The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

46: Choji and Lee

[OP: "Caesar"--The Oh Hellos]

Once the decision was made, Team Zoe accepted it, and, after a while, they even cheered up.

As dangerous as it was to go to Rain, in their minds, it was at least a goal. And people usually feel better when they're working toward something than when they've just failed, as they had in Stone.

At least it made their disgrace seem less to have somewhere that still wanted them. Even if it turned out to be a lie, Rain Village at least was not dismissing them as unimportant.

And the heroes were happy to extend their stay. While they had had many disagreements with the ninja, they found that they still had gotten attached to them. They'd been living on top of each other, practically, for so many weeks that separating would have felt strange. They wanted to complete the mission.

Dabi still had to check in at home. Explaining that to the Rain shinobi was tricky, but Shine managed to convince them it was simply him doing a supply check of a sort--it kind of was.

Shikamaru did send a message to Kakashi later that day to let them know.

Kakashi's response was less than pleased, but he, of course, knew they would probably not turn back now. Perhaps a different person would have insisted that they do it anyway on pain of being called rogue shinobi, but since Gaara had charge of them all right now, it would have been tricky to do that without offending Sand Village.

Kakashi urged caution anyway.

But he also mentioned in his reply that Choji had been after him to finally be allowed to join them. It seems his father's work for him had finally been finished, and Choji wanted to join his team before Leaf found another long project for him to work on.

Kakashi also mentioned that Rock Lee wanted to check on his team. Apparently Might Guy was worried about Tenten and Neji being gone for so long and thought Lee should make sure they were okay.

Gaara said that Guy was an admirable sensei, and even though he was now crippled, it showed his heart was as strong as ever.

Momo said she'd forgotten about that.

"It seems that we could have done something for him," she said.

"Maybe you can," Shine said. "You never know. Try."

Momo wondered if it was possible.

"I'm sad that Choji is finally free and it's when we're going to  Rain Village," Ino said. "I mean, he'd never want to go there. And it's not like he heard all the persuasive arguments that we did about it."

"We could never ask him to do this--I already think we're crazy for doing it," Shikamaru said. "I'll just have to send him a private message and explain what happened in Stone and why we're doing this. It's a shame though--I really thought he would join us eventually."

Shine glanced at Wally. "I think they're underestimating Choji's bravery."

"Yeah, well, I'll bet you 10 bucks he'll still come," Wally said.

"You can't bet me that if I just said it would happen. That's not how it works," Shine said.

"This way both of us win if we're right, so neither of us has to pay out," Wally said.

"Oh, wow, you're a mathematical genius for thinking that up," Shine teased him. "I should let you do my taxes." [I know, I shouldn't bring up such a sensitive topic. Sorry.]

"I guess I should let Lee know not to bother," Tenten said. "Come to think of it, he has no idea Neji isn't with us anymore, unless Kakashi told him. Well, he must have by now."