Inside one of the Trucks
Every shinobi is present. They're all arranged in a semicircle around me, on the left most is Naruto. The only thing restraining him from pestering me about anything and everything is everyone else's less than pleasant mood.
Next in line is Shikamaru. He's wearing a disapproving frown and is blatantly cleaning a kunai. The kunai was clean when he pulled it out of his pouch, he wanted an excuse to hold a weapon while in my presence. I don't blame him.
In the middle of the semicircle is Kakashi and he seems happy yet also extremely nervous. I think he's glad that I've declared everything I did but he's worried how everyone else will respond to me. Since I did recently - just today in fact - threaten to slaughter the entire movie crew. So yeah, he's nervous for a good reason.
On Kakashi's right side is Ino. And she's pissed. That's going to be a joy to deal with, I guarantee she will have some very nasty things to say to me. That's fine, I deserve all of it.
Then on the far right is Anko. She seems surprisingly okay with everything that went down, maybe because of her own experiences? Konoha welcomed her back after she spent years with Orochimaru. I haven't been gone anywhere near that long so she might see this as less severe.
"So I have some explaining to do." I break the tense atmosphere.
"No shit." Shikamaru aggressively cuts in. "The hell is wrong with you?"
"A lot of stuff." I easily admit. "So many things that you would be hard pressed to write it all down. I don't know where to start really."
"Why you left Konoha." Ino scathingly provides a suggestion. "Start from the beginning."
"We're going to be here for a while." I sigh as I lean back into my chair. "So. Why did I leave Konoha? You all want to know that?"
I get an unanimous nod from everyone.
"Because Sasuke asked me to." I offer up an innocent shrug as three out of five jaws drop. Pity, if Kakashi and Ino didn't already know I bet I could have gotten all of them. "He came to my house in the middle of the night and said he's leaving. I couldn't let him go to Orochimaru alone, ironically out of fear he would become twisted into something dark."
"You left Konoha." Anko slowly says to make sure I understand exactly what she's saying. "You went to Orochimaru. You cut ties to everyone for Sasuke?"
"Yep!" I cheerfully smile at the still flabbergasted jonin. "Well he wasn't the only reason just the biggest one. Sasuke will become a very strong person, one that even Kages will learn to respect. I can't let him fall into evil, his entire life has been one big shitshow. Orochimaru would have easily tainted him so I decided to watch over him and keep him from being corrupted by Orochimaru. It worked, just not how I expected. Sasuke, while he's still rough around the edges, is inherently a good person. Orochimaru didn't work on corrupting him at all because Orochimaru had someone else that he wanted to corrupt more. Me. My presence pulled Orochimaru's attention off of Sasuke and onto me simply because Orochimaru wants me more."
"But doesn't Orochimaru desperately want a Sharingan?" Anko asks. "He became obsessed with it at the end of our... relationship."
"True, Orochimaru does desperately want a Sharingan." It's one hundred percent accurate. "But he wants something else more. He wants someone who will never betray him, someone who will stand as his equal, someone that is just as enthusiastic about his projects as Orochimaru is. He thinks he found that in me. Plus there's his whole child complex he has with me, that's not fucked up at all."
I'm not going to add that he wants that person to also be 'immortal.' He doesn't want to waste all of that effort for someone who will perish.
"You're a fucking asshole." Shikamaru growls out. "You never abandoned Konoha you left to protect Sasuke. Then why the fuck did you hurt everyone at the Chunin Exams?"
"Orochimaru thinks I am loyal only to him. How the hell was I supposed to react? Pull out a picnic basket and have happy conversations with everyone? No, I had to put everyone down. Violently. Even then I'm pretty sure he expected me to kill everyone. I've kinda established that reputation throughout Oto."
"Fine." Shikamaru snarls out. "Say I accept that as valid reasoning. Then why the hell are you so uncaring and violent!? How are you okay with threatening to slaughter people?! What happened to you since you've been gone to change you that much?"
"A long list of things that I'd prefer to not share." I admit with a great amount of shame. "Shikamaru, when I called myself a monster it's not because I barely resemble a human when you cut me open and look inside. It was because of the things I've done."
"You don't get to have the luxury of not sharing. Tell us exactly what you've done." Shikamaru demands with his full authority.
"Shikamaru." Naruto softly says to the shadow user. "Let this one go. You want him to relive all the horrors he's been through? If you ever valued your friendship with him please let this one go."
Naruto shoots me a pitiful look out of the corner of his eye as he addresses Shikamaru. He got just a taste of what I've done when we met down in the cargo hold.
"Fine." Shikamaru grunts out then falls silent.
"So now that you're back does this mean you're back back?" Naruto eagerly asks with hope etched onto his entire body. "Oh! I bet I can convince Jiraiya to take you with us! It worked once so why not again? It'll be so much fun!"
"Naruto I'm not going back to Konoha." I bluntly tell him and everyone present refocuses their attention on me. "Sasuke is still with Orochimaru. I'm not going to leave him there alone."
"You're talking like you have a choice." Shikamaru cuts in again. "News flash: You're an A-rank bounty. We're duty bound to bring you or your head in. Do you really think you can stand up to all five of us at once?"
"I bet I could take on four of you at once. Kakashi though, he's a whole different story." I look at my quiet sensei. "I don't think I can best him. Not yet at least. But I won't go quietly, I'll make you work your ass off to capture me."
"Hm. Work. No thanks." Kakashi easily denies. "I'd much rather spend that time reading. Or just not working, I'm not picky. This was supposed to be an easy mission for me too."
"Yeah." Anko cuts in with a cheeky grin. "I think I'm busy that day. My schedule is packed full I can't fit in taking down an A-ranked bounty anywhere."
"Well… I suppose he's got a point." Naruto admits. "Sasuke does need him. Can't help him if he's in jail."
"I will not try to force him back." Ino angrily growls out. Oh boy. I can't wait until she explodes on me. It's going to be legendary. "And you have no chance against him on your own so it's best to just let him go."
"You're all too soft." Shikamaru sighs in defeat. "Seriously, just because he's our friend doesn't mean we should bend the rules all the time for him. I'll let it happen just this once. Next time you're coming back."
"If you can defeat me I'll gladly go back." I promise Shikamaru. It's the exact same thing I've promised every other friend back in Konoha.
"So I'm going to ask the question that we should have asked when we first saw you." Anko speaks up. "Why the hell are you even here?"
"Yeah that's a good question. Why are you here?" Naruto asks too.
"Oh." Huh, that has never come up before. "Simple, I'm here to get a specific metal. Doto has some of it in his Chakra Armor so if you all could avoid destroying it that would be fantastic. There's probably more somewhere I just don't know where at."
"Then he's yours to deal with." Shikamaru barters. "If you want his armor you get to beat him."
"Sure." I easily agree. I did plan on dealing with him before but now it's official. He's my problem. "I've even got a few ideas on how to work around the chakra armor absorbing ninjutsu. It's going to be hilarious if it works."
"I'll be sure to watch then." Kakashi says. "Now I believe it's best that we go explain what's going on to everyone else."
"Yeah." Shikamaru rises with Kakashi. "Great. I can't wait until the Director demands that I be in his movie."
"I wanna be in the movie!" Naruto chases after the other two shinobi. "Wait! Lemme be in the movie!"
It's just Anko, Ino and I left in the room.
"Soooo… you two going to be okay in here if I leave too?" Anko asks as she shoots the both of us a very peculiar glance. It's nervous yet excited at the same time. I have no idea where the hell either of those came from.
"Oh yes." Ino doesn't spare Anko a glance. "We're going to be just perfect."
Great. I wanted to put this asschewing off until later. Too bad Ino wants to do it now.
"Uh… yeah?" I squeak out.
"Cool. I'm gonna go now. Have fun kids." Anko leaves the room too.
Now it's just Ino and I.
"Ino I'm sorry-"
SLAP
"I deserve that." I admit as my face stings. "I've been a massive ass and I'm sorry-"
"Shut up!" She demands then does something I don't expect.
She pulls me into a hug. A warm and tender hug.
"Just shut up." She says much softer this time. "Don't ever do that again."
"Which part? The whole asshole part or the saving people thing? Cuz I'd like to keep saving people."
"You ass." She laughs softly. "You know exactly what I meant. Quit trying to push everyone away. Quit trying to do everything alone. Let people in again, let them help you."
"I will." I assure her as I finally return her hug. "Thank you Ino."
"For what?" She asks. "Slapping you? Because I'm willing to do that again. It felt great. Amazing even."
"For not making me tell them about the spying. Or the plotting against Orochimaru. Or the War."
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A/N:
If we hit 500 Power Stones by the end of this week, I'll drop an extra chapter as a thank-you!
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