Naruto woke with a start the next morning. He didn't know what woke him up, but he had a vague recollection of a dream. It was one that he had a lot and he sometimes wondered if it was a memory of a past long since forgotten, but then he would push that thought out of his mind. He didn't have time to be thinking such distracting thoughts when he had so many jobs that he was supposed to be doing at that very moment.

It was early again, but it was even earlier than the day before. He had absolutely nothing to do for another few hours. He supposed that he could do a bit more searching through Sasuke's business affairs to try to find what he was looking for, but he had already done all of that yesterday. There was nothing there for him to find. If Sasuke was corrupt then he did a very good job of hiding it from everyone.

Of course there was also a chance that Sasuke was not corrupt at all. In that case, Naruto wasn't sure what he was going to do. He had never received a target that didn't deserve to be killed, but this one was starting to look like it might turn out just like that. What would he do in the end when it came time to make his decision? What would happen after that? He couldn't stay there no matter how much he really wanted to. There was no way that Sasuke wouldn't find out about his being an assassin and then he would be kicked out immediately and his identity would be revealed so that he would never be able to investigate any other corrupted men again. Maybe that was actually better. Naruto was so tired of being sent into home just to be beaten for his many faults. He was so tired of hurting. He was so tired of killing. He was just so tired.

Maybe this should be his last mission. He wouldn't be the first jinchuriki to disappear. But he also knew that they wouldn't let him disappear that easily. He was their strongest asset after all.

"Naruto?" Sasuke's voice broke Naruto out of his musings and he was actually shocked to find that he had actually wandered back out into the garden and had stayed out their for quite a long time.

"Yes Uchiha-sama?" he asked.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course Uchiha-sama," Naruto raised a brow. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were acting weird last night," Sasuke pointed out, "and you did just kill a man."

Without even thinking Naruto looked down at his hands expecting to see blood on them. He didn't remember killing anyone in the last hour or however long he had been out, but it really was entirely possible with his instincts. There was no blood there, though, and that just confused him even more.

"Yesterday," Sasuke clarified. "You just killed a man yesterday." He could barely suppress his shiver of revulsion when he realized that he was talking about this so nonchalantly when it could have been completely traumatizing, but he was helped by the fearful shock that Naruto actually thought that he was saying that he killed someone else today and seemed to be barely affected by it even though he couldn't remember it.

"Oh," Naruto nodded distractedly. He was still kind of out of it and he wasn't completely sure what he was doing as thoughts continued to race through his head about this master. "I'm fine."

Sasuke opened his mouth to ask a question, but he doubted he really wanted to know that answer to it. Iruka had been right to be curious about the lack of wounds. Sasuke had gotten to the scene of the crime just in time to see Naruto kill the assassin. The man was clearly dressed like an assassin so Sasuke knew that was what he was, but Naruto had the man completely at his mercy. There was no escaping Naruto's grip and Naruto made the death quick. What had really scared Sasuke in that moment, though, was the way Naruto looked. His face almost looked blank and Sasuke hardly recognized the man that he saw slaughter another. He didn't know Naruto well enough to really say that, but he felt that no matter how much time he spent with him that would not change the fact that his Naruto and the one he saw in the garden didn't seem like the same people. Sasuke actually had a nightmare about him being the one in Naruto's grip staring up into those eyes before a knife plunged into his heart. He hadn't been able to sleep all night because of it.

"Why are you out here?" he asked instead.

"I like gardens," Naruto replied even though he himself had no idea why he was out there, "and yours is just so beautiful." He crouched down next to a flower that happened to be next to him and took a whiff of its scent. Natural things like this always seemed to calm his overly sensitive senses. He liked to escape into nature as often as he could just so that he could calm himself after particularly hard days.

"Well come on," Sasuke gestured back inside. "We have a ball to plan."

"Why did I agree to this," Sasuke groaned once again. There were a lot of things that needed to happen in order to have a party worthy of his house. Decorations needed to be hung. Food needed to be served. Guests needed to be invited. And all of it was tasked on Sasuke himself since the servants only knew how to do the physical aspects. Not only that, but he had also been stupid enough to agree to one in a weeks time. He would have to scramble to be able to get ready for everything.

"Because you're a glutton for punishment," Naruto smirked as he leaned against the wall next to his master waiting to receive yet another errand to run on in order to get all this done.

"And you seem to be no different," Sasuke responded easily, "with the way you behave."

"You're mistaken my dear master," Naruto laughed. "I'm merely taking advantage of your overly kind heart. Get away with what I can while I can still get away with it."

"Is that really something you should admit to your master?" Sasuke raised a brow.

"Honesty is the best policy," Naruto shrugged.

Sasuke had to force down a chuckle when he heard that comment. "Since when are you honest?"

"Since ever," Naruto replied. "I am the most honest man that you'll ever meet."

This time Sasuke actually did chuckle. He honestly had no clue why that was so funny to him. He actually couldn't think of anytime that Naruto was really dishonest with him, but he was also very much aware that there were many things that Naruto was hiding from him as well. He would get it out of the man eventually. He just had to be a bit more delicate than he had been the day before. Naruto didn't seem to respond well to being commanded to doing anything even though it was his job to do exactly that so Sasuke was going to have to find another way to get what he wanted. He wouldn't be discouraged.