Reborn!

28: Aeroplane: Hikōki

"You have to quit that habit of calling me 'Master' every time. You guys didn't have this problem before," Naruto grumbled, taking a closer look at the amulet that the redhead was working on before his arrival.

Sōjirō cocked his head to the side.

"Master must have noticed it by now," he stated clearly.

Naruto flinched back and looked up at Sōjirō warily.

"Don't say it..." he mumbled in denial, although his words held no restraining power.

For once, the clone did not obey.

"The fact that you were so much more restricted in your previous lifetime," Sōjirō continued reasonably.

Naruto gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut.

Of course, he had noticed.

"The life I am living is real," he insisted, turbid anxiety wrenching in his gut as he grabbed the blood clone's collar and stared harshly into Sōjirō's eyes.

He just did not want to accept it.

"Master. We know that," Sōjirō responded calmly, his eyes tranquil in contrast to the agitation of his creator.

Naruto was also aware of that.

It was just that... If this world was really...

The blond took a deep breath, restraining his rampant emotions as he took a step back with difficulty.

He just could not accept the possibility.

The possibility that the true nature of this world was the terrible situation he had thought up.

Hopefully, those suspicions were but a figment of his overactive imagination.

ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ

"Everyone, gather up!" Kakashi shouted, clapping his hands crisply.

"Kakashi-senpai, the Suna siblings are not set to leave yet," Sōjirō remarked, fiddling with a braided cord of chakra conductive threads.

Kakashi eye-smiled, speaking cheerfully, "That's exactly why. We have to handle the exit protocols before they come out."

Sōjirō nodded, suggesting reasonably, "So you should hurry and go submit the relevant documents. It would not do for us to be late because you chose to dally when you could have done this in advance, senpai."

Kakashi gave a long sigh. "Sōjirō-san, you are about the only person who can tell me how to be on time and get away with it."

"Yes, yes. Now go," Sōjirō replied, shooing him away impatiently.

"He listens to you," Sasuke commented from where he was observing the situation.

Although Kakashi who was not on alert did not perceive his presence, Sasuke had been in the main hall all along. The Uchiha heir was not usually a morning person, but he was awake now (without anyone having to drag him out of bed) and waiting in the hall all this time. The raven-haired teen had been pulling all-nighters to maximise his gains from consulting (mostly through spars) with the only known Shakuton user, Pakura. Knowing the end of this period during which he could just look for her whenever he needed a revelation to spur on his progress was drawing near, Sasuke was zealous in his pursuit of mastery of the chakra nature.

"Sasuke..." Sōjirō informed with a troubled frown, "You are in quite the state."

Incidentally, Sakura happened to come down the stairs right then -- her eyes were immediately drawn to the sight of the completely worn-down Uchiha.