The Art of Patience

The Art of Patience Ch. 28

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Kisame stood up from the table in Kiba's and Naruto's kitchen, ready to leave. He had gotten some very useful information from the shaggy haired man, information he was sure Madara would be very happy to hear. "Well, I should be going. Gotta get up early for work tomorrow. But it was nice meeting you Kiba. I'm sure we'll see each other around the complex."

Kiba nodded and got up as well to show his guest out. He hadn't heard about a new tenant but then again he didn’t really pay attention to who was moving in and out. This Kisame person however seemed nice enough despite Akamaru's outbursts and scratching form the living room. "Yeah, I hope you like it here. There really isn’t much in the way of bad things going on here. And hey if you need help with anything come get me. I'm sure Naruto won't mind making his own food every now and then."

Kisame smiled as he exited the apartment. "Thanks so much. I'll be sure to do that." With one last wave, the dark skinned man headed off, making sure Kiba had shut the door before getting back into his car. Well, the night had sure been a productive one; he may even get a raise.

Kiba locked the door and went to the living room to let his dog out of his kennel, now that their guest had left. "What has gotten into you Akamaru? I thought you liked meeting new people!"

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Kisame dialed the familiar number and waited patiently for his boss to pick up. He didn't have to wait long, the man was pretty stressed lately.

"What took you so long? I’ve been waiting to hear from you for an hour! And you better have brought me some good news because I’m not at all amused by other people’s failures..."Madara left his threat hanging and hopped to god that his hired detective would get the point.

"Damn, calm down... I got your info. So apparently Naruto's usually never there. His roommate said something about his boyfriend, which is probably referring to his subs. So if you want Naruto, I would probably look for him at their house. Who knows, Sai might actually be there." He knew he was running his mouth with his tone. But damn, Madara could be a total ass sometimes.

A truly disturbing smile graced the irate Uchiha's face and Madara couldn’t help but feel supremely smug about the whole rotten situation. If Naruto was stupid enough to hide Sai with his two subs then it would be all too easy to arrange for that blond to 'lose' all three of them! Now this would require a carefully laid out plan that would leave those pig cops in the dust while he, Madara, enjoyed the fruits of his labor. "No, that’s alright. I'll deal with Naruto and his little collection of dark haired sluts in a little while. However, I will need to know the comings and goings of the blond to make retrieving Sai as easy as possible. Think you can do that for me?"

Kisame gave the phone a confused look. "Uh, sure I guess. But why not just go now? I'm sure he's still there."

Madara stared fixedly at the door on the opposite side of the room as if Sai would just walk right through it. If Sai was there with Itachi and Sasuke then his retrieval would be easy since the little freak was pretty much spineless when his master was around. "No I'll do that myself. Sai requires special handling after running off on me and I'd rather not have him believe me to be a fool." Madara looked around for his keys and vowed silently to skin the diminutive slave alive for this disgrace.

"Got it. So, am I done for the night?" He wasn't really trying to get out of work, well, maybe a little. There were so many other things he could be doing on a Friday night. Like looking for some nice ass.

"Yeah I'm done with you for today." Madara found his keys and started gathering up his other things for the drive to confront Naruto about his lost little slave.

Kisame hung up with a grateful click. Time to go party.

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Naruto watched Kakashi’s car until it was out of sight before he headed back into the condo, a little part of him had left with his first sub but he couldn’t allow that to alter how he dealt with his current subs, Sasuke needed to start his training.

With legs that felt heavier than they were, Naruto climbed the steps and walked through the front door that Itachi had thoughtfully opened for his master. Well at least he could get over this unaccustomed melancholy with Sasuke and Itachi to play with.

Itachi instinctively wrapped his arms around his master. He couldn’t help it with the sad look the blond had on his face. He would do anything to make Naruto feel better. "I'm sorry this is happening, I kind of feel like it's my fault." It was true. He felt all the blame sitting on his shoulders ever since he was 'kidnapped' at his uncle’s party. He knew that if he was just a bit braver and escaped his uncle, then Sai wouldn't have had to go against his master like he did.

Sasuke didn't really know what to do. He had never seen Naruto like this before. He sat on the couch, shifting from time to time due to his still sore bottom from his punishment earlier. He felt a bit of jealousy rip through him as he saw his brother beat him to the comforting. But then he told himself that Naruto would probably need both of them tonight.

The blond happily accepted Itachi's comfort but shook his head at Itachi's confession about being the source of the problem. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but Madara’s. "It's not your fault Princess. If your uncle wasn’t such an ass-munch then everything would be a whole lot better. Or if he died, whichever came first. That reminds me. I need to start with your training Kitty. Are you ready?" The blond pushed his sadness aside for the time being to get on with the nights entertainment. With Sai safe with Kakashi there'd be no worry of seeing the abused slave again later.

Itachi let Naruto go but wasn’t convinced by his words. He still knew it was his fault whether his Master wanted to accept it or not.

Sasuke looked up at his master and nodded. If it got Naruto's mind off the situation at hand, he'd do anything. "What kind of training will I be doing?" he asked as he eyed the blond as he walked over to the sitting Uchiha.

"Obedience at first. If you can’t follow some simple commands then I’ll have to change my training techniques. Don’t worry though, it's not bad at all. In fact your brother still carries out some of them to this day. Easy stuff." Naruto smiled benignly at Sasuke and strolled over to the couch to sit down while motioning for Itachi to do the same.

Itachi followed his master into the living room and sat on his other side so Naruto was in between the two Uchihas. This would be interesting.

Sasuke was a bit nervous about starting his training. According to the blond, his training wasn't really supposed to start for another few weeks. He figured it was due to his lack of obedience and bad behavior as of late. "I'm sorry I haven't been a very good sub." the younger man said as he tried to look as pathetic as he could while still staying appealing.

Naruto nodded at Sasuke and made a brushing motion with his fingers as though he'd forgiven those transgressions as of that moment. Sure he'd love to hold those against the younger Uchiha but that wasn’t good for training a sub and he'd never fucked up with a sub yet. "I understand and I know your trying." The blond smiled reassuringly at Sasuke and tried to will the boy to calm down and conquer his fears. He'd need to know how to do that for the future.

Sasuke nodded and looked attentive, ready to handle whatever the blond wanted him to do. He really hoped it wasn't anything too difficult. "Ok, I'm ready."

"That's what I like to hear. First; I want you to call me every day at three in the afternoon no matter what. Second…" Naruto deliberately slowed down so Sasuke could either express obedient understanding or an outburst of outrage about the time he'd chosen before going on.

Sasuke took the pause as a chance for him to speak. He was about to make an outburst at the unfairness of that little detail, but refrained and forced the outburst into a question instead. "Why would you like me to call you?" he asked in a curious voice, trying not to sound like he was disagreeing with the blond.

Itachi silently applauded Sasuke's quick fix, the kid was learning.

"The blond smiled at Sasuke and pat the little Uchiha on the leg as a way of congratulating him on reacting properly. "It’s just a little test of obedience to make sure you can do things on time. I could have chosen any time really but in the beginning at least you're going to be doing what I ask of you no matter how difficult it seems. Itachi went through the same thing so it's really only fair to make you do the same."

Sasuke nodded in understanding, even if he still didn't really see a point. He'd do it anyway. "Ok then." he said in obedience.

Naruto grinned and went on with his instructions. "Second; I want you home no later than five thirty."

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit. Five thirty? He only got off work at five! "Master, that won't give me enough time. I do other things before I come home." he thought this rule was totally unfair. "Can we make it six?"

Itachi knew that was the wrong thing to say. Although he'd see what the blond said in response. His eyes were getting a bit tired from going back and forth between Sasuke and Naruto. He needed some popcorn.

The blonde’s face hardened into a mask of displeasure and disappointment aimed directly at Sasuke. "Of course it's fair! If you want to be a good sub you gotta know how to please your master. Besides it only takes you thirty minutes at most to get home, and you'd best be home by then or I’ll be forced to give you a punishment."

The blonde’s face lost its kind edge and looked mildly disappointed instead. Not angry, just disappointed. "No, I need you here if I’m going to train you to be a good sub and I can’t do that while you're at work! All subs go through something like this and in fact your brother use to come home to me at the same time when he started."

Sasuke looked toward Itachi as if to confirm his Master's words. After seeing the faint nod from his brother, Sasuke turned back to Naruto. "But you don't understand. There are certain things I need to do after work that are my responsibility for the company. Itachi has enough on his plate, I wouldn’t ask him to do my work for me." He looked pleadingly at the blond. "Maybe I can be home at six three days a week and the rest at 5:30?"

Naruto had to give Sasuke that much; as the vice president he needed to be at work late most of the time. "Fine; but only three days a week! How else am I gonna train you? Oh and you have to call me at five when you work late."

Sasuke relaxed just a bit and nodded. "Yes Master." he said as he leaned forward to nuzzle the blonde's leg.

Itachi was proud of Sasuke for being able to negotiate with Naruto. Although it was always best to do so in a Dominant/submissive setting, sometimes subs had a hard time with contradicting their Dom's.

Naruto gently patted Sasuke’s head and smiled wickedly. Sasuke was doing alright for now but given a few days; the young man would likely snap somewhere and leave himself open for a little fun punishment. "Good kitty. Now let’s get ready to enjoy our night because in a few days your training really begins with something very... special." The blonde’s lips curved up at the corners as he imagined the punishment he had in mind. Not to deliver on Sasuke, but to have him pick out form his second job.

Sasuke would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about his training. He figured he'd talk to his brother later and ask him what it was like for the older man. In the meantime... he hoped it wasn't too much to handle all at once.

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Madara drove to his nephews’ place at a deceptively sedate pace while he thought about what he was going to do. Sai hadn't been gone even a day yet so that stupid blond couldn’t have had a chance to hide him away before thoroughly reuniting with the little slut.

Madara smiled crookedly at the thought of interrupting the two during their little celebration as he pulled into a parking lot and slid easily into the first available spot. Even if Naruto had squirreled his first sub away somewhere there were ways of making the blond give the small slave up; ways he'd eventually have to give into for fear of those he loved being hurt.

The older man turned his car off and silently stalked his unsuspecting prey. Wouldn’t Naruto be surprised to find his nemesis at his nephews’ door? Not surprised enough to be sure.

Back inside, Itachi was getting a strange feeling; like something big was about to happen. He couldn’t really figure out what could possibly make him feel that way besides Madara. But he was sure his uncle wouldn't try to snoop around yet. If he knew the older man well enough, he knew that Madara liked to plan his strategies before making any kind of move.

Sasuke noticed how his brother was a bit more preoccupied than normal. Usually when that happened Itachi was thinking too hard about something. He finished serving the reheated food that he had made earlier and set the plates on the table in front of Naruto and his brother. "What's wrong Itachi?" he asked as he sat down as well.

Something felt a little off tonight and it only took Naruto a moment to realize what that something was. "Princess, you've hardly said anything; are you worried about your brother's training?"

Itachi finally resurfaced to the here and now and didn't look at either Naruto or Sasuke. "I'm fine. I guess I'm just worried about you Naru. I know what my uncle is capable of."

Naruto put a brave face on and Smiled at Itachi to ease the man’s fears. Sure Madara was a freaking pervert and the worst sort of Dom imaginable but he had to live within the rules of society or suffer being stuffed in jail. "Don’t worry about it. He can’t do anything or his well laid ass will get tossed into jail and we all know he wouldn’t last three minutes in there."

Itachi nodded but wasn't thoroughly convinced. He started to eat after his master began his meal and nearly dropped his fork at the sound of the doorbell. It was official; he was becoming way too paranoid.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "Should I get it Master?" he asked as he started to get up. He then realized he wasn't fully dressed and sat back down. "Or maybe it would be better if you got it."

"Yeah, I’ll get it. Just stay out of sight though." Naruto stood up and carefully wound his way to the front door. Who could it be at this time of night anyway? All decent people were at home eating or doing whatever it was they did.

The blond cracked the door open enough to see who was on the other side and stopped talking halfway through the word ‘hello’.

"Hello Naruto. Surprise meeting you here. I was hoping to see my dear nephews."

TBC

The plot thickens further!!!! Just a forewarning guys; these next few chapters will be the main climax of the story and will probably not have too much hot man smex. Well… you’ll see. Hope you stick around for more!


~Sasu