Chapter 10: Wedding Planning
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters.
Keiji was surprised to see three kids walking out of the forest with gems in their hands, but then he started seeing Shenlong make trips out of the forest to dump a few unconscious genin at the entrance. Others were suffering from severe shock at from the mentally scarring tactics that Shenlong no doubt used. Everyone thought he was joking when he said he would only let three genin through, but apparently he was dead serious and now they were stuck with an uneven number of genin so that the third exam would be a bit difficult to administer. Most of the onlookers who were observing through one of the security cams set up in the Forest of Death were stuck in a portrait of terror at what they had just witnessed. The only ones who weren't staring in shock were the people in the Hokage box and the other proctors at the entrance, but they all knew Shenlong and could guess how he would achieve his goal. It was a bit of something that they had come to expect of him seeing that he was the person in charge of torture and interrogation; basically he was the Suna version of Ibiki. He also happened to be the weapons master of Suna, having used more weapons than Keiji had ever used, including such odd impractical weapons such as scythes.
"Well I can see that you didn't disappoint anyone, Shenlong," said Keiji as he walked forward to give Shenlong a pat on the back for a job well done, but he decided against it since Shenlong was a bit shaky. "Don't tell me one of those genin actually put up a good enough fight to get on your list?"
"No, there seems to be someone else in this matter and I don't think they mean well for the Hokage," said Shenlong as he removed his vest and shirt to trade exchange for his trademark leather vest that he always wore with no shirt because he would wear his trench coat over it. He also changed into his another pair of black pants because of the damage done to the other black pants from all the running and jumping through the forest.
"I thought all your scars healed," asked Keiji as he pointed at a long scar that was cut diagonally into Shenlong's rock like abdomen like the mark of a chidori in a mountain.
"That one is from a long time ago and is probably the worst one I ever got," replied Shenlong as he continued changing in plain daylight, much to the pleasure and somewhat displeasure of the single women present. "Anyway, I have to go write a report to the Hokage and Kazekage that they can pass on to the other villages competing in this exam."
"You know Gaara-sama may be a bit mad that you let a group of Konoha genin get past you?"
"I let a group of Suna get past me as well, didn't they show up?"
"No, no one has seen any genin from Suna reach here."
"Shit," cursed Shenlong as he took out an ocarina from his coat pocket and played a few keys on it to call out to his subordinate's that were all represented in full force of twelve men. They were only allowed in there because Shenlong had given his word that he would never have them try and kill the Hokage. "Go into the Forest and search for any genin that may have been captured! I want an update every ten minutes sent to the Kazekage himself!"
"We shouldn't send you one," asked the subordinate.
"No, right now I have to report about the intruders in the Forest," said Shenlong as he started to walk away at a quick pace, but looked over his shoulder at his group. "By the way, the intruder is good, avoid any conflict, but if you do find yourself than send out a distress signal and the stand by team will come to back you up. Dismissed!"
Shenlong teleported himself continuously from the place to place via his crow summons until he was eventually in the Hokage's observation booth, where the Kazekage, Hokage, and the Godaime were. He knelt down on one knee to report to them in an old style that had been used by ninja during the time of the first Kages. The jonin realized that had placed his shades back on before he left the forest, which irked Naruto because he always wanted to see Shenlong's eyes. Even though Keiji had told Naruto that Shenlong's eyes were pretty much the same, Naruto just always felt this urge to look. Unfortunately he couldn't order or ask Shenlong to take his shades off because it would be embarrassing to Konoha and would make the elders question Tsunade's decision for him to be Hokage.
"What is it that you have to report to us, Shenlong," asked Gaara as he motioned for Shenlong to rise and Shenlong did as soon as Gaara made the gesture.
Naruto remembered the first time he ever saw Shenlong was when Gaara had arrived to discuss matters of rogue ninja with Tsunade with Shenlong accompanying him as a body guard. It was odd to Naruto because he had always seen Kankuro as Gaara's bodyguard, but Naruto could see that Shenlong was the perfect choice when a rogue ninja infiltrated Konoha and tried to assassinate Gaara. Shenlong immediately stepped in front of Gaara and took the blow while disarming the would-be assassin before proceeding to interrogate him right then and there. After he had gotten his answers he instructed his team to surround Gaara in a human shield formation before he ran off to the camp where the rogue ninjas resided with his wolf family for back-up and returned with the blood headbands of the rogue ninja to Gaara while the Suna ANBU was left with the mess. He was the one person who could never turn against Gaara even if Gaara had sentenced him to death for no reason, Shenlong would humbly commit seppku in a pool of stagnant water.
"Kazekage-sama, while administering the second part of the Chunin exam, I ran into an intruder," said Shenlong clearly and to the point, but at the same time showing humbleness. "I regret to say that I failed to capture the intruder and failed again in preventing Suna genin from being captured by the intruder."
"You can stop using Kazekage, Shenlong, you are most trustworthy and have proven yourself worthy of it," said Gaara as he let out a silent chuckle from his amusement of Shenlong's use of honorifics. He never had time for them with anyone else unless he wanted to show affection, but he only used honorifics for those he respected and rarely used them when he talked to council members. "And the intruder's escape would have been worse if it had not been you, for then we would have lost all of our genin instead of three. You have done well and are following all the right steps, which can't be said of most people when faced with the same situation."
"I am honored by your words, Gaara-sama," said Shenlong as he gave another bow. "With your permission, I would like to send a search party out into the Forest to assist my men."
"You aren't confident in your unit's ability to do that," asked Gaara as he cocked a brow at Shenlong because if Shenlong ever asked for such a thing than he would need it. He may be proud and sometimes vain in his boasts, but when it was of a serious matter he would always act as if his unit was a bunch of genin.
"They are good at tracking, but the matter has escalated now that some of the genin from other villages are missing to," said Shenlong as he got up and touched his metal crest that was a sign of his rank and his status as leader of the "Wolf" unit of Suna ANBU. It was the tracking unit sent for hunting rogue ninja and was made up of many jonin who were selected by Shenlong because of their tracking talents. "It seems the intruder was able to get into the village and kidnap genin in broad daylight, something that is very difficult to do with the ANBU under Kakashi's control."
"The matter is being looked into and we did see that there was a major break in through the part of Suna and Konoha ANBU," said Naruto, finally getting a say in something since it was his village as well. "It is because of this that I am sending a special team in to track any and everything there while we have also just captured some infiltrated rogues and are sure to get results now that Ibiki is done with lunch."
"Also you have another matter to attend to," said Gaara just as he received one of the ravens from Shenlong's unit."It seems that each genin was left in the forest perfectly intact, but they have not found a single sight of the intruder. There is no need for you to worry about it right now and as I have said you have more pressing matters to attend to, like the wedding of your student."
"So how exactly should we tell him, I mean what if he doesn't like the idea of you getting married," asked Kiba a bit nervous at the fact that his fiancé was the sister of Shenlong, and he didn't know how protective Shenlong was.
"Don't worry about yourself, I'll have Yuki talk to him and she'll be able to help him get over it," replied Neko as she hugged Kiba's back to help him calm down, but she was also questioning Shenlong's reaction. "Even if he is like that I can still get married, I'm old enough to be independent aren't I?"
"Yeah, but the point is that he might also be very pissed off at me and we all know that if someone pisses Shenlong off then they don't live long."
"Look, what we need to do is to find a way to tell it to him and I'm sure he will accept us. I am confident that onii-san would definitely accept us because he knows that I love you, no matter how clueless you can be sometimes."
"Yeah, it doesn't matter as long as we love each other," said Kiba as he turned to hug her as well and then he heard a clapping sound from the corner of the room in the Inuzuka complex.
"I see that the happy couple is enjoying a tender moment with each other," said Shenlong as he sat on the couch in the TV room, his shades still on, and his boot rested on a sword case. "First, I want to know what you both have planned for the wedding so we can start out with that."
"Well we haven't thought of that just yet," said Neko a bit blushing and then she stared at Shenlong in shock. "You heard us!"
"I was informed by Gaara-sama, you must realize that I am well informed and that I am not against your marriage," said Shenlong as he pulled out a book and then looked at the note scribbled inside of it. "Tomorrow we are supposed to be meeting at some diner near the antique shop on Tojo Avenue to discuss the arrangement of the wedding with everyone you want to invite and our respective kage-samas."
"Okay then, I think we already have a list of people ready," said Kiba as he went to call the usual suspects.
The diner was the same one that Naruto had announced to them that he and Hinata were getting married at, the same diner that Naruto and Hinata had resolved their first fight at, and the diner where I was arrested at. Kiba and Neko were both cheerfully smiling at everyones shocked and happy faces with the exception of Shenlong, Gaara, Yuki, and(because he rarely shows such a thing as surprise) Kakashi. After a talk of the arrangement of the duties made by the wedding they got into talking about where the wedding should be and everything else, which is where some of the surprise came in. As it turned out, Shenlong was a relatively well to do man, having written some books for tactics and fiction as well as his investments in certain businesses. One of those businesses just happened to be the hotel business as he had to travel to many places so he started buying controlling stock of certain hotel chains. With that move he was able to provide shelter for his unit when they were out and allowed him to gain influence in places that peeked his interest. The place he had the most influence in was called Moonlight Island, an exotic resort that had the most beautiful full moons and he wanted to plan it during a full moon.
"I don't know if we can go off so suddenly after taking such a long break and just getting here," said Naruto as he looked at the brochure for the place, but then he took a look at Shenlong's schedule and saw that it would be in two months. "I could make it if we got the case of the intruder solved, but if that is still going on then I don't think I can make it and it would be a problem to have some of my best jonin out during this crisis."
"Don't worry, I never let a threat last long when it could affect Gaara-sama in anyway," said Shenlong as he pulled out a pen and then started writing something down. "I got the idea from one of the wedding planners I asked to help out and thankfully one can take a break."
"Yeah this seems like a good place to have the wedding at," said a familiar voice from behind the groups table.