Gravity

Little Distractions

Sakura frowned. Where the hell was Naruto? Sure, Lee was down and wouldn't be able to participate in the matches, he was still recovering from the poison, but Naruto should be here. Oh. There he was. Launched into the stadium and flat out on his face. Shikamaru kindly picked up him and let Naruto lean against him.

"What a drag..." Shikamaru groaned.

Why pick him up then?

"Stampede of bulls..." Naruto whimpered.

"...Right..." Shikamaru huffed. "Well, you're lucky, your rampaging bulls didn't follow you in here."

Naruto shook his head, clearing it. "That's good. They'd only get in the way. Right! Are we ready yet?"

"We were waiting for you," Shikamaru sighed.

"Yeah, Naruto. How could you be so late?" Sakura scoffed. "Just as bad as Kakashi sensei."

Naruto snorted. "Is he even here yet?"

"Sadly not. He was with Sasuke too." Sakura frowned. "Hopefully they didn't get too side tracked."

Wherever they ended up. Once Sasuke woke up from his coma Kakashi took him somewhere and thus left Sakura in Izumi's 'care'. It felt like she had barely gotten to say a word to Sasuke, who still looked tired, but much more focused.

"Quit fidgeting, you three," Genma ordered. "Stand up tall for the spectators. We're about to begin."

.::.

"Bloody hell, Kakashi! You're seriously delaying us."

"This lizard has challenged me."

Kakashi sensei was crazy. The pregnancy had finally ruined whatever brain cells he had left. No, Sasuke wasn't joking. Kakashi was having a staring contest with a lizard. A tiny, purple lizard that had been sitting peacefully on a tree.

Now its eyes were locked with Kakashi's.

"It blinked at you!" Sasuke groaned. "Why are you doing this? I know there's a purpose, but I can't tell if it's to mess with me or not. Sure, it could be your pregnancy brain or whatever, but you seem to use that as more of an excuse now than anything."

Kakashi smirked. "I'll never tell."

"I hate you," Sasuke sighed. "With all my hate."

"I know." Kakashi looked delighted.

What the hell was wrong with this guy? Why was he taking such enjoyment out of seeing Sasuke suffer? All he wanted to do was go see the match, maybe copy some new moves, mock Naruto when he got punched in the face, stuff like that. But no! They were going to miss Naruto's match at this rate. That meant missing seeing the little shit get punched.

Dammit. That was the reason! Stupid team building.

.::.

Obito sipped at wine and munched on grapes beside the Daimyo. He was quite happy to look like the spoiled personal advisor to the Lord, it was quite relaxing. And way too easy. They sat in the private balcony, one of the most expensive seating in the entire stadium.

His main concern was that Kakashi wasn't here. Kakashi felt fine though, highly amused, so that was a relief. But why wasn't he at such an important event? Did he forget about it? It was more than likely, Kakashi seemed to lose track of the dates more frequently these days.

Obito barely paid any attention to the fight. Caged birds. Hyuga drama. Yada, yada, yada. It was the same old story. The world continued to make people suffer over and over again. The nine tails host kept barking and doing heroic speeches, but the only reason he won that match was because of the fox's chakra. It wasn't by his own strength.