Chapter 80

After an eventful day, I returned to the house, pulled out a new sleeping bag and just made myself comfortable. Over the next few months, all I did was bath, eat, sleep and sleep some more. The only reason I even took my bath was because Tazuna's daughter would not shut up about it. About how a lady should always keep herself clean. Either way, it was like a vacation for me. Under the guise of protecting the daughter and kid, I completely stayed in the house, not stepping out an inch.

Unfortunately, everything had to come to an end. In the next three months, the bridge was finally complete and we had to pack up and leave. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, The Great Naruto Bridge. Yep, it remained the same even after everything that happened. Ok, as much as I would have found it cheezy; maybe there was an extremely small part of me that thought maybe it would have been named after me.

But after thinking about it for a while, 'The Great Sakura Bridge' just sounded a bit off; Best if I left it to him. After a hearty goodbye, we made our way back to the village. I knew exactly what was coming next; The Chunin Exams. Finally, I would meet Orochimaru. The plans are slowly but surely coming together. Okay fine; it was almost close to an obsession with the way I wanted to meet him.

We took our sweet time walking back home because according to Kakashi, there was no rush to get back. On the way, we chatted a bit; Of course, a distance away from the others. What I wanted to know was what was happening to Danzo's men, now that he was no longer alive? I had a hunch the Third Hokage would definitely pick them up to strengthening his army even more.

All of that was futile though, considering he would die soon. Oh, I needed that to happen, and there was nothing anyone would do to stop it. If he did not die by Orochimaru's hands, then I would definitely kill the old bastard myself. Him being alive would just ruin a lot of things for me; In all honesty, I did not particularly care about whether or not this Hiruzun was a variant or not.

The walk was tiringly slow and boring. Perhaps I had gotten so used to speeds that walking normally for so long had become an arduous task for me. Myself and Kakashi walking slightly behind the group of Naruto, Sasuke and Akari. The young lady of Team 7 had been more reserved for the last few months. Even more reserved with Sasuke, whom she had been sticking so close to for so long.

Kakashi seeing this could only sigh, "Don't you think you went a bit too far?" In the end, all three of them were part of his team, including her. Even if she was suspected to be a spy for some large secret organization, she was still part of his team. Her mood might ruin the moral and cohesion of the team. In extreme cases, it might get Sasuke and Naruto killed.

"Truth be told, I was considering just killing her and ending things. I wasn't going to do it." I quickly denied when I saw him glare at me with his one open eye. Kakashi had been treating me quite nicely, like an actual senpai would. It was unlike he treated Naruto like a sibling, but it was close. Over the past few months, we had sparred more than a few times and got to see the Hatake family swordsmanship. Of course, I had no interests in learning; But I had to admit, it was fast. Terrifyingly so. According to him, he had not reached the level his father had yet.

Back to Akari, I understood what he was trying to say. Maybe I needed to talk to her; How bad could it get? She already hated me.

"One thing piqued my interest though. The timing. It was just too impeccable." Kakashi looked at me to cexplain. "I mean, the timing between her sudden confrontation and you guys suddenly showing up. I feel I almost got played." Kakashi stayed silent for a bit, thinking about how things played out and felt like it seemed plausible.

"I have a basic grasp of their abilities, but she had never shown any kind of sensory ability. Or maybe she is good at hiding it." Kakashi analyzed. It might be. If she was then that would mean she had something planned with the drama she showed earlier. I wonder what she was after.

I may have completely ruined it with the way I went off script like that. "Maybe I really should just talk to her. What's the worst that could happen, right? She already hates me after all." Kakashi nodded and thanked me. He did not want a member of his team to derail, unable to save them. Losing his old team really did a number on him. What was worse was finding out his old teammate Obito was alive, yet had not returned to the village. Instead, he was out there involved in something rather terrible, playing with the lives of people like the Mizukage.

As part of the deal, I told Zabuza about the old Mizukage being controlled by a rogue Uchiha. I left out the part where it was Uhiha Obito; it was no concern of his. As for whether they blamed it on Itachi was up to them. He was also going to die soon anyways, right? So it should be fine borrowing a soon to be dead person. Itachi may have been one of my favorite characters, but I did not have any kind of system where I could buy some miraculous pill to heal him.

I am not pouting about not having a system. Definitely not.

The most important was it all pointed to Akatsuki, and that was what I was aiming for.

The only reason I did not tell Zabuza about Obito was in respect to Kakashi. From what I had been told, the main reason he had begun to retrain himself was so he could bring his old friend back, or worst case scenario, kill him personally; Kakashi had been feeling responsible.

I could only sigh. Seemed I was really going to have to talk to Akari. I was hoping I could say I was going to talk to her, but completely ignore it with a long mission away from the village. It was impossible though. With the chunin exam coming up, there was no way I would miss it just to avoid talking to a hormonal grudge holding teen; Granted, I looked same but I was different.

Finally, after tirelessly nagging and convincing the team, we picked up the pace and run towards the village. Although it was not a full sprint, it was better than the slow walk we going through earlier. After a few more days, we finally arrived at Konoha, and oh boy, was I glad to be back home.

Everyone bade farewell to each other and went separate ways, except Naruto. Myself and Kakashi had to report to the Hokage office to give our reports. Seeing Naruto staying behind, it was obvious he wanted to talk. Suddenly, the aura around Naruto changed. "Hey kid. I need to talk to you.". That was surprising. For them to easily switch like that meant the relationship between those two had progressed quite well.

"Kurama?" I asked. Although Kakashi knew his little brother had been talking to the fox every day, he had no idea the fox could easily take over like that.

Naruto, or more specific, Kurama nodded. "Come over when you done. It's about what you said the last time." I nodded in understanding before Kurama gave back control to Naruto. I could have been petty and just ignore him; But in truth, with his help, things could go really easy for me.

"Naruto, what was that?" Kakashi who had been worried the entire time asked Naruto.