Of the Leaf Chapter 14 Info, a naruto fanfic

Of the Leaf

Darklight

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't own. Wished I did. Too bad. I know. (Sigh)

A.N.: I am alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Prego! Preggers! Pregnant! Whoo who! To all those who have waited oh so patiently for this: I'm sorry! I had a massive case of writers block. This was going to be a much larger chap but I said 'ah… screw it' but the other half is almost done.

By the way peeps… my disclaimers are meant to be sarcastic. That means acerbic, mocking, funny. Lighten up. =P

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(Six Weeks Later)

Kankuro moved through the Village with some care and a lot of confusion. The Leaf Village was a strange place yeah, but this… this was bizarre. People were rushing about, heads down and not talking to each other. Ninja were moving about as if they were going to be attacked at any moment. Adults herded children inside buildings, even though it was a gorgeous day.

The people were acting as if they were under siege. However, according to his brother and their information, Leaf was at peace with everyone. Even his Chunin guide was glancing around, checking alleyways, hands near his weapons pouch. His guide was acting more like a guard. 'What the hell?' the Sand Nin thought to himself.

"Something I need to know?" he asked the other man. The Leaf ninja glanced at him then returned to his surveillance. His answer was rather cryptic, "Honestly, Kankuro-san, if I knew I would tell you. Sadly, you know about as much as I do now." the younger man took in a deep breath and glanced over his shoulder with an apologetic shrug.

"My orders are to escort you and your team to your residence and to tell you that it is not wise to wander the streets…at all. You are not prisoners, please don't think that, but it just isn't safe. When the Lady Hokage is ready for a meeting, she will send messengers to you apartment. I am also required to tell you that if you all do go out, then you are to use the utmost caution in your interactions with people."

"What?! How can you not know what's going on?" Kankuro demanded.

The auburn haired man winced minutely but answered regardless. "I just got in from a long term mission last night. When I reported in this morning, I was assigned the job of being your escort and contact. No one has briefed me on any goings on within the Village… I am going to go out on a limb here sir…. But… I think that the Village is of the official position that there is nothing going on. Officially."

'Really? So if nothing is officially going on then what is happening unofficially? And if it is unofficial, why doesn't the Village acknowledge this or do something about it? Well, if anything, I can find out. I guess I need to go incognito tonight when I get something to eat.' the Sand Nin thought quietly as he allowed his team to be escorted to their quarters. A small smirk appeared on his painted face. Oh yes, tonight was his fun time.

\\\\\\\\\\\\ hours later\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Kankuro moved with easy grace through the Village, few people taking notice of his passage. Some of the sharper ninja taking second looks at him. With good reason, for the young man had changed his clothing into something less noticeable. His normal ninja gear was one of a kind, he had designed it for intimidation purposes as well as camouflage, but it stuck out like a sore thumb when he visited other Villages. Therefore, he had taken to packing a standard ninja vest as well as pants and shirts that were similar to the ninja's native of the country he was visiting. Some had brown pants and green shirts, others wore black, but Fire country ninja tended to wear navy blue. So he was currently wearing navy blue pants, matching shirt with his vest and weapons pouches in their respective places.

He elected to wear one puppet-summoning scroll, to not draw to much attention to himself. His Village headband was tied around his neck almost hiding it but not quiet. He was a Sand ninja after all, he wasn't ashamed of that, it was just that the natives tended to talk less freely when there was a foreigner around. So he had scrubbed his face and brushed his hair and made an effort to blend in.

He wasn't fooling the more experienced ninja but they weren't the ones he was scouting for, Kankuro knew just the type of ninja he was looking for. No, he was hunting young, intelligent, eager chunins. Young because they would chatter about the most about controversial things in public areas. Intelligent because they would know truth from fiction. Eager because they would want to debate and argue the points and merits of rumors verses truth as well as spill the beans on anything new that they had found out. And Chunin because they would be less guarded about talking in public like a Jonin but know more than any Genin.

He was also looking for a place to eat. He had passed up a barbeque place because of its booths instead of tables (one couldn't overhear conversations properly) and a noodle stand for the opposite reason (one could hear a conversation but could be seen listening in) before his ears caught the sound of pop music and smelled coffee and burgers. Bingo!

Strolling inside the restaurant he was relived to find that it was a seat yourself type of place. After doing a quick scan, he picked a table furthest from the entrance but not one that could be labeled as a private table. In fact, it was perfect for eavesdropping on conversations. Seating himself and placing his order when the waitress came over, he sat back and watched. The crowds of people were insane. Soon enough he got his wish as he spotted a group of teens moving towards the tables behind him.

He allowed his face to light up in happiness when the waitress brought him his food and even allowed himself to flirt with the pretty girl before she moved away. Doing this insured that the kids behind him would gather the impression that he didn't give a damn about them and so that they could get their useless prattle over with before they got down to the gossip. Damn…he had been a ninja for too long already!

After eating, he pulled out a scroll with a fairly difficult but common jutsu written on it and with it, he was able to pull off the appearance of studying. Ears trained to the teens behind him he allowed his eyes to flicker over the well-known words. He had learned this jutsu years ago but kept the scroll around for just such a purpose.

Twenty minutes later, after a bad joke and lots of raucous laughter he was just about ready to give it up. These kids obviously weren't going to start yapping about what he wanted to know. He took one final drink when he heard it.

"Yuri, come on! It was just a joke!" a male voice yelped out

'WHACK!' The whole table laughed at the expense of the boy.

"Don't call me that you dickhead!" a female voice squawked back.

"Aww…oww…damn it…now your just acting like a Hyuuga." the male grumbled. At these words, the whole group went silent.

Suddenly Kankuro felt several pairs of eyes looking around and examining him and others in the area. This is what he had been waiting for. Reading again and scribbling out notes on a piece of paper that he had pulled out he pretended to ignore the teens behind him. Apparently satisfied with his act the kids went back to the previous conversation albeit in hushed tones.

'Oh yeah, if that isn't suspicious I don't know what is.' Kankuro would have snorted if it wouldn't have given him away, as it was he risked an eye roll.

"I am not a Hyuuga!" the girl hissed.

"Yur…errr…Yuki, I know that, you don't have the freaky eyes. I was just saying that you're being way too grouchy about shit. You know…" the boy groused back. Somehow, the Sand Nin pictured a cross between Kiba and Naruto talking.

"Guys…chill alright? 'Sides, what is all the crap about anyways? All this talk about Hyuuga's and stuff like they are bad guys…" Another female voice spoke up but was shushed up.

"Akino! Where have you been recently? Under a rock?! Geez…" Another asked. The silence stretched and Kankuro held his breath.

"You're kidding me! You mean you really don't know?" The deeper voice belonged to a male.

"Ummm…No?" the one named Akino replied. Gasps of surprise and cries of astonishment come from behind his back and the Kankuro rolled his eyes again at the melodrama. Surely he hadn't been like this when he was that age was he? Nah…Baki would have killed him if he were.

"O. M. G.!" A new voice chimed in. The Sand Nin frowned, what the hell did that mean?! Was it some kind of code? He did not speak teenage girl.

"Where. Have. You. Been? How could you not have heard about the Nara and the Hyuuga clans? They are, like, totally hostile to each other. The Hyuuga clan actually threw the Nara clan head out of their compound! It actually took, like, twenty of them to get him out! The fight was so bad, that ANBU actually had to get involved. Nara-sama had totally opened up on those Hyuuga guards in the Village streets. Then the Hyuuga heiress? You know the really sweet girl? Well she ran out into the middle of the fight and faced off against her own family. She defended Nara-sama and then some old freak from the Hyuuga Main branch; well he lunged at her when she was busy with a few guards. Tried to hit her in the stomach and when Nara- sama saw it and he went totally berserk. And that's when ANBU showed up with the Nara heir and when he saw what was going down he jumped in and took several blows meant for both his dad and the Hyuuga heiress. So anyways, this whole time people are watching right? Well, right when ANBU are just starting to get things under control two more clans leaders showed up…Uhhh...Yamanaaka…Yankama…something along those lines and Akamichi, I think…Anywho, well when they saw that the Hyuuga clan was pretty much ganging up on the Naras they jump in and then the fight gets out of control again." At this point the girl takes deep breath before continuing to her enthralled audience.

"So finally things get calmed down, but the Nara heir has to go to the hospital and so does the Hyuuga heiress. Hyuuga-sama is yelling that Nara clan will regret everything and Nara-sama yells back something about curse marks and his son being injured and stuff and ANBU is trying to calm the two down and that's when the HOKAGE shows up. She is, like, TOTALLY pissed off and the Hyuuga clan scatters like sheep except for Hyuuga-sama. Nara-sama doesn't even blink but anyways, when she is done with them it's like totally silent and creepy. And ever since then there has been, like, this massive influx of Nara clan members from like everywhere. So when a Nara passes a Hyuuga on the streets now it's like total war. They almost always get into a argument and it usually turns into a physical fight."

Silence reigned for a while before another voice chimed in, it was the boy had started the whole conversation.

"How did you get all that out and not breathe?" Light laughter erupts from the table then it quieted down once more.

"Yeah, my dad says that the Nara's are to blame for all this. He says that if Nara-sama had just left instead of fighting then everything would be alright." came from one of the males.

"They are not! My sensei, he says that there was trouble before all of that happened. That something happened between the two clans and that Nara-sama wouldn't have started a fight. Sensei thinks that Nara-sama went to the Hyuuga compound to get everything straightened out." came from a younger voice.

"Tch…if your sensei said the sun shined out of his ass you'd believe him, baka." Snorted the deep voice male.

"You shut up, Shun! Like you know anything!" came the young voice again.

"Well… my mom and dad say that if it comes to a war that they are on the Hyuuga-clans side. Our whole family totally relies on them to survive; they are like, eighty percent of our business. It be like committing financial suicide to side with the Nara's, you know?" came another female voice.

"Not my mom, she has already started refusing to sell to the Hyuuga clan. She likes the Nara's; she says they are a really good family. She said that the Hyuuga need a good knock to get off their high horse." Came from the girl that had given the narration.

Many grumbled agreements or disagreements came from those at the table behind him and Kankuro abandoned his act of studying in shock. It sounded as if two clans were on the brink of war and the Leaf Village was refusing acknowledge it.

"Well whatever is going on, I know for a fact that the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata, she is now living with the Nara family." That comment came from the girl called Yuki. It was met with gasps and a several exclamations of 'What?' and 'No way!'

"That's not all…" Yuki continued. "Other ninja clans, heck even other merchant clans are starting to take sides. Things could get ugly real fast."

Kankuro's green eyes widened in shock. 'So that is why everyone is so jumpy.' he thought to himself 'if this shit hits they fan then this Village could go down in flames. Even worse… if this gets out then this Village's enemies could take advantage of it and just put a small spark to the powder and Boom! The whole thing goes up in a very big bang. That's why the Village has no 'official' standing on what's going on. The question is… How did our spies overlook this bit of information and how will it affect Suna?'