Chapter 8

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Oof. Some of the math shit I did.

2k views and 79 votes. I'm so happy I've got 2,000 views before Christmas~

Merry Christmas btw!

IrinaAkashira -san! Thank you for your wonderful feedback and the amazing idea~ I was thinking of just having Ku-chan be like, "wassup Jiji I'm back."

When Kusoka's outfit is being described, picture this! It's mine and I've posted it on Amino at Yoshizumi-chan

When Kusoka's outfit is being described, picture this! It's mine and I've posted it on Amino at Yoshizumi-chan

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"Good...morning" Kusoka yawned. Her bead head was really bad. Like "I'm sorry, you know what a comb is, right?" and the response is "Um I've used one a couple times???" kinda bad. Luckily Kusoka had a comb and promptly put it to good use.

"Good morning" Itachi was reading a new book this time.

Kusoka made tea that she bought yesterday from little Mimi-chan at her father's stand. Kusoka couldn't drink coffee, it was bitter and she just—gah, it was terrible. Kusoka shivered at the thought of the bitter taste.

The tea finished steeping—it was Earl Grey and she added milk—and she took a long sip before sitting down on the couch.

"The end of the Chunin Exams is 123 days away now. I think? But the Chunin Exams start in..." Kusoka mumbled some things, "87 days? But backup doesn't need to arrive until the last day so like 122 days instead"

"You said something about an invasion last night"

"Yes, on September 12th Suna and the Sound will attack I want to help in any way possible, maybe finding Jiraiya and Tsunade to help fight Orochimaru" Kusoka voiced her thoughts.

"Suna and the Sound with Orochimaru..."

"Oh! And during part two of the Chunin Exams, Sasuke gets a curse mark from Orochimaru. Sorry I didn't tell you that yesterday. If you wanna save him from that we have to be there by August 7th" Kusoka rambled on.

"Can you stop it without me?" Itachi had put his book down by now.

"Pfft. Me? A girl who has never hurt someone in her life, and who has never been trained as a ninja, try and stop Orochimaru? I'd have better luck going back to my world" Kusoka almost laughed.

"I see"

"But," Kusoka drawled, "If you went yourself you could probably take Orochimaru while I get Sasuke and his team to a generally safe place" Kusoka tried to convince Itachi.

"Perhaps"

"The third Hokage dies by Orochimaru's hand and...though I am not the Naruto he knew, I always liked the Hokage and I don't want him to die" Kusoka's voice got smaller with her words.

"You are asking me to go back with you, but you know I'm a missing-nin" Itachi didn't not want to go back but if the village they were staying in had found out about him so quickly, how fast would Konoha find out?

"Then we could find the rest of the Sannin and help Sasuke" Itachi liked staring into Kusoka's eyes. They were blue, just like the male Naruto's but way, way less dull, in color, not emotion. They had the same light Naruto's had, but the same darkness that laid just at the edges, awaiting the fall of the light. Itachi wouldn't let that happen.

"...um..." Kusoka stared back into Itachi's eyes, still rather unafraid of that fact that he could put her into a Genjutsu at any time.

"If we do get the Sannin back the attack on Konoha might be less imminent, since they're the Sannin," said Kusoka.

"I believe that is a good idea" Itachi nodded, but still stared into Kusoka's eyes.

"Is...do you need anything else?" Kusoka was getting worried and as such her eyes reflected her emotions, forcing Itachi to break eye contact.

"I...am going to go out," Kusoka got up from the couch, "you have summons, yeah? Can you send some to look for the Sannin? It's better to know their location now rather than later"

"I will send them. I think notifying Hokage-sama would be a good idea" Itachi said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, don't wanna give him a heart attack" Kusoka chortled and smiled at Itachi.

Itachi gave a really, really small smile that Kusoka's heart fluttered at.

"I'm just gonna get dressed and...go out" Kusoka said and scurried away from Itachi.

Kusoka left wearing the shorts she had said bought for warmer weather and her short-sleeved shirt for the colder weather.

Kusoka was lost from then on out. She didn't know what to do. Nor did the author, she didn't plan this part out yet.

Mimi waved to Kusoka as she approached the stand. Mimi was a good kid, she reminded her of herself before her mother.

"Nee-chan" Mimi smiled.

"Hiya Mimi, how's your day goin'?" It was about lunch time by now.

"It's okay nee-chan" Mimi smiled. Kusoka smiled back and just loitered around her stand. Oh my god. This author is terrible.

"Nee-chan, are you alright?" Mimi tilted her head cutely.

"Uh, yeah. I think so, just a bit lost is all" Kusoka felt stupid for feeling embarrassed in front of a ten year old.

"Well, daddy says that you should find your goal then plan back-backwards" Mimi was a godsend from the author's writer's block.

"Well I know I have to save a...friend of mine and to do that I have to find some other people but I already have another friend of mine looking for them. This friend is also going to let my other friend that I have to save know that he's in danger..." Kusoka could tell that Mimi was drawing a blank but she didn't really care, it was good to rant to people sometimes.

"Well, um, how long will it take to find those "other people"...?" Kusoka smiled. Mimi was certainly trying her best to understand

"Well, it might take a while to find them and convince them to go back home but I don't really know what to do in between beginning to look for them and finding them—" Kusoka's eyes widened.

"I'm, like, super weak right now so I could ask my friend to train me! Damn, the author—I mean, I should have thought of that earlier" Kusoka said with wide eyes.

"But you should enjoy where you are. You look like you need a vacation"

"This is practically my vacation, at least, this'll be the calmest my life'll be for a while" Kusoka did one of those anime "ehehe"s where the character is kinda embarrassed.

"Well you should still enjoy where you are, even if you do train. I don't know where daddy and I are going to go next so I like to enjoy the places we go" Mimi smiled like the old Naruto would.

"You're like some sort of philosopher, Mimi" Kusoka smiled.

"I try, nee-chan" Mimi giggled.

~~~

1198 words

It's Christmas Eve and I wanted to give you guys a gift, so there it is.

I literally didn't remember Kusoka should train until I was just about to publish it.

I'm thinking of writing more tomorrow and giving you guys another chapter because I have some ideas now.

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