That Damned Raven Haired Boy (SasuNaru)

Part 1

His right foot was asleep.

Which triggered the question: How long exactly had he been standing in Tsunade's office?

Naruto looked at Sakura incriminatingly, silently begging her to shut up. How she could prattle on about a mission where absolutely nothing had happened was beyond him. That being said, she was doing a wonderful job of it. In fact, she was doingtoo wonderful a job of it. Blue eyes shifted and narrowed in on the Hokage of Konoha.

If he could only get her attention, then perhaps he could somehow give her a signal to wrap things up - cut Sakura's 'brief overview' short.

But it was too late. The acute woman had already caught on to the fact that nothing of mention had occurred during Team 7's mission. It was blaringly obvious. As a result, her angular face was pulled into an expression of forced interest as Sakura spoke, and her eyes were unmoving and almost glassed over.

The two boys on either side of Sakura might as well have not existed. Not that they were doing much to draw attention to themselves, Naruto being uncharacteristically quiet and Sasuke being exceptionally 'broody'.

As in ridiculously, irritatingly, and completely broody.

Naruto scoffed. Good for the bastard. He should be.

Now if only Tsunade would look at him...

But she wasn't.

The old woman hid a yawn behind her hand and tried to smile encouragingly at Sakura - completely missed Naruto's very obvious stare - before turning to the rather large pile of papers on her desk. Tsunade grabbed for a pen, the motion fluid and lethargic, and began writing on a stray paper absently, probably playing a game of Xs and Os with herself.

There was no hope of catching her attention now.

Not that that particularly bothered Naruto. If the Hokage's mind was a million miles away, the blond figured he couldn't be reprimanded for letting his stray as well. Not that it hadn't already. The blond's focus had been far from the recap at hand the second it had started He had already had the absolute pleasure of experiencing the mission once.

And that was one time too many.

A sudden hand gesture caught Naruto off guard and his head snapped to Sakura.

She was still talking - just getting more into it now that the big finale was drawing closer.

At least he hoped it was.

In all actuality, the the girl's words were nothing more than a dull murmur at the back of Naruto's mind - a dull murmur that he was easily able to ignore. Especially when he noticed ominous clouds looming in the distance just beyond Tsunade's window.

There was a stark contrast where the thick black clouds met with the vibrant blue of the sky. They were rolling forward - rushing toward Konoha. They looked fantastic; a nice relief from the dry spell that had been plaguing the hidden village.

Naruto was looking forward to another relief as well.

Because he was back in Konoha, he would no longer have to deal with this new Sasuke that he had dragged back from Oto.

Sakura stopped speaking and the room went silent but Naruto didn't notice.

This new Sasuke was a Sasuke who never joked, or insulted, or sparred. Just sulked around, never saying anything.

"That's it, Hokage-sama," Sakura said when the silence had persisted. Three sets of eyes landed on her almost audibly and for the first time in the last forty-five minutes, Sakura had everyone's full attention.