The Color Blue

*~~*



"So everyone's been causing you trouble since I left?" Naruto frowned at the news his friends were giving him.



"Not everyone," Sparrow objected. "Blaze and his gang behave. And Honor's always on their best behavior."



"But everything else went to Hell?" Naruto looked around at the others for an answer.



"Pretty much," Boar agreed. Naruto gave an angry sigh as the eight ninja walked into a pub and seated themselves.



"I knew I shouldn't have left," Naruto growled.



"Nonsense!" Sparrow smacked his arm. "You have to become Hokage. Nothing that happens here is more important than that!"



"Yeah!" Oriole and Fennec shouted in agreement.



Suddenly, all seven ninja were cheering him on and berating him for getting upset. As the noise filled the pub, Naruto found himself relaxing for the first time in ages.



"Well, well, well, looks like someone found his way back for an ass-kicking," a voice taunted from a table over. Naruto looked up and saw a boy his own age with short, orange, spiky hair wearing a red training uniform and a flame necklace.



"Blaze?" Naruto stood up and walked over to the next table to get a closer look.



"In the flesh. Where've you been? There's been no one to challenge me in years," Blaze gave a cocky smile from his seat. The five ninja with him gave equally confident smirks.



"I was away on a little business, but I came back to kick your ass." Two of the other ninja frowned and rose, but Blaze waved them back into their seats.



"Oh, you think you can beat me? You haven't done this in years; what makes you think you've still got it?" The redhead gestured for the Guild ninja to sit. Scooting over in the large, comfy booth, the Force ninja made room for all eight Guild ninja. Though the others sat in random places, Blaze and Naruto sat directly across from each other.



"You've never even won a single round. What's changed?" Naruto teased.



"All right, you're going down!" Blaze smacked the table and ordered six strong drinks from the waitress.



At the same time, Sasuke, Kiba, Neji, Sakura, and Ino walked into the pub. It was difficult finding their blonde friend after losing sight of him so many times, but Kiba's intense sense of smell saved the day and led them to the right building. Each ninja diligently scanned the room, but Neji saw Naruto first, pointing over at the overcrowded booth.



The leaf-nin walked over to the table, death in their eyes, and found Naruto and a redhead each chugging a large mug of liquid while ninja in blue and red cheered them on wildly.



Each boy slammed his mug on the table and reached for another, drinking the second mug slowly.



"You won't win," Naruto grinned as he sipped his drink.



"That's my line," Blaze frowned as he took a sip of his own.



"What the Hell's going on?" Sakura shouted, hands on her hips.



The twelve cheering ninja looked up, startled, and saw the five leaf-nin standing in front of the table. Naruto and Blaze, however, continued staring each other down in total concentration.



"Well?" the pink-haired kunoichi shouted again when no one answered her.



"A drinking contest," Sparrow frowned at the girl before looking back at the competing ninja. The two were on their third mugs, and the waitress was bringing more over.



"He's not old enough to drink alcohol," Sakura bellowed, pointing at Naruto.



"It's not alcohol," Naruto told her, though he kept his eyes on his opponent. Each drained the third mug and picked up a fourth.



"It's a strong drink made from spices, called iyasu," Squirrel answered helpfully. Suddenly the leaf-nin were pushed aside as two waitresses dragged an extra table over and had them sit.



"So I see you made some new friends," Naruto smirked, glancing quickly at the two Force ninja who had stood up earlier before looking back at Blaze.



The leaf-nin stared in confusion at the drinking match as a waitress shoved menus into their hands and walked away.



"Maybe they're our new secret weapons. I see you made new friends too," Blaze taunted, knocking back half his drink.



Naruto laughed. "Just some reinforcements for when things get ugly. We'll need them if we're gonna make it through this war."



"Really? And I'm sure that leader of yours has things all worked out, too," he grinned. "With the second-in-command back in town, who's gonna need a bunch of third-rate hired hands to fight? They're just distractions and you know it."



Each boy reached for his fifth mug.



"Heh, you caught us. But I'm sure you have tactics worked out, too. We bring in distractions to keep Destruction off guard. What do you do?" Naruto lounged back and sipped his drink with a toothy smile.



"Oh no you don't, damn you," Blaze slurred as he set his mug down. " I'm not leaking anything this time. You don't need to know what we're gonna do."



The waitress came around to take the bewildered leaf-nin's orders and set down more mugs of iyasu.



"We'll take some of that iyasu," Kiba said as he handed the waitress back his menu. The others nodded in agreement, though they didn't take their eyes off the contest.



"No," Naruto interrupted, taking his eyes off the Force ninja and staring at the waitress. "They'll have some shou."



"The Hell?" Kiba turned and glared, but Naruto was already watching Blaze again, and the other Quadgram ninja were cheering.



"Sixth mug," Blaze cackled, lounging in his seat with a glaze over his eyes.



"I thought it was seventh," Naruto slurred, leaning against the table and grinning goofily.



"Heh, you're terrible with numbers. Always think we got twenty-two squads and we really got twenty-five. Or you think we got more members than we do. You're pathetic," the redhead snorted and sucked down more iyasu.



"Yeah, well, ninja don't need to count. Besides, if you got more squads than we do, does it really matter if we count yours right? You'd beat us anyway, right?" Naruto giggled and dropped his head on the table.



"Damn right!" Blaze tried to stand up, but fell over the table, knocking heads with Naruto.



"Gah!" both boys winced and grabbed their heads, glaring at each other.



"The Hell? Starting a fight, Foxy?" Blaze tried to point at his opponent, but was actually pointing at Sasuke. Kiba and Ino snorted in laughter as Sasuke and Sakura blushed. Neji arched an eyebrow in curiosity.



"Bring it on, Sparky!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at the redhead, whose eyes crossed indignantly. Frowning, Blaze grabbed a seventh mug. Naruto copied him.



"For the win!" Blaze whooped, standing shakily and waving the mug in the air before downing half in one gulp.



"Damn straight!" Naruto jerked upright, downing his whole mug at once and stumbling.



As he slammed his mug back down, Naruto noticed that Blaze had passed out quite brilliantly. His head rested on the table in a small pool of iyasu and slobber, and left hand had landed on his female teammate's breast. As the girl screamed indignantly, Naruto's friends cheered.



Laughing, a second Force kunoichi rose, gathered Blaze to his feet, and ushered the squad out of the pub. Their payment lie on the table, and the waitress rushed over, gathered it up, placed the leaf-nin's shou on the table, and walked away.



"Come on guys," Naruto turned to the Konoha ninja, "get over here."



The five joined them, taking the Force ninja's places.



"You're drunk, aren't you?" Sakura frowned as she took a sip of the shou. Kiba reached out to grab the untouched mug of iyasu in the center of the table, but Naruto pulled it over and took a big gulp.



"Nah, I'm fine, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned, sitting up straight.



"Bull," Kiba laughed, tasting the shou, "you were crazy drunk."



Naruto laughed again, and looked at the Guild ninja with a smirk.



"Why did you leave the house?" Neji said bluntly, voicing what the others had forgotten.



"To go drinking, of course!" Naruto whooped, lifting his mug in the air in a toast. The Guild ninja knocked glasses with him and cheered.



The leaf-nin frowned.



"That's not an excuse," Sasuke scolded the blonde, who ignored him and started a raucous drinking song. Soon all eight Guild ninja were chanting to the bewilderment of the others.



"Ne, introduce us to your friends," Sparrow giggled as the song ended and leaned on the table. Sakura made a face of disgust at the girl's flirty behavior.



"Neji, Kiba, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino." He pointed to each one in turn. Grinning, he turned his introductions to the Guild ninja.



"Boar, Bat, Squirrel, Wolf, Fennec, Oriole, Sparrow."



"I thought we weren't supposed to use real names," Sasuke studied Sparrow carefully.



"Che, we don't care who you are," she smiled, sipping her drink.



"What are you drinking?" Kiba interrupted, trying to get a better look at the liquid in her mug.



"Shou, same as you. Only a better year, I'm sure," she laughed, dipping her fingers in the liquid and flipping some at the boy. As the liquid landed on his face, the Guild girls started laughing wildly.



"Where the Hell are my cookies?" Fennec roared suddenly, making the leaf-nin jump. Angry, she got to her knees and turned around in the booth, gesturing angrily at the waitresses to hurry up.



Oriole, Sparrow, and Fox snickered, and a frantic waitress ran over with a tray of warm cookies. With a manic look on her face, the feisty kunoichi dug into her tray of cookies.



"Shouldn't we be getting back?" Sasuke interrupted the feeding frenzy. "You're as drunk as a lush and we shouldn't be out anyway."



"I'm not drunk!" Naruto frowned.



"Then why can't we drink any of that iyasu?" Kiba mentioned pointedly. "You just don't want us knowing you're drinking alcohol."



"It's not that," Bat jumped in. "He's the only one who can handle the stuff, really."



"Bullshit," Kiba growled. "I can take anything he can."



Frowning, Naruto poured some of his iyasu into Kiba's shou. "Drink up," he said cheerfully. Kiba took a deep sip and Sparrow gasped.



"It's good!" Kiba grinned and took another sip. As he drank it down, his grin grew goofier and goofier, until he passed out altogether.



The leaf-nin looked over in concern.



"I don’t get it," Ino blinked worriedly. "You drank seven glasses, and he had half a cup of it watered down."



"He's immune to it," Fennec mumbled through a mouth full of cookies. "We build up immunity to it by drinking a lot of it over time, but he's really mastered the art." Fennec choked with laughter as she watched Sparrow poke the passed-out leaf-nin and shake her head sadly.



"We should still get back. This is against the rules of our mission," Sasuke repeated, hoping someone would see sense. Sakura and Neji were nodding in agreement, though Ino seemed to be enjoying the moment.



"So who is this loser?" Fennec pointed over at Sasuke as she looked at Naruto.



Laughing uncontrollably, Naruto finally managed to say, "That's Uchiha Sasuke."



"Uchiha?" Oriole and Fennec repeated at the same time.



"He's a fan?" Oriole looked at Fennec mischievously.



"Let's beat him!" They cheered at the same time and reached over the table. Sasuke pulled back, slightly out of their reach, and Naruto seized the kunoichi by their collars.



"Down. Sit. Stay." They frowned at him but left the Uchiha alone.



Knocking back the last of his iyasu, Naruto rose and threw Kiba over his shoulder. "Let's go back, then," he looked at his friends as the table. Sparrow pulled a wad of bills from her pocket and shoved some under her mug before they left.



*~~*