184 Meeting for the Festival

Three days to the Hidden Sports festival, the sun shined brightly over the village hidden in the leaves.

Deidara woke up from the floor, only to see the room empty.

"Hm?"

Deidara found it strange to wake up alone in a house he had been to for the first time.

"Aniki," A voice called out, following which the door opened.

"Ah, Naruto, my man," Deidara answered upon seeing Naruto.

"Good Mornin," Naruto said.

"Good Morning," Deidara replied in return.

"There's breakfast on the table ready for you,"

"The restroom's by the left, so go freshen up and sit down for breakfast," Naruto said.

"Mm," Deidara nodded, following which he headed out.

…

At the table,

Deidara's eyes gleamed.

"We're having Bakudan for breakfast," Minato said with a smile.

Deidara was in a happy mood. He was in a friend's house and now sat at the table with his favorite food right in front of him.

"How do you know it was my favorite?" Deidara asked suddenly.

"Explosions, of course," Minato answered.

Deidara was surprised once again. It looks like Naruto's family loved explosions just like him. To see that his art was appreciated in everything made Deidara like staying in the Hidden Leaf even more.

Minato then looked towards Naruto,

"The Hokage has summoned all the Genins participating in the Sports Festival to his place,"

"Leave after you've had your breakfast," Minato said.

"Sure," Naruto answered,

However, suddenly, he paused to look at Deidara.

"Aniki, would you like to come to the meeting with me?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Eh?" Deidara was confused.

"Not the meeting ya know,"

"It's to meet my friends after the meeting is done, after all, you only met a few of them yesterday," Naruto explained.

"I see…" Deidara murmured, picking the rice and pickled radish with the chopsticks.

After taking a bite, he looked at Naruto.

"Sure," Deidara nodded.

"Glad to hear," Naruto said with a smile.

—————————————

In a particular street of the Hidden Leaf Village,

Four figures walked side by side.

They were Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Karin, respectively.

"You both seem to be really quiet today," Ino said, looking at Karin and Hinata from the side.

"Yeah…" Sakura also joined in.

The group faced a patient's death the previous day, though Hinata was the one who had to bear it the most. Karin, on the other hand, also faced an ordeal, where she screamed in pain when Hiruzen stepped into the room with a crystal ball following which Tsunade sent the two and Shizune out, leaving Karin behind, However, the two seemed to have shared a similar thought process for being silent.

Sakura then approached Karin.

Karin looked at Hinata for a second, while also being reminded about Naruto's future where Hinata was his wife.

("I guess it would be better if she told it,") Karin thought.

"Hmm?" Ino noticed Karin's gaze and looked towards Hinata.

"Hinata, did something happen yesterday aside from the boy in the hospital?" Ino asked.

"…"

"Um…"

"I…"

"…"

"N," Before Hinata could respond, Sakura stopped in front of her.

"If it's difficult for you to say, then you don't have to," Sakura said while lightly bowing down, showing her apology in asking an insensitive question.

Hinata, at this moment, felt confident in talking about the matter, after all, Naruto was Sakura's teammate, and more importantly, the four were practically on the same boat in life when it came to everything from learning to doing missions.

…

"Naruto went on a rampage?" Sakura and Ino were shocked, but Sakura, more so since she already had an inkling about Naruto's identity as the Seventh Hokage, meanwhile Ino along with the rest of the people in the Chūnin Exam Stadium had fallen asleep due to the Genjutsu.

"Naruto?"

"But how?" Ino asked.

"We don't know…" Hinata and Karin answered at the same time.

"…"

"I should have been there for him…" Sakura murmured after hearing from Hinata earlier that Karin and Hinata had already visited Naruto the previous day. But she was also glad that he woke up.

The four then continued walking towards the Hokage Building.

———————————

On the rooftop of the Hokage Building,

Hiruzen stood facing the few genins in front of him with Iruka-sensei by his right and Tsunade accompanied by Shizune to his left. Towards the back of Hiruzen and the others were the senseis of the different teams, Might Guy, Yuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and Hatake Kakashi.

Right now, there were a few genins who had already arrived for the meeting, which included Hyūga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten from Team Guy. Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba from Team Kurenai. Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji from Team Asuma. There was one more genuine that who stood apart from the rest, Apart from that single genie the others had yet to arrive at the rooftop.

"Hah…" Kakashi sighed.

"What is it, my eternal rival?" Guy asked with his usual hot-blooded attitude.

"Nothing…" Kakashi sighed silently.

("Today is the only day I show up before time, and they are not even here?") Kakashi thought internally as he stared at the spot where his cute juniors were supposed to be.

…

A few meters away,

"Did you try talking to that boy?" Tenten asked.

"I did, but he doesn't seem to respond," Lee said with a disappointed face.

("Who is he?") Neji thought as he curiously looked towards the boy who stood away from the genins.

"Hmm?" Neji and Lee sensed a presence.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun,"

"and Jūgo-kun,"

"Good Morning," Lee greeted.

"Mm," Sasuke nodded, following which he looked around.

("Looks like he isn't here") Sasuke thought upon failing to find Naruto.

"Don't worry Sasuke-kun,"

"You're early,"

"We still have time before the meeting," Lee said.

"Mm," Sasuke nodded as he stared at Lee, following which his gaze shifted over to Neji, who stood almost two meters away.

Sasuke was reminded of the day before, where he and Neji fought each other but was interrupted by what had happened to Naruto. He was also reminded of the warning the Great White Snake Sage had given him.

Sasuke hands gripped into fists.

("I am not strong enough,") Sasuke cursed himself.

"Sasuke-kun!!" At this moment, two voices called out to him.

Jūgo, Lee, and Sasuke looked towards the owners of the two voices.

They were naturally Ino and Sakura, who were walking beside Karin and Hinata.

"Sakura-san," Lee's passion was ignited once again; however, he was utterly ignored by the Sakura because at that moment, there was a storm.

("I will get him first!") Ino and Sakura ran towards Sasuke at the same time with the same intention, but suddenly Ino stopped halfway, leaving Sakura to take the lead.

"Sakura," Sasuke called out nonchalantly, seeing Sakura appear before him.

"Sasuke-kun, Good Morning," Sakura wished him, following which she turned around, only to see Ino walking towards someone else.

"That boy…" Sakura murmured.

"Hmm?" Sasuke's eyes were drawn towards the boy Ino headed towards.

("I've never seen him before…") Sasuke thought.

…

"Good Morning," Ino greeted.

"G-"

"Good Morning," the boy replied back.

"Did you take a lot of rest?" Ino asked.

"I did…" the boy responded.

The boy was naturally Sai from the previous day, whom Ino had a chat with after Sai's elder brother Shin passed away.

"Did you cry?" Ino asked.

"Cry?" Sai asked in return.

("You're kidding me,")

("Is he that clueless about emotion?") Ino thought.

"Who's that boy?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh,"

"It's the boy from the hospital yesterday,"

"When we tried to treat his brother, we failed, and he passed away," Sakura said slowly.

("His brother is dead…") Sasuke and Jūgo both internally had different feelings about the message. For Jūgo, he could relate with Sam but had more emotions on the matter; on the other hand, Sasuke only wanted to kill Itachi.

Nearby, Hinata was also busy explaining the situation to her teammates, which was also being overheard by Shikamaru and Chōji.

"So that's the guy, huh…" Shikamaru understood the bigger picture since he already knew about Hinata passing out from trauma on the failure of the treatment, which he had learned at Naruto's house when Naruto had passed out.

"What's that?" Kiba asked, with his hand pointing at a specific location in the sky, causing everyone's attention to turn towards it.

"Hmm?"

"A bird?" Chōji asked with saliva dripping down.

"I'm going to roast it," Chōji said as he brought his hands together to perform an expansion jutsu before which a hand prevented him.

"It isn't just a bird," Shikamaru said.

Sasuke and Kakashi, on the other hand, already had a closeup experience except for a few others seeing it through Naruto's memories.

"How did that man show up?" Sasuke frowned as he continued to stare.

Hiruzen and Tsunade, on the other hand, smiled.

"Hi Everyone," A loud voice interrupted, following which a human-like figure jumped off of the Bird's back.

"Naruto-kun," Lee, Sakura and Karin called out at the same time.

"Hehe," Naruto snickered as he glided down.