Sorry for the wait I have been so sick the past month. Hope you enjoy!:)
I don't own Naruto!!!
By lunchtime, the cold December sun was high in the sky, doing a terrible job of warming anything. The courtyard outside the school cafeteria was littered with students huddled in groups, puffing on cigarettes they'd probably stolen from their parents or sipping from thermoses that definitely didn't just have coffee in them. Georgetown High was one of those schools where everyone looked like they'd stepped out of a J.Crew catalog—tailored blazers, pressed khakis, and haircuts that probably cost more than most people's rent.
Except, of course, for Naruto and the group.
Naruto, with his neon-orange jacket and scuffed sneakers, stuck out like a sore thumb. Kiba wasn't much better, lounging on one of the picnic tables in his ripped jeans and muddy boots, Akamaru sitting at his feet like a furry, judgmental chaperone. Shikamaru had swapped his hoodie for an equally oversized flannel, though it still looked like it had been dragged through a ditch. Sasuke, as usual, was the only one who blended in—a vision of effortless cool in his black trench coat and combat boots, though the way he carried himself made it clear he had no interest in fitting in with the preppy crowd.
Naruto slammed his lunch tray onto the table, startling Akamaru. "Okay, so are we gonna talk about the fact that some knife-wielding maniac chased us out of a church last night, or are we just gonna pretend that was, like, normal?"
"I vote normal," Shikamaru said without looking up from his math homework. "I don't have the energy to unpack whatever the hell that was."
Kiba snorted, tossing a crumpled chip bag for Akamaru to tear apart. "Honestly? That was probably the least weird thing we've done all week."
"Yeah, well, not all of us are psychopaths," Naruto shot back, jabbing a fork into the school lunch,which was basically just mystery meat. "You're not even curious about who that guy was?"
"Of course we're curious," Sasuke said, his voice calm but cutting. He picked at his salad like it had personally offended him. "But rushing in without a plan is how people get killed."
Naruto bristled. "I'm not rushing in! I'm just saying we should—"
"You're always rushing in," Sasuke interrupted, fixing him with a sharp look. "It's like you have some kind of death wish."
"Guys, chill," Kiba said, holding up his hands. "We're all alive, right? So let's not turn this into a shitty soap opera."
Shikamaru sighed, finally setting down his pencil. "The bigger question is: why was that guy at the church in the first place? And what's his connection to Orochimaru?"
Naruto hesitated, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. "Okay, so… I kinda sorta...took something."
Kiba raised an eyebrow. "Define 'something.'"
Naruto dug into his pocket and pulled out the vial of powder, setting it on the table like it was some kind of forbidden artifact. The snake logo glinted in the weak sunlight.
"You stole drugs?" Sasuke hissed, his voice low but furious.
"It's not like I was gonna use them!" Naruto shot back. "I just thought, you know, maybe we could figure out where they came from."
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" Sasuke snapped, his voice rising. "What if someone saw you? What if they followed you home or tracked your dumbass down?"
"Oh, come on," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "You think a drug lord is gonna track me down over one little vial?"
"Yes," Sasuke said, dead serious.
Naruto blinked. "Okay, well, when you put it like that…"
"Too late now," Shikamaru muttered, leaning closer to examine the vial. "This is definitely Orochimaru's mark. My mom mentioned it a few weeks ago—his gang's been branching out into high-end designer drugs. Stuff you can't trace."
Naruto frowned. "Your mom knows about this?"
Shikamaru gave him a look. "She works for the NSA, genius. Of course she knows."
"Yeah, and my mom's been tracking this guy for months," Kiba added. "She says he's been recruiting kids—runaways, mostly—to do his dirty work. Dealers, messengers, whatever. Guess they're easier to replace if something goes wrong."
Naruto's stomach twisted. "That's messed up."
"Welcome to D.C.," Sasuke said flatly.
They fell into an uneasy silence, the weight of the conversation pressing down on them like the gray clouds gathering overhead. Naruto stared at the vial, his mind racing. Orochimaru wasn't just a name anymore—he was a threat, real and close, and they were barely scratching the surface.
"Alright," he said finally, his voice steady. "We're doing this."
"Doing what, exactly?" Sasuke asked, crossing his arms.
"Figuring out where this came from," Naruto said, gesturing to the vial. "If we can trace it back to Orochimaru, we might finally get a lead on him."
"And how, pray tell, do you plan on doing that?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.
Naruto grinned, leaning back in his seat. "Easy. We just need to talk to someone who knows the streets better than we do."
"Let me guess," Kiba said, smirking. "You mean Sai."
Naruto's grin widened. "Exactly."
Sasuke groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sai? Seriously? That guy's a walking sociopath ."
"Yeah, but he's our sociopath ," Naruto said. "And if anyone knows where this stuff came from, it's him."
Shikamaru sighed, already regretting his life choices. "Fine. But if this gets us arrested, I'm blaming you."
"Deal," Naruto said, shoving the vial back into his pocket.
As they headed out of the courtyard, Sasuke fell into step beside him, his expression unreadable.
"You're sure about this?" he asked quietly.
"Nope," Naruto admitted. "But we've got to do something, right?"
Sasuke didn't respond, but the slight nod of his head was enough. They were in this together—like always.
Because without Sasuke being there to look out for him,Naruto would have been long dead by now.
It was past sunset by the time Naruto found himself standing on the edge of Rock Creek Park, shivering against the cold and silently regretting every life choice that had led him here. Sai lived in the kind of place you only went if you were looking for trouble—or trying to find someone who had a PhD in it.
"This is a bad idea," Sasuke said for the tenth time, his breath fogging in the icy air. He stood a few feet away, his hands buried in the pockets of his coat, looking every bit like someone who'd rather be anywhere else.
"It's not that bad," Naruto said, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.
"Not that bad?" Sasuke repeated, arching a skeptical eyebrow. "We're about to meet up with a guy who once sold fake IDs to half the freshman class, and you think this is fine?"
"Fake IDs are a service," Naruto argued, smirking. "You're just mad because his Photoshop skills are better than yours."
Sasuke shot him a glare so sharp it could've cut glass.
"Focus, idiots," Shikamaru said, leaning against the rusted railing of a nearby bridge. He'd been quiet for most of the walk, his eyes scanning the darkened trail like he was trying to calculate all the ways this could go wrong. He was wearing his usual scuffed sneakers and a windbreaker that looked about as warm as a wet paper towel. "If Sai's got information, we need to play it smart. Don't let him know we're desperate."
"I'll handle it," Naruto said confidently.
"Oh great," Sasuke muttered. "This should go well."
Kiba arrived a moment later, Akamaru trotting at his side like a shaggy white shadow. "He's here," Kiba announced, jerking his thumb toward the clearing up ahead. "But just a heads-up—he's got that weird vibe going on again. You know, the 'I know something you don't' face."
"That's just Sai's normal face," Naruto said, rolling his eyes.
The group trudged into the clearing, the faint glow of a fire flickering in the distance. Sai was sitting on a broken picnic table, his pale skin practically glowing in the dim light. He was dressed in his usual black hoodie and jeans, with a sketchpad balanced on his lap. A half-finished drawing of what looked like a snake coiled around a rose was taking shape on the paper.
"Evening," Sai said, his tone as smooth and unnervingly cheerful as ever. "What brings D.C.'s finest dip shits to my humble abode?"
"We need information," Naruto said, cutting straight to the point.
Sai smiled—wide, fake, and unsettling. "How exciting. What's the topic? Organic chemistry? String theory? Porn?"
Sasuke scowled. "Drugs."
Sai's eyebrows lifted in mock surprise. "Drugs? Oh, my. And here I thought you were all upstanding citizens."
"Cut the crap, Sai," Naruto said, pulling the vial out of his pocket and holding it up. "We found this last night. It's got Orochimaru's mark on it. What do you know?"
Sai's eyes flicked to the vial, his expression unreadable. For a moment, he said nothing, just tapping his pencil idly against the edge of his sketchpad.
"That depends," he said finally, his voice light. "What's it worth to you?"
"Are you serious?" Kiba blurted. "We're trying to take down a drug lord, and you're asking for payment?"
"Information is a commodity," Sai said, shrugging. "You don't walk into a store and demand free groceries, do you?"
"We're not buying apples," Sasuke snapped. "We're trying to stop people from getting killed."
Sai leaned back, studying them with an almost lazy curiosity. "Alright," he said. "I'll tell you what I know—for free, even. But only because thats the most stupidest shit you could get yourselves into."
Naruto bristled, but Sasuke shot him a warning look, so he stayed quiet.
"This," Sai said, gesturing to the vial, "is called Venom. It's one of Orochimaru's newest products. Pure, untraceable, and incredibly lucrative. He's been flooding the east coast with it for months, but the main distribution hub is somewhere here in D.C."
"Where?" Shikamaru asked, his voice sharp.
Sai smirked. "Ah, that's the tricky part. Orochimaru's smart—he doesn't use obvious locations. He prefers places people don't look twice at."
"Like what?" Naruto pressed.
"Nightclubs," Sai said, his tone casual. "Laundromats. Grocery stores. Anything that blends in." He paused, his smile widening. "Or, in this case, art galleries."
Naruto frowned. "Art galleries? Seriously?"
"Orochimaru's a patron of the arts," Sai said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "One of his associates owns a gallery downtown. If you're looking for Venom, that's where I'd start."
"Name?" Sasuke demanded.
Sai tapped his pencil against his lips, pretending to think. "Kabuto. Kabuto Yakushi."
The name sent a shiver down Naruto's spine. Kabuto was Orochimaru's right-hand man—a ghost of a person who somehow managed to slip through every trap the police set. If he was involved, this was bigger than they'd thought.
"Well," Sai said, closing his sketchpad and standing up. "This has been fun. Do let me know if you survive."
"Thanks for nothing," Kiba muttered as Sai left,walking down the trail that would lead back to the entrance of the park.
Naruto turned to the group, his jaw set. "Alright. We've got a name, and we've got a location. What's the plan?"
Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his temples like he already had a headache. "The plan is to not do anything stupid until we figure out what we're walking into."
"Which means no running into art galleries and yelling Kabuto's name," Sasuke added, glaring at Naruto.
"Fine," Naruto said, holding up his hands. "But we need to move fast. If Orochimaru's using this gallery to push Venom, we can't just sit around."
For once, Sasuke didn't argue.
The cold wind howled through the trees as they headed back toward the city, their footsteps crunching against the frozen ground. The mystery was unraveling, but the deeper they went, the more dangerous it became.
And somewhere in the back of Naruto's mind, a nagging voice whispered that they were running out of time.
Hope you enjoyed! Honestly, I have no clue where I'm heading with this story, so I'm just making it as I go! XD