endgames | 022 -- [Action || Voice]

[Filtered to Konoha Shinobi and Temari || 100% Unhackable]

Meeting tonight, at sundown. [What about goes without saying - most of them should know already.] Fourth floor's kitchen. Try not to pull a Kakashi.

[And thus starts off the long to-do-list of Shikamaru's day. The filter goes up in the morning, giving - hopefully - everyone time to see it.

He's decided he needs to talk to Naruto before then. On his way out the building he'll stop by his apartment, or send another filter off to him if he's not around. With everything going on he would be surprised. After he's tracked him down, it's off to the other side of the village to find Tony Stark at his casa, to hand over a project he's been working on for the last several nights. Playing delivery boy again, ugh. No notice this time, though. He's acting like a functional human being again, but he's not up for the sarcastic banter. Once he's done there, it's over to the school to find Katara in the thirty minute window he has after classes let out. Apologies are an order.

Specific things attended to... wow, without Masaomi around this week, he has a lot of time on his hands, huh. Well okay. He goes off to the forest with a bag of coconuts of all things and lines them up at head level when he finds a good spot to sit them for tanto practice - or more precisely: strength training. He's never used his short sword much. The one time he did, he wasn't strong enough with it to do as he intended, so he should work on that now.

And okay, surely by then the sun will be going down... or okay, nope. With a few hours to kill, somehow he winds up at the Seventh Heaven restaurant. In part because he figures it could be a good place to drop off some of the coconuts, and also because he realizes on the way over he hasn't actually eaten yet. Or done much of anything this past week, besides getting Asuma up to speed about Luceti, or working on various projects.

Sooo. Might be nodding off there at the restaurant. Might be napping after he eats, if he doesn't get kicked out for it. SITTING DOWN WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA. Fine, he'll pose a random pointless question to the masses, maybe that'll keep him occupied.]

[Voice]

Wonder why they call this place Luceti. Seems like a dumb name. Does it even mean anything?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Probably for the best on the Sasuke front. Naruto just sighs and lets his head fall back down to the bed.]

Man, I dunno. All I know is that we gotta do something, and fast.

[They'll work on that, without a doubt. He couldn't agree more.]

I ask because while it makes little sense for him to try something here, you've always been a target for him.

True, but... [Hrnnnghhh.] I ran into him when I went to find the Raikage. He didn't try capturin' me back then, even though Kakashi-sensei and Yamato interfered.

I dunno what he's plottin'.

[It makes little sense. According to the records, Akatsuki tried to get him before--

...

Itachi tried to get him before.]

Maybe the Kyuubi is the final ingredient, and he doesn't need you yet.

You think so? [Naruto sits back up again, looking at Shikamaru quizzically.] I guess that'd explain it. But that means that Bee's next on the list, right?

They've already tried getting him once - it explains itself.

But what's stoppin' them from grabbin' me and just hidin' me until they need me? It'd be easier to get what you need as soon as you can, right?

[If this is truly the logic behind what's going on with the Akatsuki and their captures, Naruto wants to make sure he doesn't start feeling a false sense of security. Also, he wants to try and figure out what Madara was up to when he visited him and why he didn't make a move.]

You'd think they'd have tried to nab you years ago, before you could get stronger.

But that could also be the drawback, as they see it. You're unpredictable. Trying to contain you until the proper time would be troublesome, as would dealing with all the people who'd come after you.

... That's true. [They did seem to remove the tailed beast from Gaara relatively quickly after capturing him. They probably don't waste time with holding the Jinchuuriki.]

You think that means anythin' about him here?

It depends.

Yeah, I guess so. We don't really know him in the first place, huh?

Nor how much he really knows has happened, back home.

Yeah, he could be actin' after findin' out about Luceti. [It's all way too dangerous.]

Troublesome as it is, let's hope it stays that way. It limits what we can act on now... but it means he'll be just as cautious.

[Hopefully.]

[He nods.]

Then we should have a good amount of time to set up. Not too much, but enough. Right?

So long as we act now.

And that's what the meeting is for! You're on the ball, Shikamaru!

There anything else you wanna know before tonight?

Can't think of anythin'. You've got most of all that handled.

[For the time being, at least. He sighs.]

I'd better go, then. I have a lot to do before tonight.

[That makes Naruto just smile.]

Right. If anyone's gonna crack this, it's you.

[...right. He gets to his feet.]

I won't screw it up.

I know. [Naruto doesn't have to move much. He knows Shikamaru knows how to let himself out of the apartment. He was still kinda tired, so maybe hanging in bed for a little while longer won't bite him in the ass before the big meeting tonight.]

[Shikamaru leaves with little more than a wave, knocking against the frame as he goes.

He wishes he could have that faith sometimes.]

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