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Sasuke woke Naruto up as he said he would. Around six-thirty Sasuke walked into the blonde's room and shook him awake gently. He waited for Naruto to lift his head up and knelt down telling him softly they had to wash his tattoo. Sasuke had hoped the two were the first up, however Itachi kept strange hours and had been down in the kitchen for two hours already studying.

Sasuke was kind of hoping to turn the tattoo washing into something more. He wouldn't though, not with Itachi there just sitting in the middle of the floor. Every now and then he would speak repeating some random facts about Kenya. Sasuke finished and wiped the dampness off Naruto sighing. He wandered over to the fridge and pulled out two lunchables tossing one at the blond. They were about to head upstairs when Itachi, not even looking up, grabbed Sasuke's arm. "Stay here, I want to talk with you."

"I'll be up in a bit." Sasuke reassured Naruto who nodded leaving them. Sasuke collapsed on the floor next to his big brother and waited to be scolded.

"You told Kisame that you not only got Zetsu arrested, but you fought him." Itachi closed him books and looked at Sasuke. Sasuke was expecting something along the lines of if Madara found out. "He was truly dangerous, he's not some little punk."

"He's not that dangerous if he thinks you're dangerous and crazy. Anyway, the first thing I did was take his gun away." Sasuke said trying to defend what he did. "He pointed it at me…"

"He had a gun on you?" Itachi asked surprised, he set aside his books. "You could have been killed."

"I took it away after I made him think I was crazy," Sasuke was still trying to defend his position. He didn't expect to win. "I don't expect you to understand, he was only forty feet away from where Naruto was."

"I do understand that, but you're risking you life where it isn't needed. You should have called me; I could have had Zetsu called in for something else if he had gotten close enough." Itachi said and looked at him, "and you didn't even tell me."

"Because you'd freak out like this. Anyway, he would have just been at it later when I wasn't there, I took care of the problem! He was posing an intimate threat and I solved it."

"If he had squealed on you, you are gone, black bird is gone, everything is gone and me and everyone else is up for conspiracy to commit murder!" Itachi yelled, it was rare for Itachi to yell. Sasuke actually felt ashamed, "You're lucky he was too terrified of you and Madara to speak. He cut out his tongue."

"That's gross." Sasuke said and stood up. He was about to start walking away as Itachi picked his book up again, "where's the gun, Sasuke?"

'In my room, on the floor, still in my pants.' Sasuke just shrugged, "I don't know, I just tossed it somewhere. I'm scary enough without a firearm."

---------( ---------- )----------

Naruto lied to his gym teacher Guy saying that he had thrown out his back doing something stupid and ridiculous. He wasn't angry, the teacher was excited that Naruto was trying extreme sports and promised to give him full points for the day. Instead of going in to change Naruto walked over to some gym mats that were folded up and sat down with his bag. He was thinking of bringing out his laptop but remember how fierce the sports get in the gym.

Naruto sighed and just pulled out the printed out version of his story and began reading through it. He actually thought it was funny. As the gym started to fill up he put it back in his bag and decided he's just watch whatever was played in front of him.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Sakura snapped loudly walking over in her gym clothes and she sat down next to him. "Why aren't you changed?"

"I hurt my back, it hurts…" Naruto knew that lie wouldn't hold up so he turned away and began to watch some younger kids playing basket ball. "Did you see that: he just got hit in the face?"

"Naruto…" Sakura growled, Sai walked over also in gym clothes and sat to the other side of him and looked away. Naruto looked between them and gulped. Sasukra looked like she was going to hit him. "You're lying to me."

"Sai, help please." Naruto asked and Sasi looked at him. Sai usually had something cold and intelligent to say. Naruto hoped this time, it would be directed at Sakura. However Sai as always said something that would hurt Naruto's case.

"Lying is bad." The words came out flatly without any emotions what so ever. Naruto grabbed his bag and was about to move when they both held out their hands and stopped him. "Sakura wants to talk to you about something."

Naruto thought Sakura had found out what he did last week and started defending himself. "There is no proof that I threw shaving cream bombs at the teacher's cars. This is defamatory, I will not let slander…"

"Naruto… We helped you bomb their cars." Sakura said rolling her eyes. Naruto let out an 'oh yea' not remembering the incident that well. Saukra pulled out her bright pink bedazzeled cell phone and opened it up. She pressed a couple buttons and pulled up a picture. "Before I show you this, you had better have a good reason, got it?"

"I guess… I don't know." Naruto waited for her to show him the picture. Sakura sighed and tilted the phone his direction. Naruto looked down and saw Sasuke and himself sitting by the window at the diner. He didn't get it at all and looked at her somewhat confused. "And…"

"Well. What do you have to say for yourself?" Sakura asked and snapped the phone shut. Naruto just shrugged, he didn't see anything in it. "You don't have anything to say?"

He shook his head, "I was bummed out and they took me for cake. What do you want me to say?"

"Sakura thinks they are bad chickens." Sai said incorrectly. Naruto and Sakura took a second to laugh at his sentence. "Is that a funny thing?"

"Bad eggs, not chickens." She pointed a finger at Naruto. "They are like the worst people in the school, how can you just go off willy nilly with them. Especially with him, he's…"

"A good friend." Naruto tried to end the conversation there and then. He knew his back wasn't injured, he could easily break past both of them and escape. He grabbed his bag began walking out of the gym. The two caught up to him. "I have nothing more to say about it. You mind as well go back to playing volleyball or something."

"He's a druggie…" She posed and Naruto quickly shrugged off the notion.

"No, he's not. He doesn't even drink; all he does is smoke, which he is trying to stop by the way." Naruto went into the gym hallway where he set his bag down and sat down himself. He needed to clean his tattoo soon. It felt like it was peeling. "Just sit down and listen, alright?"

Sakura huffed to herself, she didn't want to hear what he was going to say. She thought he was just being stupid. Sai's mind was pretty clear of all thoughts except following the order he was given. The two waited while Naruto gathered his thoughts.

"They've kind of adopted me; they're really awesome people in different clothing. Like Sai, Sasuke draws, he's amazing at it, even better then you." Sai took a second to think about it. "And Suigetsu like to beat on people just like you Sakura."

"So what, that doesn't change who they are and what you did!" She folded her arms and looked hurt. "You argue with us for making some honest fun and ditch us. You go off with them instead of us. We've been you're friends for years, he nearly left you for dead."

"He was going through a hard spot when he did that." Naruto defended quickly. Sakura was somewhat surprised. "I'm not going to explain it but after thinking about it, we're both kind of glad it happened. I got stronger and he mellowed out a lot. Anyway, I would have only died if he had kicked my head a couple more times…"

"You have Stockholm Syndrome." Sai said quietly getting their attention. "You are a victim identifying with a capturer or abuser." Naruto immediately began denying it and found himself accidently scratching his back. He pulled away instantly and clasped his hand under his leg. "I've read about it in Freud, you get used to it…"

"First off, I do not have Stockholm Syndrome." Naruto said loudly. "He's not a capturer or an abuser, he's a friend. A good one who doesn't interrogate me or call me out because I don't think making fun of other people is funny. Lastly, Freud sucks and most of his teachings have been discredited."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked staring at him and his hand accidentally went straight back to where it was scratching earlier, "why do you keep scratching your back?"

Naruto noticed his hand had come out and he was indeed scratching it. Naruto swore and went into the boys' locker room; he knew Sai had followed him. Naruto quickly flung off his shirt, technically Sasuke's shirt, and checked his back in the mirror. "Goddamn it. I think it's irritated."

"You got a tattoo!?" Sakura shrieked walking in next to Sai. Naruto besides the obvious 'this is the boys' locker room' didn't have anything to say. "Why would you get a tattoo? You're sixteen. Jiraiya is going to kill you."

"Jiraiya's not going to find out!" Naruto stressed to her. Naruto just grabbed a paper towel and wet it down. He went over it lightly a few times before stopping, "why are you freaking out about what I'm doing? It's not like any of it's bad."

"It is, you were tattooed, you're hanging out with the bad kids." Sakura muttered and began to walk away.

"What if they're not the bad kids? They work hard, they get good grades, and they support each other. And through that, they've never make fun of other people, they're really generous and they've had more hardships in their lives than you can ever imagine." Naruto angled himself and dabbed the tattoo lightly.

He waited for responses from either of them but they were quite. Naruto washed his tattoo completely and put his shirt back on to see Sakura just glaring at him. Sai was rather indiscriminate on the subject and was looking at the graffiti on the walls. Naruto just looked passed them and went outside to the hall and picked up his bag.

He didn't want to argue with them anymore, he just wanted a break from them, to see things from a new side. Naruto, for the first time in his life, walked out on a class. He walked out of the hallway, walked out of the gym area, and stopped on the other side of the vending machine kneeling down in front of Karin and Suigetsu who were somewhat surprised. "Is Sasuke here today?"

"Was, he said he'll be back. He went home for lunch, should be back maybe near the end of school if you want to wait." Karin said sticking a piece of carrot in her mouth.

Suigetsu leaned foreword, "you upset me; you were supposed to scream." He said quietly and leaned back. Karin slapped his chest with the back of her hand quickly. "He was, he didn't scream at all, I slept through his tattooing."

"Why don't you just go to Black Bird, Sasuke's having a tough morning if you haven't noticed." Karin stated quietly. Naruto had noticed, he nodded towards them and took off out the buildings. "He's skipping…"

"We are such marvelous influences… Maybe we should write an editorial to the school newspaper. 'How to be a bad influence without really trying by Suigetsu…'" Karin slapped him upside the head and laughed. "Now you're contradicting yourself."

"It'd never get published." She said and kept eating. Karin knew everyone on the staff was horribly stuck up; a kid like Suigetsu would never get published in it. Hell, they even rejected normal kids just because they didn't like them.

"Wanna bet a lunch on that?" Suigetsu smiled, he had a twisted little idea in his head, and he knew how to win the bet. Karin thought it over for a minute. "Or how about chores around the house for a week?" They shook hands immediately.

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Naruto took the teacher parking lot exit out and began walking down the sidewalk when several of the teachers were walking up. To no surprise, Kakashi was among them and stopped him by simply putting a hand on his head, "and where are you off to?"

"I need to go collect my thoughts; the last few days have been really hard on me." Naruto said pathetically. He was being truthful, and Kakashi could tell because Naruto looked like he was about to start crying. Kakashi sighed, rubbed his hair and kept walking. "Wait, you're not going to yell at me?"

"Nope, you've had enough to deal with. Being a teenager's hard enough without having a house burn down. Just get your assignment in either today or tomorrow, alright." Kakashi said and turned to, what Naruto assumed behind the scarf was, smile at him. Naruto watched his teacher walk off for a minute before continuing to walk away.

For a few minutes, Naruto staved off tears, but he did just feel really bad. He felt like curling up on the sidewalk like he did yesterday. He was yelled at basically for making new friends. And then Sasuke…

Naruto wandered for a few minutes wiping away a few tears here and there. He didn't want to show up in front of Sasuke crying. He knew he wouldn't be laughed at, but he did want to do it. He walked towards the house and when he looked up he saw two familiar eyes staring at him. With one last effort Naruto stopped crying and wiped his eyes.

Sasuke was sitting on the steps of the entrance house smoking when he spotted Naruto a block away. At first Sasuke thought it must be someone else but Naruto was probably the only one with a dark blue shirt with the British Royal family's crest on it. Sasuke took a second to inhale the smoke than dropped the cigarette and smudged it out with his foot. He stood up and walked over the five feet he was away to meet Naruto.

"Why aren't' you in…" Sasuke stopped and saw the condition around Naruto's eyes. Naruto tried to turn away for a minute but Sasuke grabbed the side of his face and held him there. "Are you crying?"

"I was, a little. I'm kind of having a bad day." Naruto muttered.

Sasuke quickly wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulder and began leading him up the steps. "The last thing you want to do is be crying on the street, one of the druggies thinks he's Sigmund Freud. He's actually not that bad at it except he goes around in drag."

Naruto laughed some as they went inside the entrance house, he couldn't figure out why Freud was being tossed around today. Sasuke let go of him to head down the stairs first, "he's really good with ink blot tests too, but it's hard to look at them when he's in a tight red dress with fish nets. I swear it is the funniest sight."

Naruto by now had cheered up; he hadn't noticed that Sasuke had done it in a few simple sentences. The young Uchiha however was fully aware and took it upon himself to keep the task up. "What's really fun with him, is when you act like him or talk to him from his point of view, he calls you completely insane."

Sasuke threw himself down on the couch and watched as Naruto sat right next to him. "I kind of what to meet him now. He seems like he'd make an interesting conversation."

"I'll take you to meet him later, just come up with a mental disorder in the time being. It makes it hilarious. Make it something strange too." They laughed together in the quiet of the Black Bird's basement.

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Itachi was half way thinking of not going to see Madara, but then again, he needed to know what the crackpot was up to himself and not second hand where details go missing. To another of his distresses, he came in eleventh on the test. He wouldn't be going to Kenya, he's have to find his own way around to getting his observation paper done.

Itachi walked into the Science building and walked through the hallway being stared at by all the students in lab coats. Someone not in a lab coat or suit was odd here. He ignored their gazes and just went up the stairs to the first door and barged in. The meeting in Madara's office was somewhat still in progress which he had paused by walking in and throwing himself down in a corner. As the door shut Nagato continued talking about the issues at hand with Zetsu in custody. "He can't be linked by any evidence, however they have an intention to link him somehow to the campus and do full out explorations. We'll be uncovered completely if that were too happen."

Itachi almost muttered 'good' but kept his mouth shut.

"The lower level subpoenas won't hold up in court," Deidara charged quickly. All the intention in the room turned to him, Itachi noted that he looked drowsy. He wondered how late Madara had called him and informed him of the arrest and it's his job to get on it. "It's too broad, it'd be accusing the college itself of wrong doing which they'd have to prove intent that the college was planning on harboring a criminal or using him in someway.

"I've already talk to a district attorney who has links to the campus, they're refusing to prosecute him with links to the college besides the killings he's done. They're taking the angle that the college was an 'opportunistic spot for the slayings of young men and women.' We're pretty safe."

"I knew having a lawyer was a good idea." Madara rewarded himself with the compliment. He jotted down a note on his piece of paper really quickly and turned to his eldest nephew. "You could make it, why don't you share your idea?"

"It's not an idea, it's common sense. If you redo all the research on animals, you can release the documentation. If you release the documentation you'll get more followers and the funding you need. Also, if you go back to actually being scientist and not conspirators, we wouldn't have to worry with a lawyer or being found out because we'd have nothing to hide, idiots." Itachi crossed his arms and turned away, he didn't care what they thought, he was right and he knew it.

The room went silent for a few minutes before Kisame broke out laughing, "he called you all idiots."

"You're included." Itachi snapped quickly. "How many times did I tell you there wasn't a garbage disposal? At least twenty."

"Why don't we dismiss the meeting, I'll be in contact soon." Madara said standing up, the room soon emptied except him and Itachi. Madara walked over and sat down in a chair next to Itachi, "so, what are you so angry about?"

"I came in eleventh. I have to find another way to do my travel paper." Itachi looked up and stared at the ceiling. "I could probably go to Candada for cheap…"

"Where'd you want to go?" Madara asked remembering Sasuke's request.

Itachi shrugged, "I'd like to go to Australia. I think studying the Aborigines would be interesting. However that's thousands of dollars and I have a week until I have to declare where I'm going."

"I'll pay." Itachi stopped and looked up at him, "Just let me know when you have to go and I'll get everything set up."

Itachi took a second for himself, the offer seemed to good to be true, he thought there must be a reason. "Okay, thanks. Why are you going to pay?"

Madara gave an answer Itachi didn't want to hear but wasn't surprised by. "Sasuke asked me to if you didn't get into Kenya, he even offered to give up his allowance for it. I told him not to worry I'd pay both." Madara wasn't doing it for Itachi, he was doing it for Sasuke.

Description
Sasuke woke Naruto up as he said he would. Around six-thirty Sasuke walked into the blonde's room and shook him awake gently. He waited for Naruto to lift his head up and knelt down telling him softly they had to wash his tattoo. Sasuke had hoped the two were the first up, however Itachi kept strange hours and had been down in the kitchen for two hours already studying.

Sasuke was kind of hoping to turn the tattoo washing into something more. He wouldn't though, not with Itachi there just sitting in the middle of the floor. Every now and then he would speak repeating some random facts about Kenya. Sasuke finished and wiped the dampness off Naruto sighing. He wandered over to the fridge and pulled out two lunchables tossing one at the blond. They were about to head upstairs when Itachi, not even looking up, grabbed Sasuke's arm. "Stay here, I want to talk with you."

"I'll be up in a bit." Sasuke reassured Naruto who nodded leaving them. Sasuke collapsed on the floor next to his big brother and waited to be scolded.

"You told Kisame that you not only got Zetsu arrested, but you fought him." Itachi closed him books and looked at Sasuke. Sasuke was expecting something along the lines of if Madara found out. "He was truly dangerous, he's not some little punk."

"He's not that dangerous if he thinks you're dangerous and crazy. Anyway, the first thing I did was take his gun away." Sasuke said trying to defend what he did. "He pointed it at me…"

"He had a gun on you?" Itachi asked surprised, he set aside his books. "You could have been killed."

"I took it away after I made him think I was crazy," Sasuke was still trying to defend his position. He didn't expect to win. "I don't expect you to understand, he was only forty feet away from where Naruto was."

"I do understand that, but you're risking you life where it isn't needed. You should have called me; I could have had Zetsu called in for something else if he had gotten close enough." Itachi said and looked at him, "and you didn't even tell me."

"Because you'd freak out like this. Anyway, he would have just been at it later when I wasn't there, I took care of the problem! He was posing an intimate threat and I solved it."

"If he had squealed on you, you are gone, black bird is gone, everything is gone and me and everyone else is up for conspiracy to commit murder!" Itachi yelled, it was rare for Itachi to yell. Sasuke actually felt ashamed, "You're lucky he was too terrified of you and Madara to speak. He cut out his tongue."

"That's gross." Sasuke said and stood up. He was about to start walking away as Itachi picked his book up again, "where's the gun, Sasuke?"

'In my room, on the floor, still in my pants.' Sasuke just shrugged, "I don't know, I just tossed it somewhere. I'm scary enough without a firearm."

---------( ---------- )----------

Naruto lied to his gym teacher Guy saying that he had thrown out his back doing something stupid and ridiculous. He wasn't angry, the teacher was excited that Naruto was trying extreme sports and promised to give him full points for the day. Instead of going in to change Naruto walked over to some gym mats that were folded up and sat down with his bag. He was thinking of bringing out his laptop but remember how fierce the sports get in the gym.

Naruto sighed and just pulled out the printed out version of his story and began reading through it. He actually thought it was funny. As the gym started to fill up he put it back in his bag and decided he's just watch whatever was played in front of him.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Sakura snapped loudly walking over in her gym clothes and she sat down next to him. "Why aren't you changed?"

"I hurt my back, it hurts…" Naruto knew that lie wouldn't hold up so he turned away and began to watch some younger kids playing basket ball. "Did you see that: he just got hit in the face?"

"Naruto…" Sakura growled, Sai walked over also in gym clothes and sat to the other side of him and looked away. Naruto looked between them and gulped. Sasukra looked like she was going to hit him. "You're lying to me."

"Sai, help please." Naruto asked and Sasi looked at him. Sai usually had something cold and intelligent to say. Naruto hoped this time, it would be directed at Sakura. However Sai as always said something that would hurt Naruto's case.

"Lying is bad." The words came out flatly without any emotions what so ever. Naruto grabbed his bag and was about to move when they both held out their hands and stopped him. "Sakura wants to talk to you about something."

Naruto thought Sakura had found out what he did last week and started defending himself. "There is no proof that I threw shaving cream bombs at the teacher's cars. This is defamatory, I will not let slander…"

"Naruto… We helped you bomb their cars." Sakura said rolling her eyes. Naruto let out an 'oh yea' not remembering the incident that well. Saukra pulled out her bright pink bedazzeled cell phone and opened it up. She pressed a couple buttons and pulled up a picture. "Before I show you this, you had better have a good reason, got it?"

"I guess… I don't know." Naruto waited for her to show him the picture. Sakura sighed and tilted the phone his direction. Naruto looked down and saw Sasuke and himself sitting by the window at the diner. He didn't get it at all and looked at her somewhat confused. "And…"

"Well. What do you have to say for yourself?" Sakura asked and snapped the phone shut. Naruto just shrugged, he didn't see anything in it. "You don't have anything to say?"

He shook his head, "I was bummed out and they took me for cake. What do you want me to say?"

"Sakura thinks they are bad chickens." Sai said incorrectly. Naruto and Sakura took a second to laugh at his sentence. "Is that a funny thing?"

"Bad eggs, not chickens." She pointed a finger at Naruto. "They are like the worst people in the school, how can you just go off willy nilly with them. Especially with him, he's…"

"A good friend." Naruto tried to end the conversation there and then. He knew his back wasn't injured, he could easily break past both of them and escape. He grabbed his bag began walking out of the gym. The two caught up to him. "I have nothing more to say about it. You mind as well go back to playing volleyball or something."

"He's a druggie…" She posed and Naruto quickly shrugged off the notion.

"No, he's not. He doesn't even drink; all he does is smoke, which he is trying to stop by the way." Naruto went into the gym hallway where he set his bag down and sat down himself. He needed to clean his tattoo soon. It felt like it was peeling. "Just sit down and listen, alright?"

Sakura huffed to herself, she didn't want to hear what he was going to say. She thought he was just being stupid. Sai's mind was pretty clear of all thoughts except following the order he was given. The two waited while Naruto gathered his thoughts.

"They've kind of adopted me; they're really awesome people in different clothing. Like Sai, Sasuke draws, he's amazing at it, even better then you." Sai took a second to think about it. "And Suigetsu like to beat on people just like you Sakura."

"So what, that doesn't change who they are and what you did!" She folded her arms and looked hurt. "You argue with us for making some honest fun and ditch us. You go off with them instead of us. We've been you're friends for years, he nearly left you for dead."

"He was going through a hard spot when he did that." Naruto defended quickly. Sakura was somewhat surprised. "I'm not going to explain it but after thinking about it, we're both kind of glad it happened. I got stronger and he mellowed out a lot. Anyway, I would have only died if he had kicked my head a couple more times…"

"You have Stockholm Syndrome." Sai said quietly getting their attention. "You are a victim identifying with a capturer or abuser." Naruto immediately began denying it and found himself accidently scratching his back. He pulled away instantly and clasped his hand under his leg. "I've read about it in Freud, you get used to it…"

"First off, I do not have Stockholm Syndrome." Naruto said loudly. "He's not a capturer or an abuser, he's a friend. A good one who doesn't interrogate me or call me out because I don't think making fun of other people is funny. Lastly, Freud sucks and most of his teachings have been discredited."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked staring at him and his hand accidentally went straight back to where it was scratching earlier, "why do you keep scratching your back?"

Naruto noticed his hand had come out and he was indeed scratching it. Naruto swore and went into the boys' locker room; he knew Sai had followed him. Naruto quickly flung off his shirt, technically Sasuke's shirt, and checked his back in the mirror. "Goddamn it. I think it's irritated."

"You got a tattoo!?" Sakura shrieked walking in next to Sai. Naruto besides the obvious 'this is the boys' locker room' didn't have anything to say. "Why would you get a tattoo? You're sixteen. Jiraiya is going to kill you."

"Jiraiya's not going to find out!" Naruto stressed to her. Naruto just grabbed a paper towel and wet it down. He went over it lightly a few times before stopping, "why are you freaking out about what I'm doing? It's not like any of it's bad."

"It is, you were tattooed, you're hanging out with the bad kids." Sakura muttered and began to walk away.

"What if they're not the bad kids? They work hard, they get good grades, and they support each other. And through that, they've never make fun of other people, they're really generous and they've had more hardships in their lives than you can ever imagine." Naruto angled himself and dabbed the tattoo lightly.

He waited for responses from either of them but they were quite. Naruto washed his tattoo completely and put his shirt back on to see Sakura just glaring at him. Sai was rather indiscriminate on the subject and was looking at the graffiti on the walls. Naruto just looked passed them and went outside to the hall and picked up his bag.

He didn't want to argue with them anymore, he just wanted a break from them, to see things from a new side. Naruto, for the first time in his life, walked out on a class. He walked out of the hallway, walked out of the gym area, and stopped on the other side of the vending machine kneeling down in front of Karin and Suigetsu who were somewhat surprised. "Is Sasuke here today?"

"Was, he said he'll be back. He went home for lunch, should be back maybe near the end of school if you want to wait." Karin said sticking a piece of carrot in her mouth.

Suigetsu leaned foreword, "you upset me; you were supposed to scream." He said quietly and leaned back. Karin slapped his chest with the back of her hand quickly. "He was, he didn't scream at all, I slept through his tattooing."

"Why don't you just go to Black Bird, Sasuke's having a tough morning if you haven't noticed." Karin stated quietly. Naruto had noticed, he nodded towards them and took off out the buildings. "He's skipping…"

"We are such marvelous influences… Maybe we should write an editorial to the school newspaper. 'How to be a bad influence without really trying by Suigetsu…'" Karin slapped him upside the head and laughed. "Now you're contradicting yourself."

"It'd never get published." She said and kept eating. Karin knew everyone on the staff was horribly stuck up; a kid like Suigetsu would never get published in it. Hell, they even rejected normal kids just because they didn't like them.

"Wanna bet a lunch on that?" Suigetsu smiled, he had a twisted little idea in his head, and he knew how to win the bet. Karin thought it over for a minute. "Or how about chores around the house for a week?" They shook hands immediately.

---------( ----------- )---------

Naruto took the teacher parking lot exit out and began walking down the sidewalk when several of the teachers were walking up. To no surprise, Kakashi was among them and stopped him by simply putting a hand on his head, "and where are you off to?"

"I need to go collect my thoughts; the last few days have been really hard on me." Naruto said pathetically. He was being truthful, and Kakashi could tell because Naruto looked like he was about to start crying. Kakashi sighed, rubbed his hair and kept walking. "Wait, you're not going to yell at me?"

"Nope, you've had enough to deal with. Being a teenager's hard enough without having a house burn down. Just get your assignment in either today or tomorrow, alright." Kakashi said and turned to, what Naruto assumed behind the scarf was, smile at him. Naruto watched his teacher walk off for a minute before continuing to walk away.

For a few minutes, Naruto staved off tears, but he did just feel really bad. He felt like curling up on the sidewalk like he did yesterday. He was yelled at basically for making new friends. And then Sasuke…

Naruto wandered for a few minutes wiping away a few tears here and there. He didn't want to show up in front of Sasuke crying. He knew he wouldn't be laughed at, but he did want to do it. He walked towards the house and when he looked up he saw two familiar eyes staring at him. With one last effort Naruto stopped crying and wiped his eyes.

Sasuke was sitting on the steps of the entrance house smoking when he spotted Naruto a block away. At first Sasuke thought it must be someone else but Naruto was probably the only one with a dark blue shirt with the British Royal family's crest on it. Sasuke took a second to inhale the smoke than dropped the cigarette and smudged it out with his foot. He stood up and walked over the five feet he was away to meet Naruto.

"Why aren't' you in…" Sasuke stopped and saw the condition around Naruto's eyes. Naruto tried to turn away for a minute but Sasuke grabbed the side of his face and held him there. "Are you crying?"

"I was, a little. I'm kind of having a bad day." Naruto muttered.

Sasuke quickly wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulder and began leading him up the steps. "The last thing you want to do is be crying on the street, one of the druggies thinks he's Sigmund Freud. He's actually not that bad at it except he goes around in drag."

Naruto laughed some as they went inside the entrance house, he couldn't figure out why Freud was being tossed around today. Sasuke let go of him to head down the stairs first, "he's really good with ink blot tests too, but it's hard to look at them when he's in a tight red dress with fish nets. I swear it is the funniest sight."

Naruto by now had cheered up; he hadn't noticed that Sasuke had done it in a few simple sentences. The young Uchiha however was fully aware and took it upon himself to keep the task up. "What's really fun with him, is when you act like him or talk to him from his point of view, he calls you completely insane."

Sasuke threw himself down on the couch and watched as Naruto sat right next to him. "I kind of what to meet him now. He seems like he'd make an interesting conversation."

"I'll take you to meet him later, just come up with a mental disorder in the time being. It makes it hilarious. Make it something strange too." They laughed together in the quiet of the Black Bird's basement.

---------( ---------- )---------

Itachi was half way thinking of not going to see Madara, but then again, he needed to know what the crackpot was up to himself and not second hand where details go missing. To another of his distresses, he came in eleventh on the test. He wouldn't be going to Kenya, he's have to find his own way around to getting his observation paper done.

Itachi walked into the Science building and walked through the hallway being stared at by all the students in lab coats. Someone not in a lab coat or suit was odd here. He ignored their gazes and just went up the stairs to the first door and barged in. The meeting in Madara's office was somewhat still in progress which he had paused by walking in and throwing himself down in a corner. As the door shut Nagato continued talking about the issues at hand with Zetsu in custody. "He can't be linked by any evidence, however they have an intention to link him somehow to the campus and do full out explorations. We'll be uncovered completely if that were too happen."

Itachi almost muttered 'good' but kept his mouth shut.

"The lower level subpoenas won't hold up in court," Deidara charged quickly. All the intention in the room turned to him, Itachi noted that he looked drowsy. He wondered how late Madara had called him and informed him of the arrest and it's his job to get on it. "It's too broad, it'd be accusing the college itself of wrong doing which they'd have to prove intent that the college was planning on harboring a criminal or using him in someway.

"I've already talk to a district attorney who has links to the campus, they're refusing to prosecute him with links to the college besides the killings he's done. They're taking the angle that the college was an 'opportunistic spot for the slayings of young men and women.' We're pretty safe."

"I knew having a lawyer was a good idea." Madara rewarded himself with the compliment. He jotted down a note on his piece of paper really quickly and turned to his eldest nephew. "You could make it, why don't you share your idea?"

"It's not an idea, it's common sense. If you redo all the research on animals, you can release the documentation. If you release the documentation you'll get more followers and the funding you need. Also, if you go back to actually being scientist and not conspirators, we wouldn't have to worry with a lawyer or being found out because we'd have nothing to hide, idiots." Itachi crossed his arms and turned away, he didn't care what they thought, he was right and he knew it.

The room went silent for a few minutes before Kisame broke out laughing, "he called you all idiots."

"You're included." Itachi snapped quickly. "How many times did I tell you there wasn't a garbage disposal? At least twenty."

"Why don't we dismiss the meeting, I'll be in contact soon." Madara said standing up, the room soon emptied except him and Itachi. Madara walked over and sat down in a chair next to Itachi, "so, what are you so angry about?"

"I came in eleventh. I have to find another way to do my travel paper." Itachi looked up and stared at the ceiling. "I could probably go to Candada for cheap…"

"Where'd you want to go?" Madara asked remembering Sasuke's request.

Itachi shrugged, "I'd like to go to Australia. I think studying the Aborigines would be interesting. However that's thousands of dollars and I have a week until I have to declare where I'm going."

"I'll pay." Itachi stopped and looked up at him, "Just let me know when you have to go and I'll get everything set up."

Itachi took a second for himself, the offer seemed to good to be true, he thought there must be a reason. "Okay, thanks. Why are you going to pay?"

Madara gave an answer Itachi didn't want to hear but wasn't surprised by. "Sasuke asked me to if you didn't get into Kenya, he even offered to give up his allowance for it. I told him not to worry I'd pay both." Madara wasn't doing it for Itachi, he was doing it for Sasuke.