Chapter 36: Chapter 35
"Well gee aren't you special." Ryoko muttered.
"So...what does this mean sensei?" Kyofu questioned.
Naruto looked up in askance as well, all eyes turning to him.
Orochimaru stayed quiet for a long moment.
"I haven't the faintest idea." It may have been the very first time he ever admitted such.
-0-
A day or so later, they were within Sunagakure's walls and as they marched towards the tower, Naruto's eyes were looking everywhere.
His wandering gaze was noticed by Orochimaru, but he looked little different than his two teammates who were avidly taking in the sights so he paid it no nevermind.
Unfortunately, Naruto didn't really see much of anything or anyone of interest before they arrived and were made to wait.
And wait...
And wait...
"Urgh! This is boring!" Ryoko hissed out for the tenth time.
"Practice your meditation." Orochimaru drawled as an answer.
"Oh come on!" Naruto joined, once more deciding to try and get the snake to budge. "Its not like you need us here to deliver the reports. You can do that yourself!"
"I could." He admitted. "But your suffering brings me joy." It was more disturbing how toneless he made that sound rather than the actual words.
"How bout you at least let us go out and practice the basics of element manipulation. Ryoko ventured.
"It would be more productive than just sitting here and complaining sensei." Kyofu piped up.
The gold eyes looked out from under the hood as if he was wondering if they actually thought him to be that stupid.
"I'm giving you one half of an hour. Go out, take a look around and return within that time. If you do not. I will find you. Once that happens you will not sleep tonight, I will force you to march all day tomorrow carrying thrice the weight you carried today. Am I making myself clear.
Despite the rebuke, the three gennin nodded. With Kyofu taking the extra step of setting her watch on a timer.
"Go then." He waved them away.
-0-
It was a monumental display of quiet restraint that kept Naruto walking with his team, as opposed to rushing across the village, scouring every nook and cranny for Gaara, Temari or Kankuro.
He wanted to look for them. To see that they were ok but...
There were just so many things that he could change that might change them! He didn't want that.
He wanted them as close to the friends he had as he could get.
And his friends hadn't met him when they were six or seven.
He could change them and who's to say that change would be for the better?
No. Better to stay away. They might be hurting now with the way Gaara couldn't control his sand, or killed people but he could help him later just like he helped him before and their friendship could build off of the same foundation it had originally that had made it so strong.
Staying away was for the best. As fragile as his knowledge of the future was with all the changes that were already evident just as a fallout to coming back in the first place he had to believe that some things could be predicted. Otherwise what real chance did he have of stopping Tobi now than he had before? In the future where he had Kurama's help?
He had to believe, at least a little bit that some things would hold true.
"Hey hurry up short stuff!"
He looked up Ryoko and Kyofu had pulled ahead of him. "Yeah." He sighed miserably. "Yeah I'm commin'."
"Something bothering you Naruto-san?"
"Nah." He smiled as he caught up. "Just, thinkin about some stuff back home I gotta get to."
"Need any help?" She asked.
"Nah." He thought of something. "Hey, you guys wanna get something to eat?" He was about to blurt out that he knew of a great sushi-bar Temari had shown him when he bit his tongue at the last minute.
"As long as its quick." Ryoko agreed. "I'd rather not find out if the old man was dead set on that time-limit. What's up with that anyway? Suna's our ally so why's he so paranoid?"
"Don't you remember that Suna fought against us during the war? Tsunade-sama's reputation as a medic was born from her ability to counter Suna's poisons. Especially those of Chiyo-san, their greatest puppet master at the time." Kyofu answered easily.
"Oh yeah." The younger girl said, thinking. "Guess that would entitle him to hold a bit of a grudge."
-0-
That night they stayed within the village walls in adjoining rooms The gennin had the room beside their sensei's to sleep in but for the time being they were all in Orochimaru's room, all three practicing their elemental manipulation before going off to sleep as the sannin read from another scroll, this one he'd picked up from Suna's library.
Kyofu was trying to burn a piece of paper between her hands, rubbing them together to help with the heat. It was supposed to help according to the snake.
Ryoko and Naruto were struggling to split leaves...
Actually, Ryoko was struggling. Naruto was holding back to not make her feel bad. Being the only one of the team with a single element, to see him master it with such supreme ease to boot would have made him feel like crap if the shoe was on the other foot.
So he was holding back a bit for now. He'd make sure to get it down privately. He could do it but his control was a little off, the cut wasn't quite as clean as he could once make it.
Still, the three elements thing had thrown him for a loop, to say the least. Orochimaru had vowed to look into it the second they were back in the village and would be informing the Hokage along with the rest of the team.
Naruto wasn't sure what would be the "fallout" of this, apparently huge, thing. But the next few months would prove to be very interesting to say the least.
-0-
It was three days later that Orochimaru found himself sitting in Sarutobi's office, his gennin standing behind him.
"Come again?" The Sandaime pushed his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose before deciding against it and pulling them off to look at the four.
"Naruto has three chakra affinities." The sannin drawled. "Did I stutter?"
The old man glared. "If this is another of your jokes-"
"Its not." He interrupted before gesturing to the boy behind him. "See for yourself."
The God of Shinobi looked as though he couldn't decide wether to take him up on his offer for the for the elation of it actually being true, or fear of the disappointment (followed shortly by irritation) if it turned out to just be some elaborate joke.
Then he pushed back his chair. "Come here Naru-chan."
"I'm not four" The blond hissed as he marched forward, ignoring the snickering of his teammates.
Sarutobi didn't answer, rummaging through his desk before finally giving up and drawing the seal himself on a loose piece of paper. A whole sheet, to make sure there were no mistakes.
He handed it to the blond leaning back in his chair. "Now...do what you did with "Oro-kun."
Naruto gripped the page in one hand and channeled chakra into it.
It split, soaked and crumbled.
Sarutobi looked about ready to have a coronary.
"Would this be a bad time to mention, that I've decided to nominate my team for the upcoming chuunin exams to be held in Iwagakure?" The serpent drawled and this time, the old man choked on the tobacco smoke as three children swiveled their heads around to look at the snake in some surprise.
One though crossed their minds.
Iwa!?
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