Yo. I'm back to this story! I just want to let y'all know that this fanfiction will start off slow because of all of the introduction to the wonderful world of politics. Don't worry, it'll only last for a short while. Sort of. I'm sorry if you're not really interested in this type of thing, but it should've been been expected since Naruto got promoted to being the leader of the alliance. There will be a bit of political talk in the next few chapters as we watch Naruto adapt and conform to his new position.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 3: Edo

Naruto stood in front of his apartment, with a reminiscent look on his face. A bit of disappointment could be seen swirling in his eyes. He looked away from the door and out towards the bustling village. The other four kage were preparing to leave with their armies in tow giving the village a loud and active feel; even more so than usual. The difference though was an obvious one, one that made Naruto a bit nervous. There were hundreds of ANBU from all five nations, jumping roof to roof and walking the streets below looking for clues behind the assassination attempt just a week before.

Naruto thought silently to himself, wondering who that woman is and what she was planning to do; with three Uchiha to deal with, two of which with powerful armies, Naruto felt that having another opponent to worry about was a bit much on his plate. He grunted in disapproval at the turn of events. It seems a bit redundant in his opinion to have another enemy to worry about now that the war was at a ceasefire. Something about that woman bothered him. She seemed to have known him, but he couldn't recall a black-haired girl with hair like that other than Shizuka.

He sighed and walked away from his apartment with a small scroll in his hand. The scroll held all of his precious belongings within. He was leaving today for the capital city of the Alliance, a place that the five Kage would meet every month to discuss the progress of the alliance and the five nations. With Naruto in the new capital he would have to take everything he owned and move it into his new palace, which from the descriptions that the Iwa shinobi builders had let slip; it was going to be magnificent to behold. He walked down the steps of the emergency stairs with his hand slowly sliding against the smooth wooden railings.

A group of heavily armored samurai awaited their leader at the bottom of the stairs with the members of the Konoha Ten. Karin though was wearing a backpack and Shizuka was already in a carriage waiting on the cobblestone paved road nearby. Naruto could see Kohaku laughing and throwing her little baby arms about while Shizuka struggled to calm the little rascal without having to use chakra. Karin obviously saw it but didn't make a move to help, finding the little baby cute.

Once Naruto's feet hit the dirt he was led over by the samurai guards to a horse draped in a deep red and purple saddle and wrap. It was armored enough to make sure that not even the largest of spears would penetrate and kill the mount. Karin nodded at her new boss and followed him to her own horse. Neji was led to a horse as well as Shikamaru. With the four on their rides, Naruto gave his friends one last nod before giving the signal to move out.

He looked to his three closest friends. Neji was a given to be taken since he was a combat genius and a great fighter. Another easy choice was Shikamaru since his knowledge was unparalleled to the rest of the shinobi he had met. Sure Shikaku was a genius, but Shikaku would rather stay at home. Naruto felt that his good friend Shikamaru had the skills but needed the motivation to go and use his abilities, what better motivation than forcing him to work. Then his thoughts fell onto Karin. He might have gotten a bit too personal with his choice in the matter, but he felt his reasoning was sound.

After all, he did name her his daughter's godmother. Karin wasn't there for that reason, oh no, she was there because of her skill. Yes…her skill. Karin was smart, an amazing sensor and…who was he kidding with all of that talk. Naruto knew the real reason why he wanted Karin there and Karin had a feeling that she knew too. So much so fast and so far, they've only had about a week to discuss what was to become of the two of them. Naruto still felt in his heart that he loved Karin but he had to try and force himself to love Shizuka, or at least on an institutional level of love. Naruto wanted to feel that way about the mother of his daughter but he just felt that he didn't know enough about the black-haired woman. If anything, she was still a stranger to him.

But with Karin, Naruto felt that he was still with her. His love for her hasn't died, nor did he feel that it would. She was his and only his for almost an entire year. To think that it all fell apart so suddenly brought a slight sting to his heart. How troublesome to put it in the words of one of his best friends. What other word could he use to describe the situation? Naruto lowered his head with a sigh. The caravan was coming close to the main gate.

Civilians and Konoha shinobi crowded near and around the main road watching Naruto leave with his caravan leave. From within the carriage, Shizuka waved at the people as they waved at her, some called out to her and some even tossed flowers with wishes of beauty and health to her and her daughter. Shizuka couldn't help but smile, only to have it drop immediately. Her eyes trailed down to her belly to already see it start to grow. It has been almost a month since the incident. Shizuka looked up at the driver of the carriage and looked back out the window with a frown.

What if I don't want the kid anymore? Shizuka wondered. What if he or she looks like their father? I don't think I'd be able to face the child.

Shizuka held her baby tightly while the little girl played with her bangs framing her face. Kohaku's giggles filled her ears and made Shizuka giggle too. Her emerald eyes looked up and locked with a pair of emerald eyes that held just as much passion and fury as hers did. Kohaku had her mother's eyes in more ways than one. Kohaku though had a glint that had been forever lost to Shizuka; innocence. Kohaku laughed harder as the carriage wheels came to a bumpy part of the road, causing the little baby to jump and shake for nearly a minute. But once it stopped, Kohaku stared at her mother.

"What's wrong baby?" Shizuka asked softly.

Her only reply was Kohaku's deafening wail.

Outside…

Naruto felt a laugh leave his mouth as Kohaku's cry replaced her laughter. Shizuka's own cry of despair was heard only making the blond laugh harder. Karin shook her head at the blond and gave him a good head-slap, nearly causing him to fall from his high horse and into the dirt below. Neji and Shikamaru stifled their laughter when Naruto shot them both glares that meant business. The two jounin looked away from each other with their smiles still on their faces.

Naruto looked back at his friends and watched the village around him slowly dissipate as he got closer and closer to the main gate. Tsunade and her jounin council were following her closely as she herself was following the caravan. The blond nodded his head at the woman he'd seen as a second mother and turned away to face the large gate coming in fast. The hooves of his horse clacked against the cobblestone road as they trotted onward.

Shinobi guarding the gate waited for their new leader to give the order. The carriage came to a halt and Naruto's personal guard stopped next to him. The boy took a deep breath of Konoha air and sighed when the smell of home left his nose. Naruto smiled softly as the world around him came to a shuddering halt. All the places that he remembered since childhood, Ichiraku, Yakiniku, Training Ground 7…all the places that meant so much to him were all getting left behind for a new start in a newly built city, a city that the boy had never even heard of.

Edo. Where did this place even come from? Where has it been this entire time? All he knew was that it was on the northeastern coast of Hi no Kuni. A port city that everyone failed to mention most likely. Who knows what kind of things that they added there. The boy sighed again; what if he had to bring life to the city from scratch? What if he was the one to make everything serviceable? What if he didn't and the entire alliance collapses? He slapped himself across the face and took a deep breath to concentrate.

People gave their new leader strange looks but Naruto didn't pay them attention. He looked around the village amazed by the beauty of the structures erected all around the main road leading up to the walls and the buildings began to shrink in size. He shut his eyes once more, but raised his hand and gave the signal. A deep rumble was heard as the heavy wood and metal scrapped against the stone and dirt. Naruto's eyes slowly opened as the massive gates creaked open completely with a few wisps of dirt and dust began to float about covering the road from sight.

He slapped the reins on the horse, taking off towards the gate and trotted out onto the road with his personal guard following closely. The carriage creaked and road off as well, coming closely behind. The rumble of the creaking wood got louder as the moments passed. Before he knew it, he was deep in the infinite forest that surrounded Konoha in all directions. He looked back as the people gave one last wave before the gates of the village shut.

"Let's go!" Naruto smiled. "We don't have all morning!"

Almost a week later…

Naruto dropped his head against his metal-rimmed, mahogany desk with a sigh escaping his mouth. He rubbed his bare forehead against the wooden surface all the while, groaning like a rabid animal. Within moments, he began to bang his head against the desk in frustration, sending paperwork and his pen in all directions. Next to him, Shikamaru sighed, equally, if not more bored than the leader of the Alliance. Shikamaru scratched the barely healed scar on his forehead and looked over to Neji to see him, actually bored as well.

Naruto glared when there was a knock on the door. He loved the new city; it was perfect even, with massive buildings, pagoda-styled giving the city a traditional look. The people were kind and loving, with a genuine vibe coming from them. The castle had a perfect view of the sea, which during midday gave the city a gorgeous shimmer, but it was no Konoha. Shaking his head as he peeled his forehead from the desk, he groaned an 'enter', not even caring to hide his disdain.

The door opened to reveal Karin holding a massive stack of paperwork, making Naruto cringe. Behind her though, was a chef from the best restaurant in the city, carrying with him the amazing scent of ramen, herring soba and mackerel; the favorites of the three boys. Karin slapped the stack of paperwork onto Naruto's desk while snatching one of the bowls of ramen and taking pieces of the herring and mackerel. The three boys glared at her with fire in their eyes, ready to burst, but Karin simply raised a finger and shook her head, all the while, stuffing her face, slowly, as if she was tempting the boys to do something against her.

"I am a woman. Kunoichi or not, and you three are making me, a woman, carry almost one hundred pounds of paperwork, back and forth, while you are sitting around doing nothing." Karin said with some fish still being chewed. "I deserve this shit. Now Naruto, get to working on that paperwork, or else I'll have to ask Shizune for tips to make you work-"

"Ok! Ok! Evil woman!" Naruto cried with tears going down his face. "I'll do this!"

"Good, baka." Karin snickered as she sat on the edge of Naruto's desk.

The redhead continued to eat her ramen in front of the blond. She smirked at him and sighed when he started giving her a look of desperation, like a lost puppy. She quickly turned and grabbed another bowl of ramen, one larger than the usual ones from Ichiraku and slammed it onto Naruto's desk. Naruto quickly dug in while the other two boys rushed for the table carrying food and dug in as fast as they could. Karin was surprised that they even lasted this long, cooped up in a room like this.

The room wasn't bad or anything, in fact it was glorious. Just plain glorious. Karin looked left and right and found some of the most royal-looking furniture she'd ever seen in her life. There seemed to be gold plated armrests and gold plated door corners. Even parts of the desk were covered in gold. She was damn sure that everything was going a bit over the top with the regality. In her opinion though, it was a well-deserved upgrade from the high-rise condo that they lived in together. The walls were cream with a few lines of orange to accentuate the Alliance's leader's obsessions.

She looked out into the city from her view and nearly sighed at the sight. It was about midday and the entire world seemed to be covered in the most beautiful tone of color she'd ever seen. Not even Konoha at mid-summer sundown was anywhere close to Edo and her view of the sea. Karin smiled softly as she slurped her ramen, caring little of where the broth might fly. Naruto deadpanned at the redhead, getting Karin's attention. Karin gave him a sheepish smile; only to slurp slowly. She blushed when Naruto's deep blue eyes glazed over with a slight glimmer in them as he looked over towards the sun, shining down onto Edo.

The room was silent, save for the slurps, gulps and chomps. Karin though was now sitting in a chair while running her eyes over certain papers and nearly passing out as she read each word. Thanks to Naruto's undoubted illiteracy, Shikamaru's undoubted laziness and Neji's undoubted boredom, they passed over at least five reports on Sasuke. He was moving hard through the Land of the Sea, which only meant one thing; Sasuke was taking over Orochimaru's old bases. Karin shook her head and slid the five sheets of paper towards Naruto, only for the boy to push them away.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Karin glared. "As your hand-picked advisor, it's my job to make you-"

"I know what Sasuke's doing." Naruto replied, wiping broth from the corner of his lips. "I also know that even with a thousand men, he cannot storm this city. He'll need at least half that amount of ships to attack by the sea and he'll need a massive arsenal of siege weapons, which, I know for a fact, he isn't doing. Sasuke may be a genius in many ways, but he is too prideful to even think of things his army can do to help."

"I've been talking with Shikamaru and Neji about coming up with a psych evaluation for Sasuke and his leadership style, based off of our past encounters with him…" Naruto laughed for a bit and set his ramen bowl down. "Scarface. Wanna continue?"

"Why not." Shikamaru had a visible scowl at the nickname. "Basically, thanks to the information we've been able to get from Naruto and those who've encountered the Uchiha, there's a lot have you, we've been able to find that Sasuke is a leader, that only cares for the final result, no matter the cost. Sasuke is the type of leader that will gladly throw away hundreds of men and women to satisfy his own goals. Not only that, but from what you've been able to tell us about his leadership style in a small team setting, Sasuke doesn't know how to equally distribute power among others which will probably cause infighting among his commanders and sub-leaders, which in the long run, will ruin his standing."

"But the one thing we can't figure out…" Neji began. "Why would someone like Sasuke, or at least someone with the personality or psyche like that, would want an army at his or her back? Of all things, an army. I always knew that the Uchiha was a strange case, but to actually have to deal with it personally is enough to make someone nauseous."

"Like I said Karin." Naruto laughed. "By the time Sasuke even decides to land an army on our shores or attack us from the sea, we'll be able to repel him and his forces easily, thanks to hundreds of different factors that could easily fall into place, such as the strange concentration of whirlpools in the dead country, weather could slow, or even destroy parts of their fleet, the list can go on and on."

"What if they do land an army successfully?" Karin asked, not impressed with their confidence in a city they haven't even lived in for more than a week. "What if?"

"Then we'll beat them back." Naruto replied with a sigh. "The shinobi and samurai posted here in Edo are the most experienced and had the highest amount of kills during the October-war."

"October-war?" Karin asked with a raised eyebrow. "What's with the name? The war isn't over."

"I know, but I just thought that the war needed name." Naruto snickered. "The Fourth Great Shinobi World War…it's a mouthful, and it wasn't much of a great war either. When you think about it, the war didn't even make it to its first weak before a ceasefire was made. So, October-war."

"You're impossible." Karin rolled her eyes and looked back down at her papers. "Did you know that Tobi was starting to reallocate his forces near Tsuchi no Kuni? And the reanimated Madara is nowhere to be found? Also, Kabuto is still on the loose, last seen near Kawa no Kuni."

"I know." Naruto sighed and rested his right fist in his cheek. "I've read many of those reports and found many of them to be true. But the most disturbing thing of all is that the woman who attacked us back in Konoha still hasn't been found."

Karin gave Naruto a look that the blond knew all too well. The redhead stood from her seat and began to pace back and forth while Neji rested his knuckles against the desk and Shikamaru leaned against the window with a blank, but pondering look on his face. It was safe to assume that the burden that Naruto was meant to take as his own was in a way; fantastically and equally rested upon the backs of the four of them. To run an entire Alliance made up of the five most powerful shinobi nations and the most powerful, explicitly samurai nation was like a hammer digging into their heads.

"I want to know who that woman is." Naruto suddenly spoke, his sapphire eyes stared out at the city. "If she can manage to slip in and out of places like that, it could only mean that she could even get into the city without any problem and kill Shizuka and Kohaku any moment they want."

"The possibilities of Sasuke and this mysterious woman forming an alliance together…" Neji shook his head with a scowl marring his face. "Sasuke would have a free key into the city with her at his back. Despite his rather depressing psych evaluation, we've also managed to agree that Sasuke would use anything and anyone as a tool to get what he wants, no matter the consequence. He would most likely use this mysterious woman for his own needs, and he might even kill her for us, leaving him for us to exterminate. Two birds with one stone?"

"Too simple." Shikamaru breathed. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Sasuke may be a bit of a warmongering simpleton, but he's not that much of a simpleton. Sure he's predictable, despite being a battle-genius, but he wouldn't do something THAT predictable. Sasuke is in a way, a methodical version of Naruto. Whereas Naruto here would probably talk people into doing what he wants, or spam his kage bunshin, Sasuke would manipulate people to do his bidding before casting them away, probably to send them off in their own paths, never to cross with his again. Isn't that right Karin?"

"Just a tad." Karin flustered softly, bad memories were starting to surface. "I know Sasuke. He'd more likely kill this mysterious woman before even having a talk with her. Especially after my last encounter with the psychopath, a little over a year ago, he was completely delirious. That sharingan of his fucked him in the head worse than some of the cursed seals did to Orochimaru's experiments. Sasuke is a changed person, and it's not for the better. To think that Sasuke would get rid of one of our enemies is naivety talking, and to think that Sasuke would let someone walk after he uses them is crazy talk."

"I was lucky that I got away." Karin began before sitting down once again. "This mysterious woman had better hope she's as good as she thinks she is. Sasuke managed to literally kill his older brother, and kill Orochimaru, and kill Danzo. All three of those shinobi were top class shinobi, each one, more terrifying than the other, and each one stronger than the other. Sasuke didn't get lucky when he fought them, he thought meticulously, and planned out everything. As we speak, he's probably training to fight you Naruto, and if his manipulation of others is as common as I still think it is, he's probably placed spies in Edo already, trying to get information on your cabinet Naruto, which by the way, is expected to arrive before midday tomorrow."

"Thank you for reminding me." Naruto sighed and wiped sweat from his brow once again. "All three of you have good points that are all equally plausible, but all that really remains now, is to deal with our problems as a united Alliance of six different Lands, each one filled with countless bickering Daimyo that I will have to deal with, and three raging Uchiha, a snake-man hybrid and a mysterious woman in a mask of course to top it all off."

"Why is nothing simple anymore?" Naruto leaned back in his chair. "Ok. Debrief me on my apparent cabinet."

"Ok, Neji, Shikamaru and I are your personal advisors and guards, making us at the top." Karin began. "Next is Koharu from Konoha, one of the advisors for the past three Hokage, from third to fifth; Ishiyori Nakamura, one of the most respected councilmen from Sunagakure, send as a dignitary from Gaara; big fan of yours Naruto."

"Next is Toyami Kanagami, an advisor personally picked by Oonoki himself to help with the defenses and act as a war minister with you as the supreme commander. Afterwards is Yumi Unabara, another woman chosen to act as a war minister for you from Kirigakure. Mizukage-sama used her as a general during her civil war against the fourth Mizukage." Karin continued reading through the list. "Finally ending with two from Kumogakure; Nariake Takeda and Sujin Masuda, both of which are somewhat old timers like Koharu, so expect some offensive things to come from their mouths. Just don't take any of it personally."

"Koharu is perfect for working with you to help you with proper political etiquette and working with foreign delegates. Sujin and Nariake were best known for money handling, which is something that you'll have to start worrying about now that your own pocket money isn't going to help run an alliance. Yumi, Toyami, Neji and Shikamaru will help you as military advisors, and finally, Ishiyori and I will help you with writing speeches and actually saying them to congregations of people. I'll also be helping you fix your schedule with the help of Shizuka, since she wanted to have a part in this."

Naruto was flabbergasted at how well rounded everything already was. It was a thought everyone was sharing; they haven't even been in Edo for more than a week, and already, their freaking out about schedules and meetings and thinking so far ahead as to talk about making speeches and talking in front of large crowds. Naruto shook his head, beginning to regret what he'd agreed to. Suddenly, a thump was head as the door to his office creaked open and was suddenly slammed shut. Naruto looked up only to burst into tears.

"More paperwork Naruto-kun." Karin giggled.

Political intrigue has always interested me, so much so, I was excited to write this chapter and I even had fun making their conversation about such things. Politics makes me smile and I love to read debates and other such things. Oh well if you didn't like it.

Ja ne!

gottahavekyuubi