"Then what do we do?"
Naruto looked at Kakashi.
"If she doesn't want to go, can we really just knock her out and drag her along?"
"She's already out. We were just waiting for you two to get here before leaving."
Sasuke spoke flatly, casting a pointed glance at Kakashi, who was reading the latest volume of Icha Icha Paradise hidden beneath a Shinobi Code book cover.
While they had been waiting, Kakashi had already used Sharingan Genjutsu to temporarily render the stubborn actress unconscious.
Asama Sandayu stood nearby, rubbing his hands awkwardly, clearly both grateful for this solution and a little guilty about it.
Wow. Now that was efficiency.
Naruto had also figured out what Kakashi had done.
A little Sharingan Genjutsu, and she had closed her eyes, completely unaware of anything.
Kakashi: looks like I really do have to control you!
"All right."
Kakashi tucked the book back into his ninja tool pouch and clapped his hands. His voice returned to its usual lazy drawl, though it carried an urgency that allowed no further delays.
"Now that you two are here, everyone's accounted for."
He turned to the manager.
"Mr. Asama, bring Miss Yukie along. Let's get moving."
Sunlight slanted through the cabin's small, round porthole, casting a swaying patch of light across the dim interior. Yukie Fujikaze's thick lashes fluttered a few times before she slowly opened her heavy eyelids.
What greeted her was not the familiar pattern on the ceiling of the inn where she had been staying in Konoha.
A wooden ceiling? And a faint, rhythmic rocking...
A ship?
That realization shot through her muddled consciousness like an icy electric current!
She bolted upright on the simple bunk.
How did I end up on a ship?
"You're awake?"
A slightly tentative voice rang out.