2,267As of this writing, out of 441,000 Naruto stories on ffdotnet...
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258,000 words (approximately two and a half average books)
...
And you're probably still pissed about Chapter 37
…
Welcome back.
I would honestly recommend a reread at this point, as it has been years since I last touched this story, but here is a recap that is as short as I could get it, as a reminder which story this is…
Hatake Kakashi managed to survive his harrowing life with his sanity intact, having never found his old teammate Rin and never being forced to slay her himself, and thus avoiding a major tipping point for his sanity. When called upon to train Team Seven, he did so to the best of his ability, attempting to turn them into true shinobi.
On their mission to the Land of Waves, Naruto used a clone to imitate their employer, Tazuna, leaving the man safely in Konohagakure while Team 7 carried on with the mission. It was Sakura who slew Gato, taking a contract on the man for a mere two ryo from the boy Inari and following through in the hopes of avoiding further battle with Zabuza. In the battle that occurred, Naruto's clones managed to severely hurt Zabuza with exploding tags, while Sasuke used techniques he developed during training to harry and chase Haku into Naruto's arms. With his "tool" captured and with Gato's head in a bag, Zabuza chose to yield, and in doing so formed an uneasy alliance with Team 7, who presented him with most of the dead man's looted possessions.
Sakura went on to acquire Kieri, a surprisingly intelligent cat, and in due time took on the Cat Summon scroll from the elderly butcher Dan. Sasuke made a bargain with the Aburame, having befriended Shino previously, and accepted a hive as part of an experiment. Naruto learned from Maito Guy how to channel his inner chaos to confuse his enemies, something only enhanced with his time with Jiraiya, the only shinobi to find a sure fire way to make other shinobi ignore and avoid him through his lecherous outward appearance.
Naruto entered his inner space when fighting Gaara at the end of the Chunin Exams, only to find the gate open and rusted, with only a few shreds of paper remaining on it. Beyond the darkness of that gate he found a brilliant and clear space where in rested the Kyuubi, self claimed personification of destruction. With the help of the beast, and the last minute assistance of the now Otogakure-retained Haku, he managed to hold off Shukaku long enough for a plan to come into motion.
The biggest unknown factor is Orochimaru. Extremely knowledgeable, he has been both helpful and apparently honest in his dealings with Konohagakure in spite of his history. Even when marking Sasuke in secret, he used an unknown seal that appears to aid the young man in his efforts without any apparent cost or detriment. When Gaara rampaged at the end of the Chunin exams, it was Orochimaru who managed to stop the beast before it could reap a bloody harvest on Konoha, by returning the form of the First Hokage to life.
Gaara was expected to be executed, with a resulting war at the loss of face between Suna and Konoha, when Naruto offered an exchange. He left with the Kazekage Rasa and Gaara's siblings to work in Gaara's place while the young man remained in Konoha to learn to master his inner turmoil. It was during this time that Naruto created the first cross-desert highway with the help of his clone-based manpower, as well as meeting a cultist named Hidan and helping him defeat his former comrades while defending the smaller shinobi village of Ishigakure.
Sasuke and Sakura learned of Naruto's departure and found their own paths away from the team. Sakura, thanks to her intellect and preference for mind games, found herself joining Konohagakure's Torture and Interrogation unit, under the tutelage of Ibiki and Anko. Sasuke, meanwhile, asked to be apprenticed under the Hokage, despite learning the truth about his brother from Hiruzen himself, with the desire to make the village stronger and to live a good life in defiance to his brother's wishes.
Four Years Later…
Naruto set his bowl down with a happy sigh. Even though he'd been stationed in the village for years now, his massive desert highway long finished, he never forgot what it was like to live in the desert, far from the comforts of civilization, such as beds, shade, and ramen.
"Anything else, Uzumaki-san?" asked Emi. He shook his head and gave her a smile while he dug out his wallet. Emi had come from Ishi after the highway had been finished, and she brought with her actual, blessed, fresh ramen. Nothing could top Ichiraku ramen, but Emi had come the closest he'd ever found, and it was still better than cup ramen.
Emi still tried to give him free food. She'd come to Suna because the competition back in Ishi had been tough and she felt that establishing herself in a new market would give her a competitive advantage, along with some outside investment to get her initial equipment. She had been correct, and Takara Emi's Ramen Plus had become one of the more popular eateries in Suna.
Naruto settled his bill and gave her a final wave before he stepped out of the shop and directly into an immovable wall of muscle
"Uzumaki."
Naruto grinned at his teacher. "What's up, Sand Pear?"
Zabuza grunted, although with as much good humor as his nature permitted. "You've gotten good at making your clones convincing. Took me a few hours to notice that you weren't at the training ground."
Naruto rolled his eyes and stepped around Zabuza. "And I told you, today was an actual day off. As in, I'm not doing shit. No jobs, no training. I only sent the clones because I knew this would have happened hours ago if I didn't and I wanted to have a solid meal in me before I had to kick your ass so I could go back to not doing anything." He glanced around. "Come to think of it, where the fuck is Hidan?"
Zabuza shrugged. "I think he's back home. Was up late ripping his own guts out to check the weather, I think".
"Hot and sunny," Naruto deadpanned.
Zabuza and Hidan had instantly hit it off when they'd met. A sadistic killer with a love of artful murder and a sadistic cultist who could not really be killed? They'd fought for hours before Zabuza had brought Hidan's head into a bar for a drink, and that was that.
They now shared a small apartment in the subsidized area for active shinobi, terrorizing and horrifying their neighbors. Being assigned to live on the same floor as them was viewed as either a punishment or a test of nerve by most of the shinobi of the village. Naruto half suspected they were more than just roommates, but… well, how do you ask that sort of question with someone like Zabuza or Hidan? Better to let things be and just try to avoid the bloodshed, he felt.
Naruto was about to choose a training ground to mop with Zabuza's face when he caught sight of one of his favorite distractions approaching.
"Temari! How's my favorite ass kicking ninja princess?"
Said ass kicking ninja princess promptly slapped Naruto in the gut with her fan, doubling him over it with a grunt. "Added a few more blades?" he asked, trying to resist as his feet slowly slid in the dirt.
On the other side of the fan, Temari grinned and pushed harder. "Damn right," she said, before suddenly stepping back and taking her fan with her. Naruto stumbled slightly and would have stayed upright, but Zabuza casually stuck a foot out and he and Temari both laughed as Naruto accepted the inevitable and tumbled to the ground.
"You guys are dicks," he said, looking up at them.
Temari leaned against her fan and smirked down at him. "Considering how much shit you like to talk, we gotta get what laughs we can. Sure the hell can't laugh at your jokes."
"We could laugh at that pitiful display of a strength test," said Zabuza, a shit eating grin clearly visible under his facewrap.
Naruto crossed his arms and grunted. "I can get why Slashy McSlashslash here is fucking with me. He's an asshole." Naruto ignored the short hand wave Zabuza gave him to acknowledge the point. "What I don't get is why you're here. I just finished the Sand Street sewer expansion and wanted to celebrate by not playing with shit pipes for a day and maybe even get a bath. And why the hell is there a Sand Street? It's not like there's a Leaf Avenue back in Konoha."
(A thousand miles away, a Konohagakure civil surveyor sneezed, accidentally crossing Leaf Avenue off his current map and ruining hours of work.)
Temari shrugged and hefted her fan onto her shoulder. "Well, if you don't want to see the letter from Konoha that the Kazekage just got…"
Rasa's eyebrows rose as he looked at the team before him.
To the left, his daughter, now on the cusp of adulthood. Temari had always been somewhat cold, a fiery temper held back by her dedication to an outer image of clinical control. She had been, when growing up, a mirror of his own serious and admittedly dour nature.
Now, she was trying valiantly not to laugh in front of her father while on duty, something her old self would have been furious about. She had learned to smile more, and as much as it bothered him as a father to hear it, she was apparently starting to turn heads among her peers, both professionally and otherwise. She was no less dedicated or efficient than she was before, but she seemed more content.
To the right, and not even bothering to conceal his quiet laugh, his son Kankuro had changed outwardly, in part out of necessity and in part from his odd sense of pageantry. A barely audible clicking could be heard under his left sleeve, a reminder of the prosthetic he now wore after the necromancer he encountered in Ishigakure infected him with a wasting disease that ultimately required the full amputation of his left hand.
His son had built his new hand on his own, spending almost a year tinkering and adjusting until it moved smoothly, almost impossible to discern from a real hand when he wore gloves. Relearning to control his puppets at the same level of proficiency despite losing that hard had taken even longer. And yet, despite his loss and struggle, he remained the same as ever. Cheerful, friendly, and suitably dangerous in combat.
And there, between the two, the source of their laughter, Uzumaki Naruto, the back of his uniform still covered in dirt from where he had been laying in it. He'd run over so fast that he hadn't even dusted himself off after a tumble.
Uzumaki Naruto, the God of Builders. His efforts had pushed Rasa's plans for revitalizing his village ahead by decades, between the Pan-Suna Highway, the Irrigation Expansion Project, the new reservoir system to capture the rare desert rains, the new sewer works… Naruto had created infrastructure that Sunagakure would never have had the resources or manpower to do in Rasa's lifetime without him.
But just as importantly, he'd brought some of the spirit back into Suna. He worked tirelessly. He never asked for extra consideration, despite remaining a genin and making only genin pay. The people of Suna knew him on sight, and his smile brought out the best of those around him, aside from the occasional holdout like Chiyo, those who could not bear the thought of a Leaf working for the Sand.
Rasa was going to miss the young man. Even if he could not bring himself to be a figure of good cheer, being serious by nature even without the burden of leadership, he understood just how much goodwill and hope Naruto had given Suna.
Rasa pulled out a scroll and opened it up. "I have received a missive from the Hokage stating that my son has asked to return home, and appears to be much less temperamental."
"Gaara's okay?" asked Temari and Kankuro, both in tones of surprise and relief.
Rasa nodded. "According to the Hokage, Gaara has gained a degree of control sufficient to be an active duty shinobi again… and Gaara has asked specifically to return to us."
"I'm going home," whispered Naruto.
Rasa gave the boy a preemptive glare. "You have five days before you three are scheduled to leave. I realize you may be in the mood to run there immediately, but until we hand you off, you're still functionally a Suna shinobi, and you will conduct yourself as one."
"Yes, sir," said Naruto, standing at attention. Naruto would never quite be as serious as Rasa preferred in his shinobi, but to the boy's credit, he tried to look the part when on duty.
Rasa nodded and turned to his children. "Once you arrive, you'll be tasked with a mission with Gara, both to rebuild your team cohesion and to examine the changes and determine if the original issues were resolved."
Rasa noticed the small fist bump Naruto and Kankuro shared, but decided that he didn't need to notice officially. He also noticed the shadow that passed across his daughter's face. "Kankuro, Uzumaki, you are dismissed. Temari, a moment."
The two males bowed and walked out, and Rasa clearly heard the slap of their high five outside the doors, But his eyes remained on his daughter's face. After a moment of quiet, he stood and walked over to her, awkwardly resting his hand on her shoulder.
"Temari, I can't help but notice you are not thrilled at this news."
"It's nothing," she said, almost reflexively.
"You're concerned about your brother's return, I assume?"
Temari started to shrug, then stopped, and some of the blank look of Temari on Duty faded into a genuine frown. "Not completely. We've seen Uzumaki's personality. If anyone might be able to make Gaara less aggressive, it would be Konohagakure. And callous as it sounds, you need to know how stable and how loyal our brother might or might not be. Even if they are allies, it is best to be careful. Kankuro and I are clearly the best choice for that observation."
Rasa nodded, and sadly suspected he now knew where the real issue was, if not with Gara. "And you're unhappy to be losing young Uzumaki," he said.
Her face reddened slightly, but she clenched her jaw and said nothing. Rasa's own discomfort at the discussion pushed him to drop his arm and return to sit at his desk. "Unfortunately, friendship with foreign shinobi is often very difficult. One never knows when you might face them on the other side of the battlefield. You would not be the first to face that particular form of suffering."
She bowed her head, partially in acknowledgement, and partially to hide any reaction.
Rasa nodded and sighed. "Four years ago, I would have discouraged any such attachment. The world can be a bitter and miserable place. But, if anyone can be said to be an ally, Konoha would be it. They have done nothing to stop Uzumaki from repairing our economy and spirit. They have shifted some work to us, and not just token work but actual, meaningful contracts. Better ties with Konohagakue would almost certainly be an asset in the future. I leave it to you how you wish to approach such things, Temari."
Temari bowed and turned to leave, then stopped at the sound of her father's voice. "Please… be careful, daughter."
She nodded quietly and left.
"WHOOOOOOO!"
Kankuro winced and leaned away from his blond companion. "Naruto, damn, I get it, you're excited. Chill."
Naruto in turn flipped off the puppet user. "Fuck that, Kankuro! It's been four friggin years! Four years of waking up with sand in my mouth, sand in my sandals, sand in my pants! Four years of fucking scorpions that somehow never found their way into your bedroll! Shady trees! Long showers! Ichiraku Ramen!" He let out another howl, and Kankuro winced… but he also smiled.
"So, what are we doing?"
"Well," said Naruto, holding up a hand to tick off each thing, "I need to tell Zabuza and Hidan. I need to swing by Emi's and let her know. Need to find Ayuchi and see how he's doing, set up to be pen pals maybe. Gotta start packing my shit, do my laundry… Shit, gotta do the paperwork too. I'll need you and Temari for that."
"Wait, what paperwork?"
Naruto didn't hear the question, having already taken off down the street, a small stream of clones appearing and filtering out into the surrounding alleys and side streets. Kankuro sighed before turning back to wait for his sister, because for all that they got along both as a team and as individuals, even Kankuro found the guy exhausting at times.
Kankuro and Temari shared a glance when Naruto opened the door to his apartment with a clone once they caught up to him. The small room was filled with clones. Clones packing and arguing about what to take and what to give away. Clones sweeping and cleaning and washing. One clone appeared to be acting as the controller for several other clones, handing out sealed letters and instructions.
The clone who opened the door smirked and led them through the main room and into the bedroom, where a small and crude desk made of stone slabs had been set up. The original Naruto, or what they assumed was the original, was sitting at the desk, looking over a sheaf of papers and wearing a small pair of glasses. The glasses were clearly empty frames, all the more evident when the original wiped an eye through the space one of the lenses should have occupied, and he grinned and flushed slightly when they smirked.
"I know, it's stupid," he said, adjusting the fake glasses and in doing so acknowledging them. "Empty, of course, but I find it useful as a sort of focusing trick. I put these on when I need a mindset that is nothing like being a shinobi."
The clone delivered a pair of folding chairs and set them up, guiding first Temari and then Kankuro to sit at the desk. "So," said Temari, looking around the mostly empty room curiously, "What mindset is it you use the glasses for?"
Naruto smirked and tapped the papers on his hand on the desk, neatening them up, then started thumbing through them. "Businessman," he said. "Shinobi are all about tricks and traps and cheating any rules others may think exist. Businessmen are all about following the rules to the letter if you don't want to find yourself on the other side of the government."
He split the stack in half, setting the papers in front of the two of them. "The top sheet is a synopsis for the rest of the paperwork. I am offering each of you a five percent stake in Orenji Corporation, in exchange for taking on the task of oversight in said corporation."
Temari opened her mouth to ask a question only to close it when her brother jumped up from his chair to point at Naruto. "Sonofabitch, I should have known! You own OrenjiCo?"
Naruto nodded, smirking at his soon to be former teammates.
"Why are you surprised he owns a business?" asked Temari, picking up the first sheet of paper without looking at it. "You know he invested in some of the new businesses after the highway went up. We all did."
Kankuro didn't say a word in response, but instead pulled the paper from her unresisting grasp and held it up in front of himself, drawing her eyes to it. She started to scan the document, her face going from disinterest to confusion to shock.
"Yeah. That's why," he told his sister. "You invested some into the new economy, but you didn't really get into the nitty gritty of what was happening back then. OrenjiCo was directly responsible for most of the businesses that came over in the first wave. Takara Emi's Ramen Plus. Tamotsu Textiles. One Stop Convenience. Esu Tools and Hardware. Kiddie-gakure. All of them got seed funding by OrenjiCo in exchange for a percentage."
Kankuro looked over at Naruto, who was smirking. "Then, OrenjiCo just kept investing. It purchased more stock in the businesses, until it owned majority share in most of the ones it helped come over. It's infamous for being very forgiving during trial runs and startup, for keeping things running in spite of disaster instead of selling stock and jumping ship. Kiddie-gakure didn't pull profit for more than a year, and OrenjiCo just kept putting money into it until the local economy reached the point where a toy store was viable."
"And then it made bank," said Naruto cheefully. "Which I then used to build some civilian housing, shinobi retirement complexes, and other property, including the soon to open Hotel Orenji, the first luxury hotel in Sunagakure." The last he said with a grand gesture, as if making a speech before possible investors.
Kankuro slumped into his seat, handing the paper back to Temari before picking up his own list to see just how much OrenjiCo owned. "How the hell did you do this? You're just a Genin like us!"
Naruto's smirk only grew at the comment. "I spent better part of a year out in the fucking desert. My physical needs were taken care of by Ishigakure, by agreement. Your d… the Kazekage decided to pay me for my time at half rate, although he deferred payment until the economy got going. But I knew a few folks in Ishi who offered favorable terms for a loan. I kinda suspect they thought I'd plow the company head first into the sand and they'd inherit the pieces, but in the end they settled for a small amount of stock for dividends as part of repayment."
Temari set her own paper aside, more than a little put off by just how much was on the list. "Naruto, I appreciate that you'd trust us with all this, but we're active shinobi. There is no way we can possibly run this for you."
Naruto nodded, but his smirk didn't fade. "You're not expected to. I have already installed Tamotsu Gin as Operational President, he's had the most experience with large companies. He will handle all of the day to day operations, as well as reinvestment and expansion."
"So what is our part in this?" asked Temari.
"I will no longer be able to oversee day to day operations, or even inspect my Suna locations with any meaningful regularity, and while they'll be sending me reports… businesses tend to lose their way. They start to cut corners, bend rules, break laws for the sake of more profit. I don't want that to happen to OrenjiCo."
He stood, his face serious. "Your only purpose will be to watch and let me know if that starts to happen. When you happen to be in town, check in with Gin, but also have a look for yourself. See how the shops are running. Ask if everything is okay. You'll have enough control to stop things if they start to get foolish. I respect Tamotsu Gin. I trust you two."
Kankuro was the first to start looking through the rest of the pile. "So, five percent of the biggest corporation in Suna, in exchange for making sure it doesn't become a shitpile like that group that imploded down in wave a few years back? Where do I sign?"
Sakura sighed when Kieri dropped a new scroll on her desk with a plaintive meow. Who would have thought that peacetime would be so busy for TI?
There were always criminals to deal with, both civilians and shinobi. A village of nearly 80,000 people always had crimes, and after the downfall of the Uchiha, TI had ended up handling a lot of their former duties.
Very few needed actual torture or interrogation. A kid caught with a stolen toy in hand was generally resolved by simple conversation. An adult who brained their neighbor over a dispute was usually willing to not do it again after a stern warning, or a night in the cells. But even those simple efforts created paperwork, never mind the more serious crimes that rarely cropped up.
Sakura had quickly become a major part of TI for that reason. Someone had to read all the reports being generated, watching for trends in crime or spotting inconsistencies in the transcripts that may point to deeper problems. Anko was not well suited to such efforts, and the same applied for many of the guards for the building. Ibiki was suited, but he was in charge of the department, and needed someone to deal with the sheer volume of paperwork.
And so began the career of Haruno Sakura, Torture and Interrogation Information Specialist.
She dropped the file she had just finished on the desk, signed it, and tossed it in the "this shit is boring and pointless so file it in the archives until someone decides we don't need this stupid, pointless report" tray (which she had accurately labeled in pencil one night after a very long and dull shift). She looked at the clock with a sigh, then stood and stretched.
She wandered over to the coat rack and grabbed her own little piece of TI tradition, a long black coat. Ibiki and Anko had clubbed together to have it made for her after her first year, when she asked if the coat was obligatory or if TI folks just kind of gravitated to it.
As it turned out, TI got their coats from a very specific tailor for very practical reasons, and the end result was a work of art well worth the exorbitant price the tailor charged for them. It fit perfectly, with an inner lining that had storage seals cunningly stitched into place. It kept her warm and comfortable in the winter, and a small amount of chakra could cool it to the point where she had once shivered in the middle of a summer heat wave.
The fact that it hid any movement she made underneath it, which could be used to make her look like an implacable statue to subjects, was just a cherry on top. After Ibiki had shown her that trick, she'd tested it by standing silently in the corner of the smithy Tenten used to make her weapons until her sort-of rival noticed her presence. Sure, she had to help pay off the damages when Tenten instinctively tossed an explosive at her the moment she noticed her ominous presence, but it was worth it, both as a test of the benefits of the coat and for the look on Anko's face when Sakura shared the video she lifted from a security camera of the five minutes she spent looming over Tenten before she was noticed.
She pulled her coat on, then sighed as Kieri jumped onto the desk, causing it to creak under her weight. The former kitten had grown immensely, and at her full adult size she stood up to mid thigh on Sakura, less a lap cat and more a couch tiger now.
"Meow!"
Sakure rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am done for the day. It's almost five. Close enough. I already heard Ibiki sneak out, which means he had enough of this boring shit and knows we did too. We're allowed to take off if we notice him doing that."
"Meow!"
"No! And when the hell did you stop being lazy?"
Kieri let out an annoyed grumble and reached a paw up, flicking the scroll at Sakura. The scroll sailed into Sakura's side with enough force to make her shift a little.
"All right, all right! Last scroll!" Sakura picked up the scroll and frowned. It was not a report, but a message scroll, one of the cheap and unsecured ones meant to copy intra-village messages from one section to another. Some string was wrapped around this one, holding a small note to the side.
Thought you'd like to know. Feel free to spread the word, it's not a secret. -K
Sakura's eyes narrowed, and she unwrapped the string to read the scroll.
She was out of the building within thirty seconds, Kieri following close behind. She didn't bother with the front door, but instead ran straight to the roof through a one-way and supposedly secret exit. It was only a decoy, filled with all sorts of traps and sensors and made with enough mental reinforcement that breaking through would likely be quite obvious, and part of her purpose for leaving through it was to take note of anyone who cared a little too much about it, but it was also much faster than going through the entire checkout process.
She had just left the roof when a flash of blue crashed into her with a roar. She crossed her arms and let her body go loose, using the attack's momentum to throw her at the ground. She spun and landed in a crouch, then stepped to the side as the blue blur hit the ground hard enough to form a small crater.
"My stylish rival! Today you taste defeat!"
Sakura rolled her eyes and parried a lunging attack, tossing her foe into the nearest wall, where she fell into a heap. "Ino! What did I tell you about smashing holes in the street?"
Ino pulled herself up and dusted herself off. Four years of training with Lee had resulted in a petite but strong young woman who was earning a reputation in Konohagakure for being an intelligent, cunning, and impeccably stylish lady who once literally ripped a bandit's arm off and beat him to death with it.
Sakura would never admit it, but she was a little jealous of her friend now. Her own schedule was busy enough in T that she could never reach the same level of physical performance, and Ino still managed to be fashionable despite her adopted habit of wearing track suits. Shinobi activewear was apparently a growing trend in the Academy because of the blond fashionista.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Scary Cherry. I'll hire a genin team to fix it. But let's be honest, if you had guns like these, you'd enjoy shelling random locations too." She flexed her arms, showing off an incredible degree of definition and causing both Sakura and Kieri to roll their eyes at the display.
"If I say I am impressed, will you knock it off? I got a message I'd like to spread to our peers." She tossed the scroll at Ino and smirked. "Maybe you can get your boyfriend to help out?"
Ino almost fumbled the scroll, her face going red. "Shut up! He's not my boyfriend!"
Sakura frowned. "Wait, really? That ludicrous spandex outfit you picked out didn't work?"
Ino crossed her arms and looked away. "No," she said sheepishly, dragging the word out into a deep sigh. "All I got out of it was how comfortable it would be during hot weather."
Sakura's eyebrows shot up, and all she could say was, "Wow."
Ino and Lee's relationship, or rather the lack of relationship, had become legendary. Batted eyelashes resulted in concerns about grit in her eye. Saucy poses had their posture corrected. Innuendo ran face first into good willed incomprehension. And an outfit that Sakura would not have worn on a dare apparently was a useful way to regulate temperature.
Rock Lee was a wonderful, caring, inspiring, motivated, glorious dork, and his complete lack of reaction to Ino's advances was either disturbingly genuine or diabolically sneaky, and nobody was entirely sure which it was. Seeing the two of them out on the town had quickly become street theater for anyone in the know.
Sakura gave Ino a commiserating pat on the shoulder. "Joke aside, really, I'd like to get that news out. To be honest, Lee might want to know anyhow."
Her curiosity finally overriding her embarrassment, Ino opened up the scroll and smiled at the contents. "I know a bunch of people who are gonna want to know this. Sure you don't want to have a little get together, rather than individual messages?"
"I'd rather just get the word out, so we can organize a better party late-oof!"
Ino laughed and put Sakura into a friendly headlock, adding a little noogie action while she was at it. "Good thinking, forehead! We can plan ahead, get our days off sorted, all of that." She let go suddenly and leapt to the roof above them, leaving Sakura to pat her hair back into place with a smile.
Everyone would likely know within the hour.
Naruto was coming home.
Sasuke had done his best to cultivate patience under the Hokage's tutelage. Poise and grace were important traits of leadership, at least in public, and if the Hokage didn't need to rush or huff in impatience, he should not either.
Still, he found himself deliberately holding himself still, instead of the more natural stillness of a calm and controlled leader, while he waited for Hiruzen to finish his cup of tea. Standing next to him, his Kakashi shared a fond look with the Hokage.
"You know," said Kakashi calmly, "you don't really need to be here, Sasuke. It's not like we're planning on meeting a head of state or anything. Just preparing for some relatively low ranked visitors from Suna."
"And Naruto," said Sasuke.
The Hokage smiled at that. "We can neither confirm nor deny the imminent return of the village's wayward son," he said blandly, earning a well practiced but at least subtle eye roll from the youngest man of the group. "But it is not like you won't know promptly if and when he should arrive. You could go practice your techniques."
Sasuke frowned. "I am at a stage where further practice requires practical experience."
Kakashi leaned in, smirking underneath his mask. "You could spar with Sakura. I know she's been getting more and more vexed each time her little Yamanaka friend flexes at her. She could use a chance to blow off some steam."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Never mind the implications, and don't you dare pretend that's not what you did there." His eyes flicked to Kakashi's face as the jonin winked at him. "I have reached the point where sparring becomes impractical. And boring."
He huffed and slumped slightly in place. "I get that peace is a good thing. I certainly do not want to pick a fight or do anything stupid like anything that asshole Danzo says. I'm just…"
"Young, Sasuke," said Hiruzen, turning to smile warmly at his protege. "The word for it is young." He shuffled slightly in his chair, stretching old and tired limbs to keep them from stiffening through inactivity. "To fight and strive is the duty of the young and strong, so that someday they can be old and peaceful. No wise man would begrudge your frustration in the peaceful days we find ourselves in, especially after being raised for war."
Sasuke bit back a sarcastic response and let out another huff. "I cannot help but think about how those who have lost life or limb or loved ones in battle might feel about my desire to fight as they did out of boredom. Still..."
"You want to return to active duty," Hiruzen said, without judgment. It was not a question.
Sasuke nodded.
"On the one hand," the elder said, "you are useful here and now. You've become quite adept at the bureaucracy, the political battles, the resource management, and admittedly, the tea service." He cracked a smile when Sasuke smirked. The boy had never quite gotten over Danzo's caustic words. Indeed, he had honed his grudge to a razor edge. Hiruzen knew for a fact that every holiday and birthday, Shimurra Danzo received a beautiful tea set, always with exactly one broken cup, from a not so mysterious gift giver. The fact that he found those gifts in his home or office likely infuriated the man more than the actual gift.
"On the other hand," he said, pausing to hear Sasuke's sudden silence as the young man focused to a ludicrous degree on the words of his leader. "On the other hand, you have not slacked on your goal to become a powerful shinobi. I was impressed enough even before Kakashi had to take over for me, and I have only heard good things since then."
Sasuke winced slightly. Hiruzen was finally reaching the point where age became a true detriment instead of an inconvenience, and a year ago had delegated the physical aspects of training to Sasuke's old sensei, even as he continued to teach the theoretical side.
Kakashi nodded along with the Hokage's statement. "To be honest, Hokage-sama, a return to active duty would be a good thing for Sasuke. He is not incorrect in his statement that he needs some challenges to continue to grow, and his lack of live combat experience could be a problem in his political future."
Hiruzen set down his own cup with a decisive click, and his face went from the benign and fatherly face of a man content in his life and age to the stern mask of the Third Hokage. "Let us get through this day," he said, his voice strong. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. After all, if Naruto happens to return in the near future for some reason, he'll need a team and a chance to re-adjust to home."
Sasuke nodded and started to put away the tea set. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Your next appointment is with Iruka-san about the results of the…" Sasuke paused to snort, partially in amusement, and partially in exasperation, then continued, "... the Sakura Protocol"
Hiruzen chuckled and slumped back slightly in his chair, pulling out his pipe and tamping it. "You never have explained why you hate that name so much."
"Because it's treated like a thing of legend. You can almost hear the capitals on it. The Sakura Protocol. It's a excessively dramatic name for what boils down to teaching kids how to think about systems and their limitations instead of blindly accepting them."
"And you feel that is not needed?"
Sasuke shook his head. "No, I get it, and I agree with it. The name is just so… pretentious." He made a disgusted face, which caused the other two men to chuckle.
"I'll share your concerns about the name with Iruka. I am sure he will rush right out and reprint the school's curriculum to correct this oversight." He lit his pipe as Saskue grumbled good naturedly. "What's after that?"
Sasuke sighed and pulled another scroll from the desk, but for all his burning desire to act, he was disciplined enough to do his part to push through the mountain of paperwork the Hokage dealt with daily.
… For now.
And then the door opened behind him, and he turned to see Sakura standing in her coat, smiling and holding a message scroll out to him.
He read the scroll, and found himself smiling back.
AN: Soooooo… hey there. The below is basically why I was gone and why I am back. As you may recall, I tend to have author's notes that stretch a bit, so TLDR; Mental health plus writer's block equals oops it's been half a decade.
About five years ago, I reached a breaking point of sorts. Lots of personal reasons, from failing mental health to family losses and cartaking obligations. This story was at a good stopping point, and I had reached a point where writing was not happening, so I capped it off and considered it done for now.
Thought about the story every six months or so, even did a few outlines for the plot to the second half, and all of them were garbage. All of them tried to follow the original series too closely, which was problematic as I didn't care for most of the plot elements beyond the timeskip.
Well, things improved eventually. I adjusted to the family losses, and after years of failed attempts at functionality and eventually a couple years of paperwork, I became officially disabled. The constant fear of homelessness ended, and since that time I have slowly felt the urge to write again grow.
Then, about a week ago, I figured out the plot elements that had been bugging me for years. And I will admit, I pissed myself off royally because the solutions were stupidly obvious in hindsight.
This will likely not update frequently. My mental health problems reached the point where I have had a degree of mental decline, and with that went some of my ability to function. But I now have a plot synopsis that stretches most of the way through the second half, and the missing portion is more about style than structure. But I intend to try, if only to claw back some functionality. And to rebuild my writing style, because wow, my sentence structure kinda went to hell.
Oh. And I do not have a beta at the moment, so I am sure there are several grammatical failures hidden in this chapter. Sorry. Let me know if you spot one, I'll try to fix it.
Suffice to say, five years is a long time to respond to reviews, so in short: Thanks.. except for you people still trying to argue about ryo or chapter 37.