Shadowed Sun

I Would

We traveled slowly, staying in each town for a few days at a time. Naruto had progressed to learning the second stage of the Rasengan, and as for me...

When Naruto found out I was using shadowclones to train and after explaining why, he had literally yipped with glee (as he now had a way to significantly help his training) and said that the two of us finally had a 'twin move'.

Oh come on, we've seen them in movies all the time. Twins always have some super awesome move that only the two of them can do. We have Mass Shadowclones! It's so awesome, Imouto!

I was a little amused and pleased at his reaction, and I had a feeling that Jiraiya was as well. I had dispatched a fair majority of my shadowclones to Konoha and Jiraiya warned me that as we traveled further away from the village, the less clones I would be allowed to use and send. There was a limit to how much information one should absorb in the course of a day.

Even with that limit, and how quickly I was progressing, I was still a little reluctant to learn more. It was just difficult and even with medication and Kurama's chakra, the headaches were just flat-out annoying. But I persevered, if only because I had no reason not to.

We traveled at a slow pace, stopping from town to town and staying for a few days at a time. It was a while before we finally reached the same town Tsunade was in (not that Jiraiya or Naruto knew it yet). Jiraiya left the two of us at the edge of town, intent on securing our rooms for the night before he came back and we all went out to eat.

Naruto and I sat back to back on a small grassy hill, overlooking the village. I leaned against him and he leaned against me. The sun was bright and warm above us, and I felt completely content in our place.

"So how do you think everyone is back at Konoha?" Naruto asked, his voice a little groggy. Perhaps he had fallen asleep in the late afternoon sun...?

"Dunno. We left while Konoha was still pretty... messed up. Perhaps we could send a letter to Sasukenii-chan and ask him what's up?"

"Mm! Maybe not just him though... what about everyone?"

"I don't really know everyone as well as you do... how about we split up writing the letters? I'll write to... Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, Sasukenii-chan and... Chōji...?"

"Okay! Then I'll write to, uh... Shikamaru, Kiba... Hinata-chan! Oh and, um... uh..."

"Shino."

"Yeah, him! Oh, oh... what if we write to Bushybrows, too?"

"I guess I could write to Tenten... oh, but if I'm writing to her, then I want to write to Temari-senpai."

"Hmm... then I'll write a letter to Neji, too. And we can both write a letter to Gaara!"

"Sounds like a plan."

('･ω･')

"Alright, brats, let's grab something to eat before we head back to the inn," Jiraiya said, walking ahead of us. The sky had already turned into a darkened blue and the streets were clearing out. My body still felt lax from the brief doze with Naruto outside the village in the sun.

Jiraiya stopped before a bar, about to head in when Naruto stopped him.

"What!? You can't make us eat in there! It's a bar. We're still kids!"

Jiraiya snorted. "Just don't order any alcohol and you'll be fine."

"I don't think they'll give us any even if we did," I muttered.