“Ho-Hokage-sama,” Heion stammered.
“Gramps!” Naruto exclaimed cheerfully. “Was it the cat lady again?!”
The Hokage let out a long winded sigh, “For the fourth time this month, yes in fact.”
Heion groaned and ran his bandaged hands down his face in the up-most loathing, making Naruto laugh.
So his weakness is the cat lady… Taku concluded sarcastically.
“Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, go turn in the mission report,” Heion said glumly in a defeated tone. “Leave us.” He waved them off.
“Tch,” Sasuke clicked his tongue, “just when it was getting interesting.”
Both Naruto and Sakura obeyed, but definitely didn’t seem too happy and complained all the way over to Taku and Sasuke.
Naruto leaned in once the group gathered up, ready to lay down some juicy gossip. “Eh Sakura-chan -- Gramps showed up in person this time huh?” he muttered in a hushed voice.
“Is that bad?” Taku asked curiously, becoming more interested by the moment, “He looks serious.” Even though he just met the guy, he had to admit he felt a tinge of sympathy.
“Bah! Gramps looks scary at first, but he is actually pretty soft,” Naruto assured him once he saw the concerned expression, eager to explain, “He’s the one who let hi-” Naruto stumbled laughably once he heard the Hokage start berating Heion for smoking, to the point where he skillfully snatched the cigarette out of his mouth with a piece of wire and destroyed it in an instant.
“You’re too young for such things!” The Hokage lectured gravely, “Don’t forget the speech Maito Gai gave you,” and resumed their discussion in a tone that wasn’t able to reach their ears. The others stood silently and watched. Judging by how Heion was nodding his head constantly, and thrown in with the occasional point over at their group, Taku was able to assume he was getting told -- though the intermittent “Yes sir, I know.” or “Of course~!” slipped out multiple times despite his effort towards not letting his students listen in.
“Naruto-san,” Taku broke the silence in his soft voice and asked who he felt was the most approachable ninja, “just how old is he?”
Naruto scratched his head in thought. “Mmm, now that you mention it I don’t really know,” he mused.
“I would say seventeen or eighteen,” Sakura chimed in looking interested as well, “I don’t know the details but my mother told me he was the youngest to become a chunin in years next to Ita-”
“Not old enough to teach,” Sasuke cut in immediately, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking suddenly grim, “we would have been better off with Kakashi Hatake.”
Sakura looked abashed, causing Taku’s curiosity to itch even more.
“Don’t start that crap again,” Naruto growled tiredly and leaned in to Taku’s ear with cupped a hand over his mouth. “Listen, if you thought you had a rough flight, you should have seen what he did to teme over here during the exam,” he whispered with a mischievous grin for everyone to hear and cracked a knowing smile at Sasuke, who turned his head away immediately.
A smile inched helplessly over Taku’s face. It wasn’t that he disliked Sasuke, but if he would want to see anyone he’s met so far get shot through the air it would be him. Naruto knowingly nodded several times in approval. Taku glanced at Sakura, who was staring at him with an inscrutable expression. He recalled her smacking Naruto in the face after picking on Sasuke and quickly looked away, blushing.
Naruto’s stomach growled and saved Taku embarrassment, “You know, I think a celebration is in order, we completed our first mission after all!” he announced cheerfully, “Comet can come also since he was part of the mission!”
Taku developed a sweat drop. That’s right…I’ve been an object of a mission this entire time
“You just want to eat ramen! And you said he was a meteor earlier!” Sakura snapped with her eyebrow raised in suspicion.
“You always were the brightest Sakura-chan,” Naruto sniggered, “but you can’t argue ramen.”
“I don’t see any~ reason to celebrate, yeah?” appeared a familiar eerie drawl behind Taku, who jumped along with the two others at his sides.
I was just beginning to fit in too~ Taku thought gloomily.
“You look like shit,” Sasuke admitted, who had noticed him long before the others.
Everyone turned around to look at Heion, who during the discussion of food Taku had forgotten about completely. There stood the most sullen looking ninja he could imagine with his hands jammed into his black ninja pants. He stood like a hunchback as if the scroll he carried around on his back weighed a ton.
“Yeah,” Heion groaned in gloomy agreement.
HE ACTUALLY TOOK THAT?
“We are all going to be catching that stupid cat tomorrow morning that you brats chased off,” he carried on in a monotone of emo-ness through the usual skeptical looks, “The old man also took away my lighter as well.” He clicked his tongue at the thought and fixated his eyes on Sasuke mysteriously.
“Sasuke… hit me with your best fire technique,”
“What?”
“If you hit me, you can have tomorrow off,” he said and added dramatically with a finger pointed, “that means no extra hours!”
To Taku’s surprise Sasuke smirked at the offer, apparently eager at any chance to beat up on sensei. “Alright, you have a deal,” Sasuke agreed and took a fighting pose, even drawing a kunai in the process.
Heion stood only a few meters away from the eager ninja. He reached into his back pocket and revealed an item in an over-dramatic flourish, twirling it between his two fingers. The item was a cigarette, and it sat tauntingly in the two fingers prodding his human lighter named Sasuke to attack. “Hurry up and come,” Heion called out jeeringly as he wagged his fingers, “Gai invited me to a party to celebrate his student's recent success -- so I don't have all night to be disappointed by one of my own.”
“Don’t screw with me,” Sasuke growled and dropped his kunai to allow him to perform seals.
Taku looked hesitantly at the two of them; he knew that if this kept up they would be going around in circles again. Ever since he arrived he had been awestruck at their hospitality, abilities, and personalities, but it couldn’t suppress his urge to find out what he was here for, what he was brought back for, and what awaited him in the near future. It was getting late, and he was still stuck outside clueless, barefoot, and next to destroyed clothing, he longed to make himself heard finally – to be acknowledged. He was intimidated, but it didn’t matter anymore.
“Enough!” he yelled intensely to great effect once he saw Sasuke about to make his attack. Sasuke halted mid-breath and slowly stood upright with smoke funneling out of his nostrils, not bothering to turn around and look at the outburst. Naruto and Sakura were surprised and eyed him with concern.
Heion gazed him with his piercing glare; his arms now drooped at his sides casually. “What?” he asked simply.
What?! Taku shook with sudden rage, appalled by the simple response. After all I’ve been through isn’t it obvious?!
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Chapter end notes: (planning on redoing first chapter)