damned_institute | Day 35: Bus 3 (Return Trip)

Naruto had to admit to being annoyed by Sasuke's reaction. As if ignoring Jiraiya's statement and the fact that Naruto was right there next to him was going to make him disappear. He glared slightly at him, further annoyed that he wouldn't even be able to see it. There was no point in glaring if the other person couldn't notice and glare back -- his train of thought confused him slightly, since he wasn't sure he was supposed to want someone's glare on him.

But he did want Sasuke's attention. And he wanted to see just how much Sasuke was trying to deny he was sitting next to him. He waited for Jiraiya to answer, noting the look and nodding briefly.

Then, Naruto yawned, stretching his arms above his head, and when he brought them back down, he made sure that one of them "accidentally" hit Sasuke one the head.

"Whoops, sorry!"

Spying on Akatsuki? It was difficult to suppress the immediate flash of irritation, Konoha treading on my turf -- but logically, Sasuke should have expected Konoha to have sent its best after Akatsuki sooner rather than later. Really, it was something of a surprise that it hadn't earlier.

... although if Sasuke remembered correctly, there hadn't been word of Jiraiya having somehow gotten into contact with Akatsuki. Of course, the man did imply secrecy by saying he'd been spying, but neither Jiraiya nor Akatsuki were exactly low-profile, and Sound had certainly had spies in place.

Sasuke was about to ask what Jiraiya had managed to learn -- as unlikely as it was that the man would actually share his information, especially since there was a member of Akatsuki present (something Sasuke was still working hard at trying to ignore) -- when there was movement to his side. He had just decided to ignore it when Naruto's arm smacked against his head.

On instinct, Sasuke's arm snapped up, hand aiming to grab Naruto's wrist. No shinobi should have been that clumsy; it had to be deliberate. The damn moron --

"And you?" He snapped abruptly, not bothering to turn his gaze towards Naruto. "What point are you from?"

Change of tactic: there was probably no way to avoid Naruto. Sasuke might as well get what he needed to know while he could. If Sasuke was being somewhat temperamental, he was pretending not to notice. Itachi's presence was nagging at the back of his mind like the worst kind of throbbing headache, and the sedative was doing nothing for his decision-making abilities.

Try as he might not to show his surprise, Itachi's eyes widened at Jiraiya's answer. He hadn't heard -- had Jiraiya really been, or had he said that to have some sort of effect on Itachi?

And what, exactly, did Jiraiya know? It was vital to determine this, but not here, in front of Sasuke and Naruto. It was also crucial not to give anything away in questioning Jiraiya, which could very well be Jiraiya's purpose. But the Sannin was a formidable opponent. This situation would require some finesse.

Itachi had learned something already, though. It really did sound as if people could be taken from different times as well as different worlds. The power of the Institution was rather astonishing, though of course nothing that could not be dealt with. Different times. . . it was fascinating to comprehend. Did any of the other shinobi know a future version of himself, know things that might happen to him in the future? What time did Sasuke come from? It was crucial information, but once again, Itachi would not directly ask. This was not the time.

Jiraiya almost smirked when Itachi's eyes widened at his answer. Which meant the elder brother hadn't known about it. Which meant that Itachi was from an earlier time, or his leader hadn't let the others know about the battle. Which meant that the older Uchiha would undoubtedly want to question him.

And that was exact what Jiraiya wanted. He nodded to Itachi--just barely--as Naruto yawned to indicate he might be interested in trading information (although Jiraiya would have to think hard about what, if any, he'd want to trade with the man). Jiraiya had a few questions of his own that he wanted answered, and Itachi would be the most likely to know the truth.

And then Naruto pulled a brat move and "accidentally" whacked Sasuke with one of his arms, distracting Jiraiya and making him snicker a little--subtle, Naruto was not. Sasuke had finally given up on ignoring his student, though, (having realized that it was physically impossible to ignore Naruto, probably), judging by how he questioned Naruto openly a moment after grabbing Naruto's arm. Sasuke was behaving himself for the most part, although that could change if Sasuke decided to tighten his grip on Naruto's arm...

Naruto briefly wondered if all Itachi ever did was sit there quietly looking mysterious and/or brooding, but then remembered he was an Uchiha, and it just seemed to run in the family. At least it made it easier for Naruto to ignore his presence, which he would rather do right now. He knew Jiraiya would take care of him if needed, but Naruto himself had no interest in speaking to him, or becoming allies.

He tensed at Sasuke's question, looking away. He'd almost, somehow, forgotten what had happened instants before he'd been taken here. The institute had distracted him enough that he'd only worried about the present, and less so about the past.

But now it all came back to him, and his eyes darkened slightly, closing off. It was suddenly incredibly difficult to have Sasuke sitting right next to him, but being unable to do what he wanted to; mainly, punching him in the face and yelling. Possibly a lot.

"Oh, I'm just from a few minutes after you tried to kill me a second time," he said, tugging harder on his arm.

Sasuke blinked once, and then narrowed his eyes. He'd certainly heard of this before -- the Yuffie he'd recently spoken with on the bulletin board had come from a point in her life significantly after the one that Sasuke had first met. Perhaps that was the pattern? People were returned, memories wiped, and then taken again later in their timelines?

He'd have to ask around later. For now, though, the fact that the Naruto here now know about their encounter in Sound was probably a good thing. He released Naruto's hand and noted that the Sannin had gone quiet. Doubtless watching in case his apprentice might be in danger.

Orochimaru had done something similar on occasion, although it had been much less concern for a student than watching over his future body.

"Good," he said, somewhat enigmatically. To Sasuke, it meant that that brought them up to date with each other, at the very least. To Naruto, it could mean whatever he wanted it to mean. "You're completely new to the Institute?"

Itachi's brows furrowed slightly at Jiraiya's nod. That was a direct challenge, as Itachi had suspected. But why announce it? Unless Jiraiya was expecting Itachi to willingly divulge information, instead of the two of them trying to manipulate things out of each other. Very direct, and possibly mistaken. Itachi would have to consider. Either way, he would confront Jiraiya as soon as possible and determine a course of action from there.

Though this was on a smaller scale, Itachi had to approve of the way Sasuke drew information from a Sannin while giving away very little about himself, especially if he was still slightly sedated. And he had raised an interesting point -- if Jiraiya and Naruto were still new, Itachi probably had a slight advantage over them with regard to information about their surroundings. He could use this against Jiraiya if necessary.

Good, Itachi would be likely to confront him, and he'd be able to work with that. Not that he expected Itachi to answer his question without wanting information of his own. But there was nothing to do until they actually had a chance to meet--privately.

"We are," Jiraiya answered for Naruto, deciding to cut off the boy instead of giving him a chance to retort, instead changing the subject. "What point in time were you taken?"

While he had to agree that Sasuke had been good at keeping information about himself secret, Jiraiya wanted to know more about when Sasuke was taken from. It would change the nature of things, at the very least.

He also needed to talk to Naruto, sometime soon. It sounded like that meeting with Sasuke had taken a lot out of him, as it had been obvious during their earlier conversion about it. He hadn't of asked Naruto for details back then, but he was considering asking for them now. Jiraiya wasn't sure if Sasuke had been serious about attempting to kill Naruto or not, and that would be his only way to guess at the truth...

Naruto glared viciously at Sasuke, mouth opening to retort something, but Jiraiya interrupted him. He brought his hand back to his side and clenched his fist, fighting his urge to turn and punch Sasuke in the face with all his might.

But he was curious about the time Sasuke had come from, so he bit his tongue and kept quiet. Not that he expected Sasuke to answer with great detail; he'd probably keep as much as he could to himself, as always. He guessed Sasuke had to be either from around the same point as him, or later, since he hadn't seemed surprised to hear about their second encounter. Unless Sai had told him all about it. Which, somehow, wouldn't be all that surprising.

Naruto crossed his arms, glancing at Itachi and narrowing his eyes at him before turning away from him slightly.

Itachi was remaining silent, Sasuke noticed. Probably taking whatever information presented itself and storing it. Perfect ninja.

Something Sasuke was going to have to remember. He couldn't give away too much here, whether about himself or about Landel's -- if Itachi came from a time after Sasuke's, then there was the danger of revealing himself to know less about their world. And if he came from before, there was no point in showing off any advantage until it could be used.

The only thing that was certain was that Sasuke had been in Landel's longer and had more experience with the Institute, at the very least.

"I'll exchange information with you at another point in time," he said, the implicit meaning obvious: when Itachi isn't right there. "If you're new, I believe there are a number of things I can tell you which will be of use. In exchange, I want to establish an alliance."

Nothing complicated, but it was better to work out the same sort of deal he'd had with Naruto when he'd been here last -- or the Naruto who'd been here last, however it should be phrased -- before they had to come to blows.

So Sasuke planned to conceal the information regarding what time he was from. From Itachi specifically, given Sasuke's offer to Jiraiya and (presumably) Naruto. Itachi was more than a little curious, especially if there was a good reason to conceal that information, perhaps something important that happens in the future. Maybe he could draw it out of Jiraiya later, or even Naruto, though the latter was more likely to yell at him than actually converse.

The offer of an alliance took Itachi by surprise, though. So Sasuke was still willing to align himself with Konoha. Admittedly Itachi had done the same with Sai, but his own relationship with Konoha was not in question. As he still had not fully determined Sasuke's strength at this point in time, he decided to keep a closer watch on the younger Uchiha.

Somehow, Jiraiya wasn't surprised by that answer--Itachi's presence made Sasuke very reluctant to share information. And from Sai, Jiraiya knew that Sasuke had been trying to establish at least a few 'alliances'. But the term made Jiraiya smile a bit in amusement--Sasuke was trying so hard to be impassive now--and he thought it was a good thing that Sasuke couldn't see him.

"An 'alliance', huh?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow for a moment. "I'd be willing to discuss it. I assume this 'alliance' would include Naruto as well?"

Jiraiya knew that Sasuke wouldn't discuss details, but he wanted the Uchiha to know that up front: teacher and student come as a pair.

Naruto looked from Sasuke to Jiraiya, hoping he'd hear a positive answer from his used-to-be-best-friend.

An 'alliance'...that was almost like friendship, right? Except the rules were the different. You could be allies with someone you couldn't stand, but then again, Naruto was living proof that you could be friends with someone you couldn't stand either.

An alliance didn't involve any feelings of friendship or attachment, and he knew Sasuke probably liked those because of the information he could gather from them, and the fact that he could easily just end them at will.

But it was better than nothing.

"Obviously," Sasuke said, irritated. He'd been speaking to both of them, after all -- what did Jiraiya think, that Sasuke was stupid enough to exclude a potentially useful shinobi from alliance?

Of course, Itachi was more than useful. He was the best there was, probably, even in Landel's, and those who chose to work with him were probably wise. But Sasuke would never ally with him personally and Sai was a damn fool, thinking for even a second that Sasuke would agree to do so.

"When I say alliance, I mean primarily a trade of information," he clarified. "We'll work together during the nightshift if our goals happen to coincide. To begin with, the name they've given me here is Sean Li, and I'm in M58. You?"

He didn't care about giving out his location in front of Itachi. Let Itachi try to find Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't think of a better situation.

Itachi maintained his silence, watching the three of them carefully from behind shuttered eyes. An alliance based on information, not mutual protection -- that made more sense in the context of Sasuke's relationship with Konoha. However, Itachi would have to be even more careful with Jiraiya, as any information leaked to the Sannin could find its way to Sasuke.

He was a little surprised that Sasuke would be so free with information on his own location, though of course he would want Itachi to try and find him. Itachi had no such plans, but made a note of the fake name and room number nonetheless. They would likely prove as useful in avoiding Sasuke as they would in finding him.

Jiraiya glanced at Naruto--he didn't want the boy to give out his room number around Itachi--but Jiraiya figured it'd be safe to give out his own room number. After all, even without powers, he could probably handle the older Uchiha, and Itachi wasn't stupid enough to make an enemy of him.

"M29," Jiraiya stated. "And the nurses call me Phil Randy."

He knew why Sasuke was fine with giving out his location around Itachi--he wanted Itachi to find him. That much was obvious. And he knew that Sasuke had been talking to the two of them, but he wanted to be absolutely certain that Sasuke knew that Jiraiya was watching Naruto's back.

Jiraiya also knew that Naruto would be dragging him to Sasuke's room come nightshift. He didn't really have much choice in the matter, and since Uchiha didn't seem intent on killing Naruto, Jiraiya wasn't going to argue. The Sannin also had to confess that he wanted to know how well Sasuke worked without his sight.

Naruto nodded, making note of Sasuke's room. He was going to memorize that, and try to go find him during the night. As soon as he could. He was slightly surprised that Sasuke had given them his location so easily; did he forget how insistent Naruto could get? Either way, it was a win for him, for now.

He glanced quickly at Itachi, however, growing more and more uneasy by his silence. Naruto wanted to hit him or yell at him to do or say something, anything, instead of just sitting there observing everything quietly. It was getting on his nerves.

"I'm apparently...Nathan," he mumbled, crinkling his nose slightly in distaste. He liked his name, and that one just sounded weird.

It didn't escape Sasuke's notice that Naruto hadn't bothered to give out his room number. Had he forgotten or was he afraid that Itachi would find him? Either way, Sasuke made a note to get it later. If he was going to trade information, he might as well follow procedure and learn the basics.

After all, Naruto was just another alliance. Nothing special and nothing unique.

Unfortunately, information beyond name and location wasn't anything Sasuke was interested in giving Itachi. Nodding shortly to indicate that he heard, he turned away again -- signalling the end of the conversation as far as Sasuke concerned.

Whether the others might not have considered it a particularly good end to a conversation was something Sasuke didn't really care about.

Day 35: Bus 3 (Return Trip)

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