It was the second week of being stuck in that Village, Sasuke was starting to suspect something nefarious. His mother was lucky Naruto was a sufficient distraction.

He hadn't even seen her the entire time they were there. Sometimes he would just crash at Naruto's place and wouldn't show back up at the ship for days at a time. The others would smile when they saw her but he knew their expression. The stress was getting to them and they wouldn't say why.

"Maybe they're looking for something?" Naruto had thrown out. It was one of those days that was just too hot to stay outside and cloud gaze. Instead they sat on his back porch with glasses or lemonade in each hand,

"Hn maybe." Sasuke said. Privately he wondered if it had to do with his Father. His mother stopped mentioning him years ago, he hadn't seen him since he handed his hat over. It was sad having your last memory of a parent be so bitter.

"Can't be much else here. Don't get much more interesting than this." Despite that Sasuke wouldn't have minded staying. It was an incredibly lonely existence he was forced to live.

While his mother and crew went on adventures and fought other pirates Sasuke often stayed under, keeping safe. He looked forward to the attempted kidnappings or the rarer moments where someone tried to kill him for the sweet bounty. He hadn't had much use for his Sharingan but the few times he had used it on a Pirate was exciting.

Sasuke couldn't believe how much fun it was to fight when you weren't worried about staying alive.

"She doesn't like being here." Sasuke finally said after a pause. "So I'm not sure why we came back."

"I'm glad," Naruto smiles and leaned his back against the wall of his house. "I missed you."

It was such a Naruto thing to say that he couldn't even get angry over how cheesy it sounded. "Yeah I guess I missed you." That he understatement of the century. Training was fun and all but it wasn't real. He was only building up his muscle memory again. And that was all he did, train. Naruto would have broken up the monotony of life, he always got in life altering adventures.

Sasuke didn't turn to look at his expression but he could only imagine the smile. The way the sun just seemed to shine just a little bit brighter, the careful pull of his lips. His eyes were crinkled and he was sweaty. It was an expression he was so used to, yet he couldn't bring himself to catch a glance.

Because when he blinked, he didn't see young Naruto. He didn't see the Hokage who brought the world to its knees. The man who was the hope they all needed, the smile so disarming. No, what he saw was a stooped over old guy. His white hair was so long he almost looked like a women.

"I missed walking with you," he had said "you never leave the compound anymore." Surrounded by so many people, you would think one would recognize them. But no, they had separated themselves so much from others that they were more legend than living beings.

"I don't like the sun." That wasn't true.

"You always were a terrible liar."

"Miki? Ohhhh Miiikiii." Naruto waved his hand around a little trying to catch his eye. "What was that!" He was laughing but he could see the lines of worry.

"Just a thought."

"We haven't found anything yet." Nami said, crumpling up her map in frustration. "I don't get it! He went this way and what? He just disappeared? No one saw anything? No bounty claimed! Just-" she threw her hands up and screamed into the open air. "It just doesn't make sense. No one can just do that, not even Law. No, especially not him. He wouldn't just-"

"We need to keep hope." Robin cut in grimly. " But sooner or later…" She didn't have to finish the rest. Nami understood. Things like this, she often had to be the realistic one in these situations. It didn't make it easier though, just looking at her captains face and having to explain that all of their searching had led to nothing. For the seventh time.

Nami always wanted to keep her captains smile, against all hope when had Luffy not smiled? To be the cause of her infamous scowl would take a small hole into her heart. "He's not dead." She said. She had to believe this. If Luffy said he wasn't dead than he simply was not dead.

Robin didn't reply. She turned and stared into the direction of the village. Nami didn't know what she was thinking, she didn't want to know. Robin was smart, courageous, she understood things when no one else was ready. She wasn't ready to face whatever truth she would force upon them.

"I'm not just worried for Luffy." Nami stiffened. "Mikoto-Chan is just a girl, but she's fiercely dedicated." Robin turned to give Nami a look. She understood what she was saying. Even if the young girl pretended to laze around and mimic Zoro, she had an odd way of getting fixated at anything you threw at her. "She won't let him go. You know she sleeps with his hat? I've seen it, she loves him even if she can't remember him that well."

"She was young when he left.."

"He loved her. Luffy loves her. I'm worried for all of them." Robin frowned. She hated that expression on her. "She's just like her parents. I'm not sure if that's good or bad."

"She's distracted though while she's here." Nami moved to stand closer to Robin. Her hand slipping easily into the other women's. "It's good for her to feel land. Luffy is way too protective." Laughing she leaned into Robin. "Stupid Captain, she was doing much worse at her age."

"I saw her with a boy." Nami couldn't see her face yet she could easily picture the smirk. "Cute kid, they're attached to each other."

"Sounds like disaster."

"It's good for her to have friends her own age. She needs to stop hanging out with Zoro." Nami giggled while Robin shook her head. "She's picking up all his bad habits."

"It's just sword training!" Nami quoted in a terrible yet very good impression of Zoro. "She's learning from the best of course she'll want to be like me!"

They both laughed now. "We should find Captain." Robin finally said after a time. "I don't want to tell her but we'll have to."

Nami sighed. "Yeah let's go."

The careful rap of his shoes was the tell tale sign of his arrival. All around him marines through themselves against the wall in an effort to stay from his gaze. Low leveled recruits practically bowed at his feet, the middle ranks bowed their heads and avoided eye contact. The boot lickers cried.

Minato smirked.