Damaetas

Agacissko: That wasn't the ending. But thank you for reviewing anyway. XD Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, also - I appreciate your reactions. (And gifts. ;D Like cupcakes.)

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"What time is it?" Nagi asked, lifting his head from his arm for a moment.

Kaiki glanced at his watch. "Almost nine."

"Shit! He's really late this morning."

Kaiki sighed and shifted his butt on the rail, trying to find a more comfortable position. "We should start bringing fishing poles," he said, looking out across the lake. "And then we can have free lunch."

"Huh!" Nagi put his head back on his arm and closed his eyes. "If we catch anything. Which we won't."

Naruto-sensei was usually late, but only by five or ten minutes - he wasn't like some instructors Kaiki had heard about, who made their students wait two or three hours just to see if they'd give up and go home. Today, though, Kaiki had arrived early, like he always did; Hikaru had arrived on the dot; and Nagi had stumbled up, yawning, two minutes late and they'd all sat down together to wait like they always did. And they'd waited, and waited.

Kaiki would worry if Naruto-sensei wasn't a jounin and all. Still.... He lifted his thumb to his lips and bent his head to gnaw at a hangnail, frowning up at the sky and the sun that was lifting higher, getting brighter. "Jeez. What do you think he's doing?"

"Jerking off," Hikaru muttered.

"Gross!" Nagi shuddered. "Oh, man, now I'm *seeing* it! Thanks a lot. Man, girls aren't supposed to be that pervy."

Their teammate had spread her jacket out on the bridge and was sitting on it, drinking coolly from her water canteen. She finished her sip, capped the bottle, and tucked it back into her pouch, wiping her mouth. "I'm not pervy. He's really the type of guy to do something like that."

"I dunno," Kaiki said, watching a trout glide through the river. "Aren't all jounin like that? They're all a little nuts. He seems kind of on the sane side, even. Some of the jounin I know, they're really paranoid or they've got weird patterns or... I dunno. Stuff. I guess it gets to you, in the end."

"I guess." Nagi moved his head so he was looking at them. "I've never really thought about it, you know? What it's like to kill somebody and stuff like that."

"Or to have a friend die," said Hikaru.

"Your teammate even."

"Okay, okay," said Kaiki. "God. You're going to make me cry."

Hikaru almost smiled; Kaiki could see her mouth shift under the rim of her jacket, but she quenched the expression. She said, "Naruto-sensei's not bad, but we're not learning as much as the other genin teams. And we've only completed one mission."

"They're slow because of the wars," Nagi said. "With Sand working against us behind our backs, they take a lot of our missions away."

"It's still funny, though," Kaiki said slowly. "I hadn't thought about it, but Naruto-sensei's really respected. Not here in Konoha - all the adults here think he's a jerkoff - but I know he's always being called away on missions. Way more than a jounin usually is. You'd think clients would be all over us - we're his first genin team ever."

"Maybe," Hikaru said, "he's turning missions down."

Nagi sat straight up, eyes burning with fire. "*What*? Oh, shit, if he is I am going to be so pissed! We could be famous by now! We could be almost ready to take the chuunin exams!"

"I think...." Kaiki swiveled to face his teammates, knocking the backs of his legs against the railing thoughtfully. "It seems like he's teaching us really slowly. You know? Feeling us out, sort of. Do you think his teammate died? That Uchiha Sasuke."

Hikaru shrugged. "No way to know. No one will talk about him. I even asked my father." This was the first time she'd mentioned anyone in her family. "He told me he was a traitor, and he wouldn't say anything else."

"That's what my dad said," Nagi agreed.

"It just sounds like he's been burned, is all. So he's going slow. Still, give me a break. We can handle a few C missions." Kaiki sighed, slipping his finger under his forehead protector to scratch an itch.

An hour and thirty minutes had passed. Hikaru said, "I don't think he's coming."

"We should wait, though...."

"Kaiki, I don't think he is either," said Nagi, looking up at him.

Kaiki hesitated. "Me either," he finally said. "Maybe we should go into town and ask around. See what's up."

"Shit, I say we get breakfast!" Nagi hopped to his feet and smacked his hands together. "I'm starving."

Hikaru stood, folding her arms. "I'm hungry, too."

"Well.... okay, let's get breakfast, but we can still ask around on the way."

He hopped off the railing and joined his teammates, and they walked down the bridge towards the center of town, where the market and food stalls were. The market was bustling with people - housewives buying food for that night's meal, children buying candy, ninja grabbing a bite to eat before heading off for missions. Kaiki waved at the ninja he recognized; a lot were friends of his father who frequented their shop. A group of Aburames were huddled on the side of the street; Hikaru nodded to them, bowing her head respectfully. "Our clan head is officially choosing his successor tomorrow," she explained. "Not everyone is pleased with his choice."

Nagi's family weren't part of a huge clan, but he still knew quite a few people, and he shouted their names out cheerfully; one stall owner, who recognized him, tossed him a bright red apple. Nagi bit into it, offered a bite to Kaiki, who accepted.

They settled into seats at a sushi bar and ordered. Kaiki had taken to crab sushi and asked for that, while Nagi and Hikaru ordered more mundane varieties.

"Excuse me, master," Kaiki said as he was handed his dish. "Can I ask you something?"

The master paused and leaned on the counter, wiping away some sweat on his forehead with a nod. "I'll see if I can answer your question, sure."

"Our instructor is Uzumaki Naruto, and he's missing this morning... do you know where he is? Is he on a mission or something?"

The master turned his head to the side and spat on the floor. "Dunno where that one is," he said, turning away. "Don't care."

They looked at each other, and Kaiki sighed. "Okay," he said, picking up his chopsticks. "I guess we can try someone else."

"If we want to get the same responses," Nagi chortled. "Sensei ain't popular."

"You won't find your instructor around anytime soon. He's gone."

A woman had sat close by them - at least, Kaiki was fairly sure she hadn't been there when they'd sat down - taking her seat with all the stealth that the forehead protector tied around her bright hair suggested she should have. She looked around the same age as Naruto-sensei, if a little more tired around the eyes; but her smile was friendly as she looked over at them.

"Oh!" Kaiki said, setting down his chopsticks and blushing. "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you, Sakura-san."

"It's all right. Kaiki, right?" She nodded to him. "We've only met a few times."

"This is Haruno Sakura-san," Kaiki said to his teammates. "She's a med-nin, friends with one of my cousins. These are my teammates, Nagi and Hikaru."

"You know our dropout instructor?" Nagi asked, setting his chin in one hand.

Haruno-san smiled wryly. "Naruto's more infamous than I am, but we were teammates. We still work together occasionally, actually." She paused briefly to order from the owner, then turned back to them wearing a thoughtful expression on hier face. "So he didn't tell you he was leaving... not surprised. That's Naruto. He's always been inconsiderate - but he usually doesn't mean to be. It probably didn't even occur to him to tell you."

"Are you kidding? We were up at eight waiting for him," said Nagi.

"I'm sure. Like I said, he usually doesn't mean it. He'll be baffled when he gets back and hears that you were waiting for him."

Kaiki had been digging around his sushi, eating the last bits, but he looked over at Haruto-san. She had received her sushi, as well, but hadn't started eating yet; she was still turned to them. He had first met her a long time ago - he'd been little - but he'd been noticing the look on her face ever since; she always looked a little sad, like she had been expecting things to go a certain way and they'd ended up going down a different path. "Can I ask?" he said, and Haruno-san fixed her eyes on him. "Where did he go, I mean?"

"Ah. Well." She looked at her sushi, poked it half-heartedly. "I can't tell you because I don't really know. It's... someone's birthday today. He always leaves."

"Is he visiting them?" Hikaru looked like the answer should be obvious.

Haruno-san smiled. "You could say that."

"Who is it?" Nagi asked through a mouthful of food.

"Nagi!" Kaiki elbowed him. "Jeez. She doesn't want to say."

"No, that's all right. It's our teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. Today is his birthday."

Silence fell, very uncomfortably, in the tiny stall; even the master in the back stopped moving around. Kaiki glanced at his teammates, who gazed back looking how he felt: she'd given a simple answer, but there were unspoken things lurking in her words, things they wanted to know but couldn't ask politely. Finally, Kaiki said, "Oh."

"Well," Nagi said, "how come you're not visiting him, too?"

Her smile flickered. She looked down at her sushi. "I'm sure I could, if I wanted to, but the truth is... he probably wouldn't want me to, and it's a little dangerous besides."

So Uchiha Sasuke, their instructor's teammate, was a traitor like they'd said.

"I've been telling Naruto for years he shouldn't chase after him, but he insists. So. That's where your instructor is. He won't be back for a few days, and...." Haruno-san looked up from her sushi, and looked out into the market for a long time. "He won't want to see anyone, after he gets back, for a while, either. I'll speak with Tsunade-sama and see if it's all right if I train you until he's ready."

They murmured their thanks, and she smiled, told them it was nothing. And then, because the pause was very uncomfortable, and because Haruno-san looked like she would rather be alone - they left.

The walk back to the bridge was silent. Kaiki wanted to break it, but both his teammates looked like they were thinking on what Haruno-san had said; so he gazed up at the sky and wondered what to make of all this. It sounded simple enough to him. Uchiha Sasuke had probably defected to the Sound side back in the beginning of the long wars; Naruto-sensei was chasing him, trying to capture him or maybe kill him, because that's what Kaiki would do if Nagi did something like that. But... he had a feeling he was missing something. There was so much she hadn't said, that was obvious enough. It made him itch, knowing he was missing something.

"Let's go after him," Nagi said suddenly, loud in the silence. He stopped, and Kaiki and Hikaru stopped with him, looked at him skeptically. "Really. That jerk up and leaves us, the most we can do is go after him, right? He's our damn instructor! Besides, we might get in a little training on the way."

"We have no idea where he is," Hikaru said, eyebrows rising into her hairline.

"Sure we do," said Nagi. "He's gotta be around here somewhere, or else Naruto-sensei wouldn't be going after him. There're tons of gambling towns in this country; they're probably there. We can just go from town to town and we'll probably find them! Hell, maybe we can help Naruto-sensei take him down!"

Kaiki glanced at Hikaru, who saw the question in his eyes and shrugged. He hesitated, hands going into his pockets. "Well... I guess that doesn't sound too bad...."

"That's what ninja do, right? We chase and we train and we capture the bad guys. I mean," Nagi threw up his hands, "if Naruto-sensei isn't going to take us on missions and he isn't going to train us, what else can we do?"

Hikaru said, "If worse comes to worst, I'm sure we can take of ourselves. We can handle the average thug. And if we happen onto this Uchiha Sasuke...."

"If we can't manage him, Naruto-sensei can for sure," Kaiki said. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay. If Hikaru's okay, I'm game."

"I'm okay," Hikaru said after a pause.

Nagi grinned and settled his hands on their shoulders. "Then let's hunt Sensei."

Naruto was packing his things when a knock came at his door. Cursing under his breath, he dropped a shirt into his bag and kicked it under his bed before heading to the door. He looked out the peephole but couldn't see anyone; but the chakra in the hall was warm, friendly and familiar, so he opened the door.

"Oh," he said to the woman standing in front of him. "Hey, Hinata. It's been a while."

Hinata smiled her shy smile, nodding. "Hi, Naruto." She looked around him into his apartment, then back up at him and said cautiously, "Is it all right if I come in?"

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said, laughing a little and stepping out of the entryway. "Sorry, Hinata, it's really early." He closed the door behind her, and leaned his hip on it, crossing his arms. "So, can I do something for you?"

Hinata clasped her hands together and looked at the floor. "Not really... I just thought I would..." She hesitated, then burst out, "You're leaving, aren't you, Naruto? Sakura told me... that you leave every year. I didn't know. I'm sorry...."

"Yeah," Naruto said, uncomfortably. "Yeah, I am leaving."

She nodded, casting her eyes down again. Hinata was twenty now, same as him, but she still had some of the qualities of her old twelve-year-old self: that long, long temper, patient through all the games Naruto played; a bit of stubbornness; and her painful awkwardness around people she cared for deeply. She still stuttered around Neji sometimes.

"Here." Naruto grasped her elbow, gently, and led her to the kitchen. "You want some coffee? I woulda made some breakfast if I'd known you were coming, but all I've got's coffee."

"Coffee's fine," she said, sitting down carefully in one of his rickety old chairs and folding her hands on the table. "Black, please."

"Yeah," Naruto said, pouring two cups. "I remember how you take it." He sat down across from her, handing her a cup, and they sipped at their drinks in silence for a moment. Morning light was spilling through in bars through the window, bathing Hinata and softening her face. Naruto cleared his throat and dropped his eyes, stirring his coffee.

"Naruto," Hinata said, and he looked back up at her. She had that expression on her face he'd always hated, that sad, resigned look; what had he ever done, he wondered, to deserve being looked at that way? "I was just wondering... you must think I'm acting strangely... you are coming back, aren't you, Naruto?"

"Hinata!" He didn't feel like smiling but he did it anyway. "Sure, I'm coming back. I mean," he shrugged, "no one in Konoha likes havin' me around, but where else would I go?"

"Don't say that," she said, putting her hand on his. "You know it isn't true."

"It's almost true." She had nice hands, always had, small and white with straight-cut nails. The thing he'd always liked best about them was that they were always warm. "You know, Hinata... you know where I'm going, right?"

Hinata nodded, the sad look seeping into her eyes. She looked down and squeezed his hand.

"Then I guess... when I said I was coming back, I was sort of lying. I mean, he could always kill me. Funny thing is, I wonder sometimes why he hasn't."

"Maybe," Hinata said softly, "that means Sasuke is still in there somewhere. You hope that, don't you?"

Naruto smiled, letting go of her hand to rub at his wrist. "You know... Hinata...." She tilted her head at him. "I dunno," he said, sighing. "I don't know what I was gonna say."

They sipped their coffee for a moment. Naruto looked out the window, at the streets of Konoha with the children playing, tugging on their parents' wrists and tussling with each other. He set his cheek in one hand and watched two boys wrestle around on the ground, saw them roll and finally come to a stop with one on top of the other, lifting his hands into the air triumphantly.

"Naruto. You don't chase after him to kill Orochimaru, do you?" She smiled. "I didn't think so. You're such a kind person. That's what I liked about you, all those years ago. Everyone was so cruel to you, but you were never cruel back."

"Aw, come on," Naruto said, flashing her his canines. "That isn't true. Sasuke and I fought all the time, and I gave as good as I got."

"That's different. That's how you and Sasuke talked to each other." Hinata set down her empty cup and stood, walking over to the sink and turning on the water to rinse it clean. She said over her shoulder, "If you do what you're leaving to do... and you don't come back... is it all right if I train your genin?"

Naruto looked at his coffee, then lifted it to his lips, draining his cup down to the dregs. "I'd like that," he said quietly, standing and dropping his cup into the sink. The water sprayed off it. He stood close to Hinata, and she looked up at him with her blank, sad eyes; then she wrapped her arms around his waist, dropped her head onto his shoulder, and Naruto embraced her, touched her skin,wrapped his fingers in her silky hair.

"And I'll tell Sakura," Hinata murmured into his skin, "I'll tell her what you've really been doing, all these years. She won't be surprised...."

Naruto lifted her chin with his fingers, dropped his head down to meet hers; he loved kissing Hinata, always had, because she was as soft and gentle kissing as she was in everyday life. He pulled her closer, crushing her breasts flat against his chest, and tangled his tongue around hers lazily. Her face was wet - tears on her cheeks, he realized, and closed his eyes.

She pulled her mouth away from his, settling her face back onto his shoulder. "Goodbye, Naruto," Hinata said quietly; then she was gone, stepping away from him and walking out of the kitchen, and the door banged behind her.

Naruto leaned against the kitchen counter. He moved his tongue in his mouth, tasting bits of Hinata - she'd had something sweet for breakfast, and eaten a mint before coming here. He looked back out the window, but the sparring boys were gone. He pushed himself off the counter and went back into his room, and finished packing.

When he had zipped his bag, he sat on his bed and looked around his apartment. He was twenty now, not a kid anymore, but the walls still held his old posters from years ago: his ramen poster was beginning to yellow, and the old tapestry with the Konoha leaf symbol stirred with the breeze. He ran his finger over its soft threads.

His old pictures were still on his dresser - him and Team 7, Kakashi leaning over them while they smiled all their goofy kid smiles, except for Sasuke who just glared at the camera. Another picture was with all nine rookies; Sasuke and Neji stared with twin sullen expressions at him, and there was Hinata looking as shy as ever, Chouji and Shikamaru with their arms around each other and Shikamaru's arms around him; the girls standing together, Ino and Tenten and Sakura, Sakura with a jubilantly grinning Lee next to her.

Taped to the wall was a picture of him and Jiraiya; Naruto remembered the day Tsunade had taken that picture, with him on top of the old perv's shoulders while Jiraiya smiled his wolfish smile. And, next to that one, his most recent photograph of him and his genin, those three weird kids. Naruto smiled at the deerish look on the boys' faces. They weren't bad kids. If he didn't come back home, Hinata would take good care of them.

And that was it; this was his life, bundled into this tiny shack of an apartment, all of it beginning to crack and fade with age while he left the new things to chase after the past. Naruto fingered his forehead protector, running his nails over old gouges and chinks in the metal. He stared at Sasuke's face looking at him from eight years ago, and wondered what he'd been thinking. He always wondered what Sasuke was thinking, if he even thought at all anymore.

Naruto stood, plucking the picture of Team 7 off the dresser and digging the photograph out from its frame. He stuck it in his pocket, then reached for his jacket and shrugged into it, lifting the hood to hide his face. Then he grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and left the apartment. He didn't bother to lock it.

He'd long ago learned the scent of Orochimaru's chakra mixing with Sasuke's. This time, the trail stopped in a little tourist town south of Konoha, one full of casinos and brothels and packed with petty criminals. Naruto rented a room in a moldy hotel, paid in cash and noticed eyes on him as he went to his room, smelling the stench of greed. He locked the door and threw himself on the bed.

Orochimaru had a sense of humor, at least; this was the same town Sasuke had spent his last night in six years ago.