Tale of a setting sun

Chapter 22 - Veritable Pandemonium

The ship's departure from the dock had been stalled for some time for an unknown reason, but finally, when both the sky and the ocean had become a deep inky black, it set off again. The lights from the cabins cast a reflective yellow glow across the sea, making it an easy mark for Kakashi to follow.

Keeping watch from below the stern of the ship, it hadn't taken him much effort to identify the cabin Naruto and the others were in. Naruto must have passed by an uncovered porthole, for Kakashi had immediately noticed the flash of red.

It's not like you to let down your guard, Naruto, even if you're returning from a completed mission, Kakashi chided silently.

As the hours passed, the wind picked up and the lights in the cabins began to flicker off. Kakashi himself was starting to feel it in his shoulders – I'm getting old, aren't I?, he thought amusedly to himself – and he'd been drenched in icy sea water more than once from straying too close to the ship.

Finally, only when Kakashi had narrowly avoided being vomited on by some poor straggler at the deck of the ship, did he decide that it was time to actually get on board.

Projecting a burst of chakra down to his legs, Kakashi shot himself up along the ship's side, landing silently in the shadowy silhouettes of a stack of wooden barrels. Looking around the empty deck, he made sure that the coast was clear. Though even if it weren't, he doubted he'd come across any real trouble – the ship had some hired guards, but they were at best genin-level ninja who could barely tell apart clones from the real thing. No, the hardest part about this would be hiding his presence from Naruto and the others.

However, Naruto's cabin was all the way at the other side of the ship, and it was unlikely that any of them would venture out before dawn – by which time they'd already be at the border of Fire country. The best course of action, he decided, would be for him to simply sit tight where he was, and then get off the ship before it docked at port.

Suddenly, hearing footsteps, Kakashi shrunk further into the shadows – but it was just a stumbling, pale-faced cabin boy simultaneously swearing and hacking up what looked like the rest of his dinner over the railing. Nevertheless, Kakashi kept his eyes sharp and watched the boy, with a final utterance of a curse word, stumble back down through a hatchway.

Kakashi wrinkled his nose; some of the vomit must have splashed on to the deck, for he could quite clearly smell, along with the distinct odor of stomach acid, that dinner must have involved quite a few potatoes.

"What - what are you going to do to us?" Grapefruit-breasts breathed in a high voice, her eyes flicking down repeatedly to the object he was twirling in his hand.

"Surely you don't think we'll crack from you tickling us with a feather," Bubble butt scoffed. She'd recovered face relatively quickly despite being completely immobilized in his hair trap, but the underlying tension was still apparent.

"This will make excellent material for the next book I'm writing," said Jiraiya with a shake of the feather. "It'll take some time, but you ladies aren't particularly pressed for it I hope?"

"We're not telling you anything!" Bubble butt spat at Jiraiya, but he made no move to avoid or clean it off. He sighed instead.

For her own sake, he hoped she would.

They were waiting where they had agreed to meet, by a massive oak tree near the edges of a forest along the far outreaches of Tazuna's village.

After everything they had already gone through, Naruto had braced himself for the worst – so when Rai and Sai's faces finally came into view, the relief he felt was so immense, he nearly stumbled on his landing. With Mayu helping to support him up, the two of them landed down just as the sun was starting to rise, spreading its tendrils almost shyly through the cracks of the canopy trees.