Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 50: Planning and Listening
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Team Kakashi's room)
It was night outside and so mostly everyone was asleep. But while most of them were sleeping peacefully, Sasuke was tossing and turning. Sweat was pouring down from his head and into the bedding beneath him.
He ran through the streets of the Uchiha compound, past the dead bodies of his clan. He knew who he was trying to get away from; he had had this dream before. But despite reliving it, he could do nothing to stop it. He all but bolted out of an alleyway and onto the main street, only to find Itachi standing there, waiting for him in the shadow of the moon. "It's a lie." He begged. "This isn't like you, big brother. It can't be."
"I have acted like the older brother you desired." Itachi told him. But then, he didn't continue his explanation. Instead, his form twisted and his features blurred, until who was standing in front of him wasn't Itachi, but Naruto. "Just like I once acted like the teammate you desired." He said.
"What?" Sasuke asked. He was shocked by how deep his voice was. Looking down at himself, he saw that he wasn't a child, but the person he was today. "What are you doing here, Naruto?"
His mouth turned into a sadistic grin. "And you called me a dobe? Take a good look around, you're supposed to be good with stuff like that."
He did, and his eyes widen with more and more horror as he did. Not only were there members of the Uchiha clan lying dead in the streets, the other members of the Konoha Eleven were there too. Asuma, Guy, Kurenai, Kakashi, Chōji, Ino, Tenten, Shino, Lee, Hinata, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, even Sakura. "What…what's going on here? What did you do?!"
"I got tired of you all begging me to come back, so I did something about it. Now, all that's left is you."
"You son of a BITCH!" roared Sasuke as he leapt for him, his hand going for his chokutō. But he grabbed nothing but air, which made him stop.
"Are you looking for this?" He asked, holding up the chokutō. Before he got an answer, he plunged it into the Uchiha's chest, making him fall backwards onto the ground. "You know you really should've seen that coming, even without your precious Sharingan." He commented as he causally walked up to the slowly dying Uchiha, standing over his head. "Thankfully, I know a way to fix that." He brought his foot and stomped down hard.
His eyes went open and he quickly sat up. He was about to scream, but his training as a shinobi made him choke it back down. His breath was ragged and sweat still poured down from his brow. Wiping the sweat off, he noticed that his hand was shaking a little. Noticing that the others in the room were still asleep, he shakily rose from his bedding and walked out of the room. As he walked into the common room, he saw that Sakura was sitting at the table, reading a book with only the light of the moon shining in from the windows and a candle on the table to give her light. He had forgotten that she had the first shift of guard duty.
"Sasuke?" She asked, noticing that he had entered the room. He looked terrible, like he had just woken from horrible.
"Hey, Sakura," He greeted her.
"Are you okay? You look a little shaken up." That would've been putting it mildly.
"I'm fine, I…I just had a bad dream."
"What was it about?"
"The night of the massacre…at first," He answered as he sat down at the table.
"What do you mean? I thought it was the same thing every time." This wouldn't have been the first time he had that nightmare.
"Not this time."
"What was different?" She asked, concerned about her teammate.
"Naruto was there. He took Itachi's place."
"And that was it?"
He shook his head. "No. He didn't just kill my clan. The Konoha Eleven was there."
"You mean we were…?" She asked, leaving the question in the air unfinished.
"Yes. He had killed everyone, even Kakashi-sensei and you. He told me that he was tired of us begging him to come back. He killed you all and then killed me."
"It is okay, Sasuke. It was only a dream." She told him reassuringly.
"I know that. But still, I can't help but feel that wasn't just a dream. It also felt like a warning. A warning of what would happen if we kept pushing him to come back."
"I can understand what you mean, but he has to come back. He belongs here, with us."
"That's not really true anymore. He has his own life to live." He retorted.
"We can still be a part of that life. We can be his friends."
He scoffed at that notion. "We're more likely to get him to come back instead of that."
"We can still try."
"Sakura, you've seen how he acts around us. Every time one of us tries to talk to him, he walks away. He'd rather talk to that Water Tribe guy, whatever his name is."
"Sokka, Sasuke, his name is Sokka."
"I know that!" He snapped at her, suddenly annoyed with her.
She fell quiet for a few seconds. "You're angry at him, aren't you?"
"Of course I'm angry at him! I remember what happened the first night we made camp. You saw the same thing I did!"
(Flashback)
Night had fallen and so, they had set up camp. It was process that had been finished quickly because of so many people. Once they were done, they sat around the fire, eating their dinner. "Hey, Naruto," Sokka called to him. "I gotta wonder, what was your training regime?"
"What do you mean was?" He asked from where he sat across the fire. "I still do the same regime, when I can."
"When can you not?"
"Well, you know. Fighting in a battle that can go for days on end, endlessly hunting for someone, protecting a person from assassination attempts, the list goes on." He listed, ticking the numbers off his fingers. "Why do you want to know anyway?"
"I feel like I've got a lot of work to do if I'm ever going to catch up with you." The Tribesman answered honestly.
"You don't have as much work as you think." The blonde assured him.
"But I still have work. If I'm going to be as good as you, I need to be as good as or better than you." That statement made both Sasuke and Sakura stop what they were doing and looked at him. That sounded incredibly similar to what a young Naruto would've said to Sasuke. "But make no mistake, Naruto, I will beat you one day."
"Now that is going to take a long time." Naruto remarked drily. "If you're going to beat me one day, I'd suggest working on your strategies."
"What's wrong with the ones I have?" He asked.
"You mean besides the fact I knew about them the entire time?"
"Name one time that's happened," He challenged
"Are you kidding? I can give you three." The blonde held up three fingers. "Ba Sing Se, the invasion of the Fire Nation capital, and the Boiling Rock." He stated, lowering a finger with each one.
"Oh, come on. I'll concede Ba Sing Se and the invasion, but the Boiling Rock? There is no way you would've known we were coming." He objected.
"Of course I did, I was actually expecting you a couple of days later."
"You are so full of it." Sokka told him, albeit with a grin on his face.
"No, really, I was. You actually surprised me by coming when you did."
"And what in the name of Yue made think that it would take me a couple of days to ask where my dad was?" He asked. It was his dad after all.
"I assumed it would be because of you trying to get the courage to ask either Zuko or Azula and because of them trying to make sure that Aang paid attention to his Firebending lessons." Naruto replied.
"That actually took a couple of tries." Azula commented from where she sat next to Suki. "Every time his attention wandered, we had to attack him by surprise to make sure he was paying attention."
"The fact remains, you guys got there a couple of days earlier than I expected, so that's a point to you." The blonde conceded.
"Wait, when did we start keeping score?" Sokka asked him.
"Since about five seconds ago. By the way, you're still a point behind me."
"What?
"Ba Sing Se and the invasion were a point to me, but the Boiling Rock was a point to you, so it's 2 to 1 in my favor."
"Oh, that's going to change."
"You wanna go right now?" Naruto challenged, putting down his dinner.
His response was to leap at him. It soon became a playful wrestling match. Nobody interfered, but Jiraiya was giving a color commentary that was making some of the others start to laugh. Finally, it ended with Sokka on top of Naruto with his arm in a lock. "Say it. Say it!" He ordered Naruto.
"I won't!" He replied as he tried to get out of the lock.
"You will! Say it!" Sokka commanded, not letting him move.
"Alright, alright, Uncle! Uncle!"
He released the lock and jumped up to his feet. "You heard him, people! He said uncle! That's a point to me. We're tied now." He danced a jig around the fire in celebration.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time." The blonde grumbled as he got back up. "But make no mistake, that's going to change soon."
"Of course it will, I'll be in the lead."
"Oh no, you won't. That will be me."
"Yeah right, in your dreams, Naruto!" The two of them spent the rest of the evening before going to sleep arguing about who would be in the lead. But everyone knew they weren't being completely serious about it due to the smiles they had on their faces. And yet, those smiles and the argument irked one person there.
(End Flashback)
Sakura looked quietly at her teammate. "Are you angry at him or what he took?" She asked.
"What do you think?" He asked back. "The dobe was always the one who was trying to beat me. I was his rival. Now of all sudden, he's got a new rival and I'm tossed away like yesterday's trash! You saw them, Sakura. They were arguing like the two of us used to do, except they don't take it seriously!"
"…Sasuke, how long have your eyes been like that?"
"What are you talking about?"
She took a small pocket mirror from her pouch and held it up to his eyes. "How long have you had the Mangekyō Sharingan?" She asked again. The mirror showed him that he had accidently activated the Mangekyō Sharingan. The design was a red six-pointed star with black lines forming a back hexagon in the middle, around a black pupil, and which all of it was surrounded by a black background.
"Damn, you've seen them." He muttered, deactivating them.
"How long, Sasuke?" She asked a third time.
"…It's been three years now." He admitted after a moment of silence.
"Did you kill someone?" The tone in her voice was almost accusatory.
"No, I didn't." He snapped at her before falling silent. "…It was the news that Naruto had left the village. The fact he had left us behind and I was a reason for that tore me apart. And I got the Mangekyō Sharingan as a reward for the pain of losing someone who was like a brother to me."
"Have you used it?"
"No." He answered, sounding offended. "This is only the third time I have activated the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"What was the second time?" She knew that the first was when he gained them.
"To make sure I wasn't dreaming or hallucinating."
"So, you've never used them? Not even against Itachi?" She knew that the brothers had met during their search for Naruto.
"I said that already, Sakura."
"Why didn't you?"
"I chose not to, that's all."
She just stared at him for a few moments, before laughing quietly. "And I thought Naruto used to be the stupid one."
"I beg your pardon?" He asked, looking at her.
"You didn't need to hide something like that from us, Sasuke." She told him, fondly placing a hand on his shoulder. "We wouldn't have thought badly of you."
"You wouldn't, but the villagers might have. Besides, it's not a gift I wanted."
"What do you mean?"
"If I use the Mangekyō Sharingan constantly, it'll affect my eyesight. In the end, I'll go blind."
"Then don't use it constantly."
"It's not that easy, Sakura." He told her. "The first time they activated, I felt like I was filled to the brim with power and it was begging to be unleashed. I felt like that everything in the world was and should've been mine. It was an addiction that would've been easy to fall to."
"What stopped you?"
"I looked in the mirror again and saw Orochimaru in my place. It scared me so much; I smashed the mirror to make him disappear. That was when I realized that the Curse Mark was influencing me. It had influenced me to leave the village and it would've influenced me to use the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"So that's why you went to Lord Jiraiya."
He nodded. "If I hadn't, I would've been a security risk for the village, last Uchiha or not."
She knew what he was talking about. If he had become a security risk, the elders, as well as both of the Councils, would've ordered him to be killed. "So you had Jiraiya take away the Curse Mark and never used Mangekyō Sharingan. And you were never going to tell me or Kakashi-sensei about it."
"That was the idea."
She sighed silently. "Sasuke, if it wasn't for the fact that it's the middle of the night and everyone else was asleep, I would slap you across the back of your head." He inwardly cringed, he had been there the last time she had slapped someone. The person went flying into a wall, making an indent that took the better part of three weeks to get rid of. "You don't need to keep all the cards you have so close to your chest. You have to tell us some of those things."
"I don't have to do it right now."
"I am well aware of that." She stood up from the table. "My shift is almost over and since you're up, you can take the next one."
"I don't have any problems with that."
"Good." She turned around and walked towards her room. "Good night, Sasuke."
He watched in silence as she closed the door behind her. "You might say that, Sakura, but not everyone wants to see what cards I'm holding. Especially that card," He thought to himself.
It was something that he had been dealing with for quite some time now. Ever since Sakura had apologized for acting like a Fangirl back when they were Genin, the two of them had gotten along great as friends. But recently, he was beginning to feel…attracted to her. He wasn't sure how it had happened. He just knew that he was attracted to her (he had honestly lost count of the number of times he had to refrain himself from using the Sharingan when she walked by. Even he had to admit that she had a great ass). He also didn't know what to do about it. He had never gone on a date and he could count on his fingers the number of women he knew who weren't Fangirls (and quite a few of said women would be very insulted if anyone called them that). He wasn't sure how Sakura would take it, so he kept his mouth shut about what he felt (he also knew that somehow, Kiba and a few others would never let him live it down).
(Location: Team Paragon)
They sat in the tavern June had gone to. "Why exactly are we here this late?" Sokka asked as he quietly stifled a yawn. "There's virtually no one here." He looked around the tavern. It was somewhat seedy, but looked clean enough to get people in and drink. New furniture was right alongside with old, telling them that this place had been the spot for more than a couple of bar brawls. The light of the moon barely lighted the not-so-clean windows of the tavern, forcing the lights to be left on. Currently, the only people who were in the tavern were them and the barkeeper, who was slowly closing up for the night.
"It's always best to have this kind of meeting where no one can hear you." June told him. "So, always meet either during happy hour or when the place is empty."
"Do you see him?" Naruto asked. He had the hood of his cloak back up and wore a bone-white mask over his face, hiding it. They sat at a table that was up against the wall, so they could watch the tavern without someone walking up behind them.
"Yeah, he's coming up now." She said, seeing the person and someone else walk into the place.
"Who's that person with him?" Suki asked.
"I don't know. He wasn't with him when I met him."
"Hey, you're back!" The man greeted her as he sat down. The team (with the exception of June), took the opportunity to look him over. The best they could up with was: average. He had a plain looking face with muddy-brown eyes and hair. The other man just stood behind him. What he wore was covered by a traveler's cloak, but his pale blue hair, teal pupil-less eyes with purple markings underneath them, and his headband was plain to see.
"Oh great, him," Naruto thought darkly to himself when he recognize who it was. "I thought Hatake broke his neck."
"I guess he didn't try hard enough." The Kyūbi replied.
"What can I say? We talked it over and we all agreed to take the job." June told the man.
"Great. My boss will be glad to hear that!" He exclaimed.
"Sir, we have to make sure they're the right people for the job." The second man told him.
"Oh come on, Nadare. They're perfect for the job. You can tell just by looking at them!"
"Even so, we must be sure."
"Your friend is right." Naruto said, deliberately lowering his voice so it sounded more guttural and harsh. "For all you know, we could green rookies who never handled a knife before."
"And are you?" Azula smirked when she heard that question. She whipped out one of daggers and pinned a fly on the opposing wall with it, startling the barkeeper.
"Does that answer your question?" She asked smugly. "And who exactly are you? I'm guessing you're some unimportant bodyguard?"
He stiffened in anger. "I am Nadare Rōga, shinobi of Yukigakure and loyal servant to the Daimyo of Snow."
"Now that's a contradiction if I ever heard one." Sokka mused as he fiddled with his boomerang. "You're loyal to the Daimyo and yet, you're planning to kill her."
"That woman is not the Daimyo!" He snapped, eyes burning with anger. "The true Daimyo is Lord Dotō!"
"I believe that would be 'the true Daimyo was Lord Dotō'." The Tribesman replied condescendingly. "You need to work on your grammar."
"You little shit!" His hand reached into the cloak as if to pull out a kunai. He froze when he heard Akela start to growl and felt his teeth on his leg.
"Control yourself, Nadare." The first man ordered, his tone void of any humor or friendliness he had. "Dotō is dead, and unless you wish to join him, I suggest you act like a professional.
In silence, he slowly withdrew his hand. "Yes sir, my apologies."
"Good." He turned to face Sokka. "If you would be so kind to call off your pet, we can continue."
"He's not a pet, he's a partner." Sokka replied as Akela let go Nadare's leg.
"Ah, please forgive me for being rude." The humor and friendliness was back in his voice like a switch had been flipped.
"That was weird." Naruto thought to himself as he stood up from the table and walked towards the dagger.
"No kidding. Either that guy is one hell of an actor or he is hiding something." The fox remarked.
"Ten says he's hiding something."
"Given what we do, that's a sucker bet. For all we know, it could be both."
"Can we please move on here?" Suki asked, pretending to sound impatient. "I'm getting bored here."
"Relax." June told her. "He still needs to know if we're good enough."
"Then hurry it up already, sheesh."
"Sorry about my friend, she's a little impatient." She told the guy.
"It's alright. I take it that's not the only thing about her?" He asked.
Sokka snorted. "Are you kidding? She's one of the best fighters you'll ever see."
"And how do you know that?"
"I married her." Thankfully, no one on his side of the table battered an eyelash when he said that, through most of them were thinking "He's kidding, right?"
The other man only raised an eyebrow. "Aren't the two of you a little…young to do that?" He asked.
"How is that any of your business?" Suki asked back with a glare. "You're here to ask about our abilities, not our lives."
He chuckled. "Good point." He looked over at Sokka. "So what can you do?"
"I'm handy with a boomerang and a jian." He replied. "Also, I'm good at creating plans and improving them."
"So, you would be a great help in the planning process, right?"
The Tribesman shrugged. "If you hire us, I could possibly pass an idea or two."
He turned to face June. "I know you're a bounty hunter, so there's no need to ask you of what you do."
"Thanks so much." She replied dryly.
"And I'm guessing you're handy with a dagger?" He asked Azula.
"What gave it away?" She asked in return as Naruto came back to the table, handing her the dagger she had thrown.
"What about you?" He asked Naruto. "What can you do?"
"I'm the one who can get into any place without anyone noticing." He answered, sitting back down.
"Why do you wear the mask?" Nadare asked him with suspicion.
"Got caught in an explosion a couple of years back and ended scarring my face pretty badly," He easily lied. "But it's a great thing to use when I have to interrogate someone."
"Why would you use interrogation?"
"Sometimes we don't know when a bounty is, so we have to 'ask' people for information." He put some emphasis on the word ask. Everyone there knew full well what he meant by it.
"I…see."
"So, do we get the job?" June asked.
Both the man and Nadare shared a look. "That is up to the boss to decide." Nadare finally said.
"Then why did we have this entire conversation?" Sokka asked, sounding insulted. "Were you trying to dangle a job in front of us and yank it away as soon as we got interested?"
"No, no, nothing of the sort." The man said placating, raising his hands in defense. "You could say this was a…preliminary interview. If you want to get the job, you'll to speak the boss."
"And are we going to have to wait for that?"
"No, not at all," He told him as he stood up. "If you will come with me, we can take you to see him."
"At this time of night?" asked Suki. "Does your boss not sleep or something?"
"He sleeps when he has to." He answered before turning around and walking away, Nadare right behind him. "Come along, come along."
They all shared a look and followed him out of the tavern. They walked through the streets, avoiding what few people who were still walking through the streets. As they walked, the buildings around them got seedier and seedier. The tavern they had left had been a little seedy, but not enough as to make it a disgusting place to be. The buildings around them could make it look like a top-class restaurant. It was getting to the point where it looked like a sneeze would collapse the building.
Finally they stopped in front of a warehouse. Unlike the other buildings surrounding it, it looked like it was built to last, which automatically warned the team. A building built like this probably shouldn't even exist in this part of the city. It would be too odd. "Here we are." The man declared as he walked up to the door. He opened it and walked through, Nadare walking in behind him.
The rest followed, leaving Akela and Nyla outside the warehouse. The inside of the warehouse was practically bare, save for a spot in the center. A couple of lights were on in the ceiling, but they all were focused on the center, leaving the rest of the place to be lit by the weak light of the moon. In the center of the warehouse was a large table, with maps and blueprints spread all across it. As they got in closer, they noticed that most of the papers there concerned the Daimyo's palace. "So where is this boss of yours?" Azula asked, looking around. "There's no one else here except us."
"Ah, I knew I had forgotten something." The man said to himself before placing his hands in a handseal. "Kai," He muttered and was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. When the cloud dispersed, the man had changed. His brown hair had turned black and his face was now covered with an orange mask that looked as if it swirled around a hole where the right eye should be. But their attention was on his dark cloak, a dark cloak that had red clouds on it. "Hello, my name is Tobi!" He greeted them in a childish voice.
"You're the boss?" Sokka asked. "I thought it would've been someone else."
"No, I'm the one who got pick for this job, so I'm the boss here. I kinda wish Deidara was here though. He'd be great at doing this kinda thing." He muttered the last part to himself, but was still loud enough for the others to him.
"Who is Deidara?" Naruto asked.
"Oh, just someone I know, he's not important right now."
"So, what was with the whole thing in the tavern?" June asked.
"It was exactly what it was, a preliminary interview. You people are so slow. This is the real test, right now." He told them, gesturing at the table.
"What are we supposed to do with all of that?" Suki asked.
"What? You can't see it? It's obvious. You guys have to figure out how to kill the Spring Daimyo."
(Location: Team Kakashi)
As the morning light shined through the windows, they sat at the table, eating the food in front of them. "Did everyone sleep well?" Koyuki asked as she looked around the table.
"As well as we could." Sasuke answered, earning him a look from Sakura.
"Well, we should have a leisurely morning. But I will have a meeting with the Fire Daimyo and his advisors regarding the trade agreement."
"Why would the Daimyo be there?" Sakura asked, looking up from her food. "I thought he would've stayed out of this kind of thing."
"I'm not sure. Maybe he'll just be there for the sake of appearance. I just hope Princess Miki will be there. She's the one who I have been talking to."
"No need to worry, Miki will be there." Jiraiya assured her. "She's been putting as much effort into this trade agreement as you."
"I guess you're right. Are you all going to watch me throughout the day, or will you be taking turns?" She asked the shinobi there.
"We will be there to guard you as you discuss the trade agreement as well as beforehand, Lady Koyuki." Kakashi told her, gesturing to him and the rest of his team.
"What will you be doing, Lord Jiraiya?" She asked the Toad Sage.
"I'm going to go see what Naruto and his team have managed to dig up." He answered. He was interested to see what they have found already.
"Are you sure you will find them? The city is a big place." Sai said, earning him a glare.
"The kid might be good, but I'm better. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to track him down. But I also figure they'll try to send me a message. I'm guessing they'll use one of my contacts to pass it to me."
"What makes you think that?" Koyuki asked.
"I trained Sokka and Naruto for a month. It wasn't just combat lessons and teaching them how to properly use their weapons. I also tried to teach them how to use the intelligence they have and make it better."
The sound of someone knocking on the door got their attention. "Hey, Jiraiya, you in there?" called the voice of the bookstore owner. That set the shinobi in the room on alert, getting ready to attack.
"It's alright, everyone. I know who it is." He told them before getting up, walking over to the door and opening it. "What is it, Daichi?" He asked the man.
"This was addressed to you." He handed him a piece of paper. "I found it wedged underneath the door of my bookstore this morning."
"Who was it from?" He asked as he looked over the paper.
"If I had to guess, I'd say it was that kid and his group of friends."
"That kid?" He repeated.
"Yeah, the kid you've been looking for the past three years."
He understood what that meant. "I see. Thank you Daichi."
"It's wasn't a problem." He turned around and ambled away.
"What was that all about?" Kakashi asked.
"It was as I said, Naruto and the others passing information off to me." He replied as he came back to the table, reading the piece of paper.
"Is there anything of importance?"
"Well, it seems that they have managed to get themselves in the middle of the plot to kill Lady Koyuki."
"They've what?" Koyuki asked.
"Apparently, June had inadvertently gotten them a chance to have an 'interview'." He explained. "The message is brief, but they'll try to send more information soon."
"How soon is soon?" Sasuke asked, looking over at him.
"It doesn't say. But they do confirm that the attempt will take place during the upcoming dance."
"That's in two days." Sai pointed out as he finished his food.
"At least we'll have some time to prepare." Sakura noted. "That's more than we usually get." They usually had to go with a plan that had been put together in under twenty-four hours.
"But there's nothing to prepare for if we don't get additional information." He argued.
"Of which I believe Naruto and the others will be able to pass to us." She replied, throwing him a look that dared him to continue the argument.
He looked at her, still baffled by her and Sasuke's behavior. "He's a missing-nin who doesn't even think of them as friends and yet, they will still vouch for him. Why do they keep doing that?" He silently asked himself. "Why do they cherish a bond that he has obviously cut off?"
"Anyway, all we can do is wait for the information to be passed to us" Kakashi said, standing up from the table. "We've all been seen coming into the palace with Lady Koyuki. It will arouse suspicion if one of us leaves the palace and she's not with us."
"Then what should we do?" Koyuki asked him.
"For now, all we can do is act like nothing has happened. We act normally."
"If that's the case, then I suggest we take the leisurely morning we have out to one of the gardens." She stood up from the table. "Shall we?"
"We might as well." Jiraiya agreed. The others agreed and stood up from the table. They walked out of the room and down the hallway. Sasuke and Sai took the front while Sakura and Kakashi stayed behind Koyuki. Jiraiya walked beside her, to anyone who didn't pay close attention, he looked like a friend of the Daimyo.
They soon stepped out into one of the gardens the palace had to offer. It was filled trees and flowers and it also had a little stream that flowed through it. There was a path that one could take so that could walk through the garden and enjoy it to the fullest. They slowly walked along the path. Even though they weren't really paying attention to the garden around them, both Sasuke and Sakura had to admit it was soothing. It wasn't intentional, but the garden's relaxing feel was getting to them, though they managed to put it on the backburner and kept at doing their job.
They were crossing a small bridge when they met with Miki. "Hey there, Koyuki and company," She greeted casually. The last time they had seen her, she had been wearing a kimono that was the color of royal purple. Now, she was wearing a pair of tan shorts that stopped just before her knees and a light blue blouse. Her dark hair was held in a simple ponytail.
"Hello, Miki." Koyuki greeted the princess in return. "That's an interesting choice of clothing."
She shrugged. "Eh, not really, it's just some of my casual clothes. Of course, the FB keeps trying to get me to wear more dresses and other whatnot." She said, rolling her eyes. "It's getting annoying now."
"Um…who exactly is the FB?"
"The Fat Bitch, AKA Madam Shijimi, AKA my stepmother," She answered as she watched the water in the river flow.
"Well, you were wearing a kimono when we first met."
"That was because I had just escaped from a formal dinner." She laughed. "You will not believe how many times they will fall for the 'I have to go to the bathroom' trick."
"Who were you dining with?"
"Just another one of those suitors my father and the FB are trying to shove down my throat." She answered with a shrug. "They both seem to think I need to be married before I ascend to the throne. There's no chance of that happening with the suitors they throwing at me."
"What's wrong with the suitors?" Jiraiya asked her.
"They are exactly like my idiot of a father." She told him with a frown on her face. "They can't form their own opinion to save their life and they leave all the decision-making to other people. Honestly, it's like my father wants his own clone to succeed him or something."
"Well, you could just do what your mother did. Let them have the throne, but you have all the power."
She shook her head. "No chance. I am the daughter of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. When my father finally dies, it will be me who's going to be sitting on that throne, not the FB, not any of my suitors or anyone else. I will be the one to rule this land, no one else." She declared with firm conviction.
When they heard this, both Sasuke and Sakura were stuck with an image of Naruto, back when they were Genin, with him shouting at the top of his voice that he was going to become Hokage. "It's almost like looking at a female version of him." Sakura thought to herself. "The only difference is she will probably go through with her promise."
"If it helps in any way, your Highness, the Uchiha clan will support you once you ascend to the throne." Sasuke promised her, surprising the others. If it was a more formal occasion, he would've knelt.
She looked over at him. "Thanks for the support, but I thought there were only you and your brother left."
"It's a work in progress, I will admit that. But as long as there is an Uchiha, there is a possibility of an Uchiha clan. And right now, the possibility of an Uchiha clan will support you."
She grinned. "You know, maybe the FB was on to something when we suggested we get married."
"Not to be rude, ma'am, but I don't think that'll work." Sakura looked over at him with a question in her eyes, which he promptly avoided.
"Oh? Do you already have a girlfriend?" She asked with a grin.
"I don't think Fangirls qualify as girlfriends, your Highness." Sakura stifled a laugh, which came out as a snigger and earned a glare from him.
Miki didn't try to stifle her laughter. "You have Fangirls? You must have to beat them off with a stick, huh?"
"More like run away in a blind panic." Sakura stated with a full blown grin.
"Shut up, Sakura." He told her, his face in a scowl.
"Behave, you two." Kakashi reprimanded them.
"You know, I have got to spend more time with you guys." Miki declared as she walked away from the railing, the wood creaking slightly from her footsteps. "You're really entertaining."
"We try, Miki. We try." Jiraiya told her with a smile.
"Well, in any case, I got to go. If I stay in one place, odds are the FB will find me and try to drag me into wearing more formal clothes." She made a gagging noise. "I'll see you at the meeting in the afternoon, Koyuki." She told the Spring Daimyo as she walked past, her feet going from the creaking of the wooden bridge to the crunching of gravel in the path.
"I look forward to seeing you there, Miki." She replied with a kind smile.
"Yeah, same here, just keep an eye out for my father." She waved goodbye as she walked away.
(Location: Team Paragon)
"You want us to what?" Azula asked as they stood outside the pool of light that shone down on the center of the room.
"You have to figure how to kill the Spring Daimyo. Didn't you hear me the first time?" Tobi asked childishly.
"We thought you already had a plan." June replied calmly. She knew that at this point, if you panicked, you were going to end up dead.
"We do. But if you want the job, you either have to figure out what the plan is or come up with a better one." Nadare told them with a small amount of smugness in his voice.
"You want us to come up with a plan out of the blue?" Sokka asked. "That's a little unfair, isn't it? We don't know anything about this country, let alone the palace, and you want us to come up with a plan with no information whatsoever?"
"We didn't say that." Tobi replied. He gestured over to the table. "We have plenty of information right there. You're welcome to it."
"Do we have a time limit?" Naruto asked as he looked over the table.
"No, please, take all the time you need. However, you've only got one chance to convince us."
"And I'm guessing that we won't like the outcome if we fail, will we?"
"Of course you won't." Nadare told him with a slightly crazed grin and a twitch in his right hand.
"Right, let's get to it then." Suki declared. They stepped into the pool of light and walked towards the table, passing the two "employers". They stopped at the table and spread around it. They each took a map or a blueprint and began to look over them. Ignoring Tobi and Nadare, they got right into the planning. The rustle of paper filled the air as they picked things up, put things down, or passed them around. One of them would sometimes walk over to another, holding a map or blueprint in their hands and would discuss a point or an idea.
They lost track of time as they worked. The weak light of the moon slowly faded from the small, grime-encrusted windows, which began to make the room outside the center begin to get darker and darker. When the moon had finally vanished, it left the center with the only spot of light. But that did not concern them, what did concern them was what was in front of them. "What do you have?" Nadare asked, getting their attention.
"You said we didn't have a time limit." June replied, not bothering to look up from the blueprint she had in her hands.
"No need to be snappish, Nadare's just asking." Tobi told him. "But seriously, what do you have?"
They all looked at each other and nodded in agreement, putting whatever they had in their hands down. "Alright, here's what we've gathered." began Sokka as he faced the two from across the table. "The Daimyo's palace is well guarded. There's seems to be routine guard changes every four hours at every entrance and no one gets in without being inspected."
"The rooftops are also thoroughly watched." Naruto continued, holding up a blueprint of the rooftops to help show his point. "Guard towers are positioned along the walls and they are able to see everything. If we try to go across the rooftops, or even try to run through the courtyard, we'll have arrows and other whatnot flying at us. But even if we managed to make it through all of that, the alarm will have already been rung and we'll be caught."
"Digging under will be impossible as well." Suki stated. "The guards patrol inside as well and also keep lookouts at key points in the building. The ground itself will be hard to dig through, which would slow us by quite a good amount of time."
"Even disguising ourselves as servants wouldn't work." Azula told them, pointing to a paper that had the information on the servants. "The servants live inside the palace and can only leave it through guarded exits, which inspects them every time they leave and every time they enter. They each have only one uniform and each is personally marked, so they know which is which. That process alone kills the idea. We can't get in to steal uniforms, because they'll know whose was stolen and be on the lookout for it."
"In all honesty, this does not look good." June announced. "Even the sewers are too small to crawl through. This palace is very well guarded, doubly so since they've got a second Daimyo in there. The only way we can think of making this hit work is if we someone managed to walk past the guards without them stopping us. But I don't know if anything less than a party will make that work."
"A party? Is that all you need?" Tobi asked them, cocking his head to the side, like a dog listening to a weird sound.
"Pretty much, yeah," Sokka said, keeping a straight face. Despite the fact that they knew there was going to be a party in the palace, they had to pretend they didn't know about in order to fool both Tobi and Nadare.
"Then you should've said something earlier!" He exclaimed with glee, waving his arms dramatically.
"Why?"
"The Fire Daimyo will be throwing a dance in two days to celebrate the trade agreement between the Land of Spring and the Land of Fire." Nadare explained. Even though he tried to hide it, everyone could hear the snarl in his voice when he said "Land of Spring".
"Wait, hold on." Suki told them, leaning over the table and grabbing the blueprints concerning the entrances to the palace. "Hmm…we could probably make that work."
"What do you got?" Azula asked her. Even though they knew what to say, they were playing it up for all it was worth.
"We could possibly use the disguise method, but not with the servants. We use fake identities and pretend we're there for the dance. While the rest of us mingle with the crowd and keep an eye out, one could get close and take the Spring Daimyo out."
"You mean all of you? That might be a bit hard." Tobi said as he took a thinking pose.
"What do you mean? We can all get in."
"Well…what about him?" He asked, pointing at Naruto.
"What about me?" He repeated, sounding a little offended.
"You're wearing a mask."
"And so are you." He replied in a deadpan tone.
"My point is that if you're going to try and get into the dance, they might ask you to take off the mask."
"He has a point." June agreed as she picked up a piece of paper that described the Fire Daimyo. "According to this, the Daimyo doesn't like any ugly people to be in his presence. His guards are likely to know this and will try to stop you from getting in."
"Did you guys forget what I can do?" He asked in a growl, looking directly at them.
"What can you do?" Nadare asked him condescendingly. "Are you a master of disguises?"
"I'm a former shinobi." He answered shortly. However, if he had been hoping that would stop the questions there, it didn't. It just made their "employers" more interested.
"Oh really?" asked Tobi. "Which village are you from? We might have someone who knows you."
"It doesn't matter, I left it behind."
"Oh come on, which village was it?" His voice took on a whiny tone.
He snarled. "What do you want to know? That I was from one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations? I wasn't. I was from one of the minor villages and when I got bored, I left. That's all there is to it."
"What rank were you when you left?" Nadare asked.
"I was a Genin."
"So you know the Henge jutsu?"
"Obviously," He answered with a sarcastic tone. "Is there anything else you would like to know?"
"Where's your headband?" Tobi asked curiously.
"Where's yours?" The masked blonde asked back.
"Alright, alright, I won't ask." He said, holding his hands up defensively. "But you are able to use the Henge jutsu, right?"
"Were you not paying attention? I already said I knew it."
"Perfect! You guys are hired!" He exclaimed, silencing the mostly dark room, no one heard anything, except for the faint hum of the lights above them.
"That's it? He tells you he knows one jutsu and we're hired?" June asked.
"Oh no, that was just the finishing touch. You guys managed to figure what would go wrong if we try to go over or under and managed to adapt the disguise plan once you heard that there was a dance. All we need to do now is make sure you five are dressed up for the occasion."
"So, how exactly is this going to happen?" Sokka asked, trying to stay calm. Both he and the rest of the team knew that if they could get the details, they could alert Jiraiya and the others, giving them a chance to prepare.
"It's as you said. The six of you will disguise yourselves as guests and kill the Spring Daimyo."
"Hold on, six?" Azula asked.
"Nadare here will be joining you." He gestured to the man in question. "You five will keep watch and will also ensure that he successfully kills the Daimyo."
"I'm guessing that it has to do with that Dotō guy from before." Naruto asked, despite already knowing the answer.
"Yes. It does." Nadare answered with a more obvious snarl.
"Okay then, is there anything else?" Tobi asked, scratching his head.
"Yeah, there is." June said. "How much are we getting paid for this?"
"Oh, right. I knew was forgetting something." He walked away into the darkness, disappearing from sight. All they heard was his footsteps, which soon stopped as well. They started up again, this time with the sound of something being dragged and him grunting comically. "Aaannddd here we go." He declared as he dragged a big briefcase into the light, setting it down on the ground. He knelt down and opened it up. Pulling the top up as he stood back up, it revealed a good amount of ryō bills.
While the amount would've gotten any single person's attention, Naruto and the others didn't look impressed. In fact, they almost looked offended by the case. "That's it? That's all you're going to pay us with? A single case of cash?" demanded June.
"What? No! We wouldn't cheat you like that!" He assured her, flapping his arms like he was trying to fly.
"Then what in the name of the spirits is that for?" She pointed at the case.
"It's an example." Nadare explained. "If the job is successful, each of you will receive five briefcases, the same amount as you see here." He tapped the briefcase with his foot.
They all stared at the case and the promise that it held. The case was all but filled to the brim with cash. Four more cases just like that for each one of them would set the amount of cash to a number that would've stuck them dumb if they weren't trying to act professional. "Kami, he wasn't kidding when he said that we would be set for life if we took this job." Naruto thought to himself.
"It's a very impressive amount." The Kyūbi admitted. He was a Bijū and even he was impressed by the amount of money he was seeing.
"So, do we have a deal?" Tobi asked.
"Yeah, we'll take the job." June said, looking away from the briefcase and the promise it held.
"Yay! That's great!" He said, clapping his hands with childish delight.
They walked through the streets as the sun struggled to rise above the horizon and bring light to the new day. People were beginning their morning routines, whether it was heading to their jobs or opening their shops. The street was filled people and the air was full with the sounds of feet slapping down on the ground, people talking to one another, and the occasional bird. All-in-all, it sounded and looked like a normal day in the capital of the Land of Fire. But as they walked, the surrounding people would give them a little room, due to what they looked like and the vibe in the air around them, it was the vibe of don't-piss-us-off.
The pace they were walking at was what some people would've called a little sluggish; others would've called it slow and left it at that. But they didn't care what other people were thinking of how they walk, they were concentrating on making sure that one foot was in front of the other. They had spent the entire night ensuring that they had gotten the job to take out the Spring Daimyo and not getting killed in the process. The fact that an Akatsuki member was involved in the planning confirmed the idea that they were behind it. But at that point, they were focusing on getting to the hotel that June had gotten rooms at.
They eventually got there and immediately proceeded to the rooms they had been given, Akela and Nyla again stayed outside. It was spacious enough for them. It wasn't by any means a five-star hotel, but it also wasn't a hole in the wall. There were two separate rooms, one for the girls and one for the guys. There was single sink and toilet to share in a small room off to the side. They walked into the room and they all sat wearily on the beds with the exception of June, who was leaning against the wall. They just sat in silence, going over what had happened to them during the night. "…Hey, Sokka?" said Naruto.
"Yeah?" asked Sokka.
"Did you and Suki really get married when we weren't looking?"
He shook his head tiredly. "No, I just throw that in on the spot. I thought it would help them accept Suki's abilities."
"I see." They fell silent again for a couple of minutes, until he took a breath. "Okay, they want us back at the warehouse in ten hours. We have information that we need to pass onto Jiraiya. Does anyone think we need to send it right away?" No one said a word. "I thought not. In that case, there's only one thing we need to do now."
They all shared a look and a nod. "Sleep," They chorused.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you have sent me.
Okay, from what I've read, most people believe that you have to kill someone close to you in order to get the Mangekyō Sharingan. Personally, I like to think that you don't need to actually kill someone. If you felt that you've managed to make someone close to you change into something completely different and you feel responsible for that, you feel that you had, in essence, killed the person you knew and thus, would've gotten the Mangekyō Sharingan.
For the record, I am a firm believer in Naruto/Sakura, always have been and always will be. But let's face the facts, if Naruto gets someone else (like Azula), who else is Sakura going to end up with. And don't say Lee, because no matter how hard I try, I cannot see that working. What I'm trying to do here is have Sasuke fall in love with Sakura. I have read too many stories where they marry and either they divorce, or Sakura still acts like a Fangirl. But that there are also stories where neither of those things occur and that's what I'm trying to aim for.
Now I know that officially, Kakashi had killed Nadare. But all we saw was the two of them smashing into the ground and then Kakashi walking away with Nadare's legs sticking up in the air. Personally, that could also be interpreted as he was simply knocked unconscious and Kakashi had thought he had killed him. That's why Naruto made that remark.
Recently, someone has told me that my descriptions, for a lack of a better word, stink. If anyone has felt that the story has suffered because of that, I apologize. I will try to do better in that department in new chapters and try to touch up the old ones when I can.
I'll see you all next chapter!
