Chapter 53: Unique Happenings
"We're done here then," the first elder said before leaving, the others behind him.
"Naruto and Sasuke, please wait," Tsunade said as Naruto turned to leave, "you too," she added as the eight started to exit.
The ten stopped and waited until the others had left. Once the door was closed Tsunade turned to the eight, "you have all been given the rank of ninja, and at the chuunin level, anything beyond that you'll have to earn. If you still have the forehead protectors I gave you, you can wear them now, I would almost say you should, but it is your choice," Tsunade said.
"No, we'll wear them. Any luck on a residence for us?" Nomad asked.
"It's still being arranged, you'll need to give it more time," Tsunade said.
Nomad nodded and the eight left leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone in the room with Tsunade.
"What'd you want to see us about?" Naruto asked.
"That was very well planed. No doubt Strag devised it," Tsunade said.
Naruto grinned, "devised what?" he asked.
"I can't give any restrictions based on this event, but if anything suspicious happens, I will be forced to call you on this, Sasuke," Tsunade said.
"I would expect you to," Sasuke said nodding.
"Naruto, you have no idea how lucky you are you got no punishments," Tsunade said.
"Yeah, I do. I was expecting a suspension or something like that," Naruto said.
"I think you should have gotten one. You took full responsibility, you should have gotten punished," Tsunade said.
"But there's no way Sakura would have gotten off otherwise," Naruto said.
"But you were expecting a punishment," Tsunade said.
"Yes, and if I shared the blame she'd get one too. But now it's not even on her record," Naruto said.
"You're one of a kind you know that?" Tsunade said with a small smile.
Naruto grinned back, "I only do what's right," he said.
x-X-x
A few hours later Naruto was approaching his favorite ramen stand for lunch when he noticed a familiar pair of legs already there. Naruto sat down, ordered his ramen and turned to the person next to him.
"I see you got you're forehead protector on," Naruto said.
"We went back and got them right away," Nomad said recognizing the speaker as Naruto.
"Are the others wearing theirs on their forehead?" Naruto asked.
"If I recall correctly, they are wearing them as they did for that meeting. Though I could be slightly mistaken. So, Kid, what have you been up to after your release?" Nomad asked.
"I just got my stuff back from the impound and put it away, you?" Naruto asked as his ramen was set before him.
"Looking around for a place to live. Sage and Strag are working on a plan of attack against the Alliance. Once it's ready they're gunna tell the Hokage and we'll put it in motion," Nomad said finishing his ramen.
Nomad looked over at Naruto after he finished speaking to see Naruto finish off his bowl and order another one.
"Kid, do you even taste it? Or do you just shove it straight into your throat, bypassing your mouth?" Nomad asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey Nomad, I got a question," Naruto said in a slightly serious manner.
"Yeah? What's up?" Nomad asked.
"Why don't you guys use my name?" Naruto asked.
"Huh?" Nomad asked taken slightly aback.
"My name, it's not Kid you know," Naruto said.
"My name ain't Nomad, but you use it rather freely," Nomad said taking a drink of water.
Naruto's ramen was set before him but he just stared at it. "Sorry, I didn't even think about that… what is it, your real name?" Naruto asked.
Nomad was silent a moment as he scratched his chin, apparently in debate over telling Naruto his name. finally he spoke, "Ivike, my real name's Ivike," Nomad said.
"Okay Ivike, is that the reason why? Because you call Sasuke and Sakura by their names, but they call you Nomad too," Naruto said.
"Most likely it's because that's what we called you when we got to know you. Don't take any offence, it's just habit now," Nomad said.
"Yeah, okay," Naruto said.
Nomad got up and paid for his meal, "I gotta go and see how the others are doing. I'll see you later, Naruto," Nomad said before leaving.
A smile graced Naruto's face, "see you Ivike!" Naruto yelled after Nomad, who raised his hand in recognition as he continued walking.
Naruto turned back to his ramen and began eating. He had just finished when he received a hit to the back of his head. "Oww, what the hell?" Naruto asked turning around, then he saw who had hit him, "ahh, Sakura! What was that for?" Naruto asked.
"Making me worry about you and Sasuke being in jail when you knew you'd both be okay. You could've told me when I came to visit," Sakura said. Idiot! I oughta kill you for that!
"Sorry, but I didn't want to risk the guards hearing. Plus, I only knew Sasuke'd be okay," Naruto said with his arms raised in defense.
"You mean you were prepared to take the punishment and you just lucked out?" Sakura asked. Naruto nodded and she hit him again, this time on the top of the head, "do you know how severe it could've been? You shouldn'tve taken the whole blame," Sakura said.
"But you already knew I did, I told you before! Why'd you have to hit me again?" Naruto asked in a slightly whiny voice.
"You were in jail, the guards might've stopped me," Sakura said.
"Are you going to hit me again?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know… is there anything else you did?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No…" Naruto said, but he said it like it was a question.
Sakura cracked a smile at the display and couldn't stay mad. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead, "at least you're safe," she said.
Naruto smiled and stood up, paid for his lunch and walked off with Sakura.
x-X-x
Grim and Sasuke were in one of the training grounds sparing. Both having resorted to their bloodline limits and were still evenly matched. The two broke apart and caught their breath.
"You in the running for Hokage?" Grim asked.
"I doubt it," Sasuke said.
"You're keeping up with me, and I'm S-rank, according to the tests you have here," Grim said.
"Yeah, but I have a record. Deserters will never be able to make it to Hokage," Sasuke said.
"You could probably weasel your way in," Grim said with a grin.
"I don't want it, my only major goal now is reviving my clan," Sasuke said.
"Well I can't help you with that," Grim said.
"No, but you can help me by not holding back anymore," Sasuke said.
"Alright, but if I do this, I won't stop till you call it quits or are a bloody mess, unless you can handle it of course," Grim said.
"Let's find out," Sasuke said with a grin.
Grim nodded and put his humerus back in his arm before pulling our his spine, "I'm gunna tell you now I won't go all out with this, mainly because it's not easy to stop once I start, even if you can handle it," Grim said.
"Let's go then," Sasuke said before jumping at Grim.
"Don't complain about your hospitalization to me," Grim said before jumping at Sasuke.
x-X-x
Strag and Sage stood in Tsunade's office watching her as she read over a document they just gave her. Jiraiya read it over her shoulder. After a moment they both looked up at the terrors.
"Rather interesting," Jiraiya said.
"It depends on a lot of outside happenings to work," Tsunade said.
"We know. But we also know that whatever they are planning, we remaining eight as well as the Kid are a thorn in their side that they can't ignore," Sage said.
"Eventually, they will attack us. You said you want to see this ended before you step down. If we wait it could be a few years while they gather a strong force, and maybe take down the village. We have to strike first," Strag said.
"I'm not denying that. We must strike them, and while they're licking their wounds. But we don't know how many are left. For this to work, only up to four can be alive. If five or more are left this won't work," Tsunade said.
"We know one died. We know two lived. And even though we found some of ours alive after the fall, I don't think anything could survive Stone moving the rubble," Sage said.
"But we still don't know. We don't know anything about them," Jiraiya said.
"We have a way to find out," Strag said.
Silence followed Strag's words. "We can't ask her to do that," Jiraiya said.
"If she's changed sides, she'll be unhappy that she's not asked," Strag said.
"That doesn't make this plan foolproof," Tsunade said.
"With your reputation, as long as there are four or less members we can say this will work. But if there's more. Even through a new recruit, it can't succeed," Jiraiya said.
"Yes. And to find a plan that will have a zero fail rate will take more time. If you want that, we'll start on it," Strag said.
"I have to think this over. To save time start on the new plan, but I may just go with this one," Tsunade said slightly defeated.
The terrors nodded and left. And Tsunade sighed once they were gone, "this is too much in one day, the trial was over bearing," Tsunade said.
"When did they make ninja?" Jiraiya asked.
"I told them this morning after the trial," Tsunade said looking at her former teammate.
"They got their forehead protectors on pretty fast," Jiraiya said.
"I think it has something to do with their friends. They wanted to give them a warrior's burial but the elders refused because they were only civilians, and not recognized," Tsunade said.
"The elders really don't like the terrors do they?" Jiraiya asked.
"Well, they like Nomad…and Sage too. And they won't deny Dea's heroism. But in general they hate them," Tsunade said.
"What is a warrior's burial?" Jiraiya asked.
"I don't know, it must be something from their time different from the ceremony we have today," Tsunade said with a sigh.
They were silent for a moment before Jiraiya spoke again, "what are you going to do about the plan?" Jiraiya asked.
"I don't know. I'm thinking about sending out a recon team to check the situation of the Alliance first. But I don't know who to send. It can't be any of the terrors, incase I put the plan in effect. But it can't be any of the specialized teams because they won't be able to handle the Alliance if they get found out," Tsunade said.
"You know exactly who to send. You just don't want to," Jiraiya said.
"Do you?" Tsunade asked.
"No, but he'll do it. Him and his team. It'll give them a chance to get to know each other again," Jiraiya said.
Tsunade sighed defeatedly, "I'll tell Kakashi in the morning. I'll let them have the night to enjoy the village," Tsunade said.
"You're speaking as if they won't be coming back," Jiraiya said.
"The terrors are going to meet them in the field and attack form there. It's quite possible they won't," Tsunade said.
x-X-x
AN: yes, the remaining members of the terrors are wearing the forehead protectors, and where they wore them last time they had them. Also, I know it seems like a lot of time has passed since I last gave ages, but it hasn't been a year yet. Remember some of the time passed twice. So they're still the same age, or I should say, those whom the story centers around are the same age, some may have gained a birthday.