During the days Xuan Zhe and Tsunade had been living elsewhere, Nawaki had stayed in the big house alone, finding it empty and terribly quiet. Now the two of them had returned with three strangers in tow, and the whole house had suddenly come alive.
But at the sight of those unfamiliar faces, Nawaki sidled up to Xuan Zhe, looking puzzled. "Brother-in-law, who are these people?"
He sized up the man standing there. The man was tall and powerfully built, and Nawaki could feel his imposing presence from several steps away.
"This is my new companion, Kimimaro." Xuan Zhe walked over with a smile and rested a hand on Kimimaro's shoulder in a familiar gesture.
The two were about the same height. Standing together, they could look down at Nawaki just by lowering their heads.
Since Xuan Zhe had said so, Nawaki naturally stopped asking questions. Still, judging by Kimimaro's clothes, he clearly wasn't from Konoha.
Fortunately, the house was large enough to accommodate the extra people.
Tsunade quietly arranged for Sakura's and Sasuke's rooms to be next to each other.
Kimimaro was assigned a room over by Nawaki's.
Nawaki couldn't have asked for a better arrangement. He was intensely curious about this new companion Xuan Zhe had mentioned.
Once the rooms had been assigned, everyone went off to rest.
The battle outside town had left Sakura, Sasuke, and Kimimaro almost completely drained physically. Xuan Zhe, of course, was not included.
Kimimaro was very strong, but Xuan Zhe hadn't used anything close to his full strength.
His final Substitution Technique had settled the fight outright.
While everyone else went to rest, Xuan Zhe turned and headed for Kimimaro's room.
Naturally, Xuan Zhe intended to get to the bottom of where this group of Sound Ninja had come from.
As for