Author's Note: Hey all! Here's another chapter -- the plot will pick up now, but as I'd said before, this one's focused more on character interactions. Also, this chapter has like minimal seal-talk so far but hope you enjoy anyway!
Read on! :))
Sometimes, Kakashi wonders if his friends are right, if they've got a point when they tell him that he lives in a bubble of guilt - detached from the present, only alive in the past.
"You're driving yourself towards a burn-out, my dear rival!"
Months ago, Gai had told him, his shining eyes sombre for once. Kakashi had given a careless shrug, brushing off any worries that plagued his friend.
It hadn't worked.
He knows when it began - the grey in his vision, the dull perspective towards life. Obito had fallen that day, dying a hero, and a better friend than Kakashi had ever been towards him.
It was also the day Kakashi made a promise he'd soon end up breaking.
He hears it every single night. The shrilly chirp of his jutsu that had once been a subject of immense pride for him. He'd created it to save the people of his village, to protect his friends. But a cruel twist of fate made it the weapon he'd wielded to kill (murder, someone whispers in his head) his own friend.
His life had been an up-hill battle from the very beginning. With expectations that came with being a prodigy, he'd made genin long before any of his peers. He'd seen blood, in his very own home, too. He wishes, though, for it to have been a battlefield instead.
Because when he'd seen the lifeless body of his father, his only companion, some twisted, sick piece of his mind had yearned for his father to have died in a different manner -- more of a shinobi's death than how he'd actually passed away.
The other part of him, the child, the innocent, heartbroken child had wanted nothing more than to run up to his father and hug the man, crying and wailing and removing all the anguish that he'd contained within. He hadn't done it though. He'd stood there, silent, unmoving, a ghost in his own home. He'd stared at the gore, completely disconnected from the horror he was witnessing.
It took a whole month before Kakashi shed even a single tear for his late father.
Thereafter, loss was a constant in his life, something that he knew so intimately, it ached every single day. Obito, Rin, Kushina-san, Minato-sensei...he'd lost them all.
The memorial stone is his place of solace, his retreat from the noisy nothingness of the shinobi world he's never had the courage to leave. Staring at the names of the fallen is morbid, and depressing for many, but for Kakashi -- it's his way of knowing that these people he'd shared bonds with were real and alive at some point. That the things he'd experienced weren't some brutal nightmares. That he'd heard Obito's warm laughter, Rin's soft chiding. That he'd felt Kushina-san's rough head-pats and Minato-sensei's ever so kind gestures.
The disquietness of his head is rarely soothed and most of the time, he lives with a voice that hates him. A voice that blames him, passing jabs and comments about his unreliability, his untrustworthiness, his incompetence. His own inner voice hates him and he can't bring up the willpower to ever divert his thoughts elsewhere.
A handful of people can truly say they understand him somewhat. And even they don't know the depth of his self-loathing, the depth of his issues and unless he shares them, he isn't sure they'll ever know.
There's one thing that's a silent comfort though -- someone he never thinks about consciously because it always hurts. That someone is Naruto -- the son of his sensei, the only legacy of the man he'd come to love as a father.
The boy's a joy to behold, right from his birth on that awful night. The whiskers, the chubby cheeks, the eyes -- so blue, so very blue -- that smile, it's all so reminiscent of the ghosts Kakashi remembers, but also not. Naruto's the child of legends but he's also an orphan, unaware of how his parents had even looked like.
And now - now that Kakashi has seen Naruto for what he truly is, it doesn't seem agonising to think about him any longer. It doesn't make him feel constricted and remorseful when he looks up from his Icha Icha book and sees as Naruto cracks a bad joke that sends Chouji laughing. It doesn't make his insides icy when he playfully challenges Naruto and the blond puffs his cheeks in annoyance and indignation.
It doesn't hurt when he feels affection towards the person he can only consider his young brother -- nevermind the apprehension such a feeling creates.
So yes, Kakashi does let himself relax, truly relax -- not the convincing front he puts on for everyone around him. He lets go, for just that hour or two the memories of a past he wishes so desperately to change. He sits in the Konoha Academy, infuriatingly nonchalant, teasing his batch of wannabe ninjas, baiting them and he chuckles like he once used to when one of them goes red in the face -- so very offended by his lazy attitude.
He also watches and observes because almost a decade of being an ANBU member doesn't help brush off his vigilant instincts. Maybe that, and his familiarity with all kinds of secrets helps him spot it - the hushed whispers, the side-way glances, the fizzy excitement of an upcoming thrill. Maybe that's why he uncovers so easily yet another secret - one he doesn't share, one he himself isn't hiding but one that Naruto is guarding, along with two friends of his.
And maybe it's plain curiosity or something more deeper, more protective, that urges him to follow along when the blond rushes outside after class, only to regroup with Sakura and Ino at the edge of the forests.
Whatever the reason, Kakashi is only grateful he's right there with them, a shadow trailing their moves.
"Two steps to your right!" Naruto directs, all razor-sharp focus to go along with his agile leaps.
Ino huffs, the soil entering her toenails a cause of mild irritation.
"How much longer?" she asks, following Sakura's carefully left behind trail of sandal-prints.
"Almost there!" Naruto replies. "Now hurry up you slacker!"
"Hey!" Ino glares at the blond's back in severe offence but softens when she hears the pinkhead's soft chuckle. "Stop being so bossy!"
"Bossy?" Naruto halts and turns around, a bit bewildered before he scowls in a way that looks more like he's trying to suppress a pout. But then he's laughing, warm and bright and maybe just a tiniest bit mischievous.
"Says the bossiest girl of our class."
"You're talking about me?" Ino asks as they all resume walking again. "Surely, you must be joking."
"I'm not," Naruto shoots back. "Why don't you ask Sakura if you don't believe me."
Ino immediately whips her head towards her friend only to feel betrayed by that traitor's amused nod.
"He's got a point," she tells Ino. "But hey, if you tone down that bossiness, you'll be an awesome leader one day."
Ino looks away, and restrains the urge to smile. It won't do to look happy about them teasing her. She has a bossy image to uphold afterall, so she says,
"Don't give me a thinly veiled pep talk."
Sakura laughs and nudges her side with her elbow, "Look, we've reached."
Staring at the plain and boring tree ahead, Ino is less than impressed. She raises a brow,
"This? This piece of wood is why you forced me to walk all the way here? Seriously?"
"Don't you feel it?" Naruto asks, eyes a tad wide in excitement.
"Feel wha--" Ino stops, feeling the tug and pull going on inside her chakra network. "Oh, kami, this whole thing...it's a genjutsu!"
"Seems so," Sakura says, surveying their surroundings. The whole cluster of trees is eerily symmetrical, in a way that naturally grown green cover isn't supposed to be. The soil is a little too flat, as if the constant treading of feet never causes any impact on it. The leaves seem greener despite the slightly yellowish hue the other trees seem to be adopting this time of year. "The hints are so obvious. Wonder why no one else discovered this spot before."
"It's completely out of the way," Naruto says, idly kicking the trunk of the tree where his kunai mark lay. "The traps here are mostly for the wild animals are not for any ninja. The shinobi from konoha, too, take the route east of here. If it wasn't for my seal, I wouldn't have come stumbling here either."
"So now what?" Ino asks, glancing around to get a feel of just how widespread the illusion is. "Want me to break us out of whatever jutsu's put here?"
Naruto nods, "Yeah. Some of this is definitely real -- I can actually feel and touch this tree but the rest...it looks off. There's got to be something shady going on here."
"Naruto," Sakura shifts on her feet, a small frown on her forehead. "Shouldn't we tell a shinobi about this? Iruka-sensei or Hikari-sensei? I don't think this is...safe."
Naruto stares contemplatively at the tree, biting his lip. Ino, though, sits cross-legged on the ground, the worrying of the other two not affecting her at all.
"We'll be fine," she says, shutting her eyes close. "There's no one waiting around for us to break the illusion so they can pounce and kill us. They could've done it the moment we entered the area. Other traps don't get triggered when a genjutsu is broken out of. So someone's just hiding something here -- what if it's some old treasure? Or it could be one of those lame time capsule things dad keeps telling me about."
Sakura's unconvinced but when she looks over at Naruto, he seems to be at ease again, intently looking at Ino to go ahead and detangle the jutsu-induced mirage they're under.
"Alright," she relents even as she palms the metallic kunai she has made a point to always carry around in her backpocket. "But if I get the slightest of hint that something's wrong, we're running."
"Yes ma'am," Naruto says with a small smile and shifts closer so their arms brush. "We've got this."
Ino makes a sound then, something between a whoop of joy and a choked sound of misery.
"What happened?" Sakura crouches instantly and shakes Ino by the shoulder. The blonde doesn't open her eyes but shakes her head, brows scrunching up in distress.
"I can sense the origin of the tug," Ino says, leaning her elbows on her own thighs and resting her face on her palms. "But I just can't get it undone. It's too complicated. The chakra used for the genjutsu doesn't seem only one person's. Multiple people created it and are maintaining it. I can't get myself out of it." She opens her eyes now, scowling towards the dirt. "I just know the normal way. This is beyond me."
"It's okay," Sakura says, because she can sense Ino's disappointment all too clearly. "I don't think we should mess with this anyway. We need to go report it to an adult."
"Yup," Naruto says and unlike what Ino thinks, he's not despondent over the fact that he didn't get to unravel this particular mystery. "Thanks for trying, Ino. You're super cool at this genjutsu stuff."
Ino rolls her eyes, getting up and dusting her shorts. "Stop trying to console me, you idiot!"
Naruto grins, and purposely walks a few steps away from here before saying,
"Look -- you're being bossy again!"
Sakura just shakes her head, pulling an irate Ino along with her.
Hiruzen's mind is numb for a minute, no thoughts, no dread, no indication that a very horrifying revelation has been dumped on him. He blinks, and his forehead creases tightly, lips press in a line.
"You're sure?" he asks seriously, scrutinizing the man before him. Kakashi lounges in the wooden chair opposite him but even Hiruzen knows that he's not relaxed right now, no matter what his posture might suggest.
"Absolutely," the jounin leans forward. "There's no other explanation."
"I really should've seen this coming," the Hokage rubs a hand over his worry-worn face. "Very well, I'll send Kurenai to assist you. Break the genjutsu. Confirm your suspicions. I'll have a talk with Shikaku this evening and we'll have as many shinobi as you want under your command. I trust your instincts, Kakashi. Don't let the bastard get away -- but at the same time, don't let panic ensue. I don't want our people to get agitated, though something tells me that it's inevitable."
Kakashi gives a graceful nod, "I know. Danzo will be dead if root's still operating, you have my word."
Hiruzen's tired smile is neither convincing nor soothing. They both know what a great threat Danzo poses and if he's allowed to remain unthreatened, the man is capable of feats far worse than running a shinobi corps underground illegally. They just hope it's not too late to put an end to it all.
"They're definitely going to tell Iruka, by the way."
Hiruzen raises a brow, "Then deal with it. I don't want this information floating around at the academy."
"Why me?" Kakashi counters. "Aren't you a pseudo-grandfather to him? Just tell him to keep it under wraps. He's going to come to you with the information anyway."
"I won't do it because you, Kakashi Hatake, sorely need to socialise," the older man rolls his shoulders to get the stiffness out of them. Sitting on a chair for hours straight is not an easy task. "I've heard you barely talk to anyone at the academy, except a few of your students and that's practically your job."
"You're one to talk," Kakashi retorts. "When was the last time you checked in with Asuma? Or anyone else for that matter? Passing around orders to shinobi doesn't count -- that's practically your job."
"I can't deal with your snark right now," Hiruzen waves a hand. "I'm sixty-something, for kami's sake. Didn't you ever learn to not talk back to your elders?"
"Please," Kakashi rolls his eyes, standing up. "You love it when someone disregards your authority. You hate being the Kage, don't you?"
"That's enough," Hiruzen's back to being his stern self now, their moments of banter are always short-lived. "You're dismissed."
"Awesome," Kakashi mutters and walks towards the door. Without turning back, he says, "Don't be sentimental about this, Hokage-sama. We don't want Danzo becoming another Orochimaru, do we?"
Hiruzen hears the words but feels just the prick of poisoned needles.
"This is going to be freaking awesome!" Kiba whispers, eyes wide in anticipation as he and his classmates wait for their new instructor to enter.
Kakashi walks in, in his usual style, shoulders slightly hunched and one hand holding his little orange book. He's two steps inside when he notices something's not right. He side-glances towards the students and understands what's off.
They're all staring at him.
That's nothing new. They always stare at him. His weirdness is attention-grabbing that way. But most days, they're also glaring and scowling in his general direction -- he's quite capable at making people hate him, it's a talent really.
But today, no one's particularly upset or angry at his presence (which is a shame, he thinks, he'll have to be more annoying moving forward), but they're all looking at him in utmost fascination.
Correction, not looking at him - but at his mask.
No one looks specifically at his mask after they've first met him. People's eyes just glaze over it, they know it's never coming off. That's boring, so any concentration put over the piece of cloth is wasted. These children were the same, until today.
Now, their eyes seem to see something below the mask and for one terrifying second, Kakashi thinks there's a hole in his mask and they can see what's underneath. A quick downward movement of his pupil and he's assured that his cover is intact.
"I can..." some girl gasps dramatically, "I can see your face!"
Okay, what the fuck?
Kakashi looks at his mask again and it's definitely there, all blue and stretchy and plain. He turns towards the girl who'd said it but then there's another boy standing up, and pointing at his face with a look of pure awe.
"Me too...is this, is this actually how you look like?"
Thoroughly confused now, Kakashi quickly walks to his desk and drops his book on the wood. Opening the drawer, he pulls out the little shard of glass he'd dropped there a week ago, intending to dispose it properly the next day. He brings it to eye-level and squints hard.
There.
His mask is still on and no one should be able to see the lower-half of his face.
And yet,
"I didn't think you'd look like this," it's Sasuke, of all people, who says this, eyeing Kakashi like he's an exotic species of insect.
"I know right!" Naruto says. "Now I understand why you wear that damn thing all the time."
Kakashi blinks at the blond, "You do?"
"I do," the boy nods seriously.
Kakashi shakes his head and they're all still there, staring, looking through his mask somehow, looking straight at his face.
"I've," he makes a run for the door (he thinks he's elegant about it; he's not). "I've gotta go, see ya later kids."
The moment he disappears round the hallway, the whole class erupts into laughter, cheering and high-fiving each other for a prank well-done.
"Did you see the look on his face?" Ino asks between breathy giggles. "Pure mortification -- he fell so hard for this one!"
"He was soshocked!"
"The idiot teacher was looking at his reflection in the mirror!"
"Nice job there Sasuke," Naruto compliments, eyes shining with laughter. "Didn't think you had it in you."
Sasuke shrugs, "Well, it was amusing."
The blond smiles cheekily, "I planned it afterall."
Two minutes after he leaves the classroom, Kakashi stumbles into Iruka,
"Listen," he says urgently to the chunin. "Can you...can you see my face?"
Iruka gives the man a funny look, deciding whether the jounin had lost his mind or his students had made the jounin lose his mind.
"No," he says carefully. "That mask on your face is quite the obstacle to do so, don't you think?"
Kakashi frowns in confusion before a few shrieks of laughter reach their ears.
"Oh," he says, realisation hitting him all of a sudden and he groans. "Oh."
Iruka glares at the man, hitting his arm with his stack of papers.
"Move aside, I need to get to class."
"Could you do me a favour?"
"I want to say no but I know you'll ask for it anyway. So go ahead."
Kakashi's mask curves upward at the sides.
"Tell your students to go fuck off, please."
Iruka returns the smile, "On behalf of my students, you should fuck off too."
Kakashi chuckles, walking away and makes a point to pull up his mask every now and then - just in case.
[Triggers
As we approach the end of this beginner's crash course, it's only fitting that I speak of triggers that can activate a seal without any assistance -- which, if you've had any practice with making seals, you might've unknowingly incorporated already.
Generally, triggers are keyed to impact or chakric imprint. A certain amount of force or a specific chakra signature gets the seal rolling, and it's the most useful type of trigger too.
But there are several more kinds of triggers you can use. Some are as specific as someone's voice saying a certain word with an emphasis on a certain letter. The others are less so.
Some seals have inherent functions that lie dormant till triggered. This can be caused by the host turning a specific age, or in case of an inanimate object -- heating up to a certain degree. Emotions can also be triggers -- anger, happiness, relief, sadness can be used to activate some seals/functions of seals, though feeling-based triggers are very tricky to get right.
In this chapter, I'll walk you through the process of adding a trigger to a Chakra Release seal which will work if the temperature surrounding the scroll/parchment reaches x degrees.
Start off with the component for 'heat' and 'heat sensing'. Add a basic array for the condition-action process and...]
Naruto handles the brush masterfully as he goes about drawing the trigger portion of his Chakra Release Seal. He's done with Storage part -- some pure chakra resides within the scroll already. He dips the pointed brush in the permanent ink-containing bottle and continues the process of drawing strokes and symbols and kanji that end up looking nonsensical to Kiba and Chouji who stare at his handiwork.
"Got the ice?" he asks, without looking up. Someone drops a very cold pack on his arm and he yelps, letting the brush go. The ice slides off his arm and he glares up at the Nara who drops in the seat next to his.
"You ruined the seal," Shikamaru says bluntly.
Naruto elbows the Nara's side, "You did, not me. Couldn't you have put it on all this space on the table?"
"My hand was cramping up with the chill," Shikamaru says, yawning. "Be grateful that I even ran this errand for you."
"Thank you," Naruto grumbles, pulling out another paper to start all over. "Did Sakura and Ino tell Iruka-sensei?"
Shikamaru dropped his head on the desk, head turned sideways to peek at Naruto as he worked.
"About you three's genjutsu escapade?"
Naruto nods and the Nara nods right back.
"What did he say?" the blond asks; he'd been too engrossed in his reading to accompany the two girls. "Does he know something about it?"
"Maybe?" Shikamaru says. "He didn't seem too bothered by it. You should stop fretting over it. It's probably some old temple base or one of the old war battlegrounds. They're usually covered in heavy genjutsu."
Naruto can tell there's something Shikamaru knows that he doesn't, but he doesn't want to pry even though he's sure he can get the information out of the Nara.
"If you say so," Naruto mutters before continuing with his sealwork.
A few minutes pass before both Chouji and Kiba leave the class to head outside. They usually spar in the grounds during breaktime with Lee.
"Enjoy!" Naruto shouts after them.
"You know," Shikamaru says idly, casually, "you should also hone your taijutsu more."
Naruto frowns, finally putting his brush down - done with the trigger drawing.
"What do you mean?" he gets up and runs the brush under the tap water by the corner. "I do practice hand-to-hand in all our classes, y'know."
"You lost against Kiba yesterday," the Nara points out. "You both used to be on par. Now, you're too focused on your seals to train in anything else."
Naruto's frown deepens and he looks at Shikamaru. "I can still kick your ass."
"True," Shikamaru agrees, shrugging. "But unlike you, taijutsu has never been my strong suit. I can still defeat you with my clan jutsu which, for the record, I've been getting better at this whole year."
"What else?"
"What do you mean?"
"What other shinobi art are you into? If you're advising me to get better at tai, surely you've got another skill of your own to learn."
"Well," Shikamaru runs a hand through his ponytail. "My mum's teaching me about herbal medicine and poison-making. I do enjoy learning about it."
Naruto looks at him with some wonderment. "Really? That's awesome! Are you gonna, like, be a ninja-doc?"
Shikamaru laughs softly, "They're called med-nin. Like Tsuande of the Sannin. Remember?"
"Right, right," Naruto hops into his seat again, drying the brush on his pants. "So, let's make a pact. I'll dedicate more time towards taijutsu if you do the same towards medicine--"
"Actually," the Nara interrupts. "I need to get into medical ninjutsu now."
Naruto looks struck with even more awe. "Healing with chakra -- that's what, that's what our nurse does, doesn't she?"
"Exactly," Shikamaru commends, extending his hand. "But yes. Let's make that pact."
Naruto gladly accepts the hand and gives it an enthusiastic shake.
"Deal!
Tenten and Lee enter the park, spirits high because of the added metallic weight that lies on both their foreheads.
"Congratulations!" Naruto yells the moment he sees them.
Tenten gracefully moves out of the way and the blond leaps and tackles Lee with vigour. Both boys share a brief hug while Sakura pats Tenten a little too roughly on the back.
"Well done you," the pinkhead says. "How does it feel to officially be a kunoichi?"
Tenten shrugs, "Honestly, there's not much difference. I guess the novelty of it is yet to settle in for me -- we haven't even been assigned teams yet. That's tomorrow."
"Will you and Lee be together?" Kiba asks, petting Akamaru behind the ears.
"Who knows?" Tenten replies as the whole group gets seated on the grass.
"They will be," Shino mutters, tone bland. "Why, you ask? Well, Tenten's many rants have told us that Lee is at the bottom of their batch -- if academics are considered whereas Tenten has passed as the kunoichi of the year. Analysing previous team formation patterns has provided me with enough insight to know that the deadlast and best kunoichi are put in the same team."
"I hope you're right, Shino-san!" Lee exclaims, relieved by the prospect of having a friend in his team.
"He's right," Shikamaru says. "The information I've got out of my father also suggests so."
"That's great then," Tenten comments, hooking her arm around Lee's. "We're gonna be one kick-ass team!"
Lee grins, "Definitely!"
"Wait," Tenten turns towards Shino again. "Do you, by any chance, know who the third member of our team might be?"
Shino nudges his glasses upwards with a finger. "The Rookie of the Year -- whoever he is."
Tenten groans, falling flat on the ground, arms sprawled. "Oh kami, I can't deal with that asshole Hyuga!"
"Cheer up my friend," Lee encourages while pumping his fist in the air. "Fret not, we shall befriend Neji in no time!"
That's exactly the moment when Sasuke Uchiha walks into the ground, spots them all chatting merrily by the trees, stops and blinks rapidly. He's here to spar with Lee -- on the occasion of the older boy becoming genin, he'd acquiesced when Lee had asked him to train at a different ground -- but Sasuke didn't know so many other people would also be there, too.
He contemplates running away quietly and making some excuse tomorrow. He's not going to make a spectacle out of his spar with Lee - absolutely not. His few moments of indecision though, cost him, for Sakura looks up and directly meets his eyes -- grinning like the little shit she is.
"Sasuke!" she shouts and now everyone is staring at him -- which is so very wonderful, isn't it? "Come join us!"
Sasuke glares pointedly at Lee, "No, I'm not getting involved with you crazy people."
"Crazy?" Naruto echoes, standing up. "You wound us."
Sasuke continues to dig holes in Lee's skull through his fiery gaze.
"Lee, come here -- right now."
Lee gets to his feet, throwing nervous glances at Sasuke and then at Naruto -- who looks ready to restrain Lee with force.
"Eh, guys, it's our sparring time. Y'all can wait while we get done with our training."
Naruto suddenly relaxes and grins because spectating a taijutsu match is a win in his book -- forcing Sasuke to be social can wait for now.
"Why are they here?" Sasuke hisses the moment Lee's close enough to hear.
"I'm sorry! It slipped my mind!" Lee says, a sheepish look on his face and the Uchiha can't even stay mad at Lee because he does, infact, look apologetic.
He gives Lee another studying look before deciding to let the matter drop -- but not before one final warning of,
"If you set up an ambush with your friends again, I will stop this arrangement of ours."
Lee nods, seriously and sharply because he's earnest that way. "You've got it! No more ambushes," he pauses, "but that won't stop Naruto from very obviously and evidently trying to make you talk more. Hope you know that."
Sasuke doesn't reply until their spar is underway. He lands a particularly hart-hitting punch on Lee's torso, huffing out, "Oh I do know it."
Lee grins, wide with exhilaration and retaliates with a sharp backkick.
All the while, Tenten oohs and aahs over every impactful hit and sometime, Sakura joins in. Kiba jumps around, trying to watch the match from every angle imaginable. Shikamaru slumps against a tree, one bored eye tracing the two boys' moves while the other remains stubbornly shut.
Chouji's not here today -- it's his training day with his dad but tomorrow, he's promised to come to the academy with a homemade cake to celebrate Tenten and Lee's geninship. Shikamaru tells Naruto so when he inquires about Chouji's whereabouts.
The spar comes to an end, Lee coming out victorious but only barely.
"Great job, Lee!" Tenten says cheerily. "That last move -- that was so awesome!"
Lee chuckles a bit in embarassment, silently accepting the compliment while Sasuke stares impassionately at the both of them.
"You did great too, you big baby," Naruto teases, suddenly beside Sasuke.
"I don't care," the Uchiha says.
"Sure you don't."
"Yes, I don't."
"And I said I believe you."
"You didn't say those exact words."
"But it was implied."
Sasuke doesn't reply, staring straight ahead at a lone bark.
"Oye!" Naruto tries to draw his attention. "Why did you suddenly stop talking?"
Sasuke turns and smiles plainly at the blond. "I was trying to imply -- through my silence -- that I don't wish to interact with you."
"Smart-ass," Naruto remarks with a roll of his eyes and Sasuke doesn't understand where the little fondness in the other boys' voice is coming from.
"You two should spar," Shikamaru drawls from his place near the tree.
"Why?" Naruto asks, because he genuinely doesn't know.
"Remember our deal?" the Nara prompts, lips twitching upwards. "You gotta train somehow. And Sasuke seems to be quite free at the moment."
"Oh," Naruto blinks and turns towards Sasuke. "You up for one spar?"
Sasuke side-glances him for a long, long time. "You won't let me say no, will you?"
"You know it," Naruto says, running towards a smoother area. "Come one then! I wanna show Shikamaru I don't suck at taijutsu."
Sasuke drags his feet to stand opposite from Naruto.
Twenty minutes later, the blond lies breathing heavily on the ground, having received as thorough ass-kicking from the Uchiha.
"You knew this would happen," Naruto accuses.
Shikamaru doesn't hide his smirk as he places his hand on Naruto's sore, very sore shoulder.
"Don't cry," he mock-soothes. "It happens."
Naruto looks at the Nara through his lashes.
"I will bite your hand off your wrist."
"Naruto!" Sakura calls out, scandalised by his threat. "You will do no such thing!"
Naruto pouts, all thoughts of biting people's hands leaving his mind. "How am I supposed to exact revenge against him then?"
"That's easy, silly," Sakura says, smiling sweetly at Shikamaru. "Just untie his ponytail. He absolutelyhates it."
"Just so it's fair and all," Naruto says, grinning, even as he sees the Nara inch away from him. "I give you three seconds. Run!"
Shikamaru gets up faster than he ever has before and he's sprinting towards the exist, pushing Lee and Sasuke out of the way -- but Naruto's already on his tail, feet light and feathery as the blond chases the Nara.
And in the distance, the sun sets with a soothing orange, the birds chirp lullabies for their young ones, and Konoha witnesses the end of yet another serene day.
Author's Note: That's all for this one! Thank you so much for reading. :))
Have an awesome day ahead!