Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 66 | Cabbage

Ino stood across from where Sakura was sitting, arms crossed as Obito watched them.

"Does he really remember that little?" Sakura asked, having brought in the woman to make sure. Inoichi had been busy with something else involving the foundations of the intelligence branch.

"Everything is extremely blurry. Not even I got a look at who saved him," she confirmed.

"So there's nothing to say what all he did..."

Ino pursed her lips and gave a nod.

"That is the case..."

"Am I going to be imprisoned...?" he asked cautiously. Sakura let out a long sigh as she looked at the ceiling.

"You can't be imprisoned for something you didn't do under your own will... But I think it would be best if you went back to Konoha."

"Of course... I wish I could apologize to the leader of the village for all the trouble I caused them..."

"Well, the most you did was breach the rain wall," Sakura informed him. He looked at her.

"So... I didn't hurt anyone?"

"No, nothing was damaged and no one was hurt. We were able to stop you in time."

"Oh thank god..." he muttered, putting his face in his hands.

"But you did break through the barrier without a pass, so that's a hefty fine."

"I don't have any money..."

"Then a few weeks of enforced community service," she reasoned. "Then we'll send you on your way back to Konoha."

He gave a small nod of confirmation and Sakura and Ino stepped out of the room and said their goodbyes before Kakashi approached Sakura, passing Ino as she made her way to exit the hospital. He stopped in front of her.

"What is it you're going to talk about...?" she asked, knowing it was going to be a heavy topic.

"He needs to know about the Uchiha Massacre... And Rin... And Teacher..." he muttered with sad eyes. She gave a sad smile and gently gripped his arm in a gesture of comfort.

"Are you going to be okay alone?" she whispered. He gave a nod and she took a deep breath. "Remember you can come and find me if you need to talk."

"Yeah... Thank you."

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Tenten hummed a tune as she looked through the lettuce of one of the market stalls, feeling for a good head.

"These are all really hollow," she muttered before finding one that was to her liking and adding it to her basket after paying for it. Temari was next to her, feeling for her own.

"What was that siren about the other night? You two know don't you?" the vendor asked, pipe in hand as he watched them. Tenten narrowed her eyes.

"We don't rat you out for selling lettuce under the name of cabbages, so don't go asking about something important like that."

Temari looked down at the produce in confusion.

"What, how can you even tell?!" the vendor asked in shock.

"I know my vegetables... Keep to yourself," Tenten ordered. Temari watched the exchange with dull eyes, wondering what was even happening. After deciding she would just buy from another stall, she moved on, Tenten giving the man an 'I'm-watching-you' motion as they made their way down the street.

"So what was the siren about?" Tenten whispered.

"Shikamaru rushed off to the Kage Tower but apparently it's under lock and key for now," Temari shrugged. "If he tells me not to worry about it like he did, I'm just going to ignore it for now. Obviously, we're not dead, so whatever it was was dealt with well enough."

"I guess that's true." They stopped at another stall for Temari to buy some cabbage that was actually cabbage. "Hey, do you want to stop by the place my shop is going to be? I already pulled out a loan for it."

"You already bought a shop?" she asked, picking a head out and putting it in her basket.

"Yeah, since there are actual instructors from Konoha now, I'm not really needed. I was scoping out places for the past few weeks and found a nice place really close to the entrance to the Clan District."

"That is nice," Temari muttered, looking through some more vegetables. The two finished up their shopping and started heading toward the store.

The shop sat just next to a corner building and had barred windows like a jewelry shop would. It had two floors and was rather wide, the building to the right of it being taller and the one to the left shorter. The walls were a warm tan and the roof a deep red clay.

"Wow, it's quite the place!" Temari smiled as they stood on the opposite side of the street.

"A sign will be between the two second-floor windows. And I've already got deals lined up with a few different blacksmiths both in and out of town," she explained proudly. "At the moment there are no other weapons shops in the city so I could price them however I wanted, not that I'm going to abuse my monopoly."

"You've really thought this out."

"Of course! I've wanted to do this for a while!"

Temari decided she needed to stop praising her while she could or the other woman's head would get too big for her shoulders.

"I hear Ino's flower shop has been a huge success."

"Oh, I know! What a cute engagement gift too! I was wondering what that building was supposed to be for months!"

"I hear Sai tried more than five times to do it right."

"That's dedication."

"Hey, Tenten?" Temari asked, looking at the woman next to her that was focused on the shop in front of them. Seeing how focused she was, Temari decided against the conversation and moved to something else instead. "Why don't you come over and help me with decoration planning."

"Sure thing! I've actually thought of a few things that you might like over the past few days!"

"Alright, let's get going then."

Temari could play matchmaker another day.