[forward-dated to August 18th]

[not_thedragon]

Who: Uchiha Sasuke & Uchiha Obito
When: August 18th
Where: Hokage's office
What: Sasuke thinks he's coming in to talk about a delinquent mission report, but there's something better in store. Sort of.

Mikoto had been the one to deliver the summons, patting him on the head as he'd moaned piteously and somewhat incoherently into his pillow about slavedrivers and writing his reports later. It was possible that he'd heard it from a more official source, but when Sasuke jolted awake to his alarm many hours before he was actually ready to wake up, it was only his mother's message that stuck with him.

Meet Obito in his office as soon as you can tomorrow -- "Ugh," Sasuke groaned aloud, and fumbled for the two mission reports (the mess that had been Yuki, and the hot mess that had been Sky) that were still missing conclusions, hair a riotous mess sticking out in every direction.

An hour later in front of Obito's office doors, his hair was in slightly better condition (again thanks to Mikoto) and the mission reports had conclusions. Scrawled, rather terse ones, but at least they were complete. Squaring his shoulders for the possibility of a lecture on delayed reports right after Obito had warned everyone about missing information, Sasuke knocked on the door.

Comments

[thebestuchiha]

He called for his student to come in, but after taking one look at him, he kind of had to openly stare. Wow, is this what happened when he didn't check in with his brats more often? They just turned into a pile of exhausted jelly?

Clearly this would be welcomed at least.

After he established status.

"Wow you look like shit. You okay?"

[not_thedragon]

Sasuke didn't process the meaning of that blatant stare until the question, which made him look down at himself with a frown first. He was in uniform and not obviously spattered in blood (or feathers), surely there wasn't anything terribly off about his appearance ...

It took a moment, but then he registered that it was meant to be more of a general statement.

"I'll be fine," he said, consciously straightening his spine enough to be appropriate in front of his Hokage (and while Obito was usually more sensei than anything else, Sasuke was pretty sure he should be more formal when officially reporting).

[thebestuchiha]

Obito would have laughed if he wasn't so worried, and he huffed a breath, at him more than anything, and he shook his head. "Yeah... when is the last time you slept? Seriously. Before you ramble off on anything else I want to make sure you won't fall over mid-sentence or something."

He waved a hand to encompass him. "You're kind of ah.... fried."

[not_thedragon]

"The last time I ... ? I woke up an hour ago," he answered, somewhat mystified. Fried wasn't the most accurate description for his state, either (that had been the first couple weeks he'd been learning Chidori techniques), though after a moment's thought Sasuke decided that it probably wasn't supposed to be taken literally.

"I've just had a couple missions in a row," he said, waving the reports as if Obito didn't already know. "Got in kind of late last night, but I got the reports done. Isn't that what you wanted to see me about?"

[thebestuchiha]

"Nope, but you can give them over too." He leaned over, holding out his hand as he looked at him thoughtfully. "Since you wouldn't bring them if they weren't done."

[not_thedragon]

"Huh?" Sasuke gave Obito an eloquently incoherent stare, expression obviously blank with confusion as he handed the reports across the desk. "I mean -- what did you want me for, then?"

There was a moment's pause before he belatedly added, debating only a moment between sensei and : "Hokage-sama."

[thebestuchiha]

His expression was amused, under the hint of worry, and he set the reports by his elbow as he leaned forward, hands folding under him as he stared at him intently, sobering.

"I'm fairly certain you really have no idea."

There was a beat of quiet, with him looking at him, evaluating. "It's fairly important too..."

He drew it out on purpose.

"You've been nominated to take the Jounin exams."

[not_thedragon]

Sasuke delivered a look in return to that first statement that fully confirmed it. He wracked his brain in the pause, trying to remember exactly what it was Mikoto had said he'd needed to come in for -- he was almost completely positive that she'd just said the Hokage would like to see you and not given a motive. The peering, perplexed look lasted as long as the silence.

And was immediately replaced by bald-faced shock.

"I was what?" He repeated, blank. "Jounin? By whom? You know I won't accept it unless it's from Itachi."

[thebestuchiha]

"So I wouldn't tell you if it wasn't from Itachi." He folded his fingers together and rested his chin on him, giving him a little grin, soaking in the reaction. "Yeah?"

[not_thedragon]

So he wouldn't tell him if ... which meant ...

The slam of Sasuke's hands onto Obito's desk probably would have been enough to have the Hokage's guards poking their heads in if they weren't used to the occasional yell when Sasuke visited his sensei; as it was, Sasuke leaned over it without interruption, expression caught in a mix between shock and excitement, trying to look something less obviously delighted.

"Itachi recommended me for advancement? When?! He never told me --" But then, Sasuke had barely been home over the past month, and Itachi had sent something cryptic on his birthday that Sasuke had been too busy to puzzle over. "Why didn't he tell me in person?!"

[thebestuchiha]

Obito's smile grew, turning into an outright grin as he watched Sasuke attempt to not vibrate with happiness. Perfect.

"Maybe he wanted to let me tell you. You're probably going to run straight over and hug him right?"

[not_thedragon]

"Hug --" He blinked, remembering finally where he was and that this was probably supposed to be a formal, dignified sort of situation. "We're too old for hugging, sensei."

Which wasn't to say that Sasuke wasn't still terribly, embarrassingly excited that something -- maybe their last spar, maybe news Itachi had heard from his last missions (though that seemed unlikely), whatever it was, his brother had finally decided he was sufficiently satisfied with Sasuke to advance him.

"What's the next step?" He asked, managing to sound at least somewhat professional about it.

[thebestuchiha]

"Testing. I'll make sure to get you the details once it's set up since it's not on a rotation like the chunin exams is." He decided not to comment on the hugging thing, as he was pretty sure he'd been accurate, and just smiled to himself.

"If you're too old for hugging I guess I've come back around to it from the other side haven't I? Jounin testing is more intense than chunin testing though, since there's already been a trial by fire."

[not_thedragon]

There were worse answers than testing that could have slotted in here, and in any case Sasuke had little doubt that any combat test he might have to deal with would probably pale in comparison to the barrage he'd weathered at Itachi's hands. With effort, he restrained the grin that wanted to break out over his face into a marginally more dignified quirk of the lips and managed to pay attention to Obito's next words.

"Itachi beat me up the last time he was home," he said, waving a hand that was probably something close to overconfident. "But I beat him back almost as badly."

[thebestuchiha]

"And I'm sure he was very proud of you." His tone was amused, light, and he got up from his chair, sweeping around the desk to him. "And if you're not going to hug him, then I guess I just have to hug you, then hug him later and call it secondhand hugs."

[not_thedragon]

You really think so caught on the tip of Sasuke's tongue and was only swallowed by main force of will, because he was way too old to ask something as pathetic as that, but in the next moment he was waving his arms in a half-hearted defensive manoeuvre. "What? Sensei, we're both too old for that!"

[thebestuchiha]

"I told you! I've come back on it from the other side." Leaning away was hardly going to work, and flailing at him? Definitely not. Obito leaned down and hugged his student without further preamble. He knew the boy only needed an excuse for his excitement.

[not_thedragon]

Sasuke's final "Augh!" of protest wound up muffled into Obito's shoulder, accompanied by a few more flails before he finally patted his teacher's back a few times in a bid for release. "Okay, okay, now let me go, sensei," he mumbled, trying to escape before he wound up receiving a hair ruffle on top of this indignity.

And if he didn't sound as displeased as he could have, well, allowances could be made for family, maybe.

[thebestuchiha]

He was smiling though, and stood up, resting his hand on Sasuke's head anyway. "Right right, big manly teenager."

Laughing, he moved back around his desk to resume his seat.

[not_thedragon]

Sasuke tensed, ready to duck out of the danger zone if the hand on his head made any ruffling-type movements, but Obito seemed to have gotten the need to embarrass him out of his system.

"I'm definitely going to be too old for this sort of thing once I complete the jounin testing," he pointed out. "Speaking of, do we get to know what to prepare for, or is it all a surprise like the chuunin exams were?"

[thebestuchiha]

"You can say that all you want but I do that to your brother too. And yes, it's a surprise, and you'll find out during the exam itself how it's going to go."