Naruto Shippuden -H-: Chapter 003: What has become of the Rookie Nine?
Jesei was on his way tracking down Naruto and Hinata after being unable to meet them in the Land of Lightning. He had made his way several miles out of the border of the Land of Lightning, until he was greeted by a figure standing in the woods to his right.
"You sure you are up to this old man, I mean this long illustrious journey to try and find the golden hero that is?" asked the man as he walked out of the forestry and stood in front of Jesei on a long path.
"Don't give me this shit now Lunesto, I will do just fine, the boss knows this and that is why he chose me to be the one to gather information and make an invitation to Naruto Uzumaki." said Jesei defending himself.
"Okay, I understand, it is just I wanted to be the one who got to carry out this mission, you know how much I wanted to meet him after all." said Lunesto with a disappointed tone.
"Well too bad, this is my duty, you and the others will get an assignment of your own in time, Naruto is sure to welcome his invitation to our city once he gets all of the fine details." said Jesei with joy.
"Alright old man, I will go let Antoine know about our progress here, see ya later." said Lunesto as the young man ran off into the woods.
"Time to keep going, there should not be much resistance on this path, but just in case, I will have my Mind Release jutsu on hold to be sure." said Jesei as he somberly walked his way towards the border of the Land of Fire.
Night had come, and Rock Lee and Tenten were gathering flowers for Neji's grave while also discussing things about their sensei, Rock Lee.
"It does not seem like that much time has passed since the war." said Tenten as she finished picking out the right assortment of flowers.
"I am not much of a decorator, but these flowers will definitely make the grave site look very good." said Rock Lee as he tried to cheer himself up thinking of Neji.
"Have a good day ma'am." said the shop owner of the flower store as Tenten and Rock Lee left to head towards the Memorial.
"I remember when me and Neji would always clash heads on who was the more superior shinobi on the team, he was certain it was him, I mean, with his Byakugan and all." said Lee with a smile.
"Yeah, you two would go at it all of the time, especially before the chunin exams began, it was like neither of you would ever get along." said Tenten as the two of them arrived at the memorial.
"That is true, but in the past two years, I have been thinking and then it occurred to me, every time I think of Neji's sacrifice, it motivates me to push higher and train at the most intense level possible." said Lee with tears.
"Yep, I have been trying to make the most of my time as well with the peace that has settled in since the war has ended." said Tenten as she laid the flowers around Neji's grave.
"Well, I guess it is time to train in honor of Neji Hyuga, after all, that is what a rival is all about, even if they are not here in person." said Rock Lee as he ran off towards the dojo that his sensei had recently built.
"Even though it is late, all he can think about is training himself to be the best for Neji." said Tenten as she also left the memorial to focus on training with her weapons.
Kiba and Shino had returned from their field duty, and the both of them stopped by a bento shop to relax while they waited on Hinata and Naruto to get out of the Hokage's mansion.
"It is nice to hear that Naruto and Hinata have returned." said Kiba as he finished his third bowl of bento soup.
"I cannot believe that those two still ended up together, why you ask, because Hinata never told me that she was even remotely into him." said Shino with a stoic look.
"Dude, even to this day you still find ways to make me feel strange." said Kiba in a joking tone.
"When Naruto get's here then the two of you will make jokes, but not remember who I am." said Shino with a sad demeanor.
"You are just proving my point dammit!" yelled Kiba as he went to sit at another table away from Shino.
Elsewhere, Shikamaru had returned from his hectic day of preparing for the Allied Chunin Exams. He sat outside of his home and began looking up at the stars in the sky, thinking of Shikaku and Asuma.
"Hey, are you coming in, it is getting late?" asked a woman as she emerged from the house with a lantern.
"Yeah, just a minute, I was thinking of dad and Asuma again, even though I am doing well for myself right now, those two will never leave my mind." said Shikamaru as he continued to stare into the night sky.
"Well, when we fought in the chunin exams, you said you were the type who liked to look up at the clouds all day, so I can imagine that looking up at the stars is an even more joyous occasion." said Temari as she sat down beside Shikamaru.
"It is always more enjoyable when another person is their to look at the stars with you." said Temari as she sat close to Shikamaru and leaned her head on his right shoulder.
"Yep, this is nice, two people looking up at the stars is certainly more joy than only one." said Shikamaru.
"You did well today, all of the Hokage's reports have been sent out and once again, the Allied Chunin Exams are getting set up rather well." said Temari.
"I could not do it without you though." said Shikamaru as he put his right hand around Temari.
"It's as you said, two people are better than one, but three are better than two." said Temari.
"Hmmm, is there another person you know who looks up at the sky at night like I do?" asked Shikamaru with curiosity.
"Well, they are not here right now, but soon that will change." said Temari as the two of them went inside for the night.
Chouji and Ino had finished cleaning up the Yamanaka clan flower shop as ten o'clock had rolled around.
"I am going to need an entire buffet to compensate for this." said Chouji.
"Hey, you are the one who agreed to help me out after all." said Ino with laughter.
"I bet Shikamaru had a busy day too, with preparing for all of the events that are coming up." said Chouji as pulled out a bag of chips and downed them quickly.
"Hehehe, yeah, he probably slacked off while no one was looking, I can picture it just as clear as the stars in the sky." laughed Ino thinking of Shikamaru's tendencies.
"Nah, he wouldn't slack off, especially not after being promoted to Jonin commander after all." said Chouji with glee.
"Yep, just like his old man." said Ino as she was also thinking of her own father Inoichi.
"Anyway, I have finished up here, I think it is time that I headed back to my house, I would hate to keep Karui worrying." said Chouji.
"Ughh, you two have been impossible to separate ever since that joint mission with the cloud village." said Ino.
"Hey, she had a very awesome fighting style, I loved it, even more than food." said Chouji with laughter.
"I guess, there are definitely others out their that make for an even more strange couple." said Ino.
"Hey, I am not strange." said Chouji as he ran out of the flower shop towards his and Karui's home.
"I was not talking about you or Karui." said Ino to herself as she closed the flower shop for the night.
"There you are, it has been a long time, I was afraid you would never finish to chores for the night." said Sai as he walked up and greeted Ino.
"You could have helped too ya know." said Ino sarcastically.
"Hey, I am the one and only air division for Konoha, I have to keep surveillance on the entire parameter each day, and I do not even have time to draw a new picture either." said Sai trying to make Ino pity him.
"Alright, you can draw as much as you want when you get home, but first we will have to finish preparing for Naruto and Hinata's return from their honeymoon, I hear that they are at Ichiraku Ramen right now." said Ino as she and Sai walked towards their home.
Meanwhile, Sakura was outside that gates of the village gathering a various assortment of herbs by herself as 11 o'clock came around.
"It sure is late, I had know idea that the time had flown by this quickly." said Sakura as she finished gathering the last of the sweet root herb before making her way to a pond that was nearby.
"I just wish you would return soon, with your eyes, it would make it easier to find all of these herbs after all." said Sakura as she had a few tears fall from her face.
"Oh well, no time to sulk right now, Sasuke is on a big mission and I need to do my part here as well making sure to have all of my herbs collected for the antidotes." said Sakura as she sat on a medium-sized rock near the pond.
"It sure is beautiful during this time of the night, oh my." said Sakura as she closed her eyes.
"Sasuke, you be careful out their, do not attempt anything restless." said Sakura as he fell asleep on the bench.
A person with a cloak was standing on a ledge that overlooked the leaf village.
"The stars have always mesmerized me." said the figure to themselves.
"Sakura, I know it is lonely right now, but everything will be fine soon." said the man to himself as he could see Sakura sleeping on the rock near the pond by herself.
"I do not want anything happening to you, I will move you back home." said the figure as he picked up Sakura gently without disturbing her and swiftly teleported to Sakura's home.
"Here, I even brought you some ingredients that you will surely need in the future, I.. I love you, see you soon." said the man as a tear fell from the Rinnegan in his left eye.
"Time to continue my route for tonight, at least I got to hold you for a little while." said Sasuke with a smile as he teleported away as quickly as he arrived.
Naruto and Hinata had finally arrived home, and Naruto could not be more happy to lay in his own bed.
"You sure are tired tonight." said Hinata as she finished putting away all of her gifts that Naruto bought for her during their honeymoon.
"The ocean was very beautiful wasn't it?" asked Naruto as he scooted over to the end of the bed.
"It sure was, it was almost as beautiful as your blue eyes." said Hinata as she lied down beside Naruto and gave him a kiss on his right cheek.
"I still cannot believe the news, I wonder what we should name him, or ummm her?" laughed Naruto.
"That is a good question, I am sure the answer will be made clear soon enough." said Hinata as the two fell into a peaceful sleep.
It was now two in the morning and the village of Konohagakure had gone quite for the night. Elsewhere, Jesei had arrived in Tanzaku Town.
"Not much further now, but how will I approach the situation?" asked Jesei to himself.
"Ahaha, found you." laughed Lunesto as the young, majestic teen arrived near Jesei's premise.
"How in the hell do you keep finding me?" asked Jesei.
"Hey, I am one with the bats all around you, my affiliation with them is second to none." said Lunesto as he pulled out a scroll from his right pocket and handed it to Jesei.
"The eight of us all were told to receive a scroll just like this one." said Lunesto as he handed Jesei his own scroll.
"The hell is it for?" asked Jesei as he put it away in his pant's pocket.
"Big boss did not say, he seemed a bit cranky today anyway, that is why I decided to travel with you." said Lunesto in a playful mood.
"Well now you know why I call him Old Man Dead, hahaha." laughed Jesei.
"Seriously though, if anyone suspicious starts to follow us, we have been given orders to execute them without question." said Jesei.
"Of course, oh, and by the way, what time do we head out for Konoha tomorrow?" asked Lunesto as the two of them decided to camp out in the woods a few miles ahead of Tanzaku Town.
"I would say around eight in the morning, that is when our soldiers from Abraham will arrive in the premise." said Jesei with a menacing grin.
"Abraham is quite a ways from here, how are they all going to get here in six hours?" asked Lunesto.
"Hey, the boss has a way to gather all of our soldiers and teleport them anywhere he wants whenever he wants." said Jesei with a joyful tone.
"Okay, I guess it is a plan then, the insurrection will definitely catch Naruto's attention, that will certainly make it much easier to meet with him when the rest of the village is busy dealing with our cloak and dagger tactics, hehehe." laughed Lunesto as they continued to review their plan looking for any flaws that may present themselves.
"Soon, the will of our boss shall be known to all of these infidels that squander through these lands like the vile bugs that they are." said Jesei with an intense tone.
"Yes, all of these sinners and ungrateful swine shall be casted into the melting pot, because tomorrow morning, our first step begins." said Lunesto as the two of them got a little sleep before their mission began.
Sasuke was traveling away from the leaf after taking Sakura to her hose.
"I am sensing something with the Rinnegan, although I am unsure what it could be." said Sasuke to himself as he was looking for any suspicious signs of trouble throughout the area.
"It will be better to notify Kakashi in the morning with a messenger hawk about my premonitions." said Sasuke as he felt a vast unease about the upcoming day as the night began to transition to dusk.
-To be continued next week with Chapter 004...-