Sealing Salientia - Chapter 35: Dismissal - Author: PenSmoke


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.


Previously on Sealing Salientia: Jiraiya could feel himself drifting towards the unconscious embrace of sleep, but he had one last thing that he needed to say. "Sensei, make sure Naruto gets to the Senju compound safely. Please?"

As Hiruzen nodded in affirmation, Jiraiya let himself go into the land of blissful slumber.


Konoha
Wednesday, October 14th, Year 71

Naruto looked on in confusion as the class was interrupted mid-lesson, the secretary from the headmaster's office explaining that they were letting the students out early today. When they had received the news, he had caught the similar look of confusion on Miss Mikoto's face as well, and could tell that this wasn't planned as far as his teacher knew either. He shot a look at Sasuke, who glanced back at him and then lifted his shoulders slightly in a shrug. Apparently, nobody seemed to know what was going on.

He stood up and started to gather his things, mentally listing things that he might be able to get done with the unexpected free time. Once finished with procuring his items, he bonked Shikamaru on the head lightly, disturbing the snoring of the lazy boy. A groan was heard as the pineapple-haired boy looked up at him.

"Time to go, they're dismissing class." Naruto stated.

Shikamaru's piercing gaze sought the same targets that his own had looked at just moments prior, staring at Mikoto and Sasuke, and sighed in resignation when he noticed that they were already packed up and leaving. "Man… I don't wanna go home. They'll just make me train, like they do every evening. So troublesome, why can't I just stay at school and sleep?"

Naruto looked at the boy, it was the most he had really heard Shikamaru speak at one time. The Nara barely put forth any effort into anything, only using the absolutely barest minimum of energy or words necessary to convey his point. It seemed that complaining about things was one thing he would actually bother doing.

"Training isn't that bad." Naruto said plainly, recalling his own. "You usually learn something new and cool, or get to practice on making something better." He waited for Shikamaru to get up, there were only four left in the classroom now. Sakura was standing by the door to the hallway, next to Mebuki. They were chatting comfortably to each other. Both occasionally shot him looks, and looked as if they were waiting on the two boys to get ready to go.

"You've never trained with my parents, obviously. Ugh, they keep me up all night working with shadows." Shikamaru grumbled while gathering his things.

Slightly frustrated with watching his overly lazy sorta-friend going painfully slow, Naruto scooped up all of the boys' belongings in one swing of his arms, and with the other yanked on the lazy arm. Ignoring the indignant yelp of "Hey!" from the black-haired boy that was being bodily dragged behind him, he quickly navigated to the front of the room, Shikamaru in tow.

Mebuki gave a pleasant smile down at the two of them, obviously amused by their antics. "It's time to go home boys." Speaking over the grumbles of the Nara, she continued. "Class is dismissed early today. We'll see you bright and early tomorrow!" Turning to the pinkette, she kept speaking. "Sakura, I have to dismiss the rest of the classes here. I'll meet you at home a little later. Here." She handed a small pouch that jingled noisily with some coins. "Why don't you go out and get some lunch on your way back?"

At the mention of lunch, Naruto stomach grumbled noisily. Completely embarrassed, he raised his arms to cover the offending body part, letting go of Shikamaru's arm in the process. A loud 'clunk' of Shikamaru's head smacking off the floorboards and a cry of "Ow!" from the abused party later, Naruto's face began glowing red in embarrassment while Mebuki laughed at him. She reached back for the coin purse in Sakura's hand, and stuffed a few paper bills in the leather pouch as well.

"Why don't you all go out and get lunch together. My treat." Mebuki smiled at them, though Naruto saw something else in her eyes. It looked like fear, though Naruto had no idea what she could possibly be afraid of.

"Thanks Mom. I'll see you later. Come on Naruto, Shikamaru! Let's go!" Sakura proceeded out the door and towards the entrance of the building. Mebuki followed them out after looking to make sure there was nobody left behind in the room, heading towards the next room down the hallway.

"Mom?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah, my mom got made the secretary of the Academy last year. She's got a knack for organization and paperwork, so Lord Third hired her to be his personal secretary." Sakura replied cheerily, practically skipping down the hallway. "Now, where should we go for lunch?"

Naruto immediately replied with the only place he knew of in town. "Ichiraku Ramen!" He looked behind him to see Shikamaru sigh tiredly.

"Do you two have to be so energetic?" The boy seemed to droop in his stance, each bit of energy from Sakura and Naruto wearing him out even more.

"Yup!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, practically dragging the boy behind him, while Sakura just nodded her head vigorously.

"We got the rest of the day off, and my mom gave us money to go get lunch wherever! This is a great day!" Sakura followed his exuberant energy, and grabbed Shikamaru's other arm before walking out of the doors.

"I suppose I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Nope!" both white and pink replied in unison to black.

A loud sigh was all that was heard from behind them as they continued away from the Academy, towards the market district, dragging their less-than-willing classmate behind them.

Sakura chatted with him happily about everything that crossed their minds while they walked towards the market shops, pineapple in tow. They discussed chakra training methods, different ninja techniques, famous shinobi of the past and present, and who they thought was the strongest in the village.

"I think it must be Lord Third or Lord Fifth." Sakura stated definitively. "They are Hokage after all."

Shikamaru piped up from behind. "You know, the title of Hokage doesn't necessarily mean the strongest, just the most well-suited to lead."

Naruto continued to reply to Sakura's question, ignoring Shikamaru's intrusion. "Well, Pops is pretty strong, and he says that the other Sannin, Tsunade and Orochimaru, are just as strong as he is. I wonder if he could take on the old man."

Shikamaru tried interrupting again, "There's also clan heads and the ANBU commander. They're probably ridiculously strong."

Sakura waved them off, "Nah, The Hokage are the strongest. They always protect the village." She finished her sentence a moment before brushing aside the curtain for Ichiraku Ramen. The movement caused the air currents filled with savory scents to burst forth, making Naruto's mouth water.

A new voice joined in from inside the restaurant, "You want to know who the strongest ninjas are?" The older man behind the counter raised his ladle at them and shook it. "Those who are fighting to protect those they love. A ninja fighting for money or because they like violence is always weaker. When you're fighting to protect, you can overcome so much more. Take a look at the Fourth. He faced down the Nine-Tails all on his own to protect the village."

"Hey Mister Ichiraku! Can we get some ramen for lunch? My friends and I got off school early and we're starving!"

The chef grinned widely. "Sure! Three specials for the son of my sensei and his friends coming right up!" The older man immediately got to work starting on preparing the lunches for the kids. "What happened that you got off school early?"

Sakura started a response this time, interrupting Naruto before he had a chance. "We don't know. They just came in and told us that we were dismissed for the day. It was really strange." Naruto could hear Shikamaru grunt in agreement, sticking to non-verbal communication when possible.

Teuchi replied, "Hmmm, that sounds odd." All three kids murmured with him, the thoughts of what had happened and why it had flickering through their heads.

A few minutes later, Naruto's sense lit up with the inhalations as the savory and sweet parts of the broth coalesced into a wondrous aroma that drifted out of the simmering pot. He inhaled deeply, letting a wide smile come over his face, a drop of saliva coming down from the corner of his mouth. It smelled heavenly, easily overpowering all the other scents of the marketplace.

However, his other senses were tingling as well. His hearing was picking up an unusually high number of footsteps, and movement along the roofs. The dull thuds of the sandal clad feet of ninja were sounding frequently, reverberating through the roofs of various buildings around him. A few even landed on Ichiraku's thin wooden roof, immediately taking off again. From what he could tell, ninja were swarming all over the place. His companions blissfully unaware of this new information, he looked to Teuchi. Teuchi also seemed to not realize anything was amiss, or if he did, he wasn't showing it visibly.

"Hey guys. Any idea why ninja would be jumping all over the place right now?" With his statement, he got two immediately curious looks from his friends, and a stare from Teuchi, before the man immediately froze solid to try and pick up on any signs of what he was saying. After several seconds, Sakura spoke first. "I'm sorry, Naruto, what do you mean?"

"There's footsteps all over the roofs right now, way more than there were while we were walking here. Do you think something happened? Maybe that's why they dismissed us from school?" Naruto could immediately see Shikamaru shift from bored mode to interested, his eyes focusing for a moment before closing in concentration.

After several seconds, the pineapple-headed boy opened his eyes again to see Naruto staring at him intently. A sigh was heard. "If there is such a big increase in ninja activity that none of us, aside from you, can sense, that must mean ANBU. If it's ANBU, they probably let us go to evacuate us from the school without causing a panic, because there is a threat. Since they are out here as well, it is probably something that has a wide impact and could be dangerous well beyond the school."

Sakura and Teuchi just stared at the young boy. Naruto felt that off sensation in his gut again. Shikamaru was really perceptive and ridiculously smart, and he didn't care for the way that the boy was now looking at him.

Giving off another sigh, the Nara picked up his chopsticks. "Whether that's right or wrong, there's nothing that Academy students can do about it if ANBU are already involved. We should eat."

That was a thought that Naruto could get behind. "Yeah, bring on the food!"

While the mood remained tense with uncertainty, the ramen was delicious and the company was good. They sat and ate their lunch and chatted for the next half hour, before leaving the stand.

On the way out, Sakura pardoned herself and said she had to get going home. Shikamaru attempted to excuse himself as well, saying that he was going to try to find a nice spot to lay down and watch clouds. Naruto didn't feel like that was the activity that he wanted, but he could use a quiet place for meditation for his own purposes. So, instead of letting the black-haired boy wander off, he tagged along. The annoyed sighs emanating from the boy ahead as he followed amused him greatly too.

"What does it take to get rid of you?" The annoyance had seeped through into the voice, which made Naruto smile. He rather enjoyed that the boy was aggravated by his presence enough to voice it, but not enough the he tried to run away.

"Hey, I promise, I'm just gonna sit and meditate with you! I won't even say a word." Naruto promised, grinning widely, holding his hands clasped together behind his head. Naruto wasn't sure if he was starting to learn another language, but he could swear that the next sigh definitely meant, 'Fine, do whatever.'

The two boys wandered through the village, one seemingly staring at the clouds, the other watching the rooftops. Naruto tried keeping his keen senses at work detecting the presence of shinobi flitting around the area. While they were hard to track, there was definitely a heavy presence in the area. They seemed to be moving all over the village, without break.

Finding a small knoll in a park on which a single tree provided a decent amount of shade, while simultaneously allowing a great view of the sky, Shikamaru laid down and stared up at the sky. Naruto decided to sit cross-legged next to him.

After several seconds of silence between the two, Naruto decided that it was as good a time to start meditating as ever. He closed his eyes, and began concentrating on the empty space within him that the kitsune was trapped. His mind started to drift and he had begun to move his consciousness to his inner space.

"So... What's with you?" Shikamaru's voice was completely unexpected and startled him from his beginnings of meditation.

"Wha… Huh?" Naruto's response was less than eloquent, but he hadn't planned on a conversation with the second quietest boy in class.

"You appear out of nowhere, vault to the forefront of the class, and as soon as you show up everything around town goes crazy. You try to lay low, but by doing so, bring even more attention on yourself. You have better perception and skills than ninja years ahead of you, but are still worse than rookie academy students in other areas. You don't make any sense." The words were accompanied by a piercing stare from the boy. The words poured forth without hesitation, and with the boys' eyes locked onto him, Naruto felt quite uncomfortable. He fidgeted nervously, the posture of someone who had secrets that he didn't want getting out. Naruto watched as Shikamaru observed his movements, obviously reading the spasmodic movements of his limbs twitching in defensive positions.

A moment later, Shikamaru glanced back up to the clouds, huffing in resignation. "You're just too troublesome to figure out."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief that Shikamaru didn't keep digging. Thankfully, the boy avoided uncovering secrets that Naruto didn't want escaping. Who knew what the perceptive shadow user in front of him might have uncovered if he kept up the pressure? As the other boy closed his eyes and began progressing from shallow breathing to the deeper respirations of a slumberous state, Naruto let the tensed muscles across his body relax.

He had questions and he needed answers from Kurama. And with the unexpected break in time, he figured now might be the best time to access the information that he needed.


AN: So, life got crazy for a while there. Summer storm season plus new corporate customers at my job plus planning a wedding and I just lost all free time. I apologize that this is short but this was all I had time to write this week, as it is still busy. I should be able to get back to normal chapter length within a few weeks.