Chapter 678 - 678: The Tsubame Maru Ichi-Gō

As Sasuke gazed over the railing of the Great Sakura Bridge, he could not help but wax nostalgic about his first real mission as a ninja. Four and a half years after construction had finished, the bridge he had helped build was still standing proudly in the strait separating the Land of Fire from the Land of Waves. It had survived the Fourth Shinobi World War and completely revitalised the Land of Waves economy, and it was all thanks to Team 7.

"Jii…"

The fog had rolled in incredibly thick that morning. Sasuke could not see the deep blue waters of the strait below, but he could still vividly picture eating dinner with his teammates in Miss Tsunami's home, watching Sakura's already plump breasts expand before his very eyes for the very first time…

"Jii…"

Sasuke pretended not to notice as the spitting image of the love of his life stared intently at the back of his head with dead-fish eyes worthy of Kakashi himself. For some reason, she was saying the sound effect for staring out loud each time she did so. This little act might have passed for endearing had Sakura's doppelganger looked like a little girl, but with her ice princess demeanour, it was more annoying than anything.

"Jii…"

A multitude of theories about the real reason why Sakura had saddled him with this girl who looked just like her sprang to Sasuke's mind. Foremost amongst them was that she was thinking of settling down with Naruto definitively, having grown tired of flirting with him, her first love. Was she trying to distract him by offering him her clone, so he'd leave them alone?

"Jii…"

If it was an attempt to make him back off, then it was not going to work. This brain-damaged onahole could not compare to the genuine article, even if its reproductive organs were fully capable of reviving the Uchiha clan.

"Jii…"

Over the past few years, Sasuke had finally realised what was most important to him.

Not Sakura's beauty, not her massive breasts, not her admittedly thin Uchiha bloodline, but herself. He was hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with the girl, and that bastard Naruto had stolen her away from him… and the only reason he hadn't forcibly taken her away from him was because it would hurt her feelings.

However, the moment Naruto showed an opening… bam! He would be on top of Sakura like a fly on a slab of rotting meat.

"Jii…"

"What is it?" Sasuke snapped, swivelling to face Tsubaki. "You've been staring at me the entire journey."

Tsubaki recoiled in fright, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

"The meeting location is half a kilometre behind us," she said blankly, her expression rapidly returning to neutral. "We walked straight past it."

Sasuke followed Tsubaki's finger as she pointed back the way they had come, towards a certain section of the bridge, the halfway point between the Lands of Fire and Waves. For the life of him, he could not imagine why Sakura had ordered them to go in the opposite direction from the one they were supposed to be heading in, but here they were…

"That's why you were bugging me with those noises?" Sasuke said unnecessarily harshly, even though his daydreaming was the reason they had waltzed past the meeting point. "You should have just said so—"

Sasuke broke off as a loud mechanical whir shattered the silence of the early morning. Without warning, two bright beams of yellow cut through the fog, illuminating wide swathes of the bridge and the white mist floating about. He revolved to face the light's source, already readying a jutsu, squinting at the great yellow circles staring back at him through the mist…

"Ho!" came a rather familiar voice from the lights behind the fog. "Is that you, Sasuke… and the Lady Hokage!? I was told—"

"Tazuna?" Sasuke said uncertainly.

Neither Sharingan nor Rinnegan were specialised in peering through obstacles, but he could just about make out the outline of a massive, oblong shadow hidden in the fog. How in the world had he missed that…?

"Who else would I be, boy?" Tazuna's voice echoed through the fog. "Well, what are you waiting for? Climb aboard! We're all set to leave!"

Sasuke and Tsubaki walked back towards Tazuna's voice, their eyes widening in surprise as they finally laid eyes on the monstrous silhouette floating in the mist above them… Ignoring the rope ladder leading up into the white nothingness, Sasuke wrapped an arm around Tsubaki's lean waist and jumped straight up, landing lithely on the wooden deck of what appeared to be a boat, suspended in mid-air by an array of ropes and nets linked to an enormous, cigar-shaped balloon.

An airship!

"That was unnecessary," Tsubaki said emotionlessly. "I do not require your help to jump, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Ahh… sorry about that."

Sasuke released Tsubaki's waist, but although her expression barely shifted, she still seemed displeased to him.

"I do not remember expressing any desire for you to let go of me," she said icily.

This girl was a major pain in the arse! Just endure it for now…!

Sasuke and Tsubaki looked up as Tazuna the bridge builder, now apparently shipbuilder, strode across the deck towards them, one hand already raised for a handshake.

"Welcome aboard the Tsubame Maru Ichi-gō!" Tazuna said warmly, grabbing their hands and shaking them vigorously in turn. "This little marvel of modern engineering would never have been possible without the Hidden Leaf's help, Milady!"

"I am not Manyū Sakura the Sixth Hokage, I am Haruno Tsubaki," Tsubaki said coolly. "You may think of me as someone who vaguely resembles her."

Tazuna's gaze quickly flicked down and back up again. She certainly looked like Sakura to him, nobody else had zeppelins like those sticking out of their chests.

"Well, if you say so," he said, winking at her and Sasuke. "Before we depart, a few ground rules… the balloon over our heads is filled with highly explosive gas, so fire style and lightning style are strictly forbidden aboard… and I'd rather you not use any kind of dangerous jutsu while on board, either… the hull is rather fragile."