Ro and Soku had reported that Iwagakure was now ready to send ninja into the Land of Flowers the moment the signal was given. Given that the village was essentially on red alert, it was dangerous to simply leave his Anbu in Iwagakure, and so he had already brought them back to Konohagakure.
“They passed through Kumogakure on their way home and found a pretty good number of ninja there too,” Shikamaru said. “Darui clearly intends to move fast, whatever happens.”
“I see.”
If the continental summit broke down, it would mean war. Konoha needed to ready itself for that moment too. Sasuke’s power rivaled that of Naruto, so when Konoha did eventually intervene in the fighting, they would need him on the front lines.
“I pray that I won’t have to act,” Sasuke said.
“We’re working as hard as we can right now so that you won’t.”
Now that he thought about it, he’d never really talked with Sasuke like this, just the two of them. Back at the academy, he hadn’t really liked Sasuke, the way he’d gotten top grades, everyone fussing and fawning over him, and Sasuke taking it all as his natural due. Shikamaru’d never been directly confrontational with him the way Naruto had, though. He hadn’t actually wanted to get near to him, so it was more like he almost ran from the other boy. After they became ninja, they both grew busy with missions and had even fewer opportunities for conversation than they’d had at school. When Sasuke left the village, Naruto may have wanted to bring him back to fight together once more, but Shikamaru simply drew a line in the sand—Sasuke was at best a rogue ninja. Thinking about it now, Shikamaru had never once tried to understand him.
“I’ve been watching events unfold the whole time from far off,” Sasuke said, staring at the shadows of the leaves flickering on the ground.
Shikamaru waited quietly for him to continue.
“Meeting of the Five Kages, summit of the five great nations, and now a continental summit… You were the architect for all of it, yes?”
“I’m not a god. I don’t have the power to just pull things like that off.”
He’d simply used every piece he’d had at his disposal at each and every opportunity, always choosing what had seemed to be the optimal play. Reality didn’t go as smoothly as a game on the shogi board. The pieces he played in the real world had feelings and quickly moved beyond the realm of his expectations. But that wasn’t to say that it was all bad. Shikamaru and Naruto’s proposal probably wouldn’t have moved the daimyo at the meeting of the five great nations. Ikkyu’s decisive judgement had saved them by the skin of their noses just when they’d lost all hope of victory. This contest was Shikamaru’s current battlefield, all the pieces on the board in motion, their very bodies and souls on the line.
“That might be, but it’s because you’re here that they’ve made it this far.” Sasuke’s tone was curt, but it contained real feeling.
To hide his embarrassment, Shikamaru lowered his face and rubbed his nose.
“That loser’s no good without you. The only reason he can stand as Hokage is because you’re there to support him.”
Loser…
That’s what Sasuke called Naruto, apparently an expression of his love. Sasuke could have given Shikamaru a run for his money when it came to pigheadedness.
“Pft!” He burst out laughing.
“What?” Sasuke arched an eyebrow.
Shikamaru rubbed his nose with a finger. “I was just thinking you and I are more alike than I once thought.”
“I’m not the quick thinker you are.”
“Sure, but you’re pretty sharp.”
“Sharper than Naruto, anyway.”
“You’re not wrong there.”
They both grinned.
“So?” Sasuke’s face grew grim again. “You think it’ll work?”
“Dunno,” Shikamaru answered honestly. “We’ve come this far. Now we just have to bet on the continental summit. Every country’s got their own way of thinking about stuff. If they lean toward the side of the Land of Earth’s daimyo, it’ll be full speed ahead to war, a boulder rolling down a hill.”
“And you’ll be fine with that?” Sasuke asked. “You look to me like you want a world of peace even more than Naruto does.”
I don’t know.
But it was true that he was absolutely convinced they could not let the world be dragged into that spiral of sadness once again. He slowly pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and brought it to his lips. A bolt of lightning raced across the tip.
Sasuke. His lightning-generating technique, Thousand Birds.
“Quite a fancy lighter,” Shikamaru remarked.
“Special just for today.”
Smoke began to drift up from the cigarette.
After inhaling deeply, he let out words together with the smoke. “Naruto’s this village’s sun. He wants peace more than anyone.”
“But he lets his feelings get ahead of him,” Sasuke noted. “It’s because he has you doing the dirty work behind the scenes that he can hope for that peace.”
“I can go as deep into the darkness as I need to so long as he keeps shining,” Shikamaru told him.
Eyes lowered, Sasuke smiled slightly. Head still hanging, he opened his mouth almost shyly. “You’re not the only one supporting Naruto. I’m here, too.”
“He’s the Hokage. He can’t leave Konoha. He can shine because you’re fighting for him outside.”
“And by his side, you sink into the shadows so that he can be the light.”
We really are alike…
Was that it?
Having smoked the cigarette down to the filter, he put it out and tossed the butt in his portable ashtray, closed the lid, and stretched. “It really helps to hear you say that. Just knowing someone’s got my back, I can breathe a little easier while I fight this fight.”
“It’s the same for me.”
Shikamaru felt like he understood Sasuke for the first time.