Sasuke is bored. All she has to do is lie there and heal. She can't sit up yet, or she will break something, probably. Her bandages are stiff, but at least she isn't wearing a hospital gown. Sasuke's Dad bought her new pyjamas so she wouldn't have to wear the hospital gown. Sasuke is not sure how to feel about that. The pyjamas are slightly too big and a bit childish, but they fit comfortably around Sasuke's bandages and casts. Sasuke traces one of the cats on her pyjama top with her finger and thinks about her kitten. Sasuke misses her kitten.
The door to Sasuke's room opens and her father walks in with a backpack on one shoulder. "Hey Sasuke," he says. "Feeling any better?"
"No," says Sasuke. "Just bored."
"I brought you some things to do," says her Dad, grinning, and putting the bag on her bed beside her.
"Like what?" pouts Sasuke. "I can barely move."
Sasuke's Dad grins and opens the backpack. A tiny, grey, fluffy face pokes out.
"Peanut!" says Sasuke, grinning.
"I thought his name wasn't Peanut?"
Sasuke blushes and sticks her bottom lip out. "I can't think of anything better."
Sasuke's Dad lifts Peanut out of the backpack and puts him on the bed. Peanut climbs onto Sasuke's pillow and curls up By Sasuke's face. Great. Now there is fur in her eyes.
Sasuke's Dad pulls a lava lamp out of the bag and sets it up on the table beside Sasuke's bed. He switches it on and says, "Apparently these things are good for staring at for hours on end without getting bored."
Sasuke pouts and looks away to hide how happy she is. Lava lamps are the thing to have. Peanut starts purring and snuggles closer to Sasuke's head.
"How are we getting on in here?" asks a nurse, smiling her way into the room.
Sasuke's Dad tries to stand between the nurse and Peanut. Unfortunately, the nurse sees Peanut.
"Mroww," says Peanut, snuggling closer to Sasuke.
"Why is there a cat in here?" asks the nurse calmly.
"That's a Peanut," says Sasuke's Dad, quite seriously.
"That is a kitten, and you will remove it from this hospital before it spreads its outside germs everywhere," says the nurse, severely.
Peanut jumps up onto Sasuke's Dad's shoulder and clings to the back of his Hokage cloak. Peanut looks over Sasuke's Dad's shoulder and stares at the nurse challengingly.
"Get. That. Animal. Out. Of. The. Hospital." the nurse orders through gritted teeth.
An ANBU lands on the window sill. "Lord Hokage, there is a message for you from the Hidden Sand. Please return to the Hokage Tower."
Sasuke's Dad ruffles her hair and says, "I'll be back later, kid." Then he follows the ANBU back out the window, with Peanut still clinging to his shoulder.
Naruto watches the two men from the camp appear on the stairs. One has long red hair and the other has short red hair. The two of them cross their arms and grin. They must be friendly. "What are you doing in our temple?" asks Short Hair.
"Your temple?" says Naruto's Grandpa, snapping a picture of the two men. "So then are you the Temple Guards?"
The two men look surprised. "Not quite.."
"YOUR HAIR IS AWESOME!" Yells Naruto, darting forward to get a better look. "IT'S JUST LIKE OKAMI-SAMA'S HAIR, BUT REDDER!" Naruto stopped calling Karin's mum 'Karin's Mum' after she told him to call her 'Okami-Sama'. Naruto knows better than to disobey the queen.
"Oh, thank you," says the man. "My mother gave me this hair."
"Aw," pouts Naruto. "Why couldn't my mum give me her hair? Then I'd have red hair too."
"Your mum?"
"Yeah," says Naruto. "So are you the Temple Guards?"
"No, we're members of the Order of Steve," replies Long Hair. "We serve Steve the Shinigami."
"Ooooh, Steve did mention something about having some pretty cool followers," says Naruto, nodding. "Of course, he was arguing with Joe over whose followers are cooler."
"Who are you, child?" asks Long Hair.
"Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo."
"..." Long Hair and Short Hair stare at Naruto for a few seconds.
"He's blond," says Short Hair. "Why's he blond?"
"I don't know," says Long Hair. "Maybe it's a mutation."
"Don't be stupid," says Iruka-nii. "His father was blond and not an Uzumaki. That's why he was complaining about not getting his mother's hair."
"OH!" Short Hair and Long Hair nod, smiling as if Iruka-nii just divulged the meaning of life.
"Are they Uzumakis?" asks Naruto's Grandpa, grinning.
"Yes," says Iruka. "You can tell by their red hair and the way their brains are wired by cats on drugs."
"What did you just say?" demands Short Hair, turning on Iruka-nii and cracking his knuckles.
Iruka-nii stares him right in the eye and says, "Your Brain was wired by a cat on drugs. Keep up."
"Dude, dude," says Long Hair., a look of revelation on his face. "That's...that's deep. So deep."
"HE INSULTED US, YOU MORON!" yells Short Hair, turning on his friend.
Long Hair isn't listening. He walks up to Iruka, places his hands on Iruka's shoulders and says, "What's your name, oh great philosopher."
"Iruka Umino," says Iruka-nii
"You're…"
"Yes."
"But..."
"I am the only one who survived the Fall of the Whirlpool and still lives today," explains Iruka-nii.
"We should put you in a museum," says Short Hair.
"Don't worry," says Arashi. "I keep him at my house. I'm a historian, so I know how to take care of precious relics."
"This is my Grandpa!" Says Naruto, patting his Grandpa's arm. "Him and Grandma are my Dad's parents, and they adopted Iruka-nii who's actually my uncle now, but he's my bro."
"That makes no sense," mutters Neji.
"Oh yeah," says Short Hair, nodding. "So who are the other two?"
"That's Shisui, he's my prank buddy," says Naruto, pointing to Shisui. Then he points to Neji. "That's Neji. He used to be an asshole until I beat his brains in."
"Cool, these guys seem like great guys," says Long Hair. "Wanna come back to our camp and meet our leader?"
"Yes!" says Naruto, doing an aerial backflip. "See Iruka-nii, I told you they'd be nice!"
"And I told you avoiding them would take less time," says Iruka-nii. "Seems we are both right."
"He's your Uzumaki, isn't he?" comments Short Hair.
"Yes," says Iruka-nii.
"We have to meet their leader," says Naruto's Grandpa. "I have to do all the research I can on this trip you know."
"What are you researching, dude?" asks Long Hair.
"The History of the Hidden Whirlpool," says Naruto's Grandpa. "We're visiting all the Temples for my research. These four are my bodyguards. Apparently I need them to stop bandits and rogue ninjas."
"You need me to find the Temples and get in them for you, remember?" says Iruka-nii, sighing.
"That too," nods Naruto's Grandpa.
"Come, speak with our leader," says Short Hair. "He will be able to answer any questions you have about the Temple of Steve and the Order of Steve."
"Is he the original leader of the Order of Steve?" asks Iruka-nii.
Naruto cocks his head and stares at Iruka-nii in surprise. Why did Iruka-nii ask that question?
"Yes, Grandfather is the original leader of our order, why do you ask?" says Short Hair. He's less fun than Long Hair, Naruto decides.
"If that is the case, then there is something I want to speak to him about," says Iruka-nii. "A certain seal that he invented."
"Grandfather stopped inventing seals," says Short Hair. "He won't say why though. What's the seal called?"
"The Caged Bird Seal," says Iruka-nii.