Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 96

Village Outskirts

Munching on her snack, her tingling taste-buds eliciting involuntary squeals of delight every now and then, "What's eating up on you?" she asked distractedly.

"Nothing."

Snapping out of her food induced coma, she looked at the barely touched meatloaf in his hands with a worried gaze. Idly cupping his cheek to force his gaze on her, "Tell me." she added a little tenderness in her voice. Eyeing her with troubled eyes, Naruto deliberated in his mind on what 'not' to tell her.

"Don't you trust me?"

Blinking, "Of course I do." he retorted instantly, "…don't be stupid." he said in a matter of fact tone.

"Then tell me."

Worries melting, he draped his arms around her neck like a gorilla of sorts and pushed all his weight onto her, "Oi, be careful you idiot!" she chastised him hesitantly. The wind blowing from beneath her feet did anything but let her goosebumps melt down.

Let her be the judge that no matter how great a shinobi you were, sitting dangling legged on the edge of a ravine was awfully terrifying.

It was a fact.

Though the surplus weight draping all over her toppled her down on her back, Naruto now pressed flushed against her front. She didn't mind it one bit to be honest.

"It was the meeting, wasn't it?" she muttered. His drawled exhale on her neck was more than enough to answer her question, she sighed. Clicking her teeth in annoyance, "Idiots, the lot of them I tell you." she murmured.

Naruto chuckled at her blunt and harsh tongue, "You are such a mouthful Tsunade." he said jokingly.

Brushing away the humor, "They don't know you, Naruto." she whispered.

Hoisting his body up on his elbows, each resting either side of her waist, Naruto tilted his head aside, "…and you do?" he asked, honestly curious.

Giggling adorably, "Of course I do." she chortled, "I know you better than anyone, idiot." she stated, pride evident in her voice. Naruto huffed, acting hurt from her words and rolled over on his back, "As if." he taunted.

Whatever he had expected, he certainly hadn't expected her to roll over him so she was using his stomach as a seating cushion. His eyebrow tipped upwards seeing her intense glare, "I do." she said, steel edging her voice.

He knew she did.

Sighing in defeat, "Yeah, I guess you do." that earned him a flash of one of her brilliant smiles. Lying her chin down on his chest, she started paddling her legs back and forth like a duck, "You excited about the next mission?" she questioned gleefully. Humming in thought, "I guess." he muttered.

His sneaky comment earned him a soft slap to the nose, "Don't be such a wise ass. You'll love it, the island's really cool you know." she squealed.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You've been there once, haven't you?"

"Yup"

Shrugging, "Meh. I like the lands better. Ocean's aren't my thing, I guess." he stated offhandedly.

Pouting, "It'll be like a trip! We'll go swimming and gambling and all that good stuff…" she grinned cheekily and tried to persuade him. Poking the tip of her nose pointedly, "Nana, it's a mission - not a field trip." he reminded her wisely.

She slapped his finger away with a frown, "Oh come on, what's wrong with living a little every now and then?" he had nothing to argue against that. Leave it to Tsunade to turn a serious mission into a field trip of sorts, she was the epitome of distractions when it came to entertaining herself with something.

Then there was the matter of the remaining time they had.

"Wanna laze around?"

Snuggling her face into his neck, Naruto wordlessly wrapped his arms around her waist and let himself become her mattress for the remainder of the day.

Needless to say, by the time it was dusk, his back would be sore as hell.

...

Next Morning

Council Chambers

Walking in, hands tucked in pockets and a slothful expression gracing his face, Naruto trudged into the chambers in a lazy stride. Disregarding the icy stares being leveled over him, he yawned, which for some reason made their glares turn murderous.

What had he done to offend them so much this early in the morning?

Surely nothing much.

Scratching his head while shaking off the cobwebs in his head, he looked aside, only to blink in surprise at the twinkling black eyes staring back at him.

"Jiraiya?!"

Grinning like an idiot, "Yo!" the boy greeted back.

"Let me guess, you were summoned too?" Naruto stated dryly.

Nodding sagely and crossing his arms underneath his chest, "Yeah, they called both our teams." he replied.

That answered that. The blonde had been petrified to hear the abrupt knocking on his front door at the break of dawn. Let's just say whenever he opened his door that early in the morning, bad things happened.

Very bad things, youthfully bad things.

But that had been hardly the case this time. It had been a messenger hawk pecking away at his door with a small message tied on it's claw, 'Report to the missions desk at the earliest, matter of urgent importance', it had read.

So strapping on all his gear, slinging over his signature lacquer blade on his back and letting his little ball of fur snuggle on the back of his high collared jacket, here he was, early as all hell.

To be frank he felt quite stupid to be here so early, not to mention his senses were still dulled due to being sleepy. He certainly wasn't a morning person, that was for sure. Hearing the oncoming footsteps, he side glanced at the incoming party of ninjas with a disconcerted look.

Though he couldn't help but smile when an elbow nudged his waist gently, "Morning." whispered a chirpy looking Tsunade, occupying his side like usual.

Nodding, "Morning." he greeted equally quietly.

"May I have your attention please."

All eyes snapping to the front, everyone eyed the weirdly dressed man with a withering look. Grey, waist length hair tied in a neat ponytail and a pointed goatee on the tip of his chin, he was dressed head to toe in what Naruto recognized to be Samurai armor,.

"This is Mifune-dono." introduced the man in charge of today's missions' desk. No one even bothered to return a respectful nod, since the man seemed annoyed to be there more than anything else.

Taking an authoritative step upfront, Hiruzen decided to ask the question ringing through everyone's minds, "What might a Samurai of your caliber be doing here, Mifune-dono?" he questioned politely.

The man could have responded curtly, Hiruzen wouldn't have minded. But doing the unthinkable, he scoffed and was clearly fond of the saying, 'Silence is Golden'.

"Hey, is it just me or do things seem to be a lot tenser than usual?"

Everyone ignored Jiraiya's hushed whisper and paid attention upfront, "We have to deliver a scroll back to Iron Country while escorting Mifune-dono and his patronage there as well. Seeing the need for rush, you are the only two squads we currently have that are fresh and raring to go.

Hiruzen Sarutobi will be commander for the remainder of this mission, do both squads accept?" it wasn't a question, this was a mission being assigned. There was no room for argument, it was only a stupid front in front of the client.

"Hai!" chipped all genin in unison, Hiruzen accepting a couple of scrolls from the chunin and tucking them safely inside his pockets.

"Let's go, we leave in fifteen." was all Hiruzen said before he flickered into thin air in a volley of flames, Mifune in tow with him. Tsunade swirled away in a torrent of water, while Orochimaru was gone with a burst of wind.

Duy, eyeing Naruto awkwardly, was about to run away to the location before Naruto clasped his shoulder with a sigh and flickered away in a bolt of lightning.

Sakumo eyed the spot his blonde friend had occupied a moment ago longingly, the unsettling silence now eating away at him. There had been no pleasantries shared between the squad mates, hell not a single one of them had said 'Hi' to each other.

At least the blonde had seen Duy's nervousness and even gone so far as to acknowledge him, he himself had been completely disregarded. Even though he had been standing so close to him no more than a few seconds ago;

Why did he feel so far?

...

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