"Still no luck, eh?" Jiraiya asked.

We were seated in bar, Jiraiya with a bottle of Sake.

"No. I've found a lot of interesting things, and absolutely none of them are what I'm looking for. You?"

Jiraiya sighed, before taking a sip from his cup. "I've got nothing for you. Put out a lot of feelers, but I've heard nothing."

"I see. Thank you for your assistance."

"Eh, no problem. Keep buying me Sake like this, and I won't give a damn. Where do you get this stuff, anyway?"

"All over. Some of it comes from the Land of Water, some comes from the Land of Sound, that bottle last week came from the Land of Lightning. I'd have given you some from the Land of Earth, but Yoshino is surprisingly fond of those."

"Huh." He nodded. And then frowned. "You know, I've never actually had Sake from the Land of Earth. Of any kind."

"Really? Huh. Well, if you're willing to travel a bit, there's a shop on the border of the Land of Earth and the Land of Hail, which is where I normally get the Sake that Yoshino likes."

Jiraiya looked up at me, an interested expression on his face. "You travel all the way up there just to get Sake for Yoshino-san?"

"It only takes me a few seconds. Unlimited-ranged teleportation is all kinds of awesome."

"Teleporting across thousands of kilometers to... buy Sake." He stated.

"Sure. I mean, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, absolutely." He nodded. "Kind of surprised you have enough money for that, though."

"As it turns out, robbing bandits blind makes for a surprisingly profitable business venture. And there are a lot of bandits."

He chuckles. "Going to go out searching again?"

"No, actually."

"Oh?" He asked, curious.

"Graduation is coming up soon, you know? I want to go congratulate them when they pass."

"'When they pass', eh?"

"Of course."

Konoha was, as always, nice during the summer. Cool enough that the humidity was easily manageable.

Not that I ever really felt the heat. Or the cold.

I walked up the path, taking a moment to admire the foliage, before arriving in front of a door. I knocked thrice, slow and powerful, before bracing myself.

The door flew open, the sound of twin cries from two equally enthusiastic five-year-old identical siblings ringing out, both of whom wasted absolutely no time in attempting to knock me off my feet with their flying glomps.

They might have succeeded too, if I hadn't been prepared for it.

"Mom! Yami is back!"

Yami. My... well, I'd say nickname, but it's all that they ever call me, ever since they were two, when they first started actually calling me that.

The grabbed me, one on each arm, and proceeded to drag me into the house. I shut the door behind us as we went in, as I knew that neither one of those two would.

"Tsubaki, Kuroko, you can let go now."

"Nope!" They chimed, together, as always.

"You don't want to let go, eh? Well, that's okay."

I planted my foot into the ground, halting them from dragging me further, before lifting my arms up, taking them both into the air.

I stared at them, watching their wide grins as they giggled, wrapping themselves around my arms.

Tsubaki, and Kuroko. Yoshino's adorable twin girls. Both were similar in appearance to Yoshino, looking almost exactly the same as she did when she had been younger, save the colour of their hair, which was a darker black like Shikaku, and most of the other male Nara.

And, much like most female Nara, they were anything but lazy.

Much to Shikamaru and Shikaku's chagrin.

"Troublesome."

"And good morning to you too, Shikamaru."

He grunted, unenthused, before sinking down into the table.

"So, graduation day today."

He grunted again, resting his head on the table.

"Oh, would you look at that? Girls, your brother looks like he could use some help to wake up this morning."

They cheered, letting go of my arms and rushing towards Shikamaru, who looked up at me with a horrified look on his face.

"You traitor-" Was all he managed to say, before both twins crashed into him and knocked him off the table.

Heh.

"Wake up Nii-san!" They shouted, shaking him from side to side, on the floor.

"Alas, poor Shikamaru, I hardly knew ye."

"I hate you all."

"Love you too, brat."

Got to admit, it was rather funny seeing Naruto nervous.

Had it been any other circumstance, I might have actually teased him about it.

But not now. For now, I was content to merely watched.

Sasuke walked in, confident smirk in place, Forehead Protector in place.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka called, causing Naruto to stand up and quickly walk over to the door.

"Congratulations, Sasuke."

He twitched, looking around, and seemingly noticed that none near him had flinched.

Casually, he leaned back, taking a moment to glance upwards.

I waved down at him, not bothering to slip out of the shadows.

He nodded, and leaned forwards.

I think -think- I caught a mumbled "Thank you", but I wasn't entirely sure.

"Yamanaka Ino!"

I looked down, spotting Iruka at the door, a pleased smile on his face.

And, next to him, an utterly exuberant Naruto, grinning wide.

With a Konoha headband wrapped around his forehead.

He all but bounded up the stairs, quickly settling into place next to Sasuke.

Neither said anything. Neither needed too.

"Congratulations, Naruto."

Points to him, he didn't flinch. He just looked at Sasuke, before leaning back in the exact same way that Sasuke himself had, glancing up at me.

Much the same as before, I simply waved at him.

He grinned, before sitting upright as Iruka entered with Ino.

"Another spar, eh?"

Naruto and Sasuke sat in front of me, both with eager grins.

"Yes." Sasuke spoke, an odd sort of anticipation in his eyes. "It's been a few months since the last time we had a spar"

"Indeed it has..."

I looked at them. Really looked at them.

Sasuke was leaning forwards slightly, eager to go again. It was plainly evident, in both his eyes and his Heart. He was fairly tall for his age, though he was built for speed, not strength. His hair, black and spiky at the back, roughly fell down to frame his cheeks. He held a near permanent smirk on his face, born from confidence.

Confidence. Not arrogance.

His Hate... had lessened. It was present, certainly, and it would be a long, long time before he could ever get rid of it, but there were other emotions that surpassed that Hate.

Sasuke had grown up.

And so had Naruto.

The blond sat quietly, his boundless energy restrained for this moment, though he was still smiling. His eyes still reflected how happy he was, but he was no longer so utterly restless. He was the same old Naruto, just more in control of himself.

Heh.

"Very well." I shrugged. "Let's see how much you've changed, eh boys?"

"Woo!" Naruto shouted. "This is going to be awesome!"

"Calm down, Naruto."

"Right, right. Sorry." He said, not sorry at all.

"Go."

Sasuke immediately ducked backwards, putting as much distance between us as he could.

Naruto, however, opted for a slightly different approach. Though he did indeed start moving back, he also started to make a handsign.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!"

Wait, what?

Naruto's Chakra surged, and the entire fucking clearing burst in smoke.

The smoke cleared, and for a moment, I just stared out at a tide of orange.

Oh.

Kay.