Disclaimer: Only if I was related to the two in some way, which sadly I am not. Please R & R!
Ed and Al were finally on their journey along with the Konoha shinobi, and they had entered into a snowy, cold climate that neither of them enjoyed.
"This is getting to be so cold that Briggs could be just around the corner!" Ed complained.
"Is your arm alright, brother?" Al asked worriedly.
"For now…" Ed muttered. The joints in his arms were already freezing up some, but he wasn't going to tell his brother that. Dang it, though, this was just what he needed.
"There he is!" Yamato whispered. They'd been tracking these nin for a while now, and it had finally been paid off with the presence of the Raikage.
"You actually tailed Kamui. You guys are pretty good," one of the members of the Raikage's guard said.
"Y-you-" sputtered Omoi.
"You're Naruto! You tailed us! What's the big idea?" Kamui yelled angrily.
"Boss," one of the guards to the Raikage spoke to the superior. He had dark skin and white, shaggy hair. "The one on the right is Hatake Kakashi, the new Hokage."
"I know that." The Raikage replied.
"I came to ask you personally about a request by Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf," Kakashi addressed the man. The man's expression hardened.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" He looked at the blonde.
"If you could just hear him out…" Kakashi asked softly.
"Isn't this rude?" The other guard, blonde with light skin, spoke up. "Stopping us on our way to the summit without prior notice."
"I am fully aware of that," Kakashi replied coolly.
"No matter," the Raikage spoke clearly. "You there, boy! Speak!"
"Sasuke… I want you to cancel the disposal of Uchiha Sasuke!" Naruto declared, a small bead of sweat appearing on the side of his face despite the cold weather.
"H-hey, this isn't really the place…" Omoi muttered.
"Are you still talking about that?" Karui shook her fist angrily at him.
"You sure got guts," the blonde guard said.
"I know it sounds ridiculous!" Naruto continued. "But this is the only way I know how to say it. Sasuke is my friend! My friend's going to be killed!" Real emotion clouded Naruto's expression. "I can't just stand by and let it happen!"
"On top of that," Naruto said more calmly, "I don't want Sasuke to be the cause of the Leaf and Cloud villages killing each other. I don't want my friends or the Cloud to fight for revenge!" The Raikage closed his eyes a moment, then opened them and walked forward, passing Naruto without a word. Naruto ran to the Raikage's side and stepped in front of the large man, but the man only side-stepped Naruto and continued past him.
Naruto stepped in front of the Raikage again, and after a small pause, knelt into the ground and bowed his head. "I'm begging you!" Ed and Al were stunned, as were the Cloud nin. "All Sasuke ever thought about was revenge!" Naruto continued pleaing to the Raikage's senses. Tears started flowing out of Naruto's eyes, though he tried to hold them back. "Please!"
The man turned back and faced Naruto. "We will dispose of Sasuke! After that, you can stop the cycle of hatred."
The rest of the encounter didn't go well. The Raikage admonished Naruto for bowing, and continued on his way, his ninja following his lead. As Kamui passed him, she muttered, "What a fool."
"Enough already, Naruto," Kakashi said, as the Cloud nin started fading into the background. Naruto pounded his fist into the snow, upset and angry at everything.
"What jerks!" Ed exclaimed. "Can we punch them now?" Al sighed.
"Are you alright?" Al asked. Naruto sat up, nodding, and wiped the tears on his sleeves.
"Right. Yamato, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Alponse! You will rest tonight at an inn not too far from here. Neji and Edward will continue with me on the way to the summit. We can only hope that the summit will go better than this did." Shikamaru balked.
"Ed's going in my place?" Shikamaru asked, then brightened. "M'kay, see ya." Naruto looked at him in disbelief. "What? This is less troublesome." Naruto sighed. Same old Shika.
"Ed has unique talents that no one will know about. While I value Nara's insight, I have a bad feeling about this. Neji's Byakugan will remind the other countries that Konoha is a powerful force, and his techniques will protect me best, should I need it. Shikamaru, most of your techniques rely on shadow manipulation, so it relies on lighting, which can be changed to weaken you. Use the time we are gone for training, understood?" The Konoha nin nodded, Shikamaru sighing. Just when he thought he'd gotten out of work.
The groups headed off to their separate destinations, Ed feeling a bit of anxiety at leaving his younger brother. "Be careful," he cautioned.
"I should be saying that to you," Alphonse said with a smile, and turned away to try to cheer up Naruto-kun.
"You two are very close, aren't you?" Neji inquired, and Ed smiled softly.
"Yeah. I'd be pretty lost without him." Not to mention in deep trouble without Al to hold me back, he thought wryly. "You have any siblings?" Neji shook his head.
"I… have a cousin…" Neji started, but paused. "I'm not really… close to her family though." Ed waited for him to say more, but he did not. Ed shrugged it off, not caring if the guy didn't want to spill his life story. Actually, it was kind of nice that Neji didn't want to talk. Ed could then focus on the real reason he'd landed in the shinobi world: to figure out how to get Al back to normal without having to give up anything more than he already had. Could chakra be the answer of correctly blending alchemy and alkahestry? Ed had no idea how that popped into his mind, it sounded absolutely insane. It wasn't a chemical process and it was way too easy. If it was that way, then Truth would've only given him one week, not a whole year. Ed would have to read more books, especially if there was some sort of theory or philosophy book that explained the finer details of chakra works.
Kakashi went to sit down among the kages. Neji and Ed took their place behind a large banner. Neji said hello to a guy next to him, and the guy responded, then took a look a Ed. The fellow was wearing black, with a large object strapped to his back… and the top of the object had hair… please don't let that be a human being, Ed thought and was almost sick.
"Who're you?" The guy asked. "I don't recognize you, even though you seem to be Naruto's age."
"I'm Ed." The older Elric didn't offer any more information.
"I see." He realized that he might be overstepping his boundaries. "I'm Kankuro, brother to the Kazekage." Ed nodded, pretending to understand what the heck he just said. Neji came to his rescue.
"The Kazekage is the leader of another village, one whom we are allied with."
"Ah." Ed replied.
"You're a strange shinobi if you didn't already know that," Kankuro interjected. "Neji, where'd you pick this weirdo up from?"
"Edward-san-"
"Just call me Ed."
"Ed-san came to our village for… refuge, not too long ago, if I am correct." Neji answered. Kankuro's eyes narrowed. He turned back to Ed.
"Are you a missing nin?" He asked seriously.
"Kankuro!" A blonde girl said sharply. "Quit sticking your nose into Konoha's business. I'm sure that whatever shinobi Kakashi-san wishes to have guard him doesn't have anything to do with Suna."
"Yeah, yeah." Kankuro muttered with a sigh. "That's my older sister, Temari." He informed Ed.
"His older, wiser sister," Temari added.
"Pfft, whatever."
"Oh, you don't think so?" She asked dangerously.
"Hey, who had their butt handed to them by a lazy Nara in the Chuunin Exams? Not me."
"Who didn't even bother to fight in the Chuunin Exams?"
"And wisely saved his energy for the fight later? I thought we were arguing over the smartest sibling, not the bravest."
"If you mean by bravest, the strongest, then yes, that would be me." The two sand siblings continued their petty fight, forgetting the other shinobi entirely.
Finally, the meeting started, on a rather serious note.
So next up is the five kage meeting! I'm finally in the writing mood again, which means that hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.
Thanks again to reviewers: wishfulliving89, RokibaHatake, Dennisthepinkgoldfish, St. Iggy the Pyro (naruto wishes he was as ninja as Kakashi), Spyrofan777 (the fact that you wrote your review in Japanese was amazing and a special treat. Arigato gozaimasu!), mysoulislost375 (no yaoi in this, sorry. I like 'em best as friends. Besides, on what earth would sasuke even deserve naruto?), shooting2stars, Bre, Honey Child (I'm sorry, I probably will give Ed and Al ninja-ness, but I will try and explain it as best as I can so it isn't illogical), and Kiyiamaru. Reviews are more than welcome!
