AN:
Repetetive declaration: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, italicized segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.
And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.
On that matter, a few more small apologies to Third Fang and this time also to Durandall (K:BDH™), even if they most probably don't even know about this fic.
If you catch it, you know why ^^
This chapter originally was part of chapter 5, but when I broke the 30 page point I decided to keep the length more in line with the other chapters and split it. Which also may mean the training month will take more chapters in general. We'll see what else I will stuff in there.
oOo
During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.
But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to undermine the sannin's influence? And knows things?
And now the changes are piling up... will things become better or worse in the long run?
oOo
Raven Chatter
The Raven is a cautious and perceptive bird. While powerful enough to need not fear most other birds in his area, he never takes that fact for granted.
Part Six: Four Weeks of Fun, Part Two
oOo
It was happening so fast, too fast. Just a few days ago almost every waking thought of his had been revenge upon 'that man', gaining the strength to kill Itachi, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. Now, his conviction, his resolve, his drive had been eroded and was practically gone. He felt empty, and being 'calmed' by his inner voice, be it parasite, symbiont, companion or even "master" didn't help, of course. He supposed being on certain drugs might feel in a similar way, except the voice wouldn't actually curtail the efficiency of his facilities.
But this day he had focused on training for its own sake. He hadn't even really felt the drive to prove himself or to win against Gaara in the finals. He had acted near 'normal', smart, cold and logical – in his own way – and with the voice's help had wrangled an actually promising course of intense training out of his lazy so-called teacher, but it had been literal acting, deep inside it had been mostly just a way to occupy his thoughts and delay thinking seriously about it all.
In some weird way he felt free. Aimless but free. And what pinky and the blond had just offered – now that his obsession was mostly gone, it felt like a good way to fill the emptiness. He remembered his hateful brooding through all these years, pushing anyone away because of – yes, the voice had been right – because of his selfishness. He had been the one hurt, he the one who would avenge.
Nobody else would understand him, so why start dealing with any of these kids with their petty little problems, none of which would have any significance to him. He had been raised to stand above his peers, so he had never had actual friends as he had seen at the academy and before – oh yes, he had watched, from the corner of his eyes and at the farthest limit of his hearing. Inside he had smirked at their unimportant little problems and squabbles, but far deeper inside he had felt alone, and not in a good, proud way.
Oh, now he remembered seeing Naruto, and now he understood better. Naruto had pushed himself on everyone else, where he himself had pushed everyone away. And Naruto had gained at least a few half-hearted friends where Sasuke himself had... fangirls.
Who didn't know him and mostly didn't even desire to really know him. Sakura had actually proved that, that last day after the academy. But she had changed now.
So now, the blunt, explicit offer to be friends, nothing there to misunderstand about it - the only way to avoid it was to belittle the offering, and he wanted to do such a thing no longer. And the only other option would be to just as explicitly reject it, but he didn't want that either.
So he decided to take the offer and try it for a while.
Whatever the forest and later events had done to them, the mood between them had changed. Even Naruto had had his serious moments.
Until and unless he found something else to fuel dedication, he would try just having friends.
oOo
Sakura had a short relapse, hugging Sasuke while crying, but had calmed down enough to spare the Uchiha from regretting his words and actions. They all had talked a bit more about training and other neutral themes, and they had resolved to try to meet at least every three days to compare notes, since they wouldn't meet all together in the mornings with Kakashi for the next few weeks.
Sakura also had threatened Naruto with a 'serious' makeover and made him promise to listen and actually think about her ideas. She also thought about his food habits and offered to bring him some 'healthy and diverse' food tomorrrow and asked him for his address, which she realized she didn't actually know.
Naruto hemmed and hawed, but finally still couldn't resist Sakura and agreed.
The Ichiraku's, meanwhile, had been a pair of symphathetic onlookers and had as a matter of course promised to keep all possibly confidential matters secret. Fortunately, in this case, the only other potential customers had been driven away by Naruto, either through recognition (which Sakura and Sasuke still couldn't really understand) or by his general (loud and orange) obnoxiousness. The Ichiraku's hadn't cared much.
The evening had become later than any of them had planned, but they all, even Sasuke, seemed somewhat happy about it.
Finally, they separated and went to their respective homes.
oOo
The next day, Sasuke took the detour to Naruto's address just to get a look at his hopefully in the near future less annoying teammates.
He managed to escape Sakura's awareness, who actually had made true on her promise and arrived with a few bags of freshly bought food, but almost faltered at the badly run-down apartment block.
As she made her way in Sasuke went off to his training area.
"Look out, gossip queen at 12 o'clock," the voice alerted him to the blonde pony tail crossing his path, but too late.
"Sasuke-kun!" Ino squeaked her welcome and tried to latch onto him. He evaded her with a little effort.
"On the other hand, she's an opportunity. Try to ask her for information, if you dare," the voice recommended with a mental smirk.
"Stop that, girl, I'm not interested," Sasuke still had to state to rebuke her at least a bit. "If you want to do something for me, though, there might be something," he hesitantly admitted (through his teeth).
"Anything, Sasuke-kun! What do you want?" Ino bubbled. Yech!
"Information," the boy firmly said. "You always say you know anything that happens in Konoha, right?"
A bit confused, but still proud of having something to offer Sasuke was interested in she confirmed that. "Yes, mostly. Actual classified secrets are out, of course, but whom do you want to know about?"
"Primarily Gaara of Suna, of course." Ino gulped at the thought. "Can you tell me - or find out - if he's still in hospital or anything, and about his actual injuries? His siblings might be good to know about, too, even if they won't fight. Then, anything useful about the Hyuuga. Both of them. Finally, of course anything about the others who will be at the finals."
At that, Ino tried to burst out with a waterfall of words, but Sasuke quickly throttled the flow.
"Sorry, Ino, I mean useful information, and if possible, ordered. And not now, I've got to go training. Unless you have something really quick, could you write up something for me?"
Ino was disappointed by the rebuke but rallied fast.
"Sasuke, if you want it that way, I want something too. I want to tell you personally, not write a stupid report. How about a cozy dinner or something?"
"She got you there. If you want to use her... talents, you have to offer something in return."
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. I know, dammit.
"... Very well. As long as you can keep it professional. The moment you start to wildly gossip I'm gone, understand?" he forced out.
"Aww, Sasuke-kun, but some pieces of gossip can be sooo revealing. I mean, about dear little Hinata, our shy wallflower who couldn't harm a fly but who totally out of left field just owned the Suna puppet freak? Don't you want to know what set her off?"
When Ino had started gushing Sasuke tried to step around her and walk on, but that prompted him to stop. He might regret it, but... "What?"
"Dear little Hinata- ," Ino stopped, checked their surroundings and pulled him over to a small niche. "I guess you also didn't know she has an incredible, long-running crush on your loud teammate?"
Sasuke boggled. "She- and... Sakura? But they're both girls...?"
Now it was Ino's turn, and she made a short and violent contact with the ground, causing her nose to bleed slightly. When she came up again, her face twitched, shifting between shocked anger, suppressed howling laughter, embarrassment and maybe disgust.
"No, no, your other loud teammate," she burst out.
It took a few seconds to parse the information.
"She. Hyuuga Hinata. Has a crush on. Naruto. Seriously?" He checked, emphasizing each part of that information separately. Ino nodded, her ponytail swinging in wild curves.
"Apparently for years, but she is too shy to ever do something about it and Naruto seems typically oblivious. But just before the match Forehea- Sakura, who obviously knows too, egged her on and she apparently just snapped because she told her this Kankuro had threatened to hurt him or something like it."
"So that's what that was about. And that's why she annihilated that boy."
"Yep," Ino giggled a bit, making Sasuke's skin crawl. Luckily she seemed to have forgotten whatever had happened to her in the preliminary fight with him.
"I find that hard to believe, but I guess the result points that way. I see what you mean. Okay, if it's that relevant, I might be able to stand a bit of gossip, but only if it's unavoidable. Otherwise, no deal."
"Anything for you, Sasuke-kuun," she crooned. "How about tonight at seven at the Akamichi barbecue over there? Choji won't be eating there until tomorrow – he has actually a schedule – and I'm certain I'll have something already by then."
"*Sigh* okay, but half past seven is more probable. Until then."
"Then it's a date-"
"NO." Sasuke put his foot down immediately.
"But Sasuke-kuuun...," Ino whined.
"NO. If you want to call it a date the deal is off. And if I ever hear you did call it that I'll break your arm. I mean it." He demonstratively unhooked her arm from his, where it mysteriously had become lodged.
Ino pouted helplessly. Then she faintly agreed.
"Hardass pansy," the voice teased.
Shut. Up.
Sasuke hurried on, feeling vaguely dirty and throwing himself into training.
oOo
"So, anything new about these losers?" Sasuke asked, hanging from a rocky spike while building up and holding a charge of chakra lightning.
"Hm? Which losers?" Kakashi asked absently.
"The Sand trio and what's left from the Sound. One of each is still going to be in the finals, and this Gaara is mine... as you well know, 'sensei'." Sasuke clarified with some bite in his voice. "Not to forget a few possibilities..."
"Ah, yes," the one-eyed ninja nodded and shaded his eye from the afternoon sun.
"The Sound genin are still in the hospital I think, but their team leader is harder to track. I hear the whole Sand team has decided to stay another day or two there also, but why I don't know."
"Hrn. You think the snake is among them?"
"Do you really want to talk about that here?"
"I think it's more secure than closer to the village. And after coming face to face with that creep I desire to know what's going on," Sasuke coldly said, shifting the charge to his other hand with a hissing snap.
"Whoa, careful there. But as long as it works, nice idea for control practice. Well, you know everything regarding Orochimaru is technically a village secret, so I officially can't tell you anything about any measures taken to snoop after him and his plans. We try to keep tabs on his possible followers, though."
The voice murmured some hints to him.
"Well, just take care then. Wouldn't do if someone stumbled upon him - or one of his competent errand-boys - unexpectedly and got himself killed before he could update you. Damn, the first few moments in the forest I was absolutely sure we could take him without problems as he hid his chakra and killer intent too well. If he had been serious he could have killed us all without breaking a sweat."
"Okay, you don't have to be that humble if you don't mean it."
Heh. Going to slide back for a few.
"Do you think he is more powerful than the snake?" Sasuke fixed Kakashi with a black look.
"He? Oh, you mean..." "Yes." "... I don't know. He was not..." "But it's possible." "... Maybe." They shot back and forth.
"Heh. Then I can't go for him unless I know that I can beat the snake. And I know I can't... yet. Damn!" Sasuke exclaimed, leaping down and crashing the lightning chakra into the rock. The crater was only moderately satisfying.
"I hate feeling weak!" He hissed.
Then he proceeded to do his best to beat Kakashi up. To try, at least. Also known as taijutsu training time.
oOo
Walking into town, sufficiently tired, Sasuke let out a deep sigh.
Frustrating.
"Meh, just keep paying a leeetle bit of attention to her and she'll behave. Warn her when she's about to cross the line, but be civil. She was just acting when she had to fight you and you know it, don't you?"
Hrm. I'm not so sure. If she was just acting she must have known the effect it would have on me, and honestly I doubt her to be that capable of introspection.
"Oh, and you were? - Maybe she was just playing for the audience."
And then she wouldn't have expected me to be affected.
"I think it's the opposite. She expected you to behave as she always has wished you to. That is, not seriously fighting her or you to be willing to hurt her."
*Sigh*. And you stopped me from doing what I really wanted why exactly?
"Because it was fu- more socially acceptable."
You just wanted to say 'fun'.
"... funnier, to be honest. But go by my correction."
Oh kami, I've got a wannabe comedian in my head. Dammit, stop playing around with me!
"But you make it sooo easy... Okay, I'll cut back a bit. But seriously, if you actually had violently knocked her out, you would have paid for the short-term gain in satisfaction with a long-term loss in reputation and trust. As you tended to do before, and much too often, in my opinion."
Yeah, yeah, I got it. Still don't like it, though.
Especially since I'm actually not really sure of myself again yet.
"Still on that? Look, I may have made you see some truths, but on the other hand I expected you to find something else among them to latch on for revenge or stuff, just something more... wholesome."
Then you botched the job. Completely. At the moment I don't even want to fight in the exams anymore. Not as seriously as before. What's the point anymore? Whatever I wanted to do leads to my own destruction. What I believed my duty to hold up was an empty illusion, a bubble you popped – thoroughly. You made me make peace with the worst annoyances of my life, to make friends.
You deconstructed, no, destroyed everything by which I defined myself. What did you expect?
("Crap,") the voice 'thought'. ("And I thought he did so well. Now he really has turned Emo. What am I gonna do now?")
Oh well, into the lion's den and all that...
Sasuke sighed again, straightened a bit and stepped into the restaurant where Yamanaka Ino would be waiting. She was.
oOo
"So, to summarize, Hyuuga Neji has a grudge against the Hyuuga main family, including his cousin Hinata, who was basically judged worthless as clan heir and is in danger to be discarded for her little sister?" Sasuke asked to confirm.
"Yeah, as stupid as that sounds, but the Hyuuga are a strict clan and highly focused on public appearance, and Hinata seems just to project the wrong image."
Ino explained, taking a small bite from the salad she had ordered – to the almost insulted look of the Akamichi clan member (only a distant relative of Chouji, though) who had processed her order.
"(I guess we Uchiha weren't much different)," Sasuke muttered under his breath.
Feels familiar, somehow? With whom do you/I identify? Neji? Hinata? Neither? Both?
"Sasuke-kun? Is something wrong?" Ino asked, somewhat concerned, as the Uchiha apparently began to brood. He flinched and sat up straight.
"Yes, but nothing that belongs here. How about the foreigners?" He asked, changing the topic.
"Um, except for the Tsuchi girl they have disappeared, it seems. This Zaku left yesterday with their jounin sensei, but no one knows where. Zaku also wasn't supposed to leave yet, he should have stayed there for the rest of the week like the girl. Also, she seemed to behave strangely, as the nurse I asked told me – a regular customer at my family's shop. Somewhat depressed, she said."
"Hrm."
"Also, there was some kind of alert there last night, but I couldn't get details yet."
"Hrn."
"Next, the whole Sand team seems to have taken residence in the hospital until they all are healed, it seems. The staff is rather... upset about it, but the Hokage has permitted it personally. It's mostly the girl, Temari, who has to stay a few days more. The others are supposed to be on their feet again. Apparently Hinata wasn't too hard on the puppeteer, she apparently only blocked his tenketsu without blowing his innards up with the juuken... much." The last part she actually read from some notes she had taken. "I never actually knew what the Hyuuga could do with their abilities, but Nao- the nurse I spoke to had apparently some experience with their style and told me a bit about it. Brrr. I can't imagine Hinata – but that's the whole clan heir wrong image problem, it seems."
Sasuke dismissed the topic. "Quite enough on that, I see already. Okay, anything else? Anything helpful? Have you more on the Hyuuga abilities there?" he asked, pointing out her notes.
"Yes, yes, I took notes just for you on all I've been told, here," she passed her note scroll over to him, trying to touch his hand on the switch and disappointed when he just quickly took it, almost just with his fingertips, denying her the implied hand holding. She sighed.
Sasuke took a quick look at the scroll – Good, no hidden love letter – and put it away, minimally nodding in thanks.
"Very well. Should you hear anything about where the Sound team shows up or where the Kin girl goes when she is released let me know, the same about the Sand team. Anything else I might have a real use for?" he coldly asked.
Ino swallowed a bit at the tone. "I-I guess not," she squeaked, forgoing the intent to try loosening up the boy with a bit of smalltalk. "J-just..."
Sasuke looked at her darkly. "What?"
The blonde girl locked eyes with him, even if hers began to shimmer wetly.
"W-why are you so cold, Sasuke-kun? I had hoped you would relax a bit by now, but... can't you at least be a bit more comfortable in my presence?" She forced herself to keep her voice under control.
"C'mon, be at least as honest with her as with Sakura." Shut up.
He kept the eye contact for a few more seconds, then broke it by closing his eyes.
Very well. I'll try, but on another track.
"Bluntly – No. Sorry, Ino, but you still represent to me the chattering hordes of mindless fangirls who hounded me the last years at the academy and beyond. I didn't like it, but no one seemed to notice that. You didn't either, did you? And your tactic the other day at the preliminaries didn't help." Oh crap.
I didn't just say that, did I? "You did." Crap.
For a moment, Sasuke fought the urge to look around as he thought he heard a sound like ripping cloth, or breaking glass. Ino seemed stunned, so he used the opportunity to just leave a couple ryou for the food and made his quick getaway, before she could recall whatever had happened to her at the fight's end.
oOo
Sasuke didn't quite run home, but there wasn't much that separated his walking speed from that. Basically only the fact that at any point in time one of his feet was touching the ground, to be technical about it.
"Hey! She didn't even have time to react!" the voice complained.
I don't want to know.
"But if she-"
I don't. want. to. know.
"Sheesh..."
oOo
Sasuke managed to spend the next days without running into undesired contacts. He did spend a lot of time thinking, though – by himself and in discussion with his still nameless inner voice which, well, turned more often intense, bordering on hostile – whenever he had his head free enough.
Still... there were the (tentatively) regular after-training meetings...
"Okay, Naruto," Sakura firmly said. "You need to do something about this getting ripped off by nearly anyone. If I have to see you a few more times in this outfit... uniform... jumpsuit... thing, I'm gonna scream. And having you eat ramen all the time isn't good for you, either. No offense, Teuchi-san, but Ebisu-sensei has given me a few medical books to prepare for training, and some consequences of unbalanced nourishment were quite... frightening."
"None taken, Haruno-san. While it often looks as if Naruto here alone would keep us in business, I do worry for the boy sometimes. That's why I sometimes offer a few mixes as the daily special, you know," he grinned and pointed his thumb at the blackboard declaring 'Today's Special – Health Ramen with Vegetables and Fruit Sidedish Two-for-One Deal'.
"Teuchi-jisan! Not you, too!" Naruto complained with a slightly overacted whine.
"Oh, you didn't like our daily specials?" Teuchi still smiled, but a dark glow seemed to emanate from his - and Ayame's - shaded eyes. Even as he hid his reaction, Sasuke shuddered, too.
"... scary...," Naruto whimpered, shrinking into his clothes and cowering behind the counter. "No, Ichiraku ramen is always the best," he desperately claimed from inside his collar.
Instantly, the pressure lifted. "There you have it. Whatever we offer, only the best for our favorite customer," Ayane, smiling happily again, stated.
"Erhem, returning to topic – I give you two choices, Naruto – either I take your sizes - with someone to help keep you still, probably - do the shopping for you and give you a complete makeover without you getting a say in it," Naruto's eyes widened at the last part, imagining himself in a black t-shirt, bandages and white cargo shorts, "or we go shopping together and you can give at least some input."
"But Sakura-chan," Naruto tried to fight the idea, trying to avoid exposing Sakura to his problems.
"No buts," she refused firmly.
After quite a few moderately amusing (to Sasuke) but futile tries to discourage Sakura, Naruto faltered and turned to the last-ditch approach – the truth (or close to it). With lowered face and earnest if sad voice, he admitted his fear: "If you come with me, they'll just treat you as they treat me. And I don't want that."
His teammates were astonished, again. Why the hell... and he did just take that?
Sasuke came up with a frighteningly simple solution. "Henge."
"Whu-?"
"We all can do the basic henge without problems, don't we? Just change your looks so no one recognizes you and *poof* no problem."
"But purchases under henge are illegal-" Sakura started to warn, citing a basic public law, only to be contradicted by Sasuke: "Only for buying forbidden or restricted items, like alcohol as a kid, poisons or some weapons as a civilian, or when someone from a hostile hidden village or a criminal tries to infiltrate in disguise. Neither of this applies here." He nodded firmly.
"Also: 'Ninja!'" He pointed at each of them, making them chuckle. They all were surprised they never even thought about that solution.
"And finally, if even that won't help," he thumbed at himself, "'Uchiha'. In the improbable case someone notices the henge – we'll frequent civilian merchants mostly, right? - it's time I use this tendency of people trying to force on me unwanted favors for my clan name for something useful for once, if necessary."
Sasuke really had changed a lot in these few days, making a light-hearted joke and poking fun at his own family. Even Naruto didn't try to mock him to top him, this time, but the almost-teary (thankful?) look he sent Sasuke creeped the Uchiha boy out a bit. He still didn't know the why, but the more he thought about it, the more he didn't like how Naruto was treated by so many people.
The voice – damn, he really should come up with a name for it, but on the other hand, since there was no need to address multiple 'voices', the 'hey you' approach still worked – still kept surprisingly quiet about Naruto's secret, but obviously knew enough.
Speaking of Naruto –
"Still, I obviously mean a normal henge, not your 'forbidden' technique," Sasuke lightly poked fun at Naruto with a wink and making Sakura blush as she remembered Naruto's 'forbidden' technique 'Oroike no Jutsu'.
"Weeell," Naruto poked back, grinning, "at least in that anyone still standing couldn't deny I'd need new clothes."
At that, after fighting down the urge to sternly chastise™ Naruto, even Sakura had to laugh.
oOo
The 'henge'd shopping trip' went mostly well, even if there were a few complications. Since Team Seven's roster was a matter of relatively public knowledge – meaning one didn't even need to consult the official listings (which were not public anyway), just a few questions to the current rookies would be enough – they decided to all go under henge, which brought a few other problems with it. They weren't quite practiced enough to freely 'create' an useable appearance from scratch, so they had to seek out a few civilian or academy kids to copy, looking for compatible body shape and size, and seek out shops where the people they looked like wouldn't attract too much attention, meaning they had to put appropriate distance between their 'original's' location and shops they planned to use.
Also, Sakura, after a day of intense training, just had not much chakra left, which made the timing a few times rather critical.
And finally, when they had managed these little problems, they still had to persuade Naruto to part with his long ingrained preferences.
Oh, and Sakura noted Naruto's henge didn't conform enough to his body shape under his baggy overall... jumpsuit... outfit... thing, so they had to take a few risks dropping said henge in a fitting backroom.
oOo
"Sakura-chaan, pleease..." Naruto stood there just in undershirt and pants, desperately trying to hide behind a clothes rack, Sakura on the warpath with a measuring tape, while Sasuke stood guard at the door prepared to block and/or distract the shopkeeper if necessary.
"Hush, Naruto, I still need to measure you, now drop the henge too and let me do this," Sakura demanded quietly, cutting off his path and spreading her arms with the tape to check his shoulder breadth and other sizes.
"Umm, the henge is dropped, Sakura-chan..."
Sakura, slapping the cold tape against his back, took note of the numbers first before she allowed herself to notice the unexpected discrepancy.
Oh... my... that's the biceps – triceps – deltoid – pectoralis major – and there are the glut- Whoa, eyes upwards, girl... Maybe a bit scrawny, but surprisingly developed, clear and defined as in the anatomy book... How the heck did he get that buffed on a ramen diet? Wasn't that supposed to be more... fattening?
"Hell whoa!"
Shut up, it's Naruto!
"I don't care. Yum!"
Sakura started to blush, but pulled quickly away, slapped herself and ripped her mind away from unsavory thoughts not involving Sasuke-kun.
"Kami, I never realized how much your baggy jumpsuit... outfit... suit... thing hides your body shape. With it, you almost look like a smaller Chouji, but under that...," she quickly stopped and changed her tone. "Well, okay, now we have your proper measure. You can henge again, let's look for something better."
"Hmmm... does Sasuke look that good under his shirt too? Double Yum!"
Bad thoughts, bad thoughts... Naruto you idiot, making me think stuff like that... No, don't pound him, he doesn't look like he has even noticed...
oOo
While Sakura (and Inner Sakura) wrestled with some early risen hormones, she still managed to control herself enough to avoid a fashion catastrophe.
When they finally were done, Naruto was clothed in a simple dark orange shirt under a bark-brown utility vest, bearing the Konoha symbol in fall-leaf orange big on the back and small on the left front, loose and comfortable pants, wrapped tighter down the calves, in a dark red-brown color with a side stripe, also in fall-leaf orange, and new standard ninja sandal-shoes.
Naruto also had found a hat he liked for some reason – leaf brown with a red-orange tinge and weirdly up-folded side flaps ("It just even looks fast") – which Sakura judged 'not too childish' and agreed it fit the new color scheme. Naruto discovering the fox-ear-like flaps both could be let down in cold weather and hid a small pocket each finalized the decision – read: it became impossible to change his mind.
Still, the new wardrobe allowed free movement and looked by Sakura's judgement several orders of magnitude better. (Sasuke just nodded along and decided to some time soon ditch the cargo shorts for something else.)
A few duplicates including a second pair of sandals (and a very tight version of his shirt Sakura had sneaked into the purchases) and accessories such as a belt with several more small pouches, a new travel pack, new weapon holsters and regular equipment pouches, a thin rain cloak and, of course, some uzumaki-spiral patches for customization (which they took a few pains with to avoid someone easily connecting them to Naruto) completed the selection.
They still had managed to do the whole run in a single evening between training and bedtime, and still spent less than a D-rank-mission's total pay, or half what Naruto usually had paid for a single one of his outfit... things.
Sakura spent a few minutes admiring her handiwork once Naruto could finally drop the henge for good and she actually could see the whole outfit in its entirety.
"Damn, I'm good," she stated in full satisfaction.
"Under other circumstances I'd probably claim caring about fashion would be a foolish waste of time, but in this single case I simply have to agree," Sasuke confirmed, actual amusement robbing his comment of any sting against Sakura.
"Now you just have to get rid of the rest of your old outfit... abomination... things."
"I could help with a Great Fireball or two, if you want."
"Naaah," Naruto refused, grinning. "for now I guess I'll just keep them for old time's sake and... special reasons. I have some ideas, actually..."
He thought of old man Hokage, who might have been the one who bought him his first set – while he had to admit Sakura had done a great job, he still wanted to talk to the old man before 'officially' adopting his new dress code.
"Oh, and it might be a bit sudden if I just show up with the new threads, so for now I'll still show up looking as before a while to keep people off my case – but only in henge, Sakura-chan, so don't panic," he grinned.
"Oh Kami, all this work for nothing? Shall I never escape the eyes-torturing orange of these jumpsuit... overall... things?" Sakura declaimed pathetically, putting the back of her hand against her forehead and turning away dramatically with a sweeping wave.
"Do not worry, my lady, I shall burn the pain for you as soon as it appears, to spare all of Konoha the suffering," Sasuke, in rare, no, once-in-a-lifetime form bowed to Sakura as a knight vowing to his lord.
"Oh, thank you, my lord, and I'll rely on you keeping your vow and will endure the short times of sufferance until you appear to save us all."
Naruto pouted a bit, but when Sakura just couldn't keep it up anymore, all three of them broke up in boundless laughter.
Finally, they calmed down and went home, Naruto, as he had warned, henge'd into his old looks.
oOo
("Phew, at least that distracted him for a while. While it's nice to see him just enjoy life for a time, I still have to rebuild his confidence and drive... What to do, what to do...")
oOo
oOo
AN: Hmmm... Is the voice actually making it better – or worse?
While Naruto and crew are admittedly having a bit more fun, Sasuke has lost his obsessive drive. And once the finals start, he still is supposed to face Gaara.
Also Naruto has not yet seen Hinata being blatantly mistreated by family, so he also has not the same drive to chastise Neji.
As it looks now, a little relief and fun may have a horrible price.
Will it stay that way, or can the voice nudge Sasuke into changing things again?
We'll see... ^^ And Sasuke's Log will continue... (Minor Edits 27. Aug. 2013)
oOo
Next: Raven Chatter Part Seven: Four Weeks of Fun, Part Three
The Raven is a loyal creature. Those he judges worthy of his attention will have it, whether they need it or not. Unfortunately, that still doesn't tell what kind of attention...
"I mean, if we met, oh I don't know, the kyuubi no youko's kid, we would be pretty apprehensive ourselves, wouldn't we?" Sakura pointed out.
oOo