Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Wow, it's been a while eh? School can be a pain sometimes. Not much we can do about that. Especially since one of us has a job now too. Well, enjoy!
"So so so so SO!!! Then, then we woke up in the hospital an' all, an' I guess Haruna sent'ta signal out or something like that ANYWAYS, it was kinda cool, cuz we got to go SHOPPING, and I tried chocolate covered scorpion tails. Nara caught one in th' desert and tried'ta cook it, but she kinda sucked at it. It didn't taste like chocolate AT ALL. But it was OKAY I GUESS."
Sarunte paused his story to shovel bits of meat down his gullet, as he savored the taste, Reniko watched in disgusted amazement at how much meat could fit into Sarunte's mouth. Sarunte should have been an Akimichi, he would of easily been the strongest of them all…
"You're a pig Sar." Reniko muttered.
Sarunte flashed him a smile as he chewed. "Mimf unggryf Nffko-bfka" He said, still chewing, refusing to let anything as trivial as manners and talking get in the way of that food reaching his stomach.
"SO ANYWAY. Speaking of Nara, she wazzn't even in the HOSPITAL! AND SHE WAZZ'TABBED THROUGH TH' STOMACH!"
Reniko furrowed his brow. "That's…weird…"
"MMhmmmmm" Sarunte said as he popped some more food into his mouth.
"Why?" Reniko asked.
"I'unno"
"…what do you mean you don't know?"
"She said she wa' a fast healer sisall"
"…That's a cruddy excuse."
"Oh…yeah…s'kinda is."
"Sarunte no baka eh?"
"Shut up Neko-kun."
"But there has to be a more reasonable explanation. People don't just 'heal' Sarunte." Reniko pointed out, realizing suddenly he had not eaten at all in the half hour they had been in the Korean BBQ. And he was the one paying to boot!
"Well I was more wonderin' 'bout the bounty hunter person." Sarunte said thoughtfully, savoring the last piece of meat on the table, until Reniko suffered another lapse of insanity and ordered another round.
"What about him?" Reniko asked, motioning to the waiter, and gave him some more money for more food.
"Well, see, Nara was'all bad ass, and used thi' cool ball jutsu an' all, and then the guy recognized her an'…." Sarunte trailed off, his eyes glazed over.
"And? And what?" Reniko asked curiously.
"…" Sarunte tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, raising an eyebrow as he did so.
Reniko took the chopsticks and waved a piece of newly arrived meat in front of him. "Sar-kun…hellooooo….earth to Sarry…."
Sarunte shot up and with a look of determination he shouted "I NEED TO GO!" and bolted out of the door without another word.
Reniko was now all alone. With a serving intended for five people. Well, now he wouldn't have to complain about not getting any food…
xXx
"Look, all I'm asking for is three days." Nara said resoundly.
Tsunade frowned. She leaned back in her chair and pondered the request. "What type of Hokage would I be if I let you wander alone under the assumption you would obediently come back as if you were some sort of paladin-esque saint?"
Nara folded her arms. "Because I'm giving you my word?"
Tsunade was not impressed. She raised an eyebrow.
"I don't break my promises Tsunada-baachan. I might lie about who I am, but I don't break my promises, and one of my promises was to honor my parent's death. I'm going to keep that promise, and I will keep my promise to come back to the village. It's my nindo way." Nara said in one long breath.
Tsunade sighed. "Fine. Fine. But, escorts. No escorts, no going. Do we have an understanding?"
"NO!" Nara shouted. "I…this is private! I need to do this alone!"
"Either Udon or some other ninja accompanies you, or you will be staying where you are. This is a compromise Nara. You should be grateful you're getting that much."
Nara didn't say anything and stared rather furiously at the ceiling tiles.
"I'll even let you choose who accompanies you. They won't be breathing on your neck the entire time Nara. They will merely make sure you go to your destination, and come back, with nothing in between." Tsunade said, a bit more gently.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Nara asked stubbornly.
"It means that, for one thing, there won't be any issues about bounty hunters. If I read the report correctly, you would have been in quite the hot water if you hadn't been backed up by several other ninja. Your status as a tailed beast is unique Nara. You are the only person in the world who is a container. All the others have been sealed in faraway places that I'm not even authorized to tell you about. You are bit of, for a lack of a better word, a rare one of a kind commodity that most rogue ninjas would, and have, killed for. We are not losing you just because you are having a stubborn teenager phase." Tsunade leaned backwards and folded her arms in presumed victory.
"If the others hadn't been there I would have never run into that bounty hunter in the first place. I would have been in Suna." Nara retorted.
"Well, I can assure you that I will not be assigning genin that can't work amongst themselves to be your escorts Nara." Tsunade said with a smirk.
Nara remained silent, not replying, but not quite agreeing either.
"It's either escort or you can stay right where you are." Tsunade said finally. "If you can't agree to those conditions, then get out of my office, I have paperwork I need to do."
Shizune, who had been listening quietly to the situation, stifled a snort of amusement.
"Oh fine, fine." Nara sighed in exasperated defeat. "I'll ask Konohamaru if he would like to come. He…he…the trip would mean something to him as well."
Tsunade nodded in acceptance. "He's currently on a mission, but he should be back by tonight. If not, I'll have to give you someone else, but there should be no problems."
Nara nodded silently, and left without another word. She needed to pack her bags. Well, bag. She would also need to fish out her purse and buy the proper material, such as incense and the usual deal.
Back inside Tsunade's office, Tsunade called for a chuunin, in order to alert Sakura that one of her genin would be gone for a couple of days. She never felt her age, but dear kami, that Uzumaki girl certainly made her feel close to it.
xXx
Haruna had been basking in the glow of her mission ever since she had gotten back. Her family had thrown her a minor celebration in honor of her first 'real' mission. She felt incredibly special at the moment, and she had a right to be. She was the only Cataki of her generation. The youngest Cataki was approximately negative five months old, and after Haruna, the third youngest was about twenty five.
She was special, and she knew it. But by being special, she needed to be able to keep up with her success. She would have to keep an ear open for when the next chuunin exam came around, and train like crazy for it. She would become a chuunin on the first try; there were no questions about it. She didn't 'want' to be a chuunin on her first try, she didn't 'hope' to be a chuunin on her first try, she needed to become a chuunin on her first try. She absolutely must.
She took a walk in the gardens, reminiscing about when Nara had helped her train to control her chakra to be able to walk on water. It seemed like it had happened a million years ago.
Did all missions make you feel like that? Like an entire lifetime passed, and left you feeling flat out old?
She really hoped not, if only because the amount of stress would be way too monumental to handle.
"Haruna-chan!" Her aunt called from inside, "You have a teammate here to see you!"
Nara came over? That seemed odd, Nara had mentioned important business she needed to do with Hokage-sama, but was it already over? Didn't you need to…schedule an appointment…or wait for three hours or something?
Haruna's questions were quickly answered when she turned around to see an enthusiastically waving Sarunte.
What was he doing here?
It was at this moment Haruna felt incredibly…odd. She had prepared to shoot Sarunte a rather nasty glare, after all, she hated Sarunte Uchiha.
But…she didn't feel particularly angry at him at the moment. Odd.
"'Ey! 'Aruna!" Sarunte cried out, jogging towards her. "Have you seen Nara anywhere?"
Haruna nodded. "Yeah, she told me she had to go see Hokage-sama for some reason, why?"
"Cuz I jus' realized sumthin'. Remember 'ow the bounty hunter recognized Nara an' all?"
Haruna nodded. "Yes. Of course. Kind of hard to forget."
"YES EXACTLY! SOOO, I was telling Reni-kun, 'bout how Nara 'ad done that bad ass jutsu, an' I realized THAT WAS WHY TH' BOUNTY HUNTER RECOGNIZED HER!" Sarunte crowed out loud. He paused to let the effect sink in. "SOOOOOooooo. If we find out 'bout that' jutsu, we find out 'bout Nara!"
Haruna blinked in sheer astonishment. "Sarunte…that's…"
Sarunte stomped his foot in frustration. "It makes sense dammit! It hasta be a special jutsu or sumtin like that or th' bounty 'unter wouldda just ignored it!"
"Sarunte. I know."
"SO WHY ARE YOU DOUBTING ME??" Sarunte shouted in exasperation.
"I'm not Sarunte." Haruna said evenly. "I was going to say, that is an extremely brilliant deduction."
"…oh…" Sarunte said sheepishly.
"You sure Reniko didn't just feed you the idea?" Haruna asked quizzically. Not that she thought Reniko had the brains to make the connection either, but he certainly had more brains than Sarunte.
"Pos'tive." Sarunte said firmly. "The question is if that jutsu is forbidden, legendary, or from aliens…"
Haruna face faulted. "And now you lost it. C'mon Sarunte, let's go ask our parents. If mine don't know anything about the jutsu, yours might, and if worse comes to worst, we can ask Sakura sensei in the morning, or Nara if we're feeling up to it, but I don't think she will tell us anything."
"Oh…oh yeah, hadn't thought abou' that." Sarunte muttered. He had forgotten Nara was secretive about this sort of thing. Which…probably should have been obvious considering that was the main problem in the first place.
Sarunte and Haruna went back into the main house to question Haruna's family. Unfortunately, the description of a largeish, bluish, glowyish, hand held orb did not seem familiar to any of Haruna's relatives.
So, they headed off to the Uchiha compound.
The first thing Haruna noticed was that it was substantially larger than the Cataki compound. Not that she was jealous or anything…she just….had noticed.
"Ohkay, let's ask Satoshi first, he's my grandpa, so he's really old and migh' know that sort'a thing." Sarunte said confidently.
Haruna nodded. "Sounds good. Lead the way."
"Right." Sarunte said. He jerked his head to one of the roads. "This way 'Aruna-chan."
…chan?
…
…
…
…
It took a couple of seconds for Haruna to realize she probably should be following the Uchiha, and not staring slack jawed in the middle of the street.
If Sarunte had noticed the sudden amicability between the two of them, he didn't mention it. He had used the term 'Aruna-chan' the same way he would have said 'Haruna' or, she supposed 'runt'. Only without the inherent meanness to it.
Were they…friends now?
Well, if anything, it was a fire forged friendship. They had survived a mission together, and they had nearly died together, and they had fought together.
If for lack of a better word, they were indeed 'friends' now. Or at least, teammates.
The question was if there was really any difference.
Satoshi was, as Sarunte had accurately reported, old. His accent was also much more strong and resilient than Sarunte's. Sarunte frequently switched back between a normal Konoha regional accent and a 'northern' accent, but Satoshi did no such thing.
"Eh? Wa'choo mean? 'and 'el' jus'u eh? Bluh-oo? 'ell sar i' th' 'ater cont'nmen' jus'u."
Haruna blinked in confusion. "Uhm…excuse me?"
Sarunte shook his head. "No, wasn't a water jutsu or anythin' like that. Wassa…glowin'y…thing…like an energy beam…on'y swirly…sorta…"
Satoshi pondered this for a moment, smoking his pipe. "Di'ja 'ear th' name ov it? May'e a sor'a…battle cry?"
Sarunte pondered the question for a moment. "Prolly, but there was wayyy too much action goin' on an' all, so I didn't 'ear anythin'."
Haruna furrowed her brow. "Uhmmmm…gan. I think it ended in a 'gan'. I remember thinking it sounded like an eye kekkai genkai, like 'byakugan' or 'zajigan'."
"Washee sayin'? She go's too s'rong o' an' acksen'!"
Sarunte sighed. "She said tha' it prolly ended in 'gan'."
Satoshi nodded thoughfully. He shrugged. "So'ry Sa'unte. No 'dea."
Sarunte frowned and gave a hopeless look at Haruna, and the two left the Uchiha compound.
"How does your grandfather get anything done?"
"He has alotta grandkids tha' gotta listen to wha' he says."
xXx
Konohamaru was tired. He had been on a mission to the land of tea, and it had been far more troublesome than one would initially think. He had fallen into the water so many times, he might of gotten pneumonia. He sniffed experimentally. Nothing yet.
He collapsed on his soft bed. Mmmm. It felt good. He could just sleeeep…
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Ugghhh. The door. That damn door. What did he ever do to that door? Nothing. Although he did kick it once, which left a rather ugly scuff mark…
THUD! THUD! THUD!
"Alright! Alright! ALRIGHT! I'm COMING!" Konohamaru shouted.
Probably Udon, telling him about how that shoe mender finally matched his son with someone. Udon had taken a great interest to the wannabe matchmaker. Which meant more pain for Konohamaru and Moegi.
He reluctantly rose from his bed, and fiercely opened the door.
"FOR THE LAST TIME UDON! NOBODY LOVES YO- Oh. It's you." He squinted at his intruder.
Nara.
That girl.
That girl that was related to Naruto.
That bitch. How dare she be his daughter! That wasn't fair! Here he was, trying to be a good disciple of the awesomeness that was Naruto Uzumaki, and she comes along being related to him!
Konohamaru blinked a bit. He must be tired if he was issuing death threats based on heritage.
"Hi." Nara said, smiling and waving slightly.
"What. Do. You. Want. Oh. Disturber. Of. Sleep?"
Nara turned a bit red and tugged on her hood, before twiddling her fingers together. For a split second, Konohamaru saw her mother in her. Hyuuga Hinamori. Or some name like that. Hanabi was it? No, that was the current head of house…
"I was wondering if you would want to go on a…mission with me?" Nara asked politely.
"…I'm not really the type you want for picking up trash." Konohamaru said sardonically.
"No. I'm going outside of Konoha for a personal mission. I'd normally go by myself, but I can't, so I need an escort. Can you be that escort?"
Konohamaru was somewhat taken aback. "Me?!?"
"Yeah. You." Nara said, in a matter of factly tone.
"…why don't you go ask your buddy Udon eh?"
"I figured it would mean more to you."
Konohamaru was a bit annoyed now. "Oh yeah, the same way it would've meant more to me if you had told me who your dad was!"
Nara stomped her foot. "That's just it! This mission…it's about him. It's about my parents."
"Yeah well…oh." Konohamaru had a clever retort in mind, but he quickly aborted it when he realized Nara might be right. He looked down at the ground. "Yeah, sure. I'll…I'll be your escort. When are we going?"
"Tomorrow. It'll take us about a day to get there, we stay for a day, and then a day to get back."
"Alright. We'll leave tomorrow. But please…let me sleep. I haven't slept for a straight eight hours in about three weeks."
Nara nodded, and hugged him fiercely, nearly tackling him to the ground, before waving him goodbye and taking off without another word.
Konohamaru got up, and headed for the sweet salvation that was sleep. But now he had something on his mind.
He wondered what was going to happen, those three days.
He buried his head into his pillow and was about to drift off, when all of a sudden, he heard the sound of someone taking a rather large foot to his door and forcing it open.
He instinctually grabbed a kunai to defend himself, only to find Udon, standing in front of his bed, nearly bouncing with unrestrained energy.
"YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE SHOE MAKER KONO!"
Konohamaru groaned. Sometimes, it felt like the whole universe did not like him, and wanted him to feel pain.
To Be Continued