Choji had never minded the rain. Unlike most of his peers, he looked forward to rainy days. Rain meant a respite from the relentless Konoha heat. Rain meant an excuse to stay indoors and lay on the soft futon in his parents living room, flipping aimlessly through comics with his friends. Rain meant hot noodles with perfectly spiced broth with floating herbs that made your nose run, but made you feel cleansed and renew when you were done.
So, Choji was surprised and rather disappointed when he found out that he absolutely abhorred the Land of Storms. He always thought that the land of thunderclaps and lightning bolts would have been a dream come true. He thought it would be like a never-ending stormy afternoon. A place where time stood still and seasons remained the same.
And truth be told, all those things were true. It was like a never-ending stormy afternoon where time stood still and seasons never changed.
But still, from the moment Choji had inhaled the misty air and stepped into the damp earth, something in his stomach didn't feel right.
He tried explaining it to Ino and Shikamaru.
"It's like…the rain hides everything," he had said as he ladled out hot chicken soup into their bowls, "and the sun never comes out to expose the secrets."
Ino had looked at him, confused for a moment before she inhaled the steam from the soup deeply, forgetting that Choji had said anything at all. She took a big sip and asked how someone with such a great soup recipe could hate the rain.
Shikamaru had remained silent, cocking his head slightly. It was unlike Choji to dislike something like this.
Their silence had made Choji rethink his dislike. Maybe it was just him. Maybe it was just one of those things no one else would be able to understand. He had shaken his head and muttered never mind and slowly dipped his spoon into the steaming liquid. He watched as the liquid pooled into the spoon when he lowered it slightly, slowly at first, and then all at once.
After that, he stopped mentioning it. He would keep the blinds closed and keep the apartment lit up as brightly as he could. He would hum loudly to ignore the sounds of thunder and raindrops on the roof. He completed his duties of cooking for his team without complaint. He enjoyed the work when it was for them. Soon, the rain was easier to ignore.
Choji also had a dislike of their client. He had gone with Shikamaru and Ino the first day to meet Habiki Sato, but he felt like there was something off about the man from the start. After that, he asked Shikamaru if he could remain in the penthouse when they went to see him. Not even the promise of Habiki's lavish dinners, prepared by his kitchen crew, could entice Choji.
"No thanks," he said shaking his head, "I'll eat at home. It's too rainy out."
When Choji found out about the public hospitals that were suffering at Sato's hands, he couldn't help but target his blinding rage at the rain. The rain made it hard for people to see the things that were happening right in front of them, he thought. It was the only explanation for how callously people were being treated. It was the only way a man like Habiki Sato could turn a blind eye to the pain and suffering of those around him.
Now, as Choji gripped the edge of the hospital building's roof with a wet hand, he cursed the rain even more. Choji grunted as he tried to readjust his grip and get his feet to stick to the slippery cement but he couldn't balance himself as well as he would have liked. His heavy mass meant that he needed more chakra to walk up a building, but he was trying to reserve as much as he could for what was coming next.
As Choji tried to readjust his grip again, he felt the relentless rain stop for a second. He looked up, confused. Sasuke stood with one leg up on the ledge and an outstretched hand, his body blocking Choji from the downpour. Choji had no particular feelings towards the Uchiha survivor, but he felt a glimpse of gratitude as he took Sasuke's hand and felt his body being lifted over onto the roof of the building.
"I have him, Shikamaru." Sasuke said into his earpiece as he eyed Choji up and down.
Choji had never been an excellent ninja, from what Sasuke knew. Choji had never seemed highly motivated to be a shinobi and if it wasn't for his clan's jutsu, Sasuke wondered if Choji would have been a shinobi at all. Even his clan's jutsu seemed rather limited in its uses.
Sasuke looked at Choji blankly and asked, "now what?"
Shikamaru had simply informed Sasuke to go to the top of the building and that he would send Choji over with instructions.
Choji cleared his throat and said, "You need something that feels like an earthquake without actually creating one."
The wind whipped around the two boys and Sasuke shivered under the cold air. He had just gotten dry again when Shikamaru said he would have to go back to the top of the roof. Sasuke could deal with a lot; but he hated the cold.
"Spit it out already!" he growled at Choji, annoyed that the other boy was explaining the situation so slowly.
Choji looked at Sasuke, unfazed. The cold didn't bother Choji the same way it bothered Sasuke. His big build helped him retain heat, and the wind did little against his sturdy body. His unwavering gaze held no anger or annoyance and suddenly Sasuke found himself feeling a little embarrassed. His cheeks flushed and he looked away. "I'm sorry," he muttered, "I…I just don't like the cold."
"It's okay," Choji replied nonchalantly, "Normally, if all we needed was an earthquake, I could take care of it. But we're in the middle of a city and people would notice a man the size of a boulder rolling around. Plus, the building is really tall and the glass case is on the 30th floor. Shikamaru doesn't know how sturdy the foundation of this building is, but considering how wet the terrain is, its safe to assume that the building has been built with a solid foundation. Even if I roll around on the ground, there's no guarantee that the building will shake enough to feel on the 30th floor."
Sasuke nodded quietly. The exposition was nice, but really, he just wanted to be told what to do. The wind slapped his face and another shiver ran down his spine. Sasuke crossed his arms and rubbed himself, trying to retain heat in his body, but the cursed wind found no resistance in his thin shirt.
Suddenly, the wind's assault stopped. Sasuke looked up, surprised. The wind was still howling but Sasuke couldn't feel it anymore. Choji had expanded himself, turning himself into a human barrier between Sasuke and the wind. Sasuke looked at him, eyes swimming with confusion, but Choji just smiled.
"Thanks," Sasuke said, slightly shocked. He had admittedly been acting like a jerk and Choji didn't hold it against him in the slightest. Everyone on Team 7 had short fuses and fragile feelings, including Sasuke, so he was used to being chastised for acting like a jerk, either passive-aggressively (when it was Sakura) or with just straight aggression (when it was Naruto). But Choji wasn't like that at all.
'What a weird boy,' Sasuke thought to himself.
"Don't mention it. I hate the rain the way you hate the wind, so I get it."
Sasuke looked at him, unsure what to make of the situation. Here they were, 30 floors up in the middle of a torrential storm, trying to steal documents from some very powerful and very anonymous men without getting caught, and Choji was concerned about his hatred of the wind. How odd.
Choji didn't give Sasuke anymore time to overthink the situation. He glanced at the roof they were standing on and gestured to it vaguely, "anyway, I can roll around up here, but people would wonder what happened. There would be deep crevices in the cement and ruts from where I rolled. It kinda gets in the way of the whole 'don't let them know we were here' deal. So, we have to make a believable natural disaster," Choji said.
"So…how are you going to do that?" Sasuke asked. His voice had softened considerably and he unclenched his jaw for the first time since he first got on the roof. Choji's body was fielding the onslaught of the wind and although the rain was unpleasant, Sasuke could tolerate it. Plus, Choji's peaceful attitude was sort of…contagious.
Choji shook his head with a small smile. "Not me…you."
"Me?"
Choji nodded. "In the Land of storms, no one would bat their eye at a lightning strike."
Sasuke's eyes widened in realization. His earpiece crackled with static for a moment. "Heh, Choji, you ruined the punchline," Shikamaru chuckled, "but he's right. Everyone, listen up."
Sasuke heard everyone else's earpieces being tuned in. He could hear the faraway beeping of a medical machine and Naruto's fingers drumming impatiently against the wooden desk in the hidden office. Behind Shikamaru, he could hear the quiet sound of a rattle's tinkling. Sounded like Kitsune was up but occupied.
"We're in a race against time here, so pay attention," Shikamaru commanded, his voice strong and fierce. He spun in his chair until he was facing the blueprints. He leaned back and flicked a senbon onto the blueprint.
"Naruto, you're first. According to these blueprints, the boiler rooms in the hospital are on the same side of the building as the stairwell. That means the plumbing pipes must run up and down that side of the hospital as well. Make a clone and send him down to the 20th floor and use the pressure of your chakra to explode a pipe. I want water gushing out of the wall. We need chaos."
Naruto let out a little laugh. "That sounds like fun. Should I go now?"
"Yeah, let me know when you're done."
Shikamaru waited until he could hear the poof of Naruto's clone coming into existence before continuing.
"Sasuke, when Naruto is ready, I want you to run lightning onto the roof. As loud and hard as you can. It needs to be as damaging as possible. It needs to be enough to shake the entire roof and justify Choji's next move."
Sasuke nodded, maintaining his eye contact with Choji. "Got it." Big lightning, he could do. Sasuke rolled his shoulders. This assignment would actually be sort of amusing.
"Right after you strike the roof with lightning, get back to Naruto."
"Yeah, it's nice and toasty down here, Sasuke," Naruto crooned from the office. Sasuke scoffed.
"Sasuke, as soon as you get down, Choji's going to come behind you down the elevator shaft and he's going to expand, making it so that the elevator can't come all the way up. Once he's down by the 30th floor, he's going to use his jackhammer technique to shake the building. He'll be on the 30th floor so the vibrations should reach the case."
Shikamaru paused for a moment until he heard Choji grunt in affirmation. Choji had already heard his orders from Shikamaru back in the hotel room, but Shikamaru wanted to reiterate the entire plan for everyone to hear.
"Naruto, as soon as the floor starts shaking, count to three, and then remove the glass case…actually, have a clone do it. Incase this doesn't work out; I'd rather have a failed mission than a dead war hero on my hands."
"I'm not that easy to get rid of, Shikamaru, don't worry," Naruto replied with a chuckle, "But don't worry, I understand."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes but with a twinge of affection. Only Naruto could take an order to potentially release poisonous gas in such stride. Shikamaru spun his chair around so he was facing the hospital building again. He eyed the building with squinted eyes before explaining, "the combination of loud lightning and a shaking building will cause the maintenance men on the first floor to come up and investigate. Habiki Sato is under operation on the 30th floor and so is the laboratory, so there's no doubt in my mind that they'll try to come up as soon as they can, regardless of the dangers that Sakura warned them of."
Shikamaru paused to take a breath before he continued. The next part would be the hardest.
"Sasuke, get to the papers, memorize them as soon as you can, and get the fuck out. You only have until the maintenance people make it up 30 flights of stairs. Choji will stop them from using the elevator and Naruto's water leak will slow them down a little bit and they'll have to stop for a moment to assess the damage on the 20th floor but make no mistake. Their main concern is on the 30th floor. By the time they get there, you, and all hints of you need to be gone. All three of you. Is that understood?"
"Understood," Sasuke, Choji and Naruto replied in unison.
"Good," Shikamaru said, twiddling a pen between his first two fingers. He knew that when they had a goal to accomplish, they would find a way come hell or high water, but he needed verbal affirmation that they knew what they were supposed to do. It made him feel better as the director of the whole ordeal. Any failures would be on his shoulders and his shoulders alone.
"Sakura, you're next. When they come up, I need you to do your best impression of an angry Tsunade-sama. Get them away from the 30th floor. Convince them that they can do an in depth assessment later. Wake up Sato, send him to another room, invite up a few nurses, and dismiss Ino."
"Sounds good to me. I'm almost done with him here. Now I'm just having fun with him," Sakura replied, sounding like a cat that had caught her pray and was just toying with them. Shikamaru smirked. She was more like her mentor than she realized.
"Ino, when you're dismissed. Leave from the front door of the hospital. Make sure you mention the broken elevator, the water leak in the stairwell and the shaking of the building to the people at the front desk. If you don't mention it, it'll be weird."
"I know, Shikamaru," Ino said. He could basically hear her rolling her eyes. Maybe he was being too nitpicky, but he wanted this mission to be done with and he wanted to avoid any loose ends.
"Sakura, stay with Sato for about 45 minutes and then when he starts stirring awake, smile, say hello, and get out. We'll reconvene back at the penthouse. Go directly to the window, I left it cracked open. Don't get caught in the lobby of the lodge."
Shikamaru took a deep breath.
"Is that understood?"
"Understood, Captain," Choji replied. Sasuke looked at the large boy who had expanded to keep him warm. His soft features were etched with seriousness and Sasuke knew in that instant that Choji would easily take a Chidori for Shikamaru. For any of them. Sasuke felt himself soften at the large boy. There was more to people than brute strength and Choji's large heart was nothing to look over.
"Yes, Captain," Sasuke said. "Understood."
Shikamaru was taken aback for a moment.
"Yes, Captain," the others repeated, one by one.
Shikamaru's cheeks reddened and he felt a warmth in his stomach. He had been a captain for a while, but to hear it from his friends….it felt different. He could hear the faith they had put in him in their voices and it made him feel stronger. He would not let them down. No matter what, he would not let them down.
"Shikamaru, the water's leaking," Naruto said. Behind him, Shikamaru could hear what sounded like a gushing creek. Naruto had taken the word chaos and ran with it. Exactly what he was hoping for.
Shikamaru leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his desk, intertwining his fingers and staring holes into the hospital building. "Okay, then team. Let's go."
Sasuke rolled his shoulders once more. Choji had returned to his normal size, but the wind didn't feel nearly as cold anymore. Ever since Sasuke had returned to Konoha after the war, his training had been rather limited. Not by any decree or order, but just because he felt that it was better for him not to draw attention to himself by demolishing entire training grounds.
But now, he had been given the go-ahead and there were no village elders waiting to scorn him after. He felt great.
"Choji," Sasuke said facing away from him, "get down the elevator shaft now and go below the 30th floor. It's too dangerous for you to be up here when I am doing this."
Choji grunted and disappeared into the elevator shaft.
Normally, Sasuke wouldn't have bothered to warn the other boy. It wasn't his problem. But Choji had been kind to him and the idea of him getting injured by Sasuke's jutsu didn't sit right in Sasuke's stomach.
Now that all concerns had been eliminated, Sasuke closed his eyes and waited for the next booming clap of thunder. The rain-drenched him entirely, but Sasuke turned his face to the sky, relishing the cool drops as they bounced off his cheeks. His skin buzzed with excitement that felt electric.
BOOM.
Sasuke smirked. He counted to five, with his eyes still closed, and grabbed one arm with the other.
He jumped in the air and ran through the hand signs and focused on shaping his chakra into a thin jagged line.
"Chidori," he smirked before throwing his weight towards the roof of the building.
The impact of his Chidori on the roof made an incredibly loud noise that sounded like thundering applause. The cement on the roof cracked, leaving a long line from where Sasuke had hit it to one of the edges. From where Shikamaru was sitting, he could make out the blinding light and the rubble falling off of the hospital's roof.
The noise was deafening and the entire building shook for a moment. Shikamaru peered at the base of the building and saw people gasping and pointing to the roof.
"Sasuke, go!" Shikamaru ordered. Leaders were supposed to stay calm, but Shikamaru couldn't hide the excitement and urgency in his voice.
Sasuke said nothing, but Shikamaru could hear his raggedy breathing as he clamored down the elevator shaft. Sasuke's wet palms and feet squeaked against the metal shaft loudly.
Sasuke could still feel the lightning in his body as he made his way down. He felt invigorated and alive and a stupid small smile remained plastered to his face. Between heavy breaths, Sasuke fought the urge to laugh.
Sasuke could see Choji, expanded to take up the width of the elevator shaft a few stories below him. He nodded at him. Sasuke's shuriken from earlier was still between the 30th-floor doors and he made quick work of opening and closing the doors behind him.
Sasuke raced over to the laboratory where Naruto was waiting for him, leaving droplets on the linoleum floors in his wake. "Choji, we're ready," Sasuke said between breaths.
Choji got slightly smaller and crawled up to the 30th floor and expanded again. He focused his chakra on all of his extremities and gritted his teeth. In seconds, his entire body began to shake violently. The elevator shaft groaned under his weight and the cool metal pushed against his skin, but Choji didn't stop.
Naruto and Sasuke stood at the entrance of the laboratory, peeking out into the hallway towards the elevator when they felt the floor beneath them begin to shake. The vials in the lab began clinking and a stack of papers fell over, coating the floor in a sea of white.
They looked at each other.
"1," Naruto said quietly.
"2.." Sasuke replied.
"3!"
They turned back towards the lab and looked into the far end where the small office stood. Naruto's clone was gently removing the glass case off of the compartment with bated breath.
The clone's hands shook as the glass case was removed. The case made a small popping sound as it was lifted. He stared at the glass case in his hand for a moment and turned towards Naruto and Sasuke with a grin. He put the glass case upside down on the table and disappeared.
"The case is off!" Naruto yelled, excitedly. He could hear Shikamaru's breath of relief.
Sasuke's eyes flashed red as he ran to the document and began flipping through the packet as fast as he could.
"Elevator's trying to come up, Shikamaru," Choji whispered through gritted teeth as the force of the elevator rammed into the lower half of his body. "I'm keeping it in place."
"Perfect, Uchiha, the second you're done, close everything and get out NOW."
"I'm trying," Sasuke gritted out, flipping the pages wildly and trying to memorize as much as he could.
Naruto quickly went around the laboratory, putting all the papers in their right place, straightening vials, and pushing books back into shelves. He stopped in his tracks.
"Maintenance is already at the 24th floor," he said, hesitating.
"Already?" Shikamaru asked, bewildered.
"Yeah, I can hear them," Naruto replied. His ears were strained, but if he concentrated his chakra he could make out the distant clamoring of footsteps.
Shikamaru's mind began racing through possibilities and options. "Okay, give me a second," he said hastily, as he rummaged through his papers. "Just one second."
Naruto bit his lip and felt a small lightbulb go off above his head. He loved moments like these when his brain pieced together the perfect solution. It was rare, and it was never as sophisticated as what his peers could come up with, but it always reminded him of the thrill he used to get tormenting the villagers as a child.
"Hey Shikamaru, don't worry, I got this," Naruto said with a slow creeping grin. He created two clones and transformed them into guards, with red uniforms. They looked a lot like the JFC workers Naruto had transformed into a few weeks ago.
"Teme, hurry up, we don't have time," he called back to Sasuke, "I'm going to stall them for as long as I can."
"I. Understand. That." Sasuke replied again, frustrated. He was a little over halfway through the material, but his eyes were scanning the pages wildly and a small vein in his temple throbbed.
Naruto's clones stood in the stairwell in front of the door, at attention.
Soon, the sweating and panting maintenance men made it to the 30th floor. Their white uniforms looked disheveled and damp from the journey up the stairs. They eyed Naruto's guards, confused.
"There's been a lightning strike on the roof," one of the men in the front began, "we have to go check-"
"Excuse me, sir," one of the clones said in a stern voice, holding up a hand. "But there's a procedure happening up here, and no one is allowed."
"And who are you?" another man asked, eying the first clone up and down.
"We are Haruno-San's guards," the clone replied, "Hospital security can't be trusted." Naruto's clone eyed the hospital workers with scorn.
One of the maintenance men squinted his eyes, angrily. He stepped in front of the others. The clone could read "Super" on his uniform in fancy cursive. So this was the guy in charge. Naruto's clone eyed the man, nonchalantly.
"How dare you?" the super gritted out, "regardless, I'm the super of the building and I demand to be let in. This floor could be in danger."
Naruto's clone shook his head and replied in the same nonchalant tone, "I'm afraid I cannot allow that for Mr. Sato's health."
Naruto's clone glared down the super as he gritted his teeth in anger.
"If the floor caves in, we'll all be in danger. It's my hospital. Now move aside."
"I have been given strict orders not to do that."
"By whom?"
"Haruno-san."
"I don't give a damn about your damn Haruno-San!" the super shouted, exasperatedly.
His shout startled some of the men behind him, and he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Okay, okay, fine. Let's handle this in a bureaucratic way, shall we?" He reached for his radio that hung at his hip. He called in to the main room downstairs. "If I get the go-ahead, we're going in that hallway…even with force if necessary."
He turned his attention to his radio and said, "these guards won't let us in. They apparently belong to that lady working on Sato-san. I need to know whose authority trumps here," the super explained.
The response came back garbled, but Naruto's clone had an indicia of what was being said. They were about to get moved, and quickly.
'C'mon, C'mon, C'mon,' he thought to the real Naruto. 'Hurry up!'
The information popped into his head like he had known it all along. Sasuke and Naruto were ready. Naruto's clone smiled slightly and moved away from the doorway. "Okay, sir, you win. You can go in, but don't blame me for Haruno-San's wrath."
The super who looked like he was ready to put up a fight was taken aback. The change in demeanor had been so sudden, he didn't know how to respond. "O-Oh. Okay then, right," he stuttered out, stupidly.
"Don't worry about it. I'm going on break now anyway," the clone replied.
The maintenance men looked at him oddly. Naruto's clone shrugged before stepping aside and pushing the door open for the men.
As they filed in, one of the clones peeked into the hallway behind them, checking for any signs of Naruto and Sasuke.
The elevator doors were being slammed shut. The laboratory door had been closed and the hallway was immaculate.
…Almost immaculate. The clone could make out wet footprints and droplets of water leading from the laboratory to the elevator. He cursed silently in his head.
Naruto's clone hastily thought about how he could distract the maintenance men from turning in the direction of the elevator for a few more seconds when a slam from the other side of the hallway startled them all. The super jumped a few feet in the air before turning wildly towards the sound.
"What the HELL is all this commotion?" Sakura exclaimed loudly as she stormed out of the operating room.
She stopped for a moment as she took in the scene. She saw the wet footprints behind the maintenance men and Naruto's worried face.
The men looked like they were up to dismiss her and turn back around. She couldn't allow that. Sakura took quick purposeful steps towards them, hair wild, white coat billowing behind her. Her heels clacked against the floor loudly.
Her voice rose an octave as she angrily asked, "what the fuck are you doing up here? In the middle of a procedure? Do they give out medical degrees in technical school now? Is there something I am missing? My orders were easy to follow weren't they?"
With each question, Sakura made her way closer and closer to the men. Her loud voice kept them from turning around to survey the area behind them.
"I am almost done up here, you can come in then, but for now you need to leave, now," she demanded as she stood in front of the super, with her hands on her hips.
"Listen, lady-"the super started to say, voice brimming with bravado, but something about the look Sakura gave him made him stop in his tracks.
Sakura was more than a head shorter than him, but she looked up at him with venom in her eyes. Sakura spoke through gritted teeth, anger seeping in every word. "No one calls me 'lady' and keeps their bones intact. Do you want to try that one more time?"
"I'm sorry, Miss. Miss-we need to check-" the super tried again, in a much softer tone but Sakura didn't let him finish.
"AND YOU," Sakura bellowed, as she turned to Naruto's clone, "WERE MY DIRECTIONS UNCLEAR? NO ONE WAS ALLOWED IN. WE'LL TALK WHEN IM DONE HERE. YOU IMBECILE. YOU'LL BE LUCKY IF YOU'RE EVER HIRED AGAIN WHEN I AM DONE WITH YOU."
Naruto's clone gulped audibly. Sakura's small frame shook with fury and her angry eyes flashed at him dangerously.
She turned back to the maintenance men who looked shell-shocked at the verbal beating Naruto's clone had just taken. The super took a step back from Sakura and nervously looked around at the other men who seemed just as scared.
"You were saying?" she asked. "Mind you, the more you speak, the more you are putting the patient at risk. I will be sure to mention this to him when he wakes up in a few minutes."
The super his head wildly and stepped towards the stairwell, "nothing, ma'am. Nothing."
The other maintenance men began filing into the stairwell and Sakura kept taking a step closer to them, like a herding dog. None of the men could take their eyes off of her, and Sakura made sure to stand away from the footprints.
Finally, when all of them were in the stairwell, Sakura grabbed Naruto's clone by the scruff of his collar and pushed him into the stairwell as well.
"I'm almost done with this procedure. When I am done, you and I are going to have a long chat. Now get out of my face," she hissed, before slamming the door to the stairwell and storming away.
The men stood in the stairwell looking at each other with wide eyes and listening intently to the sound of Sakura's retreating heels.
"I tried to warn you," Naruto's clone said to one of the maintenance men.
One of them put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and shook his head. "I'm so sorry, man. I'm so sorry."
Naruto's clone nodded solemnly and said, "do you think you can come up when she's done. I think I'm in enough trouble as it is. And I don't think the floor is at any danger of collapsing as you saw. From one man to another?"
The super nodded and gestured to his men to turn around and go downstairs.
"I'm sorry," he said one more time, throwing a look back at Naruto's clone.
Naruto smiled and thanked him.
As soon as he was out of sight, Naruto's clone disappeared with a poof.
Shikamaru got back to the penthouse first. He was busy drying Kitsune off when Choji, Naruto and Sasuke appeared at the back window, drenched by the rain, but smiling regardless.
Sasuke immediately went to the dining room table and began transcribing all of the papers he had memorized. He looked like he was in a trance as his brush danced around the paper in quick even strokes. The other three sat on the couch, watching Kitsune, but really, just staring at the windowsill behind him for any sign of their teammates.
Ino came in about 25 minutes later, still in her scrubs, but grinning. Shikamaru and Choji both visibly relaxed when her petite frame knocked on the windowsill. She relayed the story of how the girls at the front desk were fawning over her.
"They thought I was so brave for staying up there during the procedure in the middle of a lightning strike that made the entire building shake. When I told them that the elevator wasn't working and I had to take the stairs where the stairways were flooding, they said that they had been having trouble with the elevators all day and that the lightning probably caused a pipe to burst because the stairwell is close to the boiler room…just as you predicted, Shikamaru."
Ino dried off and took Kitsune into her arms, cooing at the baby.
Sakura came last, about an hour later.
Sasuke came out of his trance to catch her eye. She looked tired but perfectly fine. His shoulders dropped as he went back to working. Naruto grinned widely as she entered.
"All done," Sakura proudly announced to Shikamaru. "Sato is out of surgery, recovering wonderfully, I cut him open and stitched him back up on his side so it looked like I did something and he's making a fuss of it to the nurses with him now. I said my goodbye's. The remaining money will be sent over to the penthouse momentarily, where he thinks Ino will be collecting it."
Shikamaru nodded as he took in the information. "Tomorrow, Choji and I will make an angel donation to the public hospital with all of the money we got from Sato. It should be enough to help them with the scarce resources."
Choji smiled at the idea.
Shikamaru gestured to where Sasuke was slowly but steadily working through the blank pieces of paper. The pile of empty paper was growing smaller while the pile of papers he had written on was growing larger.
"Sakura, start reading through what he's writing. Ino, you go too. I think you're the only two who can make sense of this."
Sakura and Ino nodded. Sakura went to go change first while Ino took a seat at the dining room table.
Choji, whose spirits seemed to have lifted considerably for the first time since they arrived to the Land of Storms got to his feet as well. "I don't know about all of you," he said, "but I am famished. I'm going to make a celebratory feast. To a job well done."
Shikamaru smiled gently at Choji. It was good to see him happy again. While Choji busied himself in the kitchen, and Sasuke, Sakura and Ino worked at the dining room table, Shikamaru and Naruto sat with Kitsune and played with the small boy.
Soon, the smells emanating from the kitchen distracted them all, and they made their way to the dining room table for a hot meal.
AN: Thanks for reading folks! They're out! They did it! Now, what does the data say? Who is trying to hide it? What's the deal with Kitsune? Stay tuned! Next chapter is going to turn everything on its head!
Side Note: As always, please review, like, follow and make my day!