The afternoon winds blew calmly across the hilltop, giving a nice respite from the heat of the evening sun. Sasuke stood overlooking the somewhat destroyed terrain; not much had changed since he watched Sakura spar with her mentor a few weeks before. He began cataloging each nuance of the area to memory. How the south part of the training area had a steep slope leveling off into a plateau, the tree line on the west side was thick - probably leading into a dense forest. There were several torn up patches of earth from the women's spar, as well as up-rooted trees still littering the ground. It didn't take more than a couple of seconds for his sharingan eyes to effectively memorize the area.
It wasn't an unfair advantage; if the dobe choose not to survey the area they were to fight in then that was his stupid mistake.
Adrenaline began pounding through his veins as he gripped the well worn handle of his kusunagi. His opponent was standing off to the side, continuing to talk to his brother before they began their match. To some, it might not look like Naruto was taking the match seriously, but Sasuke knew differently. He'd already seen the curious scan the jinchuriki had done of the beaten terrain; he'd seen the narrowing of Naruto's eyes as he probably tried to come up with some sort of plan but he knew his former friend didn't operate that way. Naruto was more of the 'run into battle and figure it out as he went' type of fighter. Not always the most effective method, but Sasuke knew it would be good for an interesting battle.
He'd seen the strength Naruto now had - the skills he had acquired in his absence as they fought together against Madara. Now, he would pit those skills against his own.
He could almost smile at the opportunity.
"Oi, you ready teme?" the blond asked as he walked away from his elder brother.
Sasuke said nothing, merely drew kusunagi from its sheath and gave a half smirk to his old friend. A familiar gleam appeared in Naruto's eyes as he formed the hand signal for his shadow clones. Before the smoke could clear, Sasuke was on the move.
Sakura sighed in frustration as she trudged her way towards the training grounds after a fruitless search for her irresponsible sensei. She still couldn't believe the audacity of that man! To hand such a perverted book to Sai of all people! He knew very well that Sai would take those words literally. Now she had a two fold mission - remove those false thoughts from Sai's mind and beat the hell out of her sensei whenever she found him.
She had meant to begin working with Sai immediately after her two hour search for Kakashi, but when she went back to the Uchiha residence, no one was there. Recalling Naruto's excitement about their allowed training session, she decided to check that area. Truthfully, she was also a little excited to see the two of them spar. Though they had fought briefly while still at the Allied Forces base, neither of them were in any condition to put up a decent fight. To see two of the strongest shinobi spar with each other would be an interesting event in and of itself. But the troubled past the two of them shared was enough to have her itching to sit on the sidelines and watch how far the spar would be taken.
She mentally scolded herself as soon as that thought hit her. Almost three months had passed since the end of the war and in that time, Sasuke had done nothing untoward the village or his former comrades. While he hadn't been eager to engage in conversation with anyone, he hadn't blatantly ignored anyone either. He had joined in the rebuilding efforts with ease and provided much needed information to Tsunade-sama concerning his old teacher.
Sakura had to get over these lingering doubts about Sasuke. Perhaps they would never be friends like she and Naruto were, but every day that passed gave her hope for a chance to be team mates once again. For that reason alone she should trust that they wouldn't take their spar too far. She gave a slight groan - that also didn't mean she wouldn't have a variety of injuries to heal once the two of them were done. That fact was only reiterated once she got closer to the training area.
From her position on the other side of the dense forest, just on the outskirts of the clearing, she could hear Naruto's loud battle cries. Streaks of lightening, from what she assumed was Sasuke's chidori, flashed throughout the evening sky. She gave a dejected sigh; already she was dreading to see the condition they would be left in.
As she cleared the forest, she saw Itachi sitting on a hilltop over looking the battle grounds. He turned and offered her a small smile and nod of greeting when he sensed her presence.
"How are they doing?" she asked as she took a seat next to him. The cut off scream of Naruto's clone as it was thrown into a tree answered in place of Itachi. Sakura watched as another clone managed to get close enough to Sasuke so that the Rasengan it held grazed the Uchiha's left arm, damaging the skin as it went by. "Never mind." she muttered.
He glanced at her and smirked. "They're both enjoying this."
She rolled her eyes; of course they would be. Each man seemed to be lost within the battle. Neither was looking away from the other as they paused in their attacks to catch their breath. Judging from the damage to the terrain, they'd probably been there since she left over two hours ago. Lightening crackled around Sasuke's sword right before he disappeared out of view only to reappear right behind Naruto, sword raised to attack. Naruto barely raised his kunai in time to stop the sword from slicing his flesh; however, he forgot about the chidori Sasuke had running through the cool steel. His cry of pain echoed around the clearing as he was thrown back by the jutsu.
"Dobe." Sasuke muttered as he shook his head in disgust. "How many times are you going to make the same stupid mistake?"
"Shut up teme." the jinchuriki groaned as he raised himself from the ground. "You just caught me off guard."
The Uchiha raised a single ebony eyebrow at his friend. "And how many times are you going to use that excuse?"
"It's your turn now teme." the blond said with a mischievous grin as he lifted his hands to form the sign of the ram. "Kai."
Sakura was as confused as Sasuke when Naruto called for a release of a jutsu; she was quite sure he hadn't learned any genjutsu. When the orange markings began appearing around his eyes she understood fully; he must have had a clone somewhere nearby acquiring natural energy to engage sage mode. He rushed at Sasuke with much more speed than before, forcing the raven haired man to go on the defensive. Sakura and Itachi watched in awe at the fluid movements of Naruto's taijutsu. How, even when he didn't connect the punch with the younger Uchiha, bruising would appear on his skin. The unseen attacks were quickly forcing Sasuke back and Sakura could see the astonishment show in his eyes.
"I knew Naruto had grown strong but that's incredible to watch." Sakura said in awe.
"Sages are truly interesting individuals. They possess certain powers that simply can not be replicated." Itachi actually chuckled as he repositioned himself - getting more comfortable to watch the match. "Sasuke is certainly surprised."
Sakura nodded in agreement as she watched the two of them lapse into another round of impressive taijutsu. Sasuke did look surprised at first but quickly began counterattacking each move Naruto made. With Naruto's sage mode activated, he was almost as fast as Sasuke.
"Dick-less is doing better than I thought he would."
Sakura turned her head sharply towards the small patch of trees to her right where the voice seemed to originate from. Sai sat against the trunk of the tree, tucked safely in the crook of a large branch. His notepad lay open on his lap, hand poised just above the ink well as he took a moment to survey the fight before continuing his drawing.
"Do you really have to keep calling him that, Sai?" Sakura asked in exasperation.
"I do not mean it in a literal translation." he never paused in his drawing as he responded to her. "In fact, judging from the times we have spent together in the onsen..."
"Just shut up!" Sakura screamed, cutting off what was sure to be a sentence she had no interest in hearing. She immediately reddened and turned away, mumbling about idiotic team mates.
Sai looked her way, brows raised in question as to his wrong doing though she wasn't facing him. Itachi caught the former ROOT members countenance and couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face. "You have such interesting team mates."
"What a nice word." she said, arms crossed and brows drawn down in irritation – though a telling blush still lit her cheeks. "Definitely not the one I would have chosen at this moment."
An explosion sounded not far from their positions drawing her attention. Sakura had to shield her eyes from the large dust cloud kicked up by the violent crash.
"What's the matter Teme?" Naruto asked between his panting breaths, pausing only to wipe the blood from his head before it could get into his eyes.
Sasuke shot him a dark look before smirking at the heavy breathing Naruto was doing. He fought the grimace that tried to come to his face as he flexed his left arm experimentally. That last Oodama Rasengan Naruto created threw him back several meters as well as pelted him with large chunks of debris. Blood flowed from a large gash to his upper arm but he was pleased to find he could still move it normally. "You seem to be the one having trouble breathing Dobe." he shot to his friend.
"Not for long. You ready to give up yet?"
Sasuke almost felt the urge to grin at the blatant challenge his friend's eyes held. He could not remember having this feeling since he left Konoha's borders. For four long years he'd been challenging only himself, pushing his limits to continue to grow in hopes of being stronger than Itachi. There was no pressure like that anymore. There was no goal he was trying to meet, no opponent he was about to face that he needed to be strong enough to defeat. Though he was wielding his katana seriously, he wasn't looking to end Naruto's life with it. He was simply sparing.
That was something he had not done in many years.
A determined gleam appeared in his onyx eyes. "Not until you can't move." Sasuke said to the waiting jinchuriki. His hands flew through a series of signals that, once Naruto saw, he began to copy as well. "Kuchiyose no jutsu." Sasuke called and slammed his palm into the ground. As he poured his chakra into calling forth his summons, he heard Naruto call the same jutsu not a moment later.
As the smoke cleared, Sasuke saw Naruto standing atop the head of a giant toad wielding a short sword. Though it had been some time, Sasuke could remember seeing the toad once before in their childhood. This must have been the same summons he called back when Gaara was trying to attack Konoha during their chunin exams. He could barely remember anything back from that time. Shortly after Naruto summoned the toad, he'd leapt away - going on the offensive against Gaara. From where Sasuke stood within the trees, all he could do was hold onto the trunks as they swayed violently from the wind and sand that pelted them during that battle. A smirk appeared on his face; at least now he could see what the summons could do.
"A hawk teme?" Naruto called out to him. "Well, at least it ain't that crazy snake Orochimaru used to call."
"Manda is dead." Sasuke told him. Though he was curious as to how and when Naruto would have come into contact with the largest of Orochimaru's summons.
"Is he now?" the giant, rusty red toad asked in a deep baritone voice that rippled across the land. He paused, puffing on the pipe hanging from his lips as he let that news settle in. "Manda was always an evil bastard. I hate I was not the one to bring him down in battle. Naruto."
"Yeah Gamabunta?"
"Why did you summon me? Do you need help killing this guy?"
"No! No...nothing like that." Naruto rushed to assure him. "We just...ah..." he began rubbing the back of his neck nervously, beginning to regret his decision to call out the big boss. "It's just a spar."
"Naniiiii?" Naruto increased his chakra hold so he wouldn't fall off the top of Gamabunta's head as he reared back in shock. "You called me out for a spar?"
"Come on Gamabunta, Sasuke's gotten really strong...just like we have!"
"If you wanted to play around," he began in his deep voice, "you could have just called out Gamakichi."
"But Gamakichi doesn't have the kind of power you have!"
The toad stopped protesting for a moment, puffing again from his pipe as Naruto's praise mollified him slightly. "We haven't even drank any sake together yet."
"I keep telling you I'm not old enough for that!"
Sasuke watched the exchange with something akin to amusement. The toad was right, Manda had been an evil being and hated being under anyone's control. Therefore, the only way Sasuke had been able to handle him was utilizing the sharingan. Even when Orochimaru had the contract with him, he had to make sacrifices to the large creature just to keep him appeased enough so that he didn't turn his wrath on him. The contract Orochimaru held with the rest of the snakes was based off fear. None could defeat him and if they didn't respond when he summoned them, he would kill or torture them. They continued to respond to Sasuke with the assumption he would be just like Orochimaru though he had done nothing to give them that impression.
Even his contract with the hawk was nothing like what Naruto seemed to have with the toad. They bantered back and forth as Naruto did with his friends. Well, that was it wasn't it. Naruto made friends with everyone he met; that obviously included members of the animal kingdom as well.
"You owe me big time for this Naruto. Not only do you call me out here but I can't even go all out fighting?" Gamabunta said.
"Just...hold it back just a little, okay?"
"Are you underestimating me?" Sasuke asked as he had the hawk move into an attack position.
"Nope, you just keep underestimating me Sasuke." Naruto rebuked with a feral grin.
They stared each other down for another moment, standing utterly still in their observance of the other. Almost simultaneously they moved; Sasuke and his summons hawk swopping down to meet Naruto and Gamabunta as they leapt forward.
The trio of spectators watched in frightened awe as the two strong opponents prepared to clash with each other. However, a single force stopped them.
Katsuyu landed between the two beasts with a force that shook the surrounding trees violently. Gamabunta dug his large hind legs into the earth, desperately trying to stop himself before he inadvertently barreled into his long time friend. Unable to stop himself with his legs alone, he slammed his short sword into the hard earth, finally stopping himself and throwing Naruto from his head.
At the same time, the large hawk - surprised by the sudden appearance of the giant slug - veered sharply to the left so as not to run into the large obstacle. Sasuke, unprepared for the sudden turn, lost his concentration on his chakra hold and went flying off.
Tsunade leapt from her perch atop Katsuyu's head, grabbing Naruto as he flew toward her, and descended right behind Sasuke. She didn't give the young Uchiha the chance to right himself but instead grabbed his shirt and positioned herself so that when they landed her knee dug sharply into his abdomen. Naruto was thrown into the ground with her chakra enhanced strength - his body lying directly next to Sasuke's.
"What in the name of all that is sacred do you two think you are doing!" Tsunade screamed above the two groaning shinobi. "I gave you two permission to spar, not try and scare everyone in the freaking village!"
"We were just sparing baa-chan." Naruto groaned out, holding his right shoulder that was throbbing badly from where the hokage had thrown him into the hard earth.
"Really? Since when do you bring out your summons for just a spar? Honestly," she ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, "I don't think either of you knows how to use your brain."
Sasuke was still gasping for breath from the angry woman's attack so he had to settle for glaring at her for putting him in the same category as the dobe.
"Sakura!"
"Hai, shishou." she responded immediately, scurrying from her perch atop the ledge to reach the trio. Tsunade-sama was irritated, and that never bode well for anyone.
"Patch these two up and get them outta here. Shikamaru was looking for Sasuke. When you're done come to my office."
Why would Shikamaru want to speak with Sasuke? She ignored the curious question racking her brain as now was obviously not a good time to keep her shishou waiting.
"Hai."
"And you two idiots," the hokage said, turning once again to face the still downed men, "return your summons now." she growled to the pair. Her twin blond ponytails flew behind her as she stalked away from the group. Katsuyu disappeared in a large plume of smoke as Tsunade continued to grumble under her breath.
"Thanks anyway for coming Gamabunta."
The large toad placed his sword back at his waist before banging out the remnants of his pipe. "You caused me some trouble here Naruto."
The jinchuriki had the decency to look ashamed at his part in the afternoon's problems. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that."
Gamabunta eyed the sage user before giving a light chuckle. "No matter. If I get to see the slug princess beat on you like that I don't mind being bothered."
"Hey!" Naruto cried indigently.
Gamabunta said nothing else but disappeared from the area, heading back to Mount Myoboku. Sasuke released his summons as well and struggled to raise himself up. A gentle hand on his chest prevented him from moving.
"Just stay there." Sakura said as she came to sit between the two. "It'll be easier for me to heal the both of you like this." She turned and ran a chakra laden hand over Naruto first, assisting the work the kyuubi was already doing in repairing his body.
"I guess that's the end of your spar ototo." Itachi strolled leisurely into view, stopping just in front of both men's heads. Sasuke gave his brother the same glare he used on the hokage. Itachi simply chuckled. "It was interesting to watch while it lasted."
"Yeah, it's always fun kicking the teme's ass."
"Tch, you were the one losing...dead last."
Naruto turned his head sharply to face Sasuke. "Whatever Sasuke! You were so about to go down!"
The Uchiha gave him a look that clearly said he thought he was losing his mind and turned his head away.
"Hey! You..."
"Naruto!" Sakura barked at him. He flinched instinctively at her tone and settled back onto the hard ground. "Kami, honestly...can you two give it a rest? Tsunade-sama ended the match, neither of you won, and you won't be having any re-match for a while so get over it."
"But Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined.
Emerald eyes narrowed at him and he stopped his protesting.
"There, you're done for now. The rest are healing fast enough on their own." She shifted positions and turned to the dark haired man behind her. Green chakra enveloped her hands as she began her perusal of his injuries. She started off healing the three cracked ribs that were giving him pain as he tried to breath. There was no way to be sure, but if she had to guess, she would say they were caused by her mentor.
"Are his injuries bad?" Itachi asked, crouching beside her as she worked.
"Nothing serious, thankfully. With the way these two were going at it, and the damage Tsunade-sama caused, it could have been much worse."
"Yes, Sasuke hasn't changed much from his childhood." Itachi remarked, a slight tilt forming to his lips.
"How do you mean?" His ribs were now healed so she moved onto the large friction type burn covering his left shoulder – a mark left by the Rasengan. There was also a large laceration under it she would have to heal.
"He never knew any limits to his training even before he entered the academy. Sasuke always tried to push himself to his very limit every day. Though, I'm afraid I might have been a factor behind that."
Itachi saw Sasuke avert his eyes; perhaps he shouldn't have made that last statement. He wasn't referring to Sasuke's decision to leave the village and train under the snake sannin but his words inadvertently brought the memory up as well.
"I guess that's something we all have in common, huh?" she said. Itachi rose his brow in question and she continued. "Naruto is always pushing himself too far. I've watched him do training that nobody else could possibly do. I've seen him collapse but refuse to stop or give up. He makes me worry so much sometimes." Though the last part was said softly, it was loud enough that both brothers heard her confession. The painful look in her eyes was something Sasuke had not expected to see. She suddenly grinned and looked at Itachi once more. "And maybe just once or twice Tsunade-sama has had to make me leave the lab."
"Once or twice hmm?" Itachi mocked. "So how many other men have had to carry you home and put you to bed?"
"Itachi-san!" she choked on the blatant insinuation in his statement. Naruto started laughing behind her and she was more than tempted to hit him and make him stop. Unfortunately, her hands were busy still healing Sasuke.
"Go ahead and tell him only he's had the pleasure. Pity he didn't join us."
"I will not! And you shut up!" Sakura yelled to her Inner Self.
"I think you're the only one she doesn't beat up when you say stuff like that Itachi." Naruto said after his burst of laughter subsided.
"Right, like I'm gonna try and beat up Uchiha Itachi. I don't care if he seems like a nice guy since he's been here. That would be freaking suicide!"
"Do you need a reminder lesson Naruto?" she threatened over her shoulder.
"Uh...no...no. I was just kidding Sakura-chan!" Her blond team mate leaped to his feet, stretching in an exaggerated way. "Man, I don't even feel like I was hit at all! You're the best medic ever Sakura-chan!"
"Kiss ass." Sasuke muttered under his breath, though Sakura was close enough to hear it.
"Isn't he though?" she responded and smiled as she met his eyes. An old, familiar twinge struck her gut as she stared into his ebony eyes. Unlike before, this time the feeling scared her into looking away and berating herself in every way she could think.
That was just a fluke. You had your guard down; it's okay. That won't happen again.
By the time she was done healing him, she was feeling more confident and chanced looking at Sasuke again. She almost sighed with relief when she was able to accept his nod of thanks with a smile and no other bothersome emotions knocking at her subconscious.
"Where did Sai go?" she asked as they all stood and began their way out of the clearing.
"He left with Hokage-sama." Itachi answered.
"Oh, okay." she turned to Sasuke as a thought hit her. "Do you know why Shikamaru wants to see you?"
"No." he simply answered.
A curious look crossed her emerald eyes but she knew better than to try and talk about the matter any further. To do so would only irritate the temperamental Uchiha and things were relatively peaceful for the moment; she didn't want to disrupt that. Perhaps she could find out more later from Shikamaru himself.
"Don't worry about it Sakura-chan." Naruto said, grinning at her from the other side of Sasuke. "I'll take the teme to Shikamaru and find out what's going on."
"What gave you any indication you were invited?" Sasuke asked without bothering to look at the blond.
"We'll find you later okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto chose to ignore his friend for the moment.
"Okay, thanks Naruto. I need to report back to Tsunade-sama anyway."
"I'll accompany you back into the village Sakura-san." Itachi said. He quickly weaved his hands in the familiar seals and placed the henge over his body once more. A young, brown haired villager now stood where the handsome Uchiha once did.
"Thank you Itachi-san. I'll see you guys later." She said with a short wave of her hand and veered away from Naruto and Sasuke as they cleared the training area.
Sasuke watched them leave together while that irritation welled up inside him once again. Sakura was getting along with Itachi in ways that simply were not possible for Sasuke anymore. Regardless of his love for his brother, the bloody past they shared didn't enable him to get much closer to Itachi than he already had. When Itachi and Sakura were able to banter back and forth and laugh so freely with each other, he felt an irritation run through his veins. Not that he was going to tell either of them he disliked this close relationship they seemed to be sharing.
"Come on Sasuke." Naruto said, interrupting his internal musings. "I'm pretty sure I know where to find that lazy bum."
Sasuke followed along behind Naruto as they cut through the village, coming to stop at one of the larger buildings in Konoha. A quick leap to the roof proved Naruto did in fact know where to find Shikamaru. The lazy genius was lying on the roof, idly watching the clouds roll past.
"Oi, Shikamaru!" Naruto called as they moved closer to the Nara. "You were looking for Sasuke right?"
"Yeah." he replied without raising from his position. "How was the match?"
"It would have been better if baa-chan hadn't interrupted us."
Shikamaru chuckled, turning his calculating gaze on the village hero. "Tsunade-sama saw your toad summons and rushed away from here. She was pretty pissed."
"Whatever." Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms over his broad chest and sitting next to the reclining man. "Wasn't like we were really fighting or anything."
Sasuke stood against the rooftop railing, watching the exchange with bored eyes. Hopefully their pointless conversation would end soon and the Nara would let him know what he wanted. The only thing he could possibly think of was information on Kabuto or Orochimaru's bases. Everything he'd heard about Shikamaru pointed to the fact that he had a brilliant mind. He never knew the man that well before he left Konoha and certainly nothing in memory about a different genius other than the Hyuuga. Sasuke would form his own thoughts about this man's mental abilities after he was able to see for himself what he could do.
After what felt like forever to the impatient Uchiha, Shikamaru sat up and grabbed a folder from behind his back, presenting it to Sasuke. The Uchiha began pursuing the contents not waiting for the explanation.
"This is a report from the most recent ANBU infiltration of Orochimaru's northern base. While they've found nothing so far in his other bases to indicate Kabuto had been there, this one was different."
"What did they find Shikamaru?" Naruto questioned.
Shikamaru raised his knee, resting his arm against the propped appendage as he continued to watch Sasuke's face closely. "There were signs he'd been there. Areas that showed where a small, contained fire had been, footprints over the dust that had settled in the time since Orochimaru's death. Most damning of all was a small, torn section of cloth that matched the description Sakura gave us of Kabuto's cloak."
"What's this?" Sasuke asked, turning around a long list tucked among the papers.
"Aa, that. ANBU recorded the names from a great many empty bottles that littered the circled room on the map in the folder. I'm familiar with some of them but, unfortunately, I have no idea what the others are. Do you know those items on the list?"
Sasuke took his time reading down the list. While some of them were easy to recognize – mercury, arsenic, iron – there were many, many more he had never heard of before. Cadmium, beryllium, hyacinth, rosary pea, dieffenbachia – they were only a few on the very long list of items he had never seen before. His long fingers continued to flip through the many pages filling the folder given to him before he found the map Shikamaru spoke of. The layout was one he was familiar with.
He detested that place.
The map had been drawn over two pages, one for each floor of the compound. The first floor was the area used as a prison, specifically, the one Karin had been in control of. His eyes wandered the page, easily picking out the small, heavy walled cell that used to be Juugo's. Sasuke quickly moved to the second page; there was nothing else on the first floor except torture chambers he knew both Orochimaru and Karin had used more than once on a prisoner.
The second floor had been the laboratory and testing areas. The room ANBU circled was tucked away in the far corner of the floor. Compared to the other rooms throughout the compound, it was relatively small.
"Is it familiar to you?" Shikamaru asked as he saw a flicker of what he thought was recognition fly across the Uchiha's face.
"Aa. It's a storage room."
"Judging from the list I'm guessing it wasn't for extra chairs huh?" Shikamaru said, though no humor was reflected in his voice.
"Most of the cabinets in that room were under heavy lock and key. I don't even know what all that room contained."
Shikamaru met his eyes and Sasuke now wasn't surprised at the cold intelligence he could see leaking through the man's gaze. "That's what I was afraid of."
"Why's that?"
"The other cabinets were open and completely empty." Shikamaru lowered his head to his steepled fingers, eyes unfocused as his mind already began running though scenarios. "If you don't know what else was kept in there then Kabuto has gotten his hands on a supply of unknown goods kept in a storage room that contained medications an S-class criminal used to experiment on people."
Naruto paled as the implications of Kabuto's new goods settled into his mind. "So we're going up against him blind then?" the jinchuriki asked.
"Perhaps not." Shikamaru said. He stood, brushing off his nin-pants and stretching his frame. "I wanna talk to Sakura. I know Shizune is gonna be too busy but maybe Hokage-sama hasn't piled too much work on Sakura yet."
"What kind of work?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru sighed and shoved his hands further into the pockets of his flak vest. "There's gonna be a celebration in a few days. Something for the restoration of the village."
"That sounds great!" Naruto exclaimed. "Why do you look so bothered over a celebration?"
"Too troublesome." he said with a click of his tongue. "Choji will wind up dragging me all over the food vendors areas and Ino will drag me everywhere else. To make it worse, that bothersome woman will be here too. Even out of the house I'm gonna have to listen to women's nagging."
"Bothersome woman?" Naruto wondered out lout, racking his brain to figure out who Nara meant. His eyes shot wide and he grinned as he realized who he was talking about.
"Ah! You mean Temari don't you!"
"Of course." Shikamaru said, absently scratching his head.
"Hee hee." Naruto chuckled mischievously. "Maybe you two can have another date when she gets here."
The genius cut his eyes to Naruto once again. "Didn't I already explain that to you once?"
Sasuke tuned out the bickering behind him as he continued to focus on the list in his hands. Try as he may, he couldn't remember ever seeing the contents of the cabinets ANBU now said stood empty. Though one thing was certain, anything taken from Orochimaru's hideouts was bad news, especially in the hands of Kabuto.
Kuchiyose no jutsu – summoning jutsu
A/N:
Okay I'm sorry. I know it's been a while! Please forgive me! I can only blame it on the vacation (which was fabulous!), work, and a general laziness as I caught up on some favorite mangas and anime.
Hope you like the chapter and I'll go ahead and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! Since I know I won't have another chapter out before either of those occur. I hope you all enjoy the holidays and have lots of fun and laughter with your families and friends.
Enjoy and review please.
Much love!