A/N: I wanted to apologize once again for the slower updates. I've been swamped the past few months (mostly because I changed my major and have been doubling up on the work so I can graduate in time. ONE MORE YEAR BABY! ... before Med school. le sigh). Add the beginnings of a thesis to that and you have yourself one very VERY exhausted writer. Nonetheless, I would still like to apologize for my absence.
I kind of based the Land of Fire in my story on the geography of Greater Vancouver (with a touch of the Naruto geography in it).
Nekoba is in this chapter. You know... that cat lady associated with the Uchiha clan. I know that the "-ba" in "Nekoba" signifies her elderly status. I decided to keep the "-ba" in her name simply because I didn't like calling her Granny Neko or simply just Neko. Hope this doesn't bother anyone. Also, she might be a little out of character? Maybe? She didn't really get that much screen time so I can't say for sure if I got her character down pat. Aheh.
*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*
BEFORE THE WORST
To Plant a Seed
Konohagakure, Uzushiogakure, and Namigakure – these were the three prosperous cities that made up the mighty metropolitan known as the Land of Fire. Although each of the sprawling cities was picturesque in their own right, the grandiose skyline of the downtown district – called Tanzaku – would easily be the favourite scenery for each and every citizen of the Land of Fire. The lights and shadows created by the imposing and regal buildings found therein were justly a sight to behold. Tanzaku – situated beside an inlet – was bustling with life at all hours of the day and was thus the heart of industry and business. One building in particular, however, stood out amongst the rest; towering over all the other edifices, it had appeared to be the most influential and authoritative force in the area. The Land of Fire knew the visual of this notable building to be the main branch of The Amaterasu – a giant in the industry of global distribution of commodities. For the last few years, the headquarters of the company had been taking a beating from its internal rival, the Amaterasu Suna branch; the latter garnering all the accounts and transactions thus incurring the favour of the Board of Directors.
Scratch that.
Uchiha Itachi – owner and current chief executive officer of the Amaterasu – was specifically the darling of the Board.
As he gazed up at the soaring structure, the littlest Uchiha – Uchiha Sasuke – ground his teeth at the thought of his antagonist. All that would change one day. One day Sasuke would be worthy enough to dethrone that traitorous snake and then hurl him to the ground where that bastard would be forced eat filth and live a miserable existence for all his days.
One day.
A sudden pinch to his cheek brought him out of his dark musings. "Hello? Earth to the jerk! I was talking to you." The clear voice of one ticked off Uzumaki momentarily cleared all thoughts of his vengeance from his mind.
Sasuke batted the hand on his cheek away and raised a manicured brow at the girl. "Hn. I was thinking. Don't ask since your pea-sized brain won't understand. Anyway, you were saying?"
The corner of Naruto's mouth twitched at the taunt Sasuke oh-so-nonchalantly tossed to her. After muttering 'bastard' as an automatic response to her best friend's insults, she revealed what she had been trying to say to the other for the last minute and a half or so. "I was saying that I wanted to go inside already! I haven't been here since we were kids so I'm pretty excited to see the place again; but then you wouldn't budge so I decided to pinch you." Naruto then tightly held Sasuke's hand and pulled him to the rotating doors.
Sasuke attempted to pull away from the hold but all his efforts were made futile. "Slow down, dumbass. These people know who I am. Act a bit more mature." The boy harshly whispered, making sure that his scolding was not loud enough for anyone else to hear. It was bad enough that Naruto decided to wear her signature jacket, jeans and sneakers to Amaterasu.
The blonde, however, refused to slow down and merely rolled her eyes. "Weirdo. Did you forget that you're the one who asked me if I wanted to come with you? And now you're being a killjoy." It didn't make sense to her that the first to ruin the fun would be Sasuke who was the one who invited her in the first place. Who did that? Tch. Apparently Sasuke did. He could be such a stiff sometimes.
The Uchiha sighed and receded since Naruto actually had a point. "Just... calm down a bit though, Sunny. Even though I asked you to come, I'm still here on business so just try to contain yourself please? For me?" It was bad enough that the employees still saw him as the wet behind the ears youth that was light-years away from being their boss; but of course, he was still an Uchiha and therefore was seen in a different way therefore he had an image to uphold. One couldn't really demand respect from people in a reputable institution when you were being pulled around by a boisterous girlfriend.
Immediately, Naruto yielded and halted all actions that were to be considered rowdy. "Fiiiine. I'll behave."
"Good. Now come on." Sasuke nodded towards the elevators, shepherding his companion to the private express lift that would take them to the top floor.
"Dude, let me swipe the key card!" Naruto quietly announced, excitedly batting her eyes in the process. She always did love to glide the key card across the slot.
The elevator dinged and opened its doors to the two adolescents. Sasuke handed the card to Naruto as he stepped into the confined space. "Knock yourself out." To which Naruto silently rejoiced, doing a mini fist pump. She thus swiped the card with ridiculously more gusto than any normal person would. Gotta appreciate the simple joys after all.
"Hey are you really gonna try to run for Student Council President?" Naruto asked in passing conversation as she watched the elevator door close. Sasuke had never shown interest on running for their student government. It was Sakura who was active in leadership seminars and whatnot; so it surprised the blonde that Sasuke was even attempting to run (for President no less!?) next year for the council. "That's pretty bastardly of you dontcha think? Running all of a sudden without prior history with the council? Besides, why even do it?"
"Orochimaru says it'll be good for my image when I face the board. I'm running half a major company, Naruto. I think I can take care of a measly Student Council." Sasuke reasoned. It wasn't that his rationale was flawed. Naruto was sure Sasuke could lead with the finesse and the authority an Uchiha demanded. There was actually just one problem though.
"Do you even have the right requirements to run? I don't doubt you could lead, Sasuke. It's just the school protocol I'm concerned about." The flaxen-haired teen rebutted while she looked at the glowing numbers that indicated their ascent.
"Hn. You seem to be forgetting..." The elevator slowed to a halt and the metal doors opened to reveal their destination. "They've never dealt with an Uchiha before." He smirked before stepping out of the lift. He had the means to have things go his way so he took no restraints in exercising his growing power. His smirk took on a more sinister vibe. Yes, he had power.
The two teens were greeted by the sweet elderly receptionist that had been working for the company, or rather for the Uchihas, for as long as Sasuke and Naruto could remember.
"Naruto! Sasuke-boy didn't tell me you were coming in today. I would have asked someone to get you a proper lunch if he had."
"Hi Granny Nekoba!" Naruto pranced to the elderly woman's pristine desk and beamed at her.
"My child! You've grown scrawny from the last time I saw you! Your good for nothing godparents aren't feeding you enough!" Nekoba stood up and cupped both of Naruto's cheeks and pushed them together making the blonde look like a puffer fish.
"Mou, Granny, I just saw you at Sasuke's house two weeks ago! And Jiraiya and Tsunade are feeding me fine so don't worry too much." Naruto grinned even while Nekoba was pressing her still-with-baby-fat cheeks together.
"Nonsense! Sasuke-boy, get your girlfriend a healthy and delicious meal!" Nekoba glowered to the youngest Uchiha who remained a good distance away from them.
"Nekoba, stop fussing over her. She's fine. Now let go of her before you burst her head... well, not like anything's going to come out from her head, but still." Sasuke chuckled as he came up to the front desk. Nekoba let go of Naruto at the prompt but not before scolding Sasuke about how it was wrong to tease girls in such a way.
"See what I have to deal with everyday, Granny? It's horrible." Naruto whined to the older woman in order to gain sympathy.
"What can I say, Naruto-chan. An Uchiha will always be an Uchiha. You chose him after all." The woman petted the girl's golden spikes. For years, she'd been trying to tame the natural unruly nature of Naruto's hair but all attempts had been fruitless thus far.
Sasuke, amidst Naruto and Nekoba's brief exchange, looked past the receptionist's head to screen the office within the frosted glass partitions. "Is Orochimaru in, Nekoba?" He said in a tone of severe seriousness. The woman responded with a solemn nod of her head. "He briefly went to accounts with Kabuto. He should be back soon." She then turned to face Naruto. "Do you remember Mr. Orochimaru, sweetheart?"
"Yeah. I met him once when Sasuke and I were younger. I don't know Kabuto though." She vaguely remembered Orochimaru's face despite having to hear his name being said by Sasuke almost a third of the time when they were together. If she recalled correctly, it was during the first time she'd been toured in the company back when she was eleven years old. Kabuto on the other hand was a new name. She'd never heard Sasuke even mention it before.
"He's Orochimaru's current personal assistant." Sasuke explained while straightening his already straight tie; obviously overpreparing for his meeting with his mentor. "We'll be going inside then, Nekoba. Please let Orochimaru know that I will be waiting for him inside with a guest."
"Of course, Sasuke-boy." She bowed her head and politely gestured for the two teens to proceed inside.
The view from inside the office was one that never ceased to amaze Naruto. It was easily one of her more favourite places since she felt like she was at the top of the world from where she stood at Uncle Fugaku's once office. She stood before the full length windows with her arms behind her back. If the view wasn't amazing enough, the office was just astounding. It looked more like a chic home than anything. The only signs that it was an office were the facts that there were no bedroom appliances and that the focal point of the room was the elegant office desk that was situated in the far end of the space. To think that this would be Sasuke's office one day! Man. She would most definitely take advantage of the room once that happened. Maybe she could convince Sasuke to move the gaming system here as well.
"Hey, you hungry?" Sasuke went up to her and offered her a bowl of chips. It would seem that Sasuke did take to mind Nekoba's words about getting Naruto food. "You didn't eat all that much this morning. If you want, I can ask Nekoba to call for delivery?"
"Who's fussing over me now?" The blonde taunted before she shook her head. "I'm okay, S'uke."
"Hn. Don't say I didn't offer then." Although sounding callous, Sasuke left the bowl of chips on top of a table nearest to where Naruto was standing in case she decided she was indeed hungry.
Minutes later, the sound of the double doors swishing open alerted the two teens. The long and domineering strides of Hebi Orochimaru commanded respect. From the looks of it, Sasuke seemed impervious to the man's aura but Naruto, on the other hand, tensed. The sight of the company VP's pale face had the memory surging from the back of Naruto's psyche. She'd recalled being introduced briefly to Orochimaru and she remembered feeling self-conscious during every second of it. The older gentleman's mere presence did not settle well with her, and Naruto had always been an excellent judge of character. The man's haunting yellow eyes were suddenly fastened onto Naruto, rendering the girl motionless. She simply could not grasp why she felt threatened by this person.
"Nekoba said you had a guest, Sasuke." The room temperature rapidly changed to ice cold as Naruto felt Orochimaru's judging gaze.
"This is Uzumaki Naruto, my girlfriend. I believe you've met her before however that was years ago. I think it's safe to surmise that you can't recall her so I took it upon myself to reintroduce her to you." Something in Sasuke's voice changed as well, Naruto noted. He sounded unfeeling; she'd only ever heard him sound that way during that dark time in Sasuke's life.
When Orochimaru said nothing, Naruto took matters into her own hands and sought to introduce herself. "I-It's nice to see you again, Orochima—"
"It's Mr. Hebi, young lady. We're not acquaintances so I expect you to address me properly." The man sternly cut her off before deciding to ignore the girl's presence altogether. In the few seconds that they had spoken, Orochimaru made sure that Naruto understood that he considered her to be the dirt under his designer leather shoes; completely unworthy to be in his presence and infinitely more undeserving to be with an Uchiha. "Sasuke, I'd like to head straight into business. I've just been with accounts and I've notified the department head that you would be visiting them shortly. He will be briefing you on the matters and I expect you to make quick assessment of the situation."
The young Uchiha nodded and made quick strides to the door. Without uttering a word, he left the room therefore leaving Naruto in the presence of Orochimaru. With a sudden jolt of her natural instincts, the girl immediately knew to leave the vicinity. "I'll go and follow him. I wanted to have a look around the building anyways so... yeah. See you again, sir." She bowed before endeavouring to exit the office as quick as possible. It was fight or flight and Naruto chose to fly.
"I highly suggest you remain still and stay, Ms. Uzumaki. I'm sure you'll only serve to bother him. You look like that kind of person after all; a complete and utter nuisance. You provide no merit to him whatsoever and I foresee that you will only be in his way. Now, do please keep your mouth shut and leave us to our business. It would be better if you took your leave altogether. It's not like you're intelligent enough to understand or contribute to our dealings anyway. Better, in fact, if you left Sasuke alone. He doesn't need a parasite like you in his life."
Naruto abruptly put a halt to her movements. Did he just seriously...? No way would she let this man verbally chew her up and spit her right out. She took back her initial decision to fly. It turned out that she would be fighting after all. She steeled herself and faced him with a glare in place. "Who the hell do you think you are? You don't know me, asshole! You have no right to judge me like some wannabe god!"
"Oh but I do Ms. Uzumaki. I know enough. You don't think I check in on Sasuke's personal business? He asked me to shape him up into an impeccable entrepreneur and how am I to accomplish that if I didn't know about his daily matters?" Orochimaru then casually sat at the edge of the office desk and effectively stared Naruto down. "You're Uzumaki Naruto, the daughter of Minato and Kushina, and the goddaughter of Jiraiya and Tsunade. Embarrassingly enough, I have to admit that I knew your parents, and your godparents were my acquaintances once upon a time. You're a member of the Konohagakure dance troupe called Leaf Twist. It would also appear that this talent of yours is your only skill. Judging by your grade point average, I'd say you were a dim-witted student with no future. Overall, you are a lacklustre of a person; hardly ever worth Sasuke's misplaced attention."
"Grades aren't everything, motherfucker! I know for a fact that I'm passionate and a god damned hardworker! Who gave you the power to say if I've got a future or not? I could be a world leader for all you know and I'll be glad to put you in your place, asshole!" The girl bared her teeth at the man in an evident expression of rage. She was this close to pummeling the douche to the ground. Never mind if he called security. Beating the shit out of the fucker's high horse would be satisfying in itself.
"My, my. What foul language coming from the mouth of a young lady. I can't for the life of me imagine why Sasuke chose you when he could have much classier women." Orochimaru picked a solitary piece of lint from his suit and studied it from the tips of his fingers before flinging it to the ground like the insignificant trash that it was. "You said you were hardworking and passionate? My dear, the only thing you're excellent at is dancing. Even if what you claim about yourself is true, you will never amount to anything. I highly doubt Sasuke would be happy with a free-loading, impoverished artist for the rest of his life."
Naruto clenched and unclenched her fists, manifestly fuming. "Take it back!"
A funny thought crossed Orochimaru's mind and his eyes danced at the idea. "Alright, I take it back."
Naruto visibly loosened her tensed form yet remained rightly confused at Orochimaru's sudden change of opinion. Men like Orochimaru wouldn't simply change scathing views on a person just to be nice.
The Vice President grinned maliciously before releasing a nasty blow to Naruto's ego. "I take it back. I realized that you could actually amount to something after all. With your impeccable dancing skills, self-proclaimed hard work and passion, you could work as a stripper pole dancer. Men do like their whores passionate. You'll probably be worth a few twenty dollar bills per customer or something. With your hard work, you'd be earning hundreds of dollars within a day. I'd consider that an accomplishment for you, don't you think?"
Naruto let her mouth hang open as she was forced to hear such cruel words. Her chest tightened but damn it all if she let that piece of shit see her cry. She would rather die than grant that bastard the pleasure of seeing that he had hurt her. She would not cry! "I hope you burn in hell, asshole." She hissed out at him before turning to leave.
Just then Sasuke entered the room, unaware of what had transpired between the two. "Orochimaru, I... Naruto? What's-?"
"I shouldn't have come here." She lowly muttered as she briskly walked past him, leaving the office with a huff.
The young Uchiha turned and aimed a deadly glare at his superior. "What did you do?" He growled and began to stalk towards the older man. Realizing that he had to chase after Naruto first, he snarled at Orochimaru. "We'll talk about this later." But before he could leave, the man called out to him, effectively setting the Uchiha in place.
"You should break up with her, Sasuke. She'll be nothing but a nuisance to you; a hindrance to your objective. She will bring no value to you or this company whatsoever. I'm telling you this for your own good." Orochimaru stated sincerely. He stood up and walked to where Sasuke remained frozen in place. "If you think about it, she's being a nuisance to you right now. You've been briefed downstairs and I know for a fact that you have business to take care of; yet just two seconds ago you were ready to storm out of this office to chase after some insignificant pest, effectively neglecting your duties." The yellow-eyed gentleman put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Forget about her and focus on your obligations. She is of no importance. And if it's a bed-warmer you need, I can offer you women more worthy of your time."
For a split second, Sasuke considered Orochimaru's words and unconsciously took a step back. For a split second, Sasuke became mindful of his goals and the means he had to endure to achieve the desired end. For a split second, Itachi was in the forefront of Sasuke's mind.
For a split second, Sasuke didn't care about Naruto.
Sensing his triumph, Orochimaru grinned. "You made the right decision, Sasuke." But to the older man's surprise, Sasuke brushed off the hand on his shoulder; because in the next split second, Sasuke was running out of the office. In the next split second, he was reminded of each and every cheesy promise he made to her and that he had to make good on said promises. In the next split second, the ghost of his brother's name in his mind was replaced by his blonde idiot's name.
In the next split second, Naruto was all he could think about.
Once he was out of the office, he caught sight of Nekoba pacing about in the, to his dismay, empty lobby.
"Sasuke-boy! She used the public lift when I wouldn't access the private lift for her! Hurry!"
Sasuke nodded in understanding and rushed to his elevator. If the fates were on his side, Naruto would have stopped at a few floors so he could catch her right at the lobby. He could only hope however. He had taken quite a while in the office right after the blonde stormed out.
Lucky for him, Nekoba had taken action.
It wasn't that hard to delay an elevator. She only had to ask a few employees on random floors to press the down button for the lift.
Nekoba sighed in relief when her contacts immediately responded to the request; twelve employees from twelve different floors. Oh Naruto would hate her for this for causing such a hassling delay, but Sasuke would be eternally grateful.
Yes. Uchiha Sasuke was lucky to have Dear Old Nekoba to save his hide.
llllllllllllllllllll
Of all the times for the elevator to fuck up, it had to be the same day some douchebag from the Uchiha family's company decided to verbally attack her.
Great. Just fucking great.
For the last ten floors now, the lift had stopped, opened, only to reveal a non-existent passenger. She incessantly pressed the button that would close the doors of the lift, her irritation speaking volumes through her rough handling of the switch. On the next floor down, the elevator stopped (Surprise! Surprise!), however unlike the previous floors, there was a person waiting to enter the machine. But just as the man moved to step inside the small space, he immediately turned heel while muttering something about forgetting his stapler.
His stapler.
Who the hell comes back for a stapler in a building that obviously had every office supply in every god damn cubicle?! That fucker could have just borrowed a fucking stapler in the office he was supposed to be heading to!
Naruto stood gaping as she couldn't believe the highly agonizing turn of events. The doors of the lift began to close when a nerve appeared on Naruto's forehead. She'd had enough of this nonsense! She prevented the doors from shutting and pushed them aside so she could exit the cursed machinery. Just then, an adjacent elevator opened, revealing a man in crisp business attire. The man was about to step out when Naruto held onto the framing of the entryway of the lift, effectively keeping the entry/exit way open and pinning the man in the enclosed space.
"Is this lift working properly?" Naruto glared, attempting to recreate her boyfriend's infamous threatening gaze. If she'd learned anything from Sasuke in the last thirteen years, it was that she could pull of a fairly decent Uchiha glare. Not of the same calibre as the real thing of course but adequate enough to get the results she needed. Her expression proved effective when the man nervously stepped back and nodded furiously at the question.
She held the gaze for a few more seconds, enjoying watching the man squirm and sweat in his place. In a show of her much practiced oscillation of expressions, she quickly dropped the glare and amicably grinned at the elevator passenger. "Thank you!"
The passenger tilted his head in complete confusion. He was suspicious over the fact that the threatening aura just back then vanished into thin air.
Naruto, not liking how the gentleman was taking an eternity to get out of the machine, ominously frowned once more. "Get out."
The poor Amaterasu employee zoomed out without as much as a whimper. He didn't need to be told twice.
True to his answer, the lift Naruto had moved to worked perfectly. The blonde leaned against the wall and sighed, grateful that she was finally left to her thoughts. She mindlessly stared at the monitor showing her prompt descent, watching as the floor levels went down from 49, 48, 47 and so on.
A nuisance, that was what Orochimaru called her. He implied that her very existence was holding Sasuke back from his ascent to power and greatness. Orochimaru also made the point very clear that she was not in the same league as Uchiha Sasuke, that Sasuke deserved women of much higher standing. Women who could improve the Uchiha image rather than downgrade and hinder it.
Naruto clenched her fists, effectively letting her nails dig into her palms.
She felt frustrated.
Partly because of what Orochimaru said but mostly and surprisingly because she had let herself be taunted by said words. If she was fully confident of Sasuke and her relationship then no amount of insults and mockery should have discouraged her.
So what? Did that mean a small part of her believed Mr. Vice President of Amaterasu?
Naruto clicked her tongue and roughly punched the wall causing the small expanse of space to reverberate with the booming sound of her assault. Peculiarly enough, her anger towards Sasuke's superior shifted to her own person and her buried insecurities. While she silently reprimanded herself, the lift was slowly reaching its destination level.
Faith.
She steeled herself.
Naruto had faith in Sasuke and had faith in their bond. After all, she had pulled Sasuke out of his slump after the tragic death of his parents. She had given life back into his once desolate onyx eyes. That was more than enough proof that she was in no way a nuisance. She would grant Sasuke strength rather than hinder his growth.
She refused to let some middle-aged serpent of a man comment against the unbreakable bond Sasuke and her shared.
The lift dinged, announcing that it had finally arrived at the lobby.
The blonde stepped out, rid completely of her dark thoughts planted by the ill-willed creature found in the top-most floor of the building.
As she strode out of the lift, she failed to notice the figure nonchalantly leaning against the adjacent wall of the elevator. "You took your time." He said in a guarded tone. The lad was unsure whether the girl was emotionally well enough to handle their usual bout of teasing.
Naruto snapped her attention toward him, obviously not expecting to hear his voice. She languidly faced him, folded her arms across her chest, and reproachfully stood with most of her weight on one side. "Yeah, well, your dinky elevator is broken. Go get it fixed before someone dies of old age in there trying to get to the fifth floor from the lobby." The Uzumaki teen pouted before regarding the other teen with a small smirk.
Sasuke sighed in relief, glad that Naruto was fine enough to be conjuring up jokes. He removed himself from the wall in order to approach Naruto. "You alright?" Although grateful that the blonde appeared to be fine, he remained somewhat cautious.
"That mentor of yours is an asshole. I'll kick his ass one of these days, yeah." She wasn't asking for his permission; more of an indefinite notice in all honestly.
Sasuke smirked at the idea. The hilarious visual of Naruto fighting off security was something he'd definitely want to see. Naruto did used to have a knack for beating people up, if memory served him right. Sakura's once-upon-a-time bullies could attest to that. "Come on. Let's go watch a movie or something." He strode off, leaving Naruto momentarily from where she stood.
"Eh? You're skipping work for the rest of the day?" She followed and hastened her steps to catch up to Sasuke's long strides. Although she was ecstatic that Sasuke decided to ditch the old fart upstairs, something in her didn't sit well with the idea of Sasuke skipping out on work altogether. After all, she didn't want Sasuke neglecting important duties especially if it called for his immediate attention just to please her.
The boy shrugged. "It's just for the day. Take it as my apology for subjecting you to Orochimaru." Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets as they both made their way across the lobby. The attendants and some of the lounging staff greeted him as he made his way out.
"Well, as long as I'm not bothering anything..." Naruto trailed off. Being an inconvenience was the last thing she wanted to be in Sasuke's life. She would provide strength, she declared to herself once more, as if to ingrain the thought into her system.
Sasuke stiffened for a microsecond, quick enough for anyone, even for him, not to notice. "You're not." But for some reason, he said this more to himself rather than to the person he should have been addressing.
"Sasuke, if it's in my power, I'll help you in any way I can. We're a team. You know that, right?" Naruto grab hold of Sasuke's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
I'll be your strength.
Sasuke responded by tightening his own hold on the girl's hand. "I know, lugnut." He looked at her with a small comforting smile. Naruto took this time to surprise the boy by standing on her tippy-toes and giving him a swift peck on the lips. The random act of love had effectively caused a momentary weakness in the Uchiha's knees.
The cruel irony of the sentiments was left unknown to both adolescents.
A silence followed that two, both simply just cautiously gazing each other. It was an odd feeling; a somewhat nagging inkling. They appeared fine, yet somehow it felt like something was hanging over their head. The two teens felt it but neither acknowledged it, chalking it up to ill-feelings caused by Orochimaru's bad reception of Naruto.
I am not –
You are not –
-Not a nuisance
Breaking out of their trance, the couple simultaneously shrugged off the heavy air of unknown origins.
"Shall we?" Naruto said as she pushed the boy away from the site; maybe in an instinctual effort to create significant distance between them and ... and ... something threatening that she couldn't pinpoint.
llllllllllllllllllll
In the penthouse of floor of the towering building stood a commandeering presence whom gazed out into the view of the city. His city. Well, if Sasuke made good that is. It was not amiss to him that Sasuke was not as focused as he should have been with regards to operating the company. He could see it in the boy's face. Whenever the Uchiha thought no one was looking, Orochimaru would catch him, his mind obviously elsewhere. Undoubtedly it was that troublesome pest's doing.
Uzumaki Naruto
Orochimaru smirked maliciously in the solitude of the late paternal Uchiha's office. Patience, he thought to himself. He'd deal with Uzumaki Naruto soon enough. For now, there was no hurry to do so. And God forbid for him to actually take time off his busy schedule to actively get rid of the cockroach. She wasn't that important.
Come to think of it, he really didn't need to try so hard.
A dark chuckle filled the eerie silence of the room. Yes, Ororchimaru need not worry. That singular moment when Sasuke had thought against Naruto could be considered a victory. At least now Orochimaru had planted the slightest notion of the blond pest's insignificance in the littlest Uchiha's mind. The seeds of would-be discord were planted; that was the essential piece. With enough time, said seeds would grow into a monstrous presence that none of them could ignore.
Then Uzumaki Naruto would be no more than just a vague memory.
Today was a victory in Hebi Orochimaru's eyes, and he deemed it celebratory enough to pop open an unopened bottle of champagne. He quickly chose a bottle of the finest Rosé found in the inconspicuous bar in the office. As he poured the beverage into a champagne flute, the sound of crackling bubbles and the golden hue of the liquid brought a quiet delight to his person. He raised the glass and proposed a toast: "A toast! To Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, may there come a time that their ridiculous bond ends!" He was about to bring the glass to his lips when another notion to celebrate about came to the forefront of his mind.
"And a toast to myself, for my successful pursuit of power." And thus, he drank the delicious beverage.
Yes, it was only a matter of time. And it would begin once Sasuke and Naruto's relationship failed.