Irresistible

Chapter 5

Naruto couldn't get to Suna fast enough! Could Sasuke really be there? And why? Why would he be there? On the other hand, if he wasn't, why would Gaara lie?

Honestly, he didn't believe there was even a chance of that happening. Gaara had proven himself to be a friend not only to the Leaf, but to Naruto himself. There was no way he would lie about something like this.

So, why? Why would Sasuke go there rather than coming home to Konoha? It didn't make any sense.

"Kakashi-sensei, w-what is it that the Hokage didn't tell me? Why did Sasuke go to Gaara instead of to her? I know she was hiding something! Just tell me, damn it!"

"Naruto, there's some things that it would be best not to discuss now…" Kakashi said, as they hurried through miles of endless desert.

"Are you kidding? You can't just leave me in the dark like this!"

"Relax, Naruto," Shikamaru sighed in his typical, lazy drawl. "We'll be able to talk to Lord Gaara himself in about about an hour. We've come this far, don't flip out now."

"That's easy for you to say. You know what's going on!" Naruto growled. Sakura opened her mouth, but Natuto scowled at her. "And you don't get to say anything either, I know you know too, Sakura!"

"Lady Tsunade will tell us what's happened when she finishes her investigation. Before that it's only speculation and there's no use talking about it." Kakashi sighed. "The Kazekage's letter was very short and to the point. Presumably, he intends to explain once we can talk face to face. All you need to know for now is that Sasuke is in Suna, and it concerns Akatsuki."

"You know, once I'm Hokage you won't be able to do this to me! You'll have to tell me this kind of stuff!" Naruto knew he was pouting but he didn't care.

"Well, you may have defeated Pain, but you've still got a lot of growing up to do before that," Shikamaru shrugged. "Man, all this running is such a drag. But at least I get to see Temari again."

Naruto smiled. They were kind of cute together, his friend and the Sand kunoichi. "Yeah, that's one good thing, I guess."

"Hey, do you think you two will end up getting married, Shika?"

Shikamaru blushed. "Well, we've talked about it, Sakura. N-Not with either of the Kages, but we're... kind of thinking about it."

"That's so cute! Where would you live? I mean, would you want to be in Konoha or Suna?"

"Come on, it's up to the Kages to decide that! I have no idea how that would work out…"

"I mean, what if you could choose for yourself though?"

"I really don't know! Can we talk about something else? I haven't even seen her in almost a month… We both get a lot of missions and-"

"Guys, we're almost there. It would be best to focus on getting there and save the chit chat for later," Kakashi said.

Finally, the deep gorge that Suna was in stretched out before them. They descended down the rocks and were met by some guards.

"Greetings, Shikamaru. Back for another visit I see? Things sure have been interesting around here since that U-" One of the guards laughed but the other one growled.

"Uh, d-don't mind him! Go on inside, and report to Baki, as usual, Shikamaru. Hey, you idiot! You know better than to bring that up!" The other man hissed at the first guard. "Gods, shut up, if you don't want to get us both killed by Kankuro."

"I wonder what the heck that was all about?" Kakashi said, then yawned as he pulled his favorite book out of his vest pocket and began to read as they strolled along. "Oh well."

"Something tells me it'll be troublesome…" Shikamaru yawned as he led them to the office where Baki spent most of his time and knocked.

"Ah, good, you're here," Baki said, opening the door. He returned to his seat at his desk.

It didn't sound like he thought it was good that they were here at all. Naruto noticed how nervous the man was, but managed to keep quiet for only a moment before blurting out, "Hey, is Sasuke here or not?"

"I- uh…" The man took a deep breath. "Yes… but there's something you should know. T-The Kazekage is busy at the moment…"

"Too busy to talk to us?" Kakashi looked almost as incredulous as Naruto felt.

"Well, we were not expecting anyone for at least another three hours… You've moved with remarkable speed to get here so quickly. Don't worry, I heard you had arrived at the gate and I have already sent Temari to go and fetch him. But he doesn't like to be disturbed while he is with the Uchiha."

Sakura shook her head. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"There is no easy way to say this… they're- together."

"Yeah, you said that, but-" Sakura started to say but she stopped suddenly and she looked really confused- not to mention she suddenly started blushing- a lot.

Everyone in the room was quiet for so long that Naruto growled. "What the hell is going on? You're all acting really weird…"

"T-They're... l-lovers." Baki choked out and then sat down in his chair holding his head. "Forgive me. I didn't want to be so blunt… I apologize."

"What?" Naruto suddenly felt more confused than ever because he suddenly felt angry- wait. No, it was more like he was jealous. "S-Sasuke's... in love?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sighed. "Damn, Naruto… you really are so slow. He means they're sleeping together- right now."

"Oh shut up! I did get stuck with the pervy-sage, ya know! I just- It's just weird because Sasuke always said he wants to rebuild his clan! Alright?" Naruto snapped.

He wasn't even embarrassed because all he was really thinking about was why it hurt so much to breathe. He felt like he'd been punched in the stomach by Pain all over again. 'Sasuke's- in love? With Gaara?'

'Wait! Who cares? Hinata loves me! Plus, I even got to go on a date with Sakura not that long ago! So... I like girls! It shouldn't bother me! Why would it? Why does it matter to me who he's in love with? That jerk…'

"Well, actually," Kakashi shrugged. "Sometimes for the mission-"

"Sensei! Guys! Can we please not talk about this right now?" Sakura screeched. "Like seriously, I'm going to kill you all if you don't shut up!"

"Not in these offices. Blood stains don't come out of the paperwork." Gaara said, having just teleported himself into his office and opened the door to Baki's. "I sincerely apologize for keeping you waiting though."

"Where is he?" Naruto demanded. "Where's Sasuke?"

"You'll be able to see him soon. But for right now we need to talk in my office. Baki, please go check on dinner preparations."

"Yes, my lord." Baki said, leaving the room and closing the door immediately.

"Now then," Gaara said, sitting behind his desk. "I assume the commotion was because he told you about Sasuke and I?"

"Yes, Lord Kazekage." Kakashi said tightly. "But your letter was brief. Why did he come here?"

Naruto blanched. What the hell? He definitely wasn't done talking about Sasuke and Gaara. But Kakashi-sensei was just going to ignore it?

"If you read my letter, then you should already understand why Sasuke felt that he couldn't go home. It was the elders of your village who wiped out his clan using Itachi as a sword and their scapegoat."

Naruto froze. "N-No! That can't be! The Third was kind and he'd never do that! Never!"

"That is why Lady Tsunade has to investigate this carefully. If the elders did go behind the Third Hokage's back as he believes, then Sasuke was right to come here. Though it would be even more of a betrayal if she discovers that the Third knew as well. And on top of that, your village has now tried to kill him twice."

"I haven't heard of anyone being dispatched to go after Sasuke. True, Tsunade doesn't tell me everything, but she would tell me about something like that. Has he told you what happened?"

Gaara shook his head. "No. When I asked earlier, he just said that the masked assassins targeted his eyes- only his eyes. He killed his attackers but would've been gone permanently blind if Madara hadn't transplanted Itachi's eyes into him."

"What? That's kinda gross." Naruto demanded. "But, Konoha, destroying one of its own clans? That's even worse!"

"Uchiha Madara is the one who told Sasuke that he helped Itachi slaughter the rest of the Uchiha clan on orders from the elders of Konoha."

"But why?" Naruto demanded. "W-Why would Itachi obey such an order?"

"To protect Sasuke. Such plots have happened many times in other villages. Had the elders executed the murders directly they would have killed Sasuke and Itachi as well. That way there would be no one alive to care if the truth was ever discovered. Sasuke went rogue just looking for Itachi. Think how much worse it would have been if he had somehow learned then what he knows now."

"Okay, but Madara? Who's that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Uchiha Madara was an ancestor of Sasuke's and according to Elder Ebizou, one of the most feared shinobi who has ever lived. Apparently he is the true leader of Akatsuki. He's using them to gather all of the tailed beasts. That includes yours, Naruto."

"Why though?" Sakura asked.

"Because with his Mangekyou Sharingan, Madara can control the bijuu- like pets according to what he told Sasuke."

Kakashi nodded, hesitated for a moment and said. "Madara may also have been the one behind Kyuubi's attack on Konoha 16 years ago."

"What makes you say that?" Gaara asked.

"Well, at least that's what the Third's investigation led him to believe at the time. A few weeks ago Shizune and Lady Tsunade were sorting through some old papers and they found something strange that the Third had squirreled away. It was a piece of an old scroll in the margin that said that the nine tails incident reeked of Madara's evil. Both the viciousness of the attack on Kushina and the way he controlled the creature. As she briefed me on our current situation, the Hokage remembered the Third's note and told me to mention it if the pieces seemed to be lining up. "

"Man, what a drag." Shikamaru sighed. "But, if this Madara guy really was still alive for that, then it's conceivable that he was still around for the Uchiha massacre too and maybe even now."

"But if he admitted it, why would Sasuke even talk to a jerk like that?" Naruto interrupted.

"After his battle with Itachi, Madara was healing him and he told Sasuke "the truth" about his clan, his brother and the village. Then Madara sent him and his team to bring him the Eight Tails. Sasuke gave him a bushin instead."

"You mean- Sasuke tricked him? But why?" Shikamaru asked.

"To defy the man who helped destroy his life. And to protect you, Naruto. Because as long as Akatsuki does not have the Eight Tails they can't focus on the Nine Tails. I vaguely remember my captors saying it was a pain that the jinchuriki must be gathered and sacrificed to the statue in numerical order."

"Statue?" Kakashi asked.

Gaara nodded. "The Gedo Mazo. A gigantic, demon of a statue that absorbed Shukaku right out of me."

"S-Sasuke wanted to protect me?" Naruto felt like the wind had been knocked out of him again.

"He surrendered in chains at our main gate and asked me to help him kill Madara and protect you. I think he's dead serious."

"B-But in the Grass Country, Sasuke-" Sakura shivered and fell silent.

"Because I had heard what happened at the bridge, I didn't believe it at first either," Gaara nodded. "But, hasn't everything always been complicated once Sasuke gets involved?"

"No," Naruto said, brushing tears from his eyes. "I knew it. I knew this had to be the reason he didn't kill me that day between those statues… My friend is still in there. He just had to find himself again."

"I agree. We're just lucky that he hates Madara more than Konoha's elders for the moment. Sasuke seems surprisingly calm, but inside he's just seething. So it wouldn't take much to push him back toward the darkness he's trying to fight."

"You think the Elders really did plan the murders of his family?" Shikamaru asked.

"I think we should be ready for that possibility. Look at what my own father did to me. Left unchecked, fear is dangerous. If the elders thought they had reason to fear Sasuke's clan, striking at them first was probably what they saw as their only option to avoid alarming the other clans and more innocent people being hurt by in fighting among the shinobi."

Kakashi sighed. "Until we know for sure, I can't say this around Sasuke. And I hate the very idea that Konoha may have forced Itachi into killing his own family. But you know, I worked with him often because we made a good team. I was away on a mission when the massacre happened, when I got back and they told me what Itachi had done I just couldn't believe it… Because I don't think I've ever met a ninja with a calmer, more gentle disposition than Itachi had when we weren't working. And he adored little Sasuke, or at least he talked about him all the time. I didn't realize it back then, because I was pretty young to be an Anbu ninja too. But Itachi was still just a kid back then, about the same age as you guys when I first met you. I can't even imagine you three having to make that choice… But I have no trouble imagining Danzou giving it to him. Kill your whole clan and save your little brother or let us do it and Sasuke dies too."

"I see," Gaara nodded.

"But-"

Sakura sighed. "Naruto, we don't want to believe it either. But we-"

"No, I don't get it. Who are these elders anyway?" Naruto growled. "What gives these jerks the right to decide who lives and who dies?"

"Some of the village's former strongest ninja. I have met the ones in Konoha and they definitely take themselves too seriously. But there's one in particular that at first, I didn't really know why, but he made my skin crawl every time I spoke to him." Kakashi said. "Danzou. If someone actually was behind it, it would be him. "

"Hey! Yeah, Danzou! Sai told us about him too, remember, Naruto?" Sakura said quickly.

"What do you mean, Kakashi?" Gaara asked, ignoring Sakura.

"The last time we met the old bastard told me if I ever failed him again, that I didn't deserve Obito's Sharingan- and I swear I could almost feel him reaching for it. Let's just say I was glad the Third gave me a genin team not long after that, basically taking me out of Anbu."

"You really think he would've taken out your eye? Gross!" Naruto asked, he felt queasy and shivered in spite of the warm room.

"If I failed again? Absolutely. It was the strangest feeling and I've never forgotten it… Danzou looks like a frail, helpless old man, but I seriously doubt that he is as weak as he looks, all covered in at least a half mile of bandages. And worse, I've heard he desperately wants to be Hokage. He was livid when Tsunade was given the position."

"What? You mean a bastard like that almost became Hokage?" Naruto couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes." Kakashi said.

"Then, with you here, we must hope that nothing happens to Lady Tsunade during her recovery." Gaara sighed.

"That's right," Shikamaru said. "Asuma-sensei is gone so no one else really commands the respect of all the shinobi that you do, Kakashi-sensei."

"Come on," Naruto grinned. "Granny Tsunade is going to be fine…"

"People like Danzou should never be underestimated, Naruto. He may no longer have Root, but he and the other Elders may not like the Hokage prying into the past. Especially on behalf of someone they have been trying to kill." Kakashi said. "And it's beginning to look like they have something to hide, alright."

"Still, we have to be careful to wait until we hear from Konoha," Gaara said. "Voicing support for this idea and then changing our minds would provoke anyone in Sasuke's position.

"You're... really worried about him, aren't you?" Naruto asked, trying to smile. Inside he was conflicted, on the one hand he was glad that Gaara would go this far to protect someone who had really only been his enemy. But at the same time he was jealous because apparently Sasuke trusted him more than Konoha- and... more than him.

"I have never forgotten that I was the first Jinchuriki that Akatsuki killed, not even for a moment. Or that it's only because of you and Elder Chiyo that I'm even still here to watch over Suna. As for Sasuke, I was lost in the darkness for too long and he still has the same eyes as me. He's stronger than I was though, pulling himself out of it." Gaara said, blushing.

"I don't know, Gaara. You chose to save your village and not yourself that day. People don't get any braver than that." Naruto said, offering him a fistbump. "As expected of a Kage though, right?"

Gaara blushed but just looked at his hand, confused. Naruto grinned and tried to show him but the redhead took his hand back, looking even more embarrassed. "Anyway, I don't want anyone else to fall into that darkness."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. Before Iruka acknowledged him he had been lost too, about to give in to the darkness that he saw no way out of… "I don't want to lose Sasuke ever again either. Thank you, for giving him a chance."

"He took a far bigger one, and as I told Baki, everything starts with trust. But there is something else I need to share. I have reached out to the other Kages about Akatsuki's plan, but other than the Hokage, they have yet to respond. The Raikage's younger brother, Killer Bee is actually the Eight Tails' host. But he and the Tsuchikage in particular consider me a brat who doesn't belong among them."

"No word from the Mizukage either though?" Kakashi asked.

"No. Not yet. The Akatsuki has been a thorn in the side of every ninja leader for more than a decade. The smaller nations might be expected to back down from a fight with so many shinobi who are that powerful. I would think the Kages at least should take this more seriously. But no matter what, we can't afford to let Madara take the remaining bijuu. They already have the first seven."

"Right, so what do you want to do?"

"I'm still thinking about that. For now, we stand together to do what we can. That's to protect Naruto. It's possible that the Raikage and Tsuchikage are now united under their dislike for me. Since Sasuke attacked Killer Bee and I've given him sanctuary, the Raikage must be pissed. Sasuke was only testing himself and Bee is still free, but perhaps the Mizukage has joined them in the opinion that I trust him too much."

Shikamaru sighed. "I'm not even sure that I trust Sasuke right now. But, what choice do we have… We were sent to find out more and assist you."

"I wish we could just talk to the Raikage in person. They don't know Sasuke like Gaara and I do," Naruto said. "I'll make them understand!"

"I doubt that the hard headed Raikage will listen to anyone soon after the attack," Gaara sighed. "I'm not even sure my brother will be joining us for dinner tonight."

"Really? Why?" Naruto asked, Kankuro was usually supportive of Gaara…

Gaara blushed. "He disapproves... of Sasuke and I."

Naruto was instantly torn. He was still jealous of Gaara for getting to be close to Sasuke. But at the same time, he was Naruto's friend too- and no one deserved to be happy more than Gaara...

"Well, forget him for a while then, he'll come around." Naruto said. "Does Sasuke make you happy?"

Gaara blushed but didn't get a chance to answer.

"My lord," Baki bowed, after a polite knock. "Dinner is ready."