A brief respite

a naruto outtake


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"Naruto," Itachi acknowledged.
"Uchiha Itachi!" Naruto's cerulean eyes widened, then narrowed to his patented 'Pre-Combat Glare.' "You're still alive!"
"For now," Itachi acknowledged. "You'll probably kill me in a few pages, or I'll pretend to surrender to you because my time is over anyways."
"That's some foresight! Because I'm going to be the one who kills you!" Naruto proclaimed unnecessarily, ignoring the fact that he was parroting the other man.

Itachi nodded solemnly.

"I see," he began slowly, "that you are still wearing that hideous orange jumper." Naruto's brow furrowed at this unexpected response to his resounding declaration a few sentences ago. Itachi continued, unperturbed. "It clashes horrendously with your hair, did you know? It's just tacky. Rather like buying a Rothko piece and painting all the walls bright blue to contrast. Just tacky." Naruto stared, having forgotten about the necessity of keeping his eyes narrowed.

. . . Seven leaves fluttered down from a nearby tree and artfully fell in the space between the two foes. Acquaintances. Fellow ninjas.

And that, was the signal to the end of the exchange.

Both men turned silently, then vanished into the shifting shadows of the forest, both contemplating many things as they did so.

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It is said that when Naruto returned to the shinobi village of Konohagakure, he made the bold decision to go with a new outfit, having been greatly affected by the words of one Uchiha Itachi, who was known for his fashion sense.

And so it is that Uzumaki Naruto faced countless ninjas and bandits for the passing of many moons wearing a yellow jumper with a black smiley face graphic on the back, until by chance, Itachi and Naruto met again, and Itachi burned the vivid yellow fabric using his clan technique, amaterasu with alarming alacrity.

Naruto escaped mostly unscathed, and thereafter returned to his trademark orange jumper.

(the end.)

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author's note: This ridiculous, harmless idea struck me earlier in the evening and so i kept it short.

to anybody who has followed what stories i wrote many years back, thank you for checking in today, and my apologies for abandoning what stories i had up. please look forward to updates, revisions, or new stories in the future.