The sealed kunai

Chapter 34: Good Natured Hazing

Naruto sat in the shady branches of a tree situated near the main gates of Konoha as he waited for the team he was intended to lead on his first mission as a jounin. He had finally decided to wear his flak jacket, and underneath that a black long-sleeved muscle shirt. The change in clothes due to the climate he was going to be facing for this mission. He had never lead anyone before, that was for certain. He was more accustomed to taking orders and dealing with whatever he was instructed to handle and he was for the most part okay with that. However overlying mission parameters didn't direct him to be a follower, they directed him to be a leader, because what Hokage couldn't lead a few missions?

Hamako, who was relishing her new position as the primary woman in Naruto's life more or less by default, but it didn't matter to her, was quick to give Naruto a goodbye kiss when he left for the mission that morning. After that point, Tayuya caught him outside of his apartment and laid her own claim on him, heading back inside of her apartment after stealing a blistering kiss of her own with a toothy grin. Strange, Naruto assumed she'd be more pissed about their little escapade.

Oh well, it was time to get to work as usual, "You're punctual aren't you Sai-kouhai?" Naruto said to seemingly no one before Sai appeared in an ink Shunshin with his strange smile on his face, "You're the first to arrive. Looking forward to working with you."

"This certainly makes things easier now doesn't it?" Sai asked the scar-faced blonde.

Naruto nodded, "Yep. Now I can just act like we met on this mission and hit it off and became friends. It takes away one pain in the ass of finding you to talk to for sure."

"You should get used to it Naruto-senpai, as of now I am a permanent fixture on your squad for the foreseeable future." Sai said, pulling out a notebook that he began drawing in as they waited for the rest of the team. Naruto watched Sai from above and began to chuckle, "What's funny?"

Naruto stopped laughing and looked at his comrade, "You might be all about pushing your emotions away and all of that, but you still have a coping mechanism for all of the crazy stuff we do, just like every other good ninja does."

Sai looked up at Naruto blankly, "I don't understand senpai."

Naruto shook his head, "Your notebook. What are you doing with it right now?"

Sai looked at the notebook in his hand and back to Naruto, "I don't understand."

Naruto jumped down from the tree and took the notebook from Sai's hands, flipping through it with an analyzing eye, "You draw more than just stuff to fight with?" Sai nodded and Naruto handed him back the notebook, "That's your thing. Drawing is probably the thing you always do when you're not on missions keeping you from cracking like an egg, the only blatant link to your emotions you have. And to prove my point, give me that for the duration of the mission."

Sai looked at his notebook for a moment before handing it over to Naruto who gave it right back, "I thought you were going to take it away, why give it back?"

Naruto grinned at Sai and patted him on the shoulder, "Nah I didn't want it. I knew no matter what it meant to you, you were going to hand it over since I was the one that told you to do it. All I needed to see was the little flash of hesitation you gave me before handing it over. That would be a normal thing to other people, but to guys like you that Danzo-jiji trained that's exceptional. I'm starting to get through to you kouhai."

Sai's face showed no inflection of actually caring, "I fail to see how you being able to see through my emotions is a good thing. It means my training is a failure and I need to be conditioned again."

Naruto let out a phantom shiver at the thought of being reconditioned, "No you don't. You're my liaison to Danzo-jiji and apparently his successor so that means that you need to be somewhat functional in social situations or else you'd be really suspicious. How else are we supposed to work together to help each other do our missions if I can't even get you to hold your own in a public forum? Although I'm barely the guy to be counting on for that..."