The sealed kunai

Chapter 56: Lucid Haze

Things began falling in place as far as the Grand Shinobi Alliance (Konoha, Kumo, Kiri, and Suna) went when it came to the opening days and weeks of the international war against the Continental Ninja Federation (Ame, Kusa, Taki, and the other minor villages).

As the days dragged forward, waking up in his own bed did not have the same calming effect that it usually would have for Naruto. It had been a week since his return along with Kiba and Neji and it had been a little over two weeks since the destruction of the desert village altogether.

Since then he had been stuck at home, and while being Kumo dignitary/jounin/jinchuuriki Yugito Nii's personal contact for things she needed in Konoha for the duration of her stay was an easy-going responsibility and allowed him to hang out with one of his closest and loveliest friends he was not particularly considering himself good-fortuned. He felt guiltier than anything else.

Konoha had already sent out shinobi to begin keeping the borders locked down tight and to also begin setting traps and choke points in case of an attempt to invade or infiltrate and there was still the matter of the large task force that already sat in Suna to help them until further notice. Now it was just a matter of a waiting game for him. Every time he woke up he imagined furious knocking on his door or window prior to someone informing him of an emergency window or a message when he went into the village telling him that someone had died in the field.

He had yet to truly deal with that yet despite the death of Danzo and the fact that Sasuke had died after battle with him. Now it was only a matter of time until it actually did happen. For all he knew it could be him whose life ended miles away from home, away from anyone that would know or care.

No way. Not a chance while he had anything to say about it, and as long as he was around none of his friends would die on his watch either. But he didn't have much of a watch as he was.

A knock came onto his door. Damn, how did she know he was awake? He hadn't made a single move since opening his eyes.

"Naruto-sama, breakfast is ready."

Well there was no need to lay there and act like he wasn't already up, and if he didn't get up then Jiraiya would just eat all of the food and then taunt him for being too slow, and then they'd both get to fighting and tear part of the house up, and then Hamako would somehow slap a chakra sealing tag on both of them and then hit them (how she managed to get that close to the both of them without them feeling it they would never know). He didn't need that drama that early in the morning. He had things to do today.

So with that, he hopped out of bed and threw on a pair of pants and a shirt before exiting the room to head to the kitchen. Once there he found his food set out with Jiraiya and Hamako already eating their share, "Good morning Naruto-sama." Hamako said with a smile after swallowing her bite as he took his seat.

"Good morning Hamako-chan, and thanks." Naruto returned with a grateful smile that the white-haired girl nodded to. After eating for a bit in silence, Naruto turned towards Jiraiya, 'It's only a matter of time before Ero-kyofu has to do something in the field again.' He knew Jiraiya was powerful, but he had to think back to when they fought after he mastered Sage Mode. If Jiraiya had both arms available to him he doubted he would have fought to a draw with him, the hellified beatings lain upon him for years before reaching that point were evidence of that.

Jiraiya noticed Naruto's eyes locked onto him and grinned wryly at the young man, "Hey, I know I'm sexy and I'm your awe-inspiring hero and all gaki but you might as well have that special eye of yours active if you're going to be looking at me that hard. Apparently Naruto hadn't known how hard he was staring because he blinked and turned his gaze down to his food at that point, "You know you're going to be dispatched any day now don't you?"