Trial & Error
By GiaShakira
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the various Naruto Gaidens. I am getting no money from this. I am writing just to have a hobby! Happy reading!
5 Months ago...
Temari scrunched up her nose at the smell of alcohol in the house. She followed the awful smell to its source in the kitchen.
Temari shook her head at what she saw. Karasu's parts lay scattered all over the kitchen floor. Their owner was clad in his Bunraku clothing, and sat in the middle of all the puppet parts.
"Must you break everything you buy? You got home weeks ago and the first thing you do is take Karasu apart, but you never put him back together until weeks have passed. Repairs my ass! Your just lazy."
Kankuro rolled his eyes as he tried to install a trigger in Karasu's elbow.
"Why don't you go do something useful? Like, like wash the dishes, or clean yourself up? You reek of Araq! I know that there is a slight possibility that you have PTSD from the Fourth Shinobi War, but becoming an alcoholic isn't gonna help!"
Kankuro rolled to his feet and moved past Temari as if she wasn't even there. Temari covered her nose to evade inhaling his alcoholic scent trail. He got a knife out of the drawer and walked back to Karasu's elbow. Bending down to pick up some spare screws he popped back up and sat down at the kitchen table. Temari reared her head back as she noticed, for the first time, that her little brother had actually grown a couple of inches. Did he lose a few pounds? Was that even possible with the amount of arak he had been consuming?
"Don't you have some council work to do? Or maybe you could actually reach out to your Genin team for a change. They miss you, you know. You haven't spent any time with them at all since you and Gaara got back from that summit in Konoha three weeks ago."
Kankuro grunted as he began tightening the loose screws that connected Karusu's elbow to his forearm.
"You know this one sided conversation is really boring. In fact it's more boring than my conversations with the Nara."
Temari waited for Kankuro's reaction to Gaara's ex-proxy. It was common knowledge that even though her brother had respected the Konohan for his intelligence, he did not particularly like the frequency of his visits with Temari. She had hoped that her name dropping would get Kankuro to respond with something! He'd been ignoring them for weeks.
She waited.
…
And waited...
And waited some more…
And then her Sunan temper flared.
"Ugh,you're impossible! Fine! You want to stay in this house?! Locked away from society? Shirking your responsibilities as our brother's councilman when he needs you the most? Go ahead! See if I care. Because I don't. He's still got Baki, and Baki is worth 10 of you! You weren't the only one in a war, Kankuro. Do you see the rest of our world leaders receding into themselves like you? No, they're not. The Raikage lost an arm, an arm , Kankuro!-and he hasn't had time to process that until now! Do you know what he does Kankuro? He still leads. He doesn't drink so much alcohol in his parent's house, and force his own Kage from his own home because of the putrid smell! So, if that's the kind of ass-hole that you want to be. Then you can be it, but this is the last time I come to check on you! You're on your own!"
Kankuro didn't even look up to watch Temari storm out. He didn't even wince when he heard the door slam shut. Instead he lifted Karasu's head with his chakra strings, and brought it to his face.
"Whaddaya think, Karasu? Think we outta say goodbye before we go?"
The puppet said nothing.
Kankuro finished reconnecting Karasu's head with his right shoulder and arm. He then put what he had of Karasu in a scroll, and put the scroll on his back. He looked at Karasu's other scattered "parts" on the kitchen floor and chuckled.
"Aw, poor can't tell a puppet part from an explosive, and she's supposed to be the smart one."
He shook his head.
He connected his chakra strings to each explosive and positioned the strings around the tiny triggers.
"Sorry 'bout this, little buddy. I promise I'll fix you up when we get to Kumogakure. Your sacrifice will not be in vain."
With a flick of his wrist the strings went taut, right before they dissolved into a sea of fire and debris. Yondaime's house exploded into chunks of sand, smoke, and fire.
By the time Gaara or Temari, would be able to even identify the embers as their old house, he would be long gone on a mission that his Kazekage had never approved or assigned.
To be continued….