Inevitable: Chapter Thirteen
Title: Inevitable
Pairing: Sasuke/Naruto
Rating: T - language, violence, and implied sexual activities
Status: In Progess
Preview: Sasuke stopped in his tracks when the single obstacle between him and Naruto became twenty.
Read: the full story on ff.net
or
Inevitable
Chapter Thirteen
Sasuke was speeding down the street, his long hair whipping behind him in the force of his propulsions. It had been five years since any type of dedicated training. In prison Sasuke had kept himself toned, but only doing the most basic of exercises. Pushups, sit ups, chin ups - not the rigorous training he would have normally enjoyed. He felt his muscles strain against the chakra racing through them. It had been five years since any type of chakra was allowed to current through, forcing his muscles to do things that shouldn’t be physically possible. Sasuke had speed and endurance, enough stamina to hold himself against some of the strongest opponents of his time. He’d beaten them all, except one. It was who he was going to see now. Uzumaki Naruto would not get away with this.
The ANBU were running behind him, just out of reach, yelling things out to him. Only one of which he recognized; Sai. The abomination they had the audacity to call his replacement. It was something Sasuke still wasn’t over, something he still hasn’t dealt with. The new Team Seven. It was like a stab to the chest, a hot poker jamming straight through his rib cage. The jealousy had always been there, just out of reach. But now, with everything that had happened, it reared its ugly head.
Sai raced behind him, yelling out things that were designed to get the man to stop. It wasn’t working. This was way too personal for some simple cookie-cutter phrase to stop him. Nothing Sai read in those books was going to work now.
He was nearly there. Maybe fifteen-hundred feet more and he’d be within speaking distance to the Hokage. To Naruto. Sasuke could feel his heart racing in his chest, the words he held inside preparing to burst out.
Sai sped up, reaching out to grip the fabric of Sasuke’s shirt. He was nearly there; he could feel the soft fabric beneath his fingers, until someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Sai’s head whipped around, facing an old man who had the strength to stop him in his tracks like that. The four ANBU who followed Sai’s orders stopped behind him, taking a defensive stance. Sai glared into the dark eyes of his interrupter.
“Teushi.”
“Sai.” Teushi smiled, the expression looking evil with his eyes wild. The man was full of a power he didn’t own. It was nearly revolting. “I think that you should stop what you’re doing.”
“What are you talking about?” Sai asked, honestly puzzled. Why would a council member be stopping him from restraining a prisoner under house arrest? “The Uchiha-“
“The Uchiha,” Teushi interrupted, “is under my care as of now. Send your men home.”
Sai’s expression was puzzled, but his mind was calculating what the man said. It still wasn’t quite computing. “I don’t understand. What’s in it for you?” If there’s one thing Sai has learned, no human does something for nothing.
Teushi’s smile grew more sinister as he contemplated how to answer Sai’s curiosity. “Let’s just say I have a personal stake in what happens to this young man. His fate is important to me.”
His question still wasn’t answered, but Sai knew who his elders were, and who he had to respect. Teushi was one of them. Begrudgingly, Sai stood down, motioning for his men to do the same. Teushi, with a self-satisfied expression on his face, followed Sasuke in the building. The second the man was out of view, Sai turned to his men.
“Surround the tower. Something isn’t right here and I want to know what it is.” With a flick of his hand, the ANBU who were loyal to Sai fled. Only two remained, exchanging glances between each other. Turning to them, Sai slowly took out a scroll and a quill. As his expertly trained hand floated across the paper, forming pictures of sinister looking tigers and snakes, Sai smiled to himself, the same fake smile that Naruto had hated for so long.
“It’s funny.” Sai said. “I thought I told you to all surround the tower?”
The two ANBU glanced nervously at each other. “We have other orders.” One offered.
“Teushi?” Sai asked, glancing up innocently off of his scroll. They nodded. “Ah, I see. Well…you can tell your story to Naruto then.”
A roar and a hiss was the last thing the two ANBU heard before being bound and taken to an interrogating room. They woke again inside of a dark room, the walls made of cement with no windows. A single yellow light dangled from the ceiling. Sai stood next to Ibiki, who was smiling to himself.
“I do love it when good ANBU turn bad.” Ibiki smiled crookedly.
“Is it fun to interrogate them?” Sai asked, releasing his jutsu as other ANBU were holding the two traitors down. They were quickly bound before Ibiki answered.
“Quite. Stick around, Sai, and I’ll give you quite a show.” Ibiki said, patting Sai on the back. The young man smiled, a genuine smile, before leaning back against the wall. He was prepared for the show Ibiki had promised him. He was sure the older man would deliver, he usually did.
--
Kakashi watched the two women, with their heads together, planning to outsmart a council member. With women like Sasushi and Tsunade, he was sure they’d work out a plan that would go off without a hitch, and it was quite a scene to witness.
“I’m not worried that Naruto’s going to prove the Uchiha is still bad, I’m worried the council hears something they don’t need to hear.” Tsunade said, brushing a piece of hair from her face.
Sasushi leaned back, a puzzled expression on her face. “Like what?”
Kakashi barely hid a snort from his place against the wall. Tsunade threw him a look before smirking herself. “Well…something quite personal. See, he thinks he’s hiding it, but not very well.”
Sasushi looked between Kakashi and Tsunade. “Hiding what?”
“His…emotional connection to Sasuke.” Kakashi offered, making Tsunade’s smirk bigger.
It took the councilwoman a moment to process what Kakashi’s riddle was trying to convey, but once it clicked in, she began chuckling. “Oh! Well, isn’t that just a scandal?”
Tsunade turned to glance out her window, half expecting to see Naruto hanging from the rooftop listening in on their conversation. He always did have a knack for being where he wasn’t supposed to be. Half the conversations he’d eavesdropped on, especially when he didn’t listen to the whole conversation and then rushing into action, was proof enough of that. But, the young Hokage wasn’t there, hanging from the rooftop upside-down, arms crossed, listening to what they were talking about. She chuckled to herself and turned back to Sasushi.
“I have to ask, Sasushi…what would the council do with that information?”
Sasushi took a moment to ponder Tsunade’s logical question. Just what would the council do? It’s clearly a conflict of interest. He’d be more apt to let small things slide when it came to the Uchiha’s case. They may take his decisions, concerning Sasuke at least, into careful consideration before allowing them to be passed. It could be messy. Sighing, Sasushi explained all of this to Kakashi and Tsunade. They nodded, clearly not liking her answer, not that she blamed them.
“Of course,” Kakashi said, scratching the side of his face with his index finger, “the chances of Naruto giving anything away are slim. For the most part, unless they ask him directly, Naruto won’t offer anything. That’s the beauty of the truth serum. He won’t say anymore than what will answer the investigators question.”
Tsunade nodded in agreement. “True…even Naruto will keep his mouth shut with this serum.”
“Okay then.” Sasushi said, smiling. “We have a plan. Now to pitch it to the council…”
--
Sakura patted Naruto’s arm as she left the office. The long talk they had made Naruto feel slightly better, or at least that’s what he told her. What he actually felt was beyond her. Sometimes that man was so difficult to understand.
She was barely a hundred feet down the hallway when she heard the commotion. A horde of ANBU, who normally stood watch in the hallway, were chasing someone, someone with jet black hair and pale skin. The second she saw the flash of red in his eyes, Sakura knew who it was.
“Sasuke?” She breathed out just as the man attempted to run past her, as if he didn’t even see her. She jutted out an arm, pulsing with chakra, in an attempt to stop him. He ran into it, the force slowing him down slightly. But he had too much momentum and her movements were a half a second too late. He ripped through her blockade, pushing his legs with more chakra. She felt a tendon in her arm pull before she heard her wrist snap.
If Sasuke heard, or felt, that he’d broken Sakura’s wrist, he didn’t show it. He just kept his pace running down the hallway, speeding towards Naruto’s office. It was Sakura’s luck that Shizune had seen the commotion and ran to help. She caught Sakura in her arms as she began to fall, quickly pressing a healing hand against her wrist.
“Sakura, are you okay?” Shizune asked, taking in the unnaturally pale skin on Sakura’s face.
“Yeah…that bastard broke my wrist!” Sakura growled out, trying to help heal herself with the other hand. “Wait until I get a hold of that asshole! He’ll wish he was never born!”
Sasuke threw the door to Naruto’s office open with a jolt of electricity, sending shards flying through the room and the hallway. There was barely a door left when Sasuke’s jutsu was through, just some shards hanging off the hinges.
Naruto jumped up, taking a fight stance almost instantly. Konohamaru, who was standing on Naruto’s right-hand side, threw his arm in front of Naruto, pushing him back toward the window. He stood in front of his Hokage with full intent of showing his power to the raging Uchiha. Sasuke was barely registering there was anyone standing between him and Naruto until Konohamaru cast a jutsu of his own. Sasuke stopped in his tracks when the single obstacle between him and Naruto became twenty.
“Stop, Uchiha!” They all growled in unison.
The room, already filled to the brim with Konohamaru clones, filled more when ANBU rushed in to restrain Sasuke. The Uchiha kicked and wrestled against them until some of the clones tried to help. He managed to kick a few of them, but he was eventually restrained. Fuming, Sasuke growled and thrashed against them, but this time to no avail. Five years with a lack of rigorous training was beginning to take its toll. It may have taken four ANBU and three shadow clones, but they eventually overpowered Sasuke.
The real Konohamaru was still guarding Naruto, but the strain of controlling the jutsu was beginning to show. He didn’t have the extensive chakra reserve Naruto did, and ten clones was normally his limit. As he started to sweat, two of the clones popped out of existence. Naruto placed a hand on Konohamaru’s shoulder and squeezed.
“It’s okay, Konohamaru. Let the clones go.” Naruto said slowly, weighing how on edge the young chuunin was. This was, after all, Konohamaru’s first time protecting the Hokage, and he just got the luck of having to protect him from Sasuke. Popping was heard throughout the room as all but three of the clones vanished. All that remained were the one’s currently restraining Sasuke.
“Naruto-sama, what would you like us to do with him?” One ANBU asked as Sasuke tried pulling his arm from his grasp.
“Let him go.” Naruto ordered. The ANBU hesitated slightly, but an order was an order. They slowly let Sasuke go, keeping themselves poised incase Sasuke didn’t cooperate.
“You’re awful trusting, Hokage-sama.” Sasuke snarled, cracking his knuckles.
“You’re not supposed to be here.” Naruto said, raising an eyebrow. “Care to explain why you decided to take a morning stroll?”
“As if you don’t know, asshole!”
“Obviously I don’t, bastard.”
Sasuke drew his eyes down and his hands curled into white-knuckled fists. “You placed ANBU to watch me inside my apartment! If you’re angry at me, Naruto, then be angry at me. But that is beyond constant surveillance. That’s an invasion of privacy!” Sasuke was already fuming, but he practically melted the room when Naruto looked honestly confused. “Don’t play dumb, Naruto! I know you’re good at it, but don’t even try. I know you posted them there as payback!”
“Sasuke,” Naruto began, still looking confused, “the only ANBU I posted at your apartment is Sai’s group outside. I never posted anyone inside.” Turning to the ANBU, Naruto gave them a quick order. “Find Sai.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t do this, Naruto?” Sasuke asked, not seeing any trace of knowledge in Naruto’s expression.
“I swear, ‘suke. I didn’t do this. But I will find out who did.” Naruto said, walking up to Sasuke and placing a hand on his shoulder. “I promise.”
A few moments passed before they heard footsteps in the hallway. Naruto thought it was Sai and turned to sit down on the edge of his desk. Sasuke was calming down slightly, and dropped his guard minutely. No one looked up to see that it wasn’t Sai who entered the room, it was Sakura.
She took a few steps toward Sasuke before her chakra-charged fist connected with his jaw. The three Konohamaru clones caught him as Sasuke was sent flying toward the plate glass window. The four men skidded to a stop centimeters in front of it. Naruto jumped up off the table, knocking it over in the process. Three pops were heard as the clones vanished under the force of sliding across the floor. Sasuke’s head hit the plate glass when the clone behind him vanished, shattering the glass.
Obscenities were heard flying through the room from various people, mainly Sakura who was screaming at a nearly unconscious Sasuke. Naruto tried to calm her down, but she was still flapping a fist as Sasuke and still screaming. Sasuke tried to sit up, but the rush of pain in his jaw sent him sprawling back on the ground.
Eventually Naruto gave up and stood back, deciding it was safer for him to let Sakura get it all out before trying to calm her down again. As he took in the scene in front of him, he sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders. He’d have to replace another door and another window. And, once again, he didn’t break either.
By the time Sakura stopped screaming at Sasuke, Sai had entered the room. He took in the scene behind him and smiled. “Get the construction crew,” he said to the ANBU guard beside him. “Apparently we have some repairs to make in the Hokage’s office again.”
Naruto glared at him intently and bent over to help Sasuke up. Sakura fumed and walked out of the room, muttering the entire time.
As if the day couldn’t get any worse, Anko chose that time to walk into the office with Jiraiya’s arm in a tight grasp. Her clothes were clinging to her, mainly because she was still wet. Her hair hung at her shoulders.
They both stopped in the room, glancing around as Naruto pulled Sasuke to his feet. When Naruto noticed the two new additions to the room, he looked up and groaned.
“Jiraiya, now’s not the time for your bullshit.”
Ignoring him, Jiraiya was still glancing around the room. He turned his head to get a view of the steaming Sakura’s retreating form and then glanced back at Sasuke and his swelling, purple jaw.
“Well, kid. I guess this is a bad time to tell you I just got caught peeping. I need a ‘get out of jail free’ card.”
Naruto slapped his palm to his forehead and groaned. Today was turning out to be a horrible day, and it just started.
Pairing: Sasuke/Naruto
Rating: T - language, violence, and implied sexual activities
Status: In Progess
Preview: Sasuke stopped in his tracks when the single obstacle between him and Naruto became twenty.
Read: the full story on ff.net
or
Inevitable
Chapter Thirteen
Sasuke was speeding down the street, his long hair whipping behind him in the force of his propulsions. It had been five years since any type of dedicated training. In prison Sasuke had kept himself toned, but only doing the most basic of exercises. Pushups, sit ups, chin ups - not the rigorous training he would have normally enjoyed. He felt his muscles strain against the chakra racing through them. It had been five years since any type of chakra was allowed to current through, forcing his muscles to do things that shouldn’t be physically possible. Sasuke had speed and endurance, enough stamina to hold himself against some of the strongest opponents of his time. He’d beaten them all, except one. It was who he was going to see now. Uzumaki Naruto would not get away with this.
The ANBU were running behind him, just out of reach, yelling things out to him. Only one of which he recognized; Sai. The abomination they had the audacity to call his replacement. It was something Sasuke still wasn’t over, something he still hasn’t dealt with. The new Team Seven. It was like a stab to the chest, a hot poker jamming straight through his rib cage. The jealousy had always been there, just out of reach. But now, with everything that had happened, it reared its ugly head.
Sai raced behind him, yelling out things that were designed to get the man to stop. It wasn’t working. This was way too personal for some simple cookie-cutter phrase to stop him. Nothing Sai read in those books was going to work now.
He was nearly there. Maybe fifteen-hundred feet more and he’d be within speaking distance to the Hokage. To Naruto. Sasuke could feel his heart racing in his chest, the words he held inside preparing to burst out.
Sai sped up, reaching out to grip the fabric of Sasuke’s shirt. He was nearly there; he could feel the soft fabric beneath his fingers, until someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Sai’s head whipped around, facing an old man who had the strength to stop him in his tracks like that. The four ANBU who followed Sai’s orders stopped behind him, taking a defensive stance. Sai glared into the dark eyes of his interrupter.
“Teushi.”
“Sai.” Teushi smiled, the expression looking evil with his eyes wild. The man was full of a power he didn’t own. It was nearly revolting. “I think that you should stop what you’re doing.”
“What are you talking about?” Sai asked, honestly puzzled. Why would a council member be stopping him from restraining a prisoner under house arrest? “The Uchiha-“
“The Uchiha,” Teushi interrupted, “is under my care as of now. Send your men home.”
Sai’s expression was puzzled, but his mind was calculating what the man said. It still wasn’t quite computing. “I don’t understand. What’s in it for you?” If there’s one thing Sai has learned, no human does something for nothing.
Teushi’s smile grew more sinister as he contemplated how to answer Sai’s curiosity. “Let’s just say I have a personal stake in what happens to this young man. His fate is important to me.”
His question still wasn’t answered, but Sai knew who his elders were, and who he had to respect. Teushi was one of them. Begrudgingly, Sai stood down, motioning for his men to do the same. Teushi, with a self-satisfied expression on his face, followed Sasuke in the building. The second the man was out of view, Sai turned to his men.
“Surround the tower. Something isn’t right here and I want to know what it is.” With a flick of his hand, the ANBU who were loyal to Sai fled. Only two remained, exchanging glances between each other. Turning to them, Sai slowly took out a scroll and a quill. As his expertly trained hand floated across the paper, forming pictures of sinister looking tigers and snakes, Sai smiled to himself, the same fake smile that Naruto had hated for so long.
“It’s funny.” Sai said. “I thought I told you to all surround the tower?”
The two ANBU glanced nervously at each other. “We have other orders.” One offered.
“Teushi?” Sai asked, glancing up innocently off of his scroll. They nodded. “Ah, I see. Well…you can tell your story to Naruto then.”
A roar and a hiss was the last thing the two ANBU heard before being bound and taken to an interrogating room. They woke again inside of a dark room, the walls made of cement with no windows. A single yellow light dangled from the ceiling. Sai stood next to Ibiki, who was smiling to himself.
“I do love it when good ANBU turn bad.” Ibiki smiled crookedly.
“Is it fun to interrogate them?” Sai asked, releasing his jutsu as other ANBU were holding the two traitors down. They were quickly bound before Ibiki answered.
“Quite. Stick around, Sai, and I’ll give you quite a show.” Ibiki said, patting Sai on the back. The young man smiled, a genuine smile, before leaning back against the wall. He was prepared for the show Ibiki had promised him. He was sure the older man would deliver, he usually did.
--
Kakashi watched the two women, with their heads together, planning to outsmart a council member. With women like Sasushi and Tsunade, he was sure they’d work out a plan that would go off without a hitch, and it was quite a scene to witness.
“I’m not worried that Naruto’s going to prove the Uchiha is still bad, I’m worried the council hears something they don’t need to hear.” Tsunade said, brushing a piece of hair from her face.
Sasushi leaned back, a puzzled expression on her face. “Like what?”
Kakashi barely hid a snort from his place against the wall. Tsunade threw him a look before smirking herself. “Well…something quite personal. See, he thinks he’s hiding it, but not very well.”
Sasushi looked between Kakashi and Tsunade. “Hiding what?”
“His…emotional connection to Sasuke.” Kakashi offered, making Tsunade’s smirk bigger.
It took the councilwoman a moment to process what Kakashi’s riddle was trying to convey, but once it clicked in, she began chuckling. “Oh! Well, isn’t that just a scandal?”
Tsunade turned to glance out her window, half expecting to see Naruto hanging from the rooftop listening in on their conversation. He always did have a knack for being where he wasn’t supposed to be. Half the conversations he’d eavesdropped on, especially when he didn’t listen to the whole conversation and then rushing into action, was proof enough of that. But, the young Hokage wasn’t there, hanging from the rooftop upside-down, arms crossed, listening to what they were talking about. She chuckled to herself and turned back to Sasushi.
“I have to ask, Sasushi…what would the council do with that information?”
Sasushi took a moment to ponder Tsunade’s logical question. Just what would the council do? It’s clearly a conflict of interest. He’d be more apt to let small things slide when it came to the Uchiha’s case. They may take his decisions, concerning Sasuke at least, into careful consideration before allowing them to be passed. It could be messy. Sighing, Sasushi explained all of this to Kakashi and Tsunade. They nodded, clearly not liking her answer, not that she blamed them.
“Of course,” Kakashi said, scratching the side of his face with his index finger, “the chances of Naruto giving anything away are slim. For the most part, unless they ask him directly, Naruto won’t offer anything. That’s the beauty of the truth serum. He won’t say anymore than what will answer the investigators question.”
Tsunade nodded in agreement. “True…even Naruto will keep his mouth shut with this serum.”
“Okay then.” Sasushi said, smiling. “We have a plan. Now to pitch it to the council…”
--
Sakura patted Naruto’s arm as she left the office. The long talk they had made Naruto feel slightly better, or at least that’s what he told her. What he actually felt was beyond her. Sometimes that man was so difficult to understand.
She was barely a hundred feet down the hallway when she heard the commotion. A horde of ANBU, who normally stood watch in the hallway, were chasing someone, someone with jet black hair and pale skin. The second she saw the flash of red in his eyes, Sakura knew who it was.
“Sasuke?” She breathed out just as the man attempted to run past her, as if he didn’t even see her. She jutted out an arm, pulsing with chakra, in an attempt to stop him. He ran into it, the force slowing him down slightly. But he had too much momentum and her movements were a half a second too late. He ripped through her blockade, pushing his legs with more chakra. She felt a tendon in her arm pull before she heard her wrist snap.
If Sasuke heard, or felt, that he’d broken Sakura’s wrist, he didn’t show it. He just kept his pace running down the hallway, speeding towards Naruto’s office. It was Sakura’s luck that Shizune had seen the commotion and ran to help. She caught Sakura in her arms as she began to fall, quickly pressing a healing hand against her wrist.
“Sakura, are you okay?” Shizune asked, taking in the unnaturally pale skin on Sakura’s face.
“Yeah…that bastard broke my wrist!” Sakura growled out, trying to help heal herself with the other hand. “Wait until I get a hold of that asshole! He’ll wish he was never born!”
Sasuke threw the door to Naruto’s office open with a jolt of electricity, sending shards flying through the room and the hallway. There was barely a door left when Sasuke’s jutsu was through, just some shards hanging off the hinges.
Naruto jumped up, taking a fight stance almost instantly. Konohamaru, who was standing on Naruto’s right-hand side, threw his arm in front of Naruto, pushing him back toward the window. He stood in front of his Hokage with full intent of showing his power to the raging Uchiha. Sasuke was barely registering there was anyone standing between him and Naruto until Konohamaru cast a jutsu of his own. Sasuke stopped in his tracks when the single obstacle between him and Naruto became twenty.
“Stop, Uchiha!” They all growled in unison.
The room, already filled to the brim with Konohamaru clones, filled more when ANBU rushed in to restrain Sasuke. The Uchiha kicked and wrestled against them until some of the clones tried to help. He managed to kick a few of them, but he was eventually restrained. Fuming, Sasuke growled and thrashed against them, but this time to no avail. Five years with a lack of rigorous training was beginning to take its toll. It may have taken four ANBU and three shadow clones, but they eventually overpowered Sasuke.
The real Konohamaru was still guarding Naruto, but the strain of controlling the jutsu was beginning to show. He didn’t have the extensive chakra reserve Naruto did, and ten clones was normally his limit. As he started to sweat, two of the clones popped out of existence. Naruto placed a hand on Konohamaru’s shoulder and squeezed.
“It’s okay, Konohamaru. Let the clones go.” Naruto said slowly, weighing how on edge the young chuunin was. This was, after all, Konohamaru’s first time protecting the Hokage, and he just got the luck of having to protect him from Sasuke. Popping was heard throughout the room as all but three of the clones vanished. All that remained were the one’s currently restraining Sasuke.
“Naruto-sama, what would you like us to do with him?” One ANBU asked as Sasuke tried pulling his arm from his grasp.
“Let him go.” Naruto ordered. The ANBU hesitated slightly, but an order was an order. They slowly let Sasuke go, keeping themselves poised incase Sasuke didn’t cooperate.
“You’re awful trusting, Hokage-sama.” Sasuke snarled, cracking his knuckles.
“You’re not supposed to be here.” Naruto said, raising an eyebrow. “Care to explain why you decided to take a morning stroll?”
“As if you don’t know, asshole!”
“Obviously I don’t, bastard.”
Sasuke drew his eyes down and his hands curled into white-knuckled fists. “You placed ANBU to watch me inside my apartment! If you’re angry at me, Naruto, then be angry at me. But that is beyond constant surveillance. That’s an invasion of privacy!” Sasuke was already fuming, but he practically melted the room when Naruto looked honestly confused. “Don’t play dumb, Naruto! I know you’re good at it, but don’t even try. I know you posted them there as payback!”
“Sasuke,” Naruto began, still looking confused, “the only ANBU I posted at your apartment is Sai’s group outside. I never posted anyone inside.” Turning to the ANBU, Naruto gave them a quick order. “Find Sai.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t do this, Naruto?” Sasuke asked, not seeing any trace of knowledge in Naruto’s expression.
“I swear, ‘suke. I didn’t do this. But I will find out who did.” Naruto said, walking up to Sasuke and placing a hand on his shoulder. “I promise.”
A few moments passed before they heard footsteps in the hallway. Naruto thought it was Sai and turned to sit down on the edge of his desk. Sasuke was calming down slightly, and dropped his guard minutely. No one looked up to see that it wasn’t Sai who entered the room, it was Sakura.
She took a few steps toward Sasuke before her chakra-charged fist connected with his jaw. The three Konohamaru clones caught him as Sasuke was sent flying toward the plate glass window. The four men skidded to a stop centimeters in front of it. Naruto jumped up off the table, knocking it over in the process. Three pops were heard as the clones vanished under the force of sliding across the floor. Sasuke’s head hit the plate glass when the clone behind him vanished, shattering the glass.
Obscenities were heard flying through the room from various people, mainly Sakura who was screaming at a nearly unconscious Sasuke. Naruto tried to calm her down, but she was still flapping a fist as Sasuke and still screaming. Sasuke tried to sit up, but the rush of pain in his jaw sent him sprawling back on the ground.
Eventually Naruto gave up and stood back, deciding it was safer for him to let Sakura get it all out before trying to calm her down again. As he took in the scene in front of him, he sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders. He’d have to replace another door and another window. And, once again, he didn’t break either.
By the time Sakura stopped screaming at Sasuke, Sai had entered the room. He took in the scene behind him and smiled. “Get the construction crew,” he said to the ANBU guard beside him. “Apparently we have some repairs to make in the Hokage’s office again.”
Naruto glared at him intently and bent over to help Sasuke up. Sakura fumed and walked out of the room, muttering the entire time.
As if the day couldn’t get any worse, Anko chose that time to walk into the office with Jiraiya’s arm in a tight grasp. Her clothes were clinging to her, mainly because she was still wet. Her hair hung at her shoulders.
They both stopped in the room, glancing around as Naruto pulled Sasuke to his feet. When Naruto noticed the two new additions to the room, he looked up and groaned.
“Jiraiya, now’s not the time for your bullshit.”
Ignoring him, Jiraiya was still glancing around the room. He turned his head to get a view of the steaming Sakura’s retreating form and then glanced back at Sasuke and his swelling, purple jaw.
“Well, kid. I guess this is a bad time to tell you I just got caught peeping. I need a ‘get out of jail free’ card.”
Naruto slapped his palm to his forehead and groaned. Today was turning out to be a horrible day, and it just started.