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chapter seven

"'What do we say about coincidence?'"

"'The universe is rarely so lazy.'"

- Sherlock/Mycroft and whoever wrote BBC's Sherlock

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"I'm only going to summon Tōketsu-sama for emergencies," Sakura said, moving her feet, left and right. Now that they had no rush, Sakura was walking instead of running. They'd made the deadline, now they could sort of relax on their way home. Sakura was a whole heck of a lot nicer because this time she wasn't being completely pressed for time and stressed out. "The others, I'm okay with. I'll have to train with them eventually, learn how they work."

"This will be a great advantage to us, Sakura, thank you for doing this," Kakashi said, taking care not to tread on the sticks lying on the floor. He was doing a good job of not asking how his students were doing. If he asked, it would be prying, which they probably wouldn't appreciate. "I'm sure you'll become very strong."

Sakura looked at him, her eyes shining. For the first time... she was receiving praise from Kakashi. Not Sasuke, not Naruto. Kakashi was praising her. "Thank you," She replied coolly.

Sasuke was watching the skies. When he felt Sakura and Kakashi both look at him, he finally looked down. "I wonder... if we can't figure out how we're going to do this with Lady Tōketsu." Their looks of confusion were irritating. "She said Lord First was killed. She said Minato was killed in our first life for the same reason. I wonder if this doesn't pertain to our mission- find out what is wrong in the shinobi system, destroy it and leave only purity, the way it was meant to be. The way Lord First created it to be."

Kakashi noted that the First Hokage seemed to be the only Hokage Sasuke respected enough to call Lord. He even called Lord Tobirama just 'Senju'. Tsunade was called by her name. Minato was either Minato or Uncle Minato. Sasuke never even spoke Hiruzen's name. It made him smile, since, technically, Sasuke was an incarnate of Madara Uchiha as well. Maybe that was it. Or, he'd heard Suigetsu talking, and apparently, Sasuke had met Lord First in person outside of the battlefield.

"I agree," Sakura said. "Tōketsu is knowledgeable, and I'm sure we can find some way to convince her to help us." Sakura seemed to be thinking about it. "Maybe she'll help us on her own, she seemed pretty sympathetic of us."

Kakashi sighed, relaxing his shoulders. "This was a godsend, in other words. We're getting closer to achieving our goal." He felt Sasuke and Sakura looking at him as if he was crazy. "Of course, we do still have a long time to wait. After all, patience is key. However, this small victory makes me feel as if maybe this is possible. Maybe we can help the people, maybe we can eradicate most of the evil in the shinobi government. Maybe we can do better this time."

Sakura nodded. "I get that feeling too."

The two of them turned to Sasuke and found him quietly chuckling. When asked why he gave them a miserable reply. It was ironic, and it made sense, but it was so, so terribly sad that it shut all attempts at conversation away. Sasuke was right to laugh, even though it was so terrible, it was funny. The three of them were quiet again.

"Sakura-channnnnn, Kakashi-aniiiiiii, temeeeeee!" A cheery voice broke into their silence. The three of them whirled around and saw their eccentric blonde friend. "I found you!"

"Naruto?" Sakura sputtered. "What are you doing here?"

"I sent a clone out last night. I have some stuff to talk to you guys about, ya know!" Naruto said excitedly, jumping down to the floor. His team followed him. The four of them stopped moving, standing in a circle. While you guys were going places," he stuck out his tongue here, "I've been getting stuff done. First thing- Itachi-nii-chan realized you were missing on the day after you left." He said to Sasuke, who's eyes widened. "I had to convince him you were okay, or he would've told your parents, and you'd be screwed. You're welcome. He's been keeping an eye on your clone since. If you undo the jutsu, you'll see what I mean." He said, referencing the fact that the clone's memories come back to the original owner. "Second thing- I have been keeping an eye on Danzo and the ROOT, and it appears that they've been looking into us and our families. We need to be more careful. Third- I've been researching into a telepathic communication Sakura-chan's clone was telling me about, and I think I've got something, but we'll need to try it at home." Sakura nodded. "Fourth- speaking of Sakura-chan, I've convinced your parents to let you get into the academy at a normal age, and I've also gotten us a way to meet up without causing suspicion. In other words, Sakura-chan, I told your parents we were going to be best friends. I can slowly bring Sasuke and Kakashi into this, then we'll be all set." The group let out a collective sigh of relief because Sakura couldn't keep sneaking out of her house without being unnoticed. "Oh, and also the village is fine. I haven't burnt it down yet." Naruto paused, breathing heavily at all the words that left his mouth. Then he turned to the group and started walking towards Konoha. They followed him. "So? How was it in Kumo? Did you see Killer Bee?"