I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.

A Price for Peace

Chapter 52: Plans

The morning sun bathed the southern capital in a soft yellow glow, farmers were busily tending to their herds and crops, all working together to feed the thriving young nation. While the civilians were happily going about their business, at the centre of the city a meeting was going on.

"Two days! We have two days to prepare, and your best idea is to wait and see what happens?" A bald man who had exiled himself with Shougo stood from a kneeling position flanked by the others who had joined the rebellion and those of Naruto's students that had so far been given active field positions.

"Well I don't know what you want us to say Saji. We agreed to a parley and on our own ground no less. Gouhara is many things, but one thing she is not is stupid. She knows as well as we do that peace can't be achieved. The rest of my family wouldn't let it happen, war is inevitable. Whatever her real goal in all this is we don't know, but I agree we should let things play out, at least for now." Shougo replied.

Unlike Saji, Shougo was sat at a table at the end of the hall. Next to him sat Naruto and Tsunade, with Karin sitting off to the side, not looking all that interested but still listening intently.

"So we just let her into the city with what, free rein to go wherever she pleases? She will surely target Naruto or yourself Shougo. We should use this as a chance to get rid of her without an army at her back." The bald man declared loudly earning a few nods of agreement from some of the others in the briefing.

Tsunade seeing that they might loose the room slammed her fist down on the table as she took to her feet smashing the piece of furniture into splinters but instantly gaining everyone in the rooms attention. "A show of hostility would not send the right message. We want to be different to the empire so I will not have any underhanded tactics used. We will meet with Gouhara see what she has to say and if she tries anything then we will stop her, She will have very limited protection and Naruto has already shown that he can best her in a fight."

"That's right. Besides it's possible that she doesn't want to attack us at all." Naruto added, "There is no need to start a fight here."

"Forgive me Naruto, but you don't know Gouhara like we do. She is a cold blooded assassin, she killed her husband just to take his position. The second you turn your back there will be a blade in it." Saji replied almost pleadingly.

"Then I guess I will just need to watch my back then." The blond replied casually. Tsunade didn't take kindly to that statement and quickly knocked the blond into the ground. "Ow, what the hell Baa-chan?" Naruto whined as he picked himself up off the floor.

"As casual as you seem to be about your own safety Gaki, I don't think we should ignore a possible threat so readily. You told me yourself that it would be suicide to take this woman on in Taijutsu due to her control of wind. If she has such amazing control she is definitely a threat." Tsunade answered, crossing her arms under her bust.

Naruto looked down aware that he was being lectured to make a point out of speaking so nonchalantly about someone who may try their hardest to see him dead. "I get it, I need to be on guard. But Saji was right, I know nothing about Gouhara... but it can't hurt to learn. Jiraiya said that peace can come through understanding so I am going to use this meeting to hopefully get to know her, maybe we can come to some understanding."

"I would also like to point out Saji that you do not know Gouhara as well as I do. She certainly has a plan, but somehow I doubt that plan involves harming Naruto... at least not at this point in time," Shougo added.

"Okay we get it. But we're here for a briefing aren't we, surely you have some assignments for us?" Rea said looking rather bored with the whole discussion. She knew that any objections were quite pointless, if Naruto had decided to trust the albino princess then nothing was going to change his mind,

"Yes, and on that note all missions outside the village will be put on hold until further notice." Tsunade answered pulling out a list of files. An audible groan was heard, mostly from the more inexperienced shinobi at this news. "Teams that previously were assigned these missions will be on security inside the village." again a groan could be heard.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the groans of disappointment knowing that he would have reacted the same way not too long ago. "That's your mission once Gouhara arrives in the city, until then you will be on leave. So have the time off to train or just relax whatever," he informed the group.

Tsunade began passing out files with the missions each team would be partaking in, with the team leaving after collecting their files. Once the room emptied the four remaining members all visibly relaxed. "Well that could have gone better," Karin said lazily.

"While I do agree, I never really expected any of them to react positively about news that we will be hosting a member of the royal family. In all honesty it's possible that they could have revolted," Tsunade replied.

"You give my men too little credit Tsunade," Shougo scoffed. "They may have left the empire with me to side with Naruto, but that does not mean they are not trustworthy."

"I'll try to remember that," Tsunade offered offhandedly.

"Still I think we need to be on the look out for anything out of the ordinary, Naruto might be willing to give this lady a chance but I don't think she's trustworthy. Even if we can take her at her word that she means Naruto no harm, she is still the person responsible for the ambush at those trials." Karin suggested.

"That's true but we don't know the reason why." Naruto replied.

"I'd like to be able to tell you she's just misunderstood, but nothing I have seen in all my time spent at her side makes me think that way. She is a cruel vindictive woman, who would sooner cut your throat than hug you if she doesn't see any worth in it for herself." Shougo supplied with a frown.

Naruto sighed and cast a upwards glance at the ceiling, silently thinking back to all those opponents he had faced in the past and the reasoning behind why they did what they did. Whether it be Zabuza who was fighting to bring peace back to his home and over throw the then manipulated Mizukage. Orochimaru who was scared of his own mortality to the point where he would steal other peoples bodies. Pein or rather Nagato who so desperately wanted peace he was willing to destroy everything to get it. Even Obito and Madara had their own misguided reasons why they turned out the way they did. "I know you're probably right, but I want to know for myself, talk and find out if there really is no hope for her."

"It's foolish but if it can buy us even a few more days of peace, then I guess it can't be helped. I think you will be disappointed though," the Uchiha sighed in a melancholic drawl, shaking his head as he left the briefing room.

"Well I guess that means the briefing is over then?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Yes, you can go. I'm not sure what you're in such a hurry for, you already have clones out training, and at the rate you're going you will have learned everything your parents and Jiraiya left for you in no time," Tsunade answered while standing from her seat at the table.

With a cheer the blond took off to go join his clones for their daily training. He would often divide his time now between physical training and studying his parents Fuinjutsu notes. He so far loved the idea of becoming a seal master much like his parents and so many Uzumaki before him, but to his disappointment he had made little progress with much more than the bare basics and improving his handwriting to an acceptable level. Considering it had only been a few days, that would normally be great progress for most, but for Naruto it was almost painfully slow.

His problem as it had so often been in the past was the sheer amount of academic learning he had to do, even with several clones reading and rereading the same book it was so going. It was why the art was so rare amongst shinobi, the levels of study required were mind blowing. Regardless of this fact Naruto was never one to give up simply because something was difficult, no it just meant that he became all the more eager to get it right.

(Meanwhile)

Gouhara was waiting quite patiently in her office, a few scrolls stacked beside her. She knew it would only take a little over a day to travel to the southern capital, but she also knew that meant they would either need to camp out at least once, something she had not done since she had been active in the military lower ranks, or stay in one of the villages that could potentially alrady be outside of her control. The last few months had seen quite the influx of the worse off civilians heading south. She also knew that soon the other ruling Uchiha would see their own people seek refuge and a new life with the blond.

She lightly strummed the table with her fingers, the dull sound still echoing in the empty yet large room she called an office. Finally without warning the door opened and in walked two of her new servants, she hadn't deemed learning their names as they were from more well off civilian families that she considered to be well beneath her.

"I take it you have good news?" she asked a slight wilt in her voice promised pain if she did not get the response she desired.

The two servants nodded and bowed deeply avoiding looking the princess in the eyes. "Yes Hime-sama, a carriage has been prepared for your trip, no expense was spared ensuring you will be in the utmost comfort while you travel." they both chorused together.

'Kami they're like trained monkey's I wonder if they are even capable of thinking for themselves. But still, even a monkey can have uses,' Gouhara thought with a smirk. "Then what are you waiting for, go fetch Tetsu and get out of my sight... Now!" she ordered threateningly,

Both servants almost fell over they were in such a hurry to do as they were ordered lest feel the wrath of the white haired Uchiha, almost racing to the door. Rising to her feet she grabbed several of the scrolls that sat on her desk and exited the room heading downstairs and finally outside where a large luxurious cart was parked, being pulled by two massive black horses draped in the crest of the Uchiha clan.

'Well I suppose it will do for a few days,' she thought while inspecting the caravan that for most people would have been considered a small luxury apartment. Entering the carriage she wasted little time in making herself comfortable, pouring a glass of red wine she sat and waited. 'I wonder how the others will look when Naruto-kun ends their pitiful existence' a wistful thought that soon turned into a nice daydream, until it was abruptly ended that is.

"I've arrived Hime-sama," Tetsu spoke snapping the princess back to reality.

"Good then we shouldn't waste anymore time. We wouldn't want to disappoint Naruto-kun and show up late would we?" she asked with a sweet almost too innocent voice that screamed danger to the officer.

"Not at all Hime-sama we will leave immediately." Tetsu answered quickly with a bow. It was then he realised that it would be his job to drive the caravan and let out a barely audible sigh as he hopped up and took the reins. As the pair left there was no fan fair nobody wishing them a safe journey, only a few of the servants that were in the area would bow as the cart passed. All in all it was a quiet exit for the princess and her guard.

(Meanwhile)

Far away another meeting was being held. Ten figures sat around a large circular desk that had a large map of the empire that was divided into twelve sections inlaid into it. At the edge of each section was the kanji for a number from one to twelve where a seat was placed reserved for the corresponding ruler.

"Well it's a shock to see almost everyone here, the only ones absent are Gouhara and Joli and the young brat couldn't even attend if she wanted too," A man sitting under the Kanji for three laughed.

"I would have thought even if she were still alive she would have had the decency to not show her face," A smoothly feminine voice replied, her face hidden by the dark room but they could make out her Sharingan blazing proudly as she spoke.

"To lose to a lowly peasant the way she did is laughable," The Uchiha at seat three spoke again with a more than jovial tone, like he was almost fighting to urge to actually break out in hysterics.

"Well that can be debatable, we so far have no idea where this Konoha he mentioned is, and so far our records have shown up nothing." a new voice spat with a mixture of intrigue and frustration.

"You think it is actually a real place Sasame? I think it would be an obvious lie to prevent an attack on his home town," The woman queried a little amused at the thought as her Sharingan readily observed the other who sat in the seat for ten.

"He had no need to lie, if you had studied the tapes as carefully as I, then you would have seen he was never in any real danger from Gouhara or her Daughter. He spoke with confidence and belief. Despite all your claims that he is a peasant and beneath us as Uchiha, he defeated several members of our clan with ease." the now named Sasame replied, he leaned forward to show a slightly older Uchiha his hair now greying at the tips of a mop of shaggy black hair that looks as if it hadn't been cared for in years, he also had a short but shaggy beard that looked equally unkempt.

"Do you fear this boy Sasame?" Came a condescending voice from under the seat marked with a one.

"The evidence is there, if you weigh the facts against your delusions you would see he is not someone who you can defeat without significant planning and strategy," Sasame declared.

"Well it's typical that you would say that, the only reason you are sitting at this desk is because of your underhanded tricks and traps. Why we consider that proper strength is beyond me," the woman with the active Sharingan spoke with a joking lilt.

"A real strategist can win a fight without even lifting a finger, in a head on fight you may be correct that I am not as strong as some of the members of this table, but I don't need to be if I am smarter," the aged Uhchiha responded with a confident smirk.

"Yes yes, that's all well and good but it still doesn't answer the question of where this Naruto came from." The man at seat three said lazily.

"Well just because we have no record of this Konoha in our database, it doesn't mean that none exists. The restricted files in the palace may have the information that we need. Perhaps the Shodai made some reference to other nations not under his control," Sasame reasoned.

"You think Ojii-sama will let you look at them? I thought they were secrets for the emperor and his first born only." The Uchiha at seat three asked, for the first time sounding somewhat serious.

Sasame sighed and relaxed back into his seat as if pouting, his face once again shrouded in darkness, pausing for a moment before he spoke "Maybe not, but even if I ask him about this Konoha, his response might tell me something, perhaps he knows something that we do not. Otherwise were going to be left in the dark with no idea what we are up against."

"At this moment it's all hearsay, Gouhara has been tasked with the destruction of this new so called free nation to the south, and she is nothing if not resourceful," Came a rather uncertain voice sitting next to the empty twelfth seat that would have been occupied by the albino princess should she have attended.

"That's true, no need to think about how to deal with a rebellion when we can let Gouhara do it for us, seems like she does have some uses after all," the woman with the active sharingan spoke with some finality.

"Oh please, she is more likely to join him than defeat him," Sasame scoffed.

"You have such little faith in our dear cousin," the third seat laughed again. "I mean either way she will be as good as dead. If she should squash the rebellion then it's doubtful that Oji-sama will allow her to go unpunished for allowing it to occur in the first place. As far as I can see her time among our number is over. The real question is who among our ranks of subordinates is fit to join us?"

"Now is not the time for our officers to start killing each other to try and claim more power, perhaps when this rebellion is fully squashed into the ground we can think about that." Sasame replied fervently.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, I agree with Sasame, no point in weakening ourselves before everything resolves itself." the man from seat one spoke with some authority. That seemed to end the discussion before it could even begin. "The real reason we are here was to discuss who amongst us will be tasked with dealing with the rebellion should Gouhara fail."

"The answer should be fairly clear, the neighbouring regions Itami and Kuzuku they are already located on their doorstep and I'm sure are already prepared for war," the man in seat three replied lazily.

"But our regions do not have the strongest military, in fact if you look at the statistics not one member to ever sit at this table has come from the officers in our regions," a young man said apprehensively.

"That just makes them more expendable," The third seat joked again.

"Typical we get thrown to the wolves, but just think of it as a learning experience boy," came a grizzled response from a man sitting at the other side of Gouhara's empty seat.

"I guess it can't be helped, you're right Sensei. But if and when I get the chance I'll make the rest of you pay for this," the younger Uchiha answered his hesitant tone becoming a little more firm and confident.

"Yes yes, we're all terrified of you Itami-chan," The third seat laughed dismissively.

"If that's settled then I have work to do," Sasame stated before rising to his feet and out of the room. One by one the other followed suit leaving the room empty.

(That Night)

Naruto was exhausted. Not in a physical sense, but mentally he was drained. As each of the clones reading the books on sealing dispelled he felt the influx of memories as well as the realisation that learning Fuinjutsu was going to take a long time, even with his clone training. The physical part of being a shinobi had always come to him relatively easily in fact the only major difficulties he faced were when he was younger, learning to climb trees, something that he was still able to do at the same rate as Sasuke, a boy considered a prodigy at the time, even walking on water was easy for him to master once Jiraiya had removed the seal placed on him by Orochimaru.

"Is something wrong Naruto-kun?" Karin asked entering the large study where they had been reading over his parents scrolls on various topics from Taijutsu, Genjutsu to just philosophy and politics. He was happy to learn that he was not the only one that was no good at Genjutsu. His mother was just as incapable as he was, and it had never really been that high on the list of priorities for his father either. Still there were a few notes on and jutsu here and there.

"Nothing just lamenting how dumb I am when it comes to reading and learning," he bemoaned causing the red head to giggle.

"Now I am sure it's not that bad Naruto-kun, sealing takes years of work to even become adequate, it's not like learning to throw a punch," she scolded him before taking a seat beside him.

"It's not just that, all the other stuff I need to learn just to understand the basics it's so much, I don't know if I am cut out of it, I feel like I'm insane to even try," the blond admitted rubbing his hair in frustration.

Karin faked shock at those words. "Don't tell me the great Naruto Uzumaki is giving up," she teased.

This was however the right thing to say to re-motivate the blond. "Naruto Uzumaki never gives up, and he never breaks a promise if he can help it. Just you watch Karin-chan I'll be a better seal master than Tou-san, kaa-chan and Ero-sennin combined." he declared playfully.

"I'll believe it when I see it Gaki," came a call from the next room where Tsunade was studying some of Minato's ideas for healing seals he had based off of her own creation rebirth jutsu. None of them were perfect, he lacked her expertise in the medical field. But there was enough there that she could work with, Minato's goal was simple enough, first aid seals to prevent death and return wounded soldiers to the field quickly, sadly they never got past the theoretical stage.

"Oi you wanna bet you old bat!" Naruto yelled.

"I would, but you broke the only thing you owned that had any value," the Godaime Hokage yelled back with mock anger.

"It's not my fault your grandfathers necklace broke, it was Kurama!"

'Don't bring me into this, I wanted to be free at the time... that and I hated you,' the fox answered.

'You still tried to break free... still at least we're best buddies now right?' silence was all the met the blonds question 'Right?' again no response. 'Oh screw you!'

'I like you Naruto-sama,' Shukaku spoke in his mind.

'Thank you Shukaku,'

'Kiss ass' the fox said with a smirk.

With that the two Bijuu began in internal argument that Naruto had to block out by closing their link. "How about this, if I can learn advanced sealing in one year, I'll pay off all the gambling debts you owe, and don't tell me you don't have any, it's a large city but word gets around."

Tsunade would be lying if she said she wasn't interested. "And what do you want if you win?" she asked a bad gambler she may be, but Tsunade was not foolish enough to enter a bet without knowing what she stood to lose.

"Um," Naruto hadn't really thought about that, in his last bet with the slug princess he won her necklace and she agreed to become Hokage, but now he had no idea.

"You have to completely stop gambling your belongings, money, anything, no more poker nights, no more casino's, nothing." Karin answered with some finality.

Both blonds seemed shocked by this. It's not like she couldn't stop gambling, she didn't place a single bet while she was Hokage, it would have been poor public relations if the potential clients found out she often owed thousands of Ryo to people you wouldn't want to owe a single one. "That's not a bad idea Karin-chan, no more gambling if I win, what do you say Baa-chan?"

Tsunade knew it was a bet she would probably lose, she learned a long time ago, never bet against Naruto Uzumaki, but for once it was a bet she didn't mind if she won or lost. "Fine you got yourself a bet, I'll be sure to not lose too much in the meantime, I wouldn't want to bankrupt our rebellion,"

As slowly as things had been going with Fuinjutsu, the same could not be said for the various Ninjutsu his parents and Jiraiya had left, He'd always had a knack for Ninjutsu, and with Fukusaku's help he had already been able to pick up several of the jutsu they had left for him, Raiton was still his weakest area but the pointers Kakashi had given him had really helped and he was now able to use some basic Raiton jutsu with ease.

"Still win the bet or not, I think you should relax a little more often Gaki, life isn't just training and fighting. I'm sure you agree Karin," The busty blond said casually.

"Well..." she was a little torn on this issue, because if she was being honest she would want to spend every day with just her and Naruto, she even in her more wistful moments wished they were back on the mountains, but then she would remember how cold it was and her tune would soon change.

"I know, but as I am right now, I'm not strong enough to protect everyone, we're out numbered by kami knows how many, and I... I just don't want anyone you to be harmed," the Jinchuuriki admitted a little sadly.

"We're not defenceless civilians Gaki, I wasn't the Hokage for nothing, and Even Karin has been improving extreamly quickly lately, she might not yet be Jounin standard but it won't be long." Tsunade lectured.

"I know but it's not just you is it, it's my students, the people that fled here from the empire, everyone, they're looking to me to keep them safe and I don't know if I can, what if I'm not strong enough to save everyone." the younger blond sighed.

"Naruto, nobody is that strong, people are going to suffer, that is just the way of life." Karin said soothingly.

"I know, but so long as I can do something I want to be able to save as many as possible," the jinchuuriki declared proudly.

"I guess that there is no talking you out of it, so I may as well just support your decision, and help out where I can," Tsunade sighed.

Tsunade knew he wanted the impossible. They were heading towards an all out war with the empire and they only had a handful of capable fighters, that would mean the brunt of the fighting would be done by Naruto himself, something like that can change a person, she had seen it before. Orochimaru was the closest example, but his change came mostly because of the death of his parents. Still she had seen it in many of the worlds most famous ninja, you didn't get that well known without leaving bodies in your wake. Minato had been a talented yet kind hearted Jounin before the third Ninja war, where he became the Kiiroi Senko and would end a life faster than you could blink your eye. Kakashi had gone from by the books prodigy to an aloof, lazy, open pervert.

Naruto had already changed slightly, Tsunade knew that when she heard the recount of his time at the placement exams. He had killed strategically, and efficiently, something she would not have thought possible from the goofy blond she considered a little brother just a few years ago when he came back to the village with Jiraiya. What had pleased her though was his ability to still be himself around those he cared about. But unless he took time to do just that and be himself then the goofy innocent blond would soon fall apart. "That's it, tomorrow none of us are training," She said suddenly rolling up the scroll she had been reading and placing it beside a small pile she had collected for herself.

Naruto seemed stunned by this "What! Bu-"

"No buts, we're all going to relax tomorrow, which means no making clones, no studying fuinjutsu theory books, nothing ninja related, if you so much as tree climb I'm kicking you out of the capital" the slug princess warned.

Karin beamed at the prospect, "I think that is a good idea Naruto-kun, besides, we will be expecting that Uchiha princess the following day, so it wouldn't be a good idea to be exhausted from training, let's just go out and enjoy ourselves."

Naruto had to admit she had a point 'A day off couldn't hurt I suppose,' he thought almost questioningly.

'I agree with them, you have been working too hard. Relax for awhile it may even help you process some of the information you have been forcing into that thick head of yours,' Kurama suggested. Even the fox had been thinking for awhile that Naruto was working himself too hard and needed to slow down, He was still a teenager and had years to learn train and improve himself.

"Alright," Naruto agreed. "Even Kurama thinks you're right so I guess I can take a break for a day or two,"

END CHAPTER

Yeah I know the chapter took months to come out and mostly all it accomplished was a very loose sketch of the next few arcs, which may or may not have a small time skip in them I haven't decided yet.

Anyway I was away for two months in Europe then I have just been really busy recently. I know it's not much of an excuse but meh.

On another note I was laying a few seeds and very broadly starting some characterisation for other members of the Uchiha clan. I mean they can't all be brooding loners that have woman throw themselves at them for some reason that no real logic can explain, with plot armour so thick it would make the virgin in a horror film jealous. So task is to create enough interesting characters that don't feel too much the same so that the arcs I use them in can feel at least somewhat different. Not that all of them will feature heavily.