed his arms and knelt down. He thought about reopening a wound on his left hand, but then decided against it. Biting his thumb he made hand signs to summon the frog. "Kuchiose no jutsu."
A small puff of smoke and there Gamatebukuro stood, his gloves included.
"Heya all," he greeted team 9.
"Hey, Tebu-chan." Eri waved at him.
"They want you to help them paint," Naruto told the frog.
The frog turned around. "Me? Why don't you help them out. You're their sensei."
Naruto saw trouble coming. "Hey, I don't ask anything of you," he said holding up his hands.
The frog narrowed his horizontally slit eyes.
"We don't," Eri told the frog, "But it's easier to convince Naruto-sensei like this."
The frog smiled. "I see." He looked around to Naruto, who was distracted by a woman talking to him.
"That's so nice, make sure you don't forget it again." She smiled at Naruto, who of course smiled back.
"I will try, I'm such a-"
"So, what's the mission?" the frog asked.
"Painting there plant boxes in this street. Team 8, 14, 16 and 20 are doing the ones in the other streets."
"And what's the real reason I was summoned?" the frog grinned.
Team 9 exchanged looks. "Could you go to Sasuke-sama-" Kenji started.
"And Akira-kun," Ryomaru added.
"-and ask them if they want to join us for dinner?" Eri ended.
"Ah, I see where this is going." The frog smiled. "I can do that. Change the message a little, making it come from Naruto… Yes, that will work out just fine."
"You're the greatest, Gamatebukuro."
The frog grinned. "I know."
"We'll give you some insects in return," Ryomaru promised.
"Sounds good. I like working with you guys." The frog turned around. "Well then, I'll see you later." He jumped off.
"And they're doing such a fine job too. You must have it easy being their sensei. They are so kind doing this for our village," the woman told Naruto.
"Yes, they are the best. Look at how much fun they have," Naruto said pointing to his team, which quickly continued painting.
"Mama, tired," a small child beside her said.
"I know sweetie." She picked up her little girl. "Please tell Uchiha-sama that I'll be glad to look after Akira-kun again when necessary."
"I sure will." Naruto waved goodbye. "Bye, Nao-chan," he said to the girl.
Shyly she laid her head on her mother's shoulder. The woman smiled and walked off.
"You heard that?" Naruto asked his team as he turned around. "You're doing an awesome job."
"Still boring, we're not having fun at all," Kenji complained.
"Then make it more fun." Naruto grinned. "The first to be at the end of the street, painting the last box-" This got their attention, "gets to pick the next mission."
"Oh, I'm going to be first!" Eri immediately yelled.
"But if your painting isn't nice enough you'll lose points."
-x-
"I can't believe Ryomaru won," Kenji muttered.
"Well, done Ryomaru-kun," Eri praised her teammate as she sat down.
Ryomaru, slightly red in the face sat down beside Eri.
"So, why did you choose this place, sensei?" Eri looked up to Naruto as he sat down opposite her.
"I figured Ichiraku wouldn't do it…"
"Quite right, genius," Kenji said softly.
"I heard that, Kenji. And I have actually never been here before."
"It looks new. So cosy and small," Eri said while looking around.
"All that matters is that they have good food."
"Um, Kenji…" Kenji looked up to Ryomaru. "Doesn't your grandmother have a restaurant?"
"Yes," he answered shortly.
"Really? I didn't know that." Naruto turned to Kenji.
"Because it's not important." Kenji crossed his arms and looked the other way.
Naruto opened his mouth and then closed it again. He looked over to Ryomaru and Eri. "If I continue this conversation… will that fall under the promise?"
Eri and Ryomaru looked at each other. Kenji quickly turned around to. "It will. You will be trying to say something funny –which it is not!- what would make it belong to the-"
"I think it will be fine," Eri said.
Kenji stiffened up. "What? No, what are you saying?"
Eri grinned. "I think you need to be… pushed around a little by sensei every now and then. It loosens you up."
"If only a little," Ryomaru added.
Kenji grumbled and Naruto smiled. "Well, you're lucky this time, Kenji, I don't remember what we were talking about."
His team sweat dropped while Naruto's hand went to the back of his neck.
Naruto let his hand fall down and looked up to the door. "How did they know…" His eyes narrowed and looked over to his team. "Does this have to do with Gamatebukuro's sudden disappearance?"
"What does?" Eri turned to look over to the door too, only then realizing what Naruto had heard.
Sasuke and Akira came stepping into the room, walking straight to them.
"Hey Akira-kun," Naruto greeted, waiting for Sasuke to come and sit next to him so he could greet him properly.
"Please, no ki-" Kenji's face fell as he watched the two kiss. Ryomaru was looking over to Akira, who sat down beside him. "Hey Akira-kun, did you take a look at the book I gave you?"
"I did!" A medical conversation started.
"Sasuke-sama, you got some free time coming up?" Eri asked. Sasuke looked down at her. "Because we could use some cool mission with you!"
"The promise you made with Naruto does not concern me." Sasuke looked the other way, staring at Naruto.
"Don't look at me like that, I didn't promise them anything." Naruto held up his hands.
Sasuke looked down at the bandaged hand. "You didn't even do anything today-"
"I did!" Naruto interjected.
"You didn't, sensei," Eri told him.
Sasuke took Naruto's left hand in his. "And you still manage to open up the wound."
"I know, it opens up so easily."
Sasuke started to undo the bandage around Naruto's hand.
"Why do you think that is? You've always been… wild," Eri said. "But it never opened up this fast."
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's just more sensitive."
Sasuke pulled off the bandage and put it into his pocket. Then he looked over to Ryomaru. "Umu, you got some bandages?"
Ryomaru looked up startled. "H-hai!" He began looking through his medical pouch.
"You should stop calling them by their family names," Naruto told Sasuke.
Sasuke was looking down at Naruto's hand. His thumb and index finger were complete, his own flesh. His middle finger was only halfway done. The ring finger was not there, along with the pinkie. It even missed a part of his hand there.
"Does it still hurt?" Eri asked, looking with horror to the hand.
"I can handle it."
"Better not use your chakra for a while." Sasuke took the bandages from Ryomaru and wrapped it around the hand, while the orange fingers disappeared. "Maybe it will close faster."
Half an hour later they were happily eating and in conversation. Sasuke leant over to Naruto to whisper something to him.
"You haven't told them yet?"
Naruto grinned. "No, still thinking for a way to bypass my promise before I tell them."
"You'll not find one."
"We'll see."
"What are you whispering? It's rude to whisper when being in a company." Eri leant closer. "Was it something we're not supposed to hear?"
"Um, Eri, maybe you should stop asking," Kenji told her, afraid of what the answer might be. Last time something similar had happened, Sasuke began to tell what he had just whispered to Naruto, making their ears glow red. Not wanting the same thing to happen again, Kenji tried to shush Eri.
"He wouldn't do the same inside a restaurant." She looked over to Akira.
"I'm not so sure," Kenji said while looking up to Sasuke.
Eri began to doubt too now, seeing Sasuke's face. "I don't need to know."
Sasuke smirked, kind of evilly, so Eri and Kenji backed off; glad they had made the right decision.
-xXx-
Naruto was humming while taking a shower. He really liked it that his hand was almost complete. He brushed both hands through his hair, soaping it thoroughly.
Then the door opened and Sasuke came in.
"You're back," Naruto said happily, his tail swirling behind him in anticipation seeing the raven again. "How was the mission?" Naruto peeked around the curtain to where Sasuke was staring at him.
Sasuke had been away on an ANBU mission for almost a week, and Naruto had missed Sasuke quite a bit.
"Okay, I guess." Sasuke was looking very dirty and ruffled.
Naruto turned back to the water and started humming again, waiting for Sasuke to join him.
He was just washing away some soap from his ear when he felt a cold hand on his back. He shrieked softly at the cold touch. He started to turn around, but Sasuke put both his hands around Naruto's stomach, stopping him from turning.
"Don't move."
Naruto smiled and wrapped his tail around one of Sasuke's arms, beginning to clean his muddy arms with his tail.
"You're making your tail dirty."
"While cleaning your arm," Naruto countered. "You're all covered in mud. What did you have to do? Save someone from a mudslide?"
Sasuke didn't answer, not telling Naruto anything about his mission.
Naruto pried Sasuke's arms off his stomach, and turned around to clean more of Sasuke, when his eyes widened in shock.
"What happened?"
Sasuke tried to turn Naruto back around, but Naruto resisted. After a short struggle, Naruto won.
"What happened?" he asked again, looking down Sasuke's torso.
Sasuke's left side was completely bruised, purple, blue and what other colour. It reached from his hip up to his ribs.
"Are you all right? Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto looked up angry and concerned.
"I just showed you."
"Did you break anything?" Naruto looked back to Sasuke's side; it really was extremely colourful and painful looking.
"Two ribs."
"What?"
"Just two broken ribs, that's all. A medic already took a look at it; it's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Naruto."
Naruto looked back up into Sasuke's eyes. He unconsciously gripped his tail. Slowly he brought his hand up and started cleaning the rest of Sasuke, staying out of reach of the tender looking flesh.
"It still looks very painful," Naruto couldn't help himself, he just didn't like to see Sasuke hurt.
"Don't worry, it's nothing."
"Nothing? You call this nothing?" Naruto let his tail go, and pointed to the black and blue body called Sasuke. He waved his hands so roughly that drops of water flew through the shower in ways they normally didn't. "Even if a medic took a look at it, it's not healed at once. It must still hurt."
"You call this painful while you have grown back almost an entire arm?"
"But…" Naruto lowered his hand. "But that looks so much more…" Naruto vaguely waved to Sasuke's ribs.
Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "More what?"
"More…" Naruto was obviously looking for the right words, and it took him quite a while. "But it's you!" Naruto finally decided to say.
Sasuke stared back; Naruto looked up to his eyes.
Silence, and then…
Sasuke started laughing softly. "Honestly, you keep amazing me."
"Why?" Naruto asked curiously.
Sasuke was still sniggering. "Haha, ouch, ah." He wrapped his arm around his side.
"Laughing hurts, you shouldn't laugh," Naruto told him, moving around Sasuke, unsure of what to do to help him. This only made Sasuke want to laugh more.
"Ah, ouch."
"Stop laughing!" Naruto told him again, almost nervously.
Sasuke laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Hn." Naruto finally stopped moving, and Sasuke could stop laughing.
"Are you sure you are okay?" Naruto asked once more.
Sasuke didn't answer; he just turned around and left the shower.
"Wait, I'll help!"
Before Sasuke could even reach for a towel, Naruto was in front of him with one in hand.
"I'm not an invalid," Sasuke told Naruto, his eyes narrowed.
Naruto pretended not to hear and started drying Sasuke's hair, while he started humming some tune, his tail curling and uncurling behind him.
After some struggling on both sides (Sasuke trying to do things himself, and Naruto trying to do it for him) Sasuke was finally dried off, and walked into their bedroom before Naruto could stop him.
"Wait, you need to be bandaged."
"Hn?"
"It must hurt." Naruto softly gripped Sasuke's arm and guided him to the bed. He placed Sasuke on the bed and went away to get some bandages.
When he got back, Sasuke was still waiting on the bed for him, but he had changed the towel for some underwear (must have cost him some trouble to get that on).
Naruto sat down, kneeling next to him; he slowly got closer to Sasuke's midriff, and inspected the enormous bruise covering Sasuke's left side.
Sasuke glanced down while Naruto took in every inch.
"You have seen bruises before."
"I have."
"It's not like you've never been bruised."
"Correct." Naruto looked up to meet Sasuke's eyes, looking down curiously. "So?"
"So?" Sasuke repeated.
"Why do you ask?" Naruto tilted his head a little.
"You look at me like you never have."
"Well, I've never seen you this bruised before."
"Hn." Sasuke turned his head away.
"I just don't want to hurt you when I bandage you, or later today," Naruto spoke softly. Sasuke looked down at him.
Naruto took the bandage and very, very gently began to wrap it around Sasuke's torso. Sasuke couldn't help but smile when he saw the serious look on Naruto's face. He really was trying not to hurt him.
Sometimes he paused for a while; apparently his orange chakra fingers weren't always as gentle as Naruto wanted them to be.
To be honest, Sasuke knew he could have done this a lot faster on his own, even though it would probably take him a while too with his bruised side. However, he didn't mind Naruto taking so long. He liked Naruto taking care of him.
"I'm not hurting you?" Naruto asked once more.
"No."
Naruto glanced up, to see Sasuke smile at him. "What?"
"Nothing."
Naruto stopped bandaging and straightened up. "What?"
"Nothing."
Naruto pouted. "Tell me, Sasuke. What?"
Sasuke didn't answer; the only answer was that same smile.
"I get it," Naruto huffed, still pouting. He returned to the bandaging and carefully put it around Sasuke's side once more.
Eventually Naruto finished, after inspecting his work thoroughly before he was satisfied.
Sasuke stood up and walked over to the closet, getting out some clothes.
"Wait, I'll help." Naruto pushed Sasuke's hand aside before he could grip some pants. Sasuke let his hand drop; he was slowly getting used to this.
"You're overreacting."
"Am not." Naruto held up the pants and pointed to a shirt. "Is that one okay?" He looked up to Sasuke questioningly.
"Sure." Naruto turned back, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"You don't have any ANBU missions soon, have you?" Naruto asked worried as he turned back from the closet and closed it.
"Who knows?"
"You can't tell me?" Naruto asked a little insulted.
"We are mostly contacted about a mission a few days before. So I really don't know."
"Oh." Naruto stood a little dumbfounded with Sasuke's pants in front of him. "Ah, so."
Sasuke couldn't help but laugh softly. "I thought you knew."
"I- I do!" Naruto closed his eyes and lifted his head slightly. "Sit down." Sasuke did so, carefully.
"I feel like a child," Sasuke told Naruto as Naruto was dressing him.
"You're hurt, this is different." Naruto took the navy shirt from the bed and pulled it over Sasuke's head, but stopped there.
"What?" he asked again, but this time he was smiling, not looking confused.
"You like taking care of me?"
Naruto's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. "I know you like it," was Naruto's answer, followed by a kiss.
"I do," Sasuke answered when their lips parted.
"That's all the reason I need."
Suddenly Sasuke put his arms around Naruto and pulled him to him. Obviously Sasuke had miscalculated this action a little; he had thought Naruto had expected him to do this. So when he pulled Naruto to him, the blond lost balance and fell on top of him.
"Aaaah," came the almost silent sound from Sasuke, filled with pain.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Naruto immediately apologized, trying to get off Sasuke.
Sasuke made a face, but Naruto couldn't laugh at it. "I'm so sorry, are you all right? Should I-"
"I'm fine." Sasuke didn't got up yet, he just stayed laying on the bed, still aching.
Naruto looked at him and saw his dark eyes close. The blond watched him for a bit longer before he lay down beside Sasuke and curled up against his side. Slowly his hand moved up until it rested on Sasuke's shoulder.
"You smell so good," he suddenly said. "So…" Naruto stopped talking, closed his eyes and sniffed Sasuke a couple of times.
"So?" Sasuke asked.
"So you," Naruto said as if that made perfect sense, which it did.
-x-
"Does it still hurt?" Akira asked. He was standing next to Sasuke, who was sitting on the couch.
"Hn."
"Did it help a little?" Akira had promised Sasuke he would make a special meal that would help him heal. Akiharu had apparently done so for Akira too once, and according to Akira it had done wonders.
"It-" Sasuke looked up Naruto, who was standing behind Akira, and nodding at him. "It did."
"Really?"
"Su- Yes."
Akira happily climbed up the couch to sit down next to Sasuke. "Shall I then show you my new book?" Akira picked up a book from the ground, opening it.
Sasuke almost wanted to sigh, but then decided against it. Instead a small smile showed on his face. "Okay."
Excitedly Akira began to tell Sasuke what he could see on every page of the book. After a few pages, Sasuke pulled Akira closer, so he could hold up the side of Akira's book closest to him on his lap. His arm folded around Akira, holding up the other side, so Akira could point at pictures as much as he wanted.
Kou lay sleeping on Akira's shoulder, softly making squeaking sounds every once in a while.
Over in the kitchen, Naruto stood behind the sink, looking down at a recipe Sakura had given. She had actually given it to Sasuke, but he shouldn't be cooking anything right now.
Looking over the list of ingredients, Naruto checked if they had everything. Having checked everything he concluded they had it all. Getting a bowl, he started preparing the first part of the recipe.
He would soon find out why Sakura had given Sasuke the list, and not him.
Sasuke and Akira looked up when they heard clattering and some curse words coming from the kitchen.
"Naruto!" Sasuke warned Naruto.
"Sorry, sorry!" Naruto's head came around the corner. "Won't say it again."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Is that… tomato sauce in your hair?"
"What?" Naruto moved his hand up to his hair.
"What are you doing?"
Naruto grinned. "Nothing."
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked once more.
"Um… making something?" Naruto showed Sasuke his teeth.
Sasuke handed Akira his book back, and slowly tried to stand up.
"No, you should stay sitting." Naruto came walking into the living room, covered in more sauce and… other foods?
"Naruto! What have you been doing?"
"Calm down, I'll clean up everything."
"Is that lettuce?" Sasuke pointed to Naruto's shoulder. "How did it get-" Sasuke stopped. "I think I don't want to know."
Naruto looked down at his shoulder. "Ah, hè, will you look at that," he grinned.
"Stop grinning." Sasuke walked past Naruto.
"Ah, no, stop!" Naruto tried to stop Sasuke before he could reach the kitchen, but was too late.
Sasuke's mouth fell open when he witnessed the crime scene. Looking around, he couldn't even bring out a single word.
"I told you I would clean up later. Besides, it's not that bad."
"Not that…" Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. "There's God knows what stuck to the ceiling, sauce on the floor, you even managed to get dough… on the outside of the window?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, looking at the kitchen window.
Naruto turned to look at the window as well. "Ah, that was an accident. Besides, it's not dough." His teeth were visible once more.
"Then what is- Naruto? What were you even trying to make?"
Naruto blinked. He pointed to some pot on the stove, which was boiling over. "Applesauce."
Sasuke was speechless.
"Oh," Naruto finally noticed the pan boiling over and hurried toward it, "oops."
"Applesauce?" Sasuke asked, looking at the red stains on the floor, the… not-dough on the window, and lettuce on Naruto's shoulder. "What did you do?"
"I followed… the recipe?"
"What recipe?"
"The one that Sakura gave you."
"Sakura…" Sasuke thought this over. Sakura hadn't given him a recipe for applesauce at all.
Naruto looked around the mess he'd made and finally found the piece of paper, showing it to Sasuke.
Sasuke could hardly read what was supposed to be written on it, as dirty as it was, but it certainly wasn't a recipe, and Sakura did not write it either. Her handwriting was much nicer than this… "Isn't that your own handwriting?" he asked Naruto.
Naruto, blinking, took the paper back, and studied it. "Hm, now that you say-"
"Naruto! It's a groceries list I let you make!"
"Oh… Oooooh," he said understandingly. "Now I remember."
"How did you ever think this was a recipe?"
"But is says… look," Naruto turned the paper to Sasuke.
Sasuke pushed it away from his face. "Never mind." He shook his head. "Just… just clean it all up."
Naruto looked back at the paper. "It does explain why I needed toilet paper," he said softly.
Sasuke froze up. "You put… No wait, don't tell me what you did with it." He walked away, holding his hand over his face. "Unbelievable."
Naruto shrugged, turning around to the kitchen. "I think it might have tasted not that bad." He opened the pot on the stove and an evil smell came up from it. On the bottom of the pot rested some purple goo. "Hm, that doesn't look that awful." He moved his arm into the pot, ready to taste some of the content.
"And don't you dare try to taste it!"
Naruto pouted, getting his hand out of the pan.
-xXx-
"I got a new mission for you," Naruto told his team as they walked down the streets of Konoha.
"You didn't even leave… did you?" Eri asked, afraid she had missed it.
"I didn't." Naruto grinned. "It's actually a mission from me."
"You give us a mission?"
"Correct." Naruto paused. "A training mission."
"Is that possible?" Eri asked Ryomaru.
"I don't know, never heard someone giving his team a training mission."
"I don't see why he shouldn't." Kenji crossed his arms.
"True."
"So, can I tell you, or is the discussion not over yet?" Naruto asked his students.
"You can."
"Okay. This is the mission." A foxy grin was plastered on his face.
"Uh oh."
"No pranking, sensei! No jokes, you promised."
"I'm not going to, I swear."
Some narrowed dark green, black and yellow eyes stared at him.
-x-
The papers were heavy, a box filled with finished missions. It needed to be taken to the archive.
"I wonder why she's asked us to do this. Aren't there any genin teams at hand?"
"It's bad for their young backs."
Koketsu looked over to Izumo. "Really? That's all you could come up with?"
"All the reason I need."
Koketsu rolled his eyes.
Then, crossing their path, came team 9. They walked up to them.
"You-" Izumo said, pointing to Naruto.
Naruto grinned. He held up his hand. "Hey there." He waved.
"You're not planning on letting us trip, do you?" Koketsu asked suspiciously.
"I wouldn't dare. I would have to sort through all those papers all over again."
"Again?"
"Who do you think put them in those boxes?"
Izumo looked around the box to Naruto. "I can't believe you would do something like that."
"I did."
"Strange."
"Ah, yes, my team and I-"
"They're just like you," Koketsu muttered, heaving the box up to his chest, inspecting the children.
"Really?" Naruto looked down to his students proudly.
"So, what did you came to tell?"
"Ah, Tsunade sent a message." Naruto said.
"Hokage-sama," Ryomaru told him, but Naruto ignored him.
"She, eh, said we should tell you that she forgot to mention that you…" Eri said slowly.
"What?" Koketsu snapped, afraid of what Eri was about to say.
"She wants you to transport more," Eri said quickly, pointed to the box in Koketsu's arms.
"What?" His mouth fell open. "More still?"
"Don't believe them." Izumo told him.
"She really has a lot of work coming, and needs to make room for the upcoming papers." Kenji said gruffly. He didn't agree on this training mission at all, but Naruto had somehow talked him over to do it. He was still wondering how he had done that.
"I don't believe-" Koketsu started.
"P-paperwork," Ryomaru stuttered, turning red and looking away. He couldn't believe he was cooperating on this for a 'training mission'.
"What?" Izumo asked the tall boy.
"She said something about paperwork too," Eri explained. "When you get back-"
"NOOO!" Koketsu let the box drop to the ground; a few papers flew out of the box.
Izumo placed his hand on Koketsu's shoulder. "Calm down."
"No, I've had it!" He folded his arms.
Ryomaru couldn't take it anymore. "I'm s-so sorry!" He bowed to the two. He should have never agreed that this was a training mission; it was just a way for his sensei to play a prank!
"For what?"
Ryomaru turned bright red.
"Ryomaru-kun! You're ruining it!" Eri told him, still convinced this was a training mission.
Kenji sighed, glad it was over.
"Aw, Ryomaru, you still got a lot to learn," Naruto told him. "But you're improving."
Koketsu and Izumo looked stunned from one genin to the other till finally meeting Naruto's eyes, sparkling mischievously.
"You didn't-" Izumo started, realizing they had been fooled.
"Wha-? Do you know what you just did to my heart?" Koketsu said. He actually looked a bit overworked, now that Naruto took a closer look.
"Oh, come on, you're just making it too easy," Naruto told him, his tail swaying around.
"Sensei? Are we done?" Kenji asked, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, I finally got my payback for them telling Anko to call me Naru-chan."
"Wha-? You said this was a training mission!" Eri said shocked.
"You knew about that?" Izumo asked, ignoring Eri.
"I found out, yes."
"Kakashi, I swear-" Koketsu growled. "I told you she would tell him, and he's too close to Naruto!" he told Izumo.
"Doesn't matter. That was our payback for you telling Hokage-sama we love guard-duty."
Naruto looked at them silently. "Oh, yeah, I forgot." He grinned.
"You forgot-?" Koketsu's face fell. "Thanks to you we had been sitting at that gate for almost three months," he fumed.
"Sensei?" Eri said, telling her sensei she didn't agree with what he had done. "You promi-"
"I'm sorry, I didn't really think-" Naruto apologized to Koketsu, ignoring Eri too.
"That she would do that?" It almost looked like steam was coming out of Koketsu's ears.
"Calm down, Koketsu," Izumo laid his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I will talk to her again, okay?" Naruto asked innocently. "I'll make her send you on some interesting missions, ne?"
The two looked up to him. "You can do that?" Izumo asked in disbelief.
"Of course."
Silence fell for a moment.
"Okay," Koketsu said slowly. "That's okay."
"Good," Naruto agreed.
"Don't think you're off the hook now," Izumo told him. Naruto grinned back.
"Hai, hai."
Koketsu picked the box up and started walking again.
"I can't believe you, sensei!" Eri said, looking up angrily.
Naruto shrugged.
"You promised not to joke-"
"I did, and I kept it."
"No, you didn't!"
"I didn't say anything to them that was part of a joke."
Eri thought this over.
"You made us do it," Ryomaru said softly.
"I told you it was training."
"Training to play jokes?"
"Training to lie. So-"
"Lie? Why would we want to do that?" Eri asked, her hands resting in her sides.
Naruto looked down to his students, looking very serious. "I know lying is not a good thing, but sometimes on a mission things can go very wrong. Sometimes a lie is what you need to tell to save a mission."
"Example," Kenji ordered.
"For example when you are protecting a client, you want to comfort them. If they panic who knows what will happen. Even if you know things aren't going well, you tell them otherwise."
"Okay, but that's not really…"
"If I capture Kenji," Naruto wrapped his arm around Kenji's throat. Immediately Kenji tried to get free. "I tell you to answer my question." Naruto pulled out a kunai and brought it up to Kenji's throat. "Where did you hide the information?" He asked very convincingly.
Eri and Ryomaru first took a step to him, before taking one back when the kunai came closer to Kenji's neck.
"You will have to tell me a very convincing lie, or else Kenji could die." He let go of Kenji and put the kunai away. Finally his team understood where he was taking this.
"You wanted cool missions." Naruto straightened up. His tail had stopped swaying a while ago. "Cool missions also mean that the risk of anything going wrong becomes bigger. Until now you only had D and C rank missions. The B rank mission we had was a joined one with a team that has a lot more experience."
Naruto lowered himself, looking at his team. "I hope you know what you're in for."
They slowly nodded.
"Good, because otherwise I wouldn't have let you take part in the upcoming chuunin exams."
It was silent for a few seconds.
"Chuunin exams?"
"WHAT?" Eri yelled. "You didn't!" She jumped around Naruto's neck, making him loose his balance. They both fell back.
"I can't believe it," Kenji muttered. "Finally."
"Yes, I believe you're ready. Last time I wasn't here, so Sakura-chan didn't let you take part in it, but…" He sat up again, Eri still hugging him. He couldn't make her let go of his chest. "You've been ready for some time now."
Ryomaru and Kenji looked at each other. "You hear that?"
Ryomaru smiled at Kenji, and nodded.
"We are going to make you proud!" Kenji turned to Naruto.
"I already am."
"Oh, oh, where is it?" Eri asked, leaning back, but still not letting go of Naruto.
"Hmm, should I tell?"
"No jokes," Kenji warned.
"Why would I? This is important." Naruto took out some forms from a front pocket of his green vest. "It's all on this paper. You will need to sign it."
Eri had taken her form before Naruto had finished his sentence. "Kirigakure. We are going to the land of Water!"
"We'll be leaving in a month, so prepare yourself for some difficult training sessions à la Sasuke, and missions that might make you want to cry."
"That doesn't really sound like something to look forward to," Ryomaru mutter while Kenji tried to pull Eri off Naruto.
"I can't believe we might become chuunin!" Eri said, not letting go of Naruto.
"Eri! What if Sasuke-sama comes by?" Kenji asked, pulling at her arm.
"He will just have to share."
Kenji let go of Eri. "Aargh- ew! Eri!" Naruto started laughing loudly as he watched Kenji walk back, his hands covering his ears and his eyes closed. "Bah!"
"Haha! Kenji, you are too young to think of things like that."
The other two looked up confused, no idea what the other two were talking about.
Naruto calmed down and stood up. Eri finally let go. "Let's go see if we can score another mission for today."
-x-
"I told them," Naruto said to Sasuke, as they were lying on the couch together. Akira was already in bed.
Somehow Sasuke understood what Naruto was talking about. "You finally accepted that you couldn't figure a way around your promise."
"I actually did figure out a way," Naruto grinned. His arms pulled Sasuke closer to him carefully, his side was still healing.
"Hn."
"Hadn't expected that, huh?" Naruto let his head lean against Sasuke's.
Sasuke didn't say anything, just leant back against Naruto.
"They were very happy."
"Hm." Sasuke closed his eyes, turning his head to the side, using Naruto's chest as a pillow.
"I think it is time for them to take part of the exams." Naruto sniffed Sasuke's hair and curled his tail around Sasuke.
"So, what's the plan? How are you going to prepare them? The exams are already over a month," Sasuke asked, closing his eyes, moving his face softly over Naruto's chest.
"I'll make sure they get at least C rank missions. Since I promised them cool missions, that's what I have been doing for the last two weeks. Next I got them a B-rank mission. And of course harsh training." Naruto stroked through Sasuke's hair. "Maybe, since you need rest, you could pass by. Or at least tell me what you think would be perfect training. You always come up with such good ideas."
Sasuke gasped softly as he moved his chest a bit in the wrong direction, his ribs objecting. He gripped Naruto's orange shirt. "We'll see."
"Great, Maybe you got time tomorrow? Bring Akira-kun along."
Sasuke didn't answer. He began stroking Naruto's chest, drawing circles.
Naruto smiled at the action, and softly began to purr.
After almost half an hour of silence, only purring in the air, Sasuke spoke up. "When will you have to leave?"
"A couple of days before the exams start. They want all the teams that participate to gather the day before the actual start."
"How long," Sasuke asked sadly.
"Then didn't say much about that, but it will probably take at the very least two weeks. Shikamaru said he heard it could take up to a month, depending on the periods between the tasks."
"A month?" Sasuke asked shocked.
"Shh, calm down, you'll hurt yourself," Naruto said, holding Sasuke in place as he had began to move.
"That's so long."
"I'll be back…. Besides," Naruto grinned, "I can always sneak out for a short time."
"You would be gone for so long, just to travel, you wouldn't be able to do that. You need to go by boat remember?" Sasuke said softly.
"Oh, right, I forgot, land of Water," Naruto sniggered.
"Hn." Sasuke whined.
"Don't worry, Sasuke, you'll be busy too with Akira-kun."
Sasuke smiled. "He'll be going to school soon."
"So you need him with his homework, pick him up from school, he probably wants you to train him, and you will have to do missions somewhere between all that."
Sasuke's arms moved around Naruto's chest. "He's growing so fast."
"Indeed."
"Good thing you don't, I like you like this."
Naruto frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Only good things."
"Only good things?" Naruto asked confused.
Sasuke smirked.
"Only good things…" Naruto repeated. And then his face fell. "Eh? You're not saying…"
Sasuke tried to look up to Naruto without moving his head to much. "Hn? What are you thinking now?" Naruto always had a way of over thinking and surprising Sasuke with his (stupid) findings.
"Only good things come in small…" Naruto grumbled softly.
Silence, Naruto had stopped purring. Until Sasuke burst out laughing, combined with some groans of pain.
"What? That's what you meant, didn't you?" Naruto asked, frowning, not happy.
"Haha, ah, no, haha, ouch."
"Really?"
"I meant only good things come from you."
"Oh… That sounds better like that."
"It's what I said." Sasuke sniggered, lying down again. "Just listen, don't try to think too much. You know I try to make things easy for you."
"Muh…"
Sasuke looked up, and kissed Naruto. "Don't worry, I love you no matter what strange things you say or think."
"Well, that's a relief."
"Indeed." Sasuke cuddled Naruto, moving his cheek over Naruto's chest. "You can start purring again, I like how it vibrates through your chest."
"You have to stimulate it," Naruto grinned.
"Ah, but that's no problem at all," Sasuke smirked.
-oXo-
A/N: Just a few chapters left... according to my planning... which has already changed, adding an extra chapter... I really should write again, finishing the story. I think I'll do so today ;)
And as always: thank you MS3923 for beta-ing, and thank you reviewers, favs, story alerts and all readers :D