AND BACK AGAIN [ NARUTO ]

[ 25 ] plan of action

previously. . .

A spark of pride cleared away the cloud of apprehension Jiraiya's mind was working to sort out, and he reached over to mess with the blond's hair. Naruto threw his hands up to bat him away, but the grin stretching the whiskers on his cheeks was the realest one Jiraiya had seen yet.

"C'mon, kid. Tsunade's ready to blow a fuse."

///\

"Naruto." Tsunade laid her hands out in front of her on the desk. Jiraiya stood in the corner, oddly silent for once, and Team 7 had moved aside to make room for the future Naruto. "Where have you been?"

"Thinking," Naruto said, and Jiraiya threw up a triumphant finger.

Tsunade shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, Naruto, I mean why didn't you stay put? You understand the abnormality of this situation, I know you do, and it certainly doesn't help me when you run off like that."

Naruto rubbed the back sheepishly. "Eh, sorry, Tsunade-baachan. I just. . .had a lot on my mind, y'know? It's all good now, though."

She watched for one more long second before shifting her gaze to Team 7. "I apologize for taking your time, Team 7," she said, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

Kakashi gave a closed-eye smile. "No worries, Tsunade-sama."

She waved them off. "You all can return to your duties."

"Actually," Naruto interrupted, causing Sakura, Sasuke, and Past Naruto to pause in their movements to leave, "there's something I need to share. With everyone."

"Oh?" Tsunade folded her hands. "And it wasn't something you could've done before disappearing this morning and wasting both the Hokage's and Team 7's time?"

"Ah, cut him some slack," Jiraiya said, moving forward to sling an arm around his future student. "He's a growing boy with maturing thoughts. There are things he needs to work out on his own."

Sakura frowned. "That could mean awfully vulgar things coming from you, Jiraiya-sama."

"That's not--"

"The Akatsuki are in the village," Naruto said.

". . .What."

Naruto didn't know who said it, but he didn't stop to figure it out. It wasn't a question; he did just blurt that an organization of wanted nin had infiltrated their peaceful village. He held up his hands, glad to finally have their attention. "Not right now. They were. One was. As far as I know."

The room fell into a rather loud silence. Tsunade blinked, Jiraiya leaned forward, one could imagine Kakashi's brow raising, and the genin of Team 7 looked on, somewhat oblivious to the weight of Naruto's words.

"Naruto," Tsunade finally said, "I would ask you to explain. In detail."

"You know what--let's forget I said anything about the Akatsuki, yeah?" He laughed nervously, forcing his eyes not to drift towards Sasuke and all the things he could tell him. "There's no Akatuski. None. At all."

Kakashi's indifferent expression returned, utterly uninterested, but he would always be his sensei. "That's not just something we're going to forget, Naruto."

"If something happened, we need to know," Tsunade agreed.

Naruto sighed. "I wasn't. . .completely alone, last night. But you're going to have to trust me on this one, because it's--it's too complicated to explain right now." This time he did glance back at Sasuke, but he blinked and his eyes were back on Tsunade. "Trust me."