Gaara was standing before the council, waiting for their reaction at his proposal. His siblings were standing next to him, in support, but he honestly didn't know why.
"You seriously want to fight for peace?" asked one of the members, with disbelief.
"It's clear that non of us wants war." said Kankuro "So, by offering up Gaara's strength, Fire country can see our commitment."
"We'll need to inform Konohagakure about this." looked into his papers one of the female members "But we need a new Kazekage."
"They are also searching for their new Hokage, we shouldn't stay behind." said another one, with long beard
"The Kazekage is chosen from the bloodline" inserted Temari, to which many council members visibly flicked. Gaara could tell, that he or his siblings were out of the picture, but it would leave to civil war, if someone else is chosen. He looked at his sister before voicing his opinion.
"Temari is the best suited for this position." he said, and the room grew quite, until one of them finally spoke
"Impossible, women can not be Kazekage" he said, and Gaara could hear the venom in his tone
"What if the new Hokage is a woman as well? Wouldn't that show a commitment on Wind country's part to the peace?" to this all the noise was gone, and Gaara just sighted, he started to grow a headache from them.
"After sending out the peace initiatives, let's put the Kazekage competition." said Kankuro enthusiastically
"That is our plan, but Temari is-" Kankuro cut in
"If it makes you sleep better at night, I will also participate" said Kankuro, to which some faces were shocked, or disapproved
"Other's will as well." said an old men, who grew bald over the years.
Gaara didn't even question why he is not included, Kankuro's part is to just show how better suited Temari is, while his to be a good weapon.
Of course, his siblings knew his true goal, but the council members didn't needed to know about it. After knowing that she was okay, it was enough for him to still go. Somethings still bugged his mind, but Temari said that she had a lunch with her, and he was keen to get to know every detail.
That blonde kid's words still rang in his ear.
He thought about it, about having other people, but he wasn't really sure about it. In Suna he didn't trust anyone, but maybe he can pull up the façade of that with his siblings, so he will be let out of the country faster.
Sakura was running to the hospital. She got out of the cell just recently, and was really bummed her team left, and she wished they would come back faster, but what she didn't wanted to hear, was for Sasuke to be in the hospital, after facing his murderous brother.
Ino was already at the entrance when she got there, and they run up the stairs to his room, only to see him in coma, and not being able to do anything about it.
Ino cried a lot, while holding his hand, while Sakura tried to calm her down, and just wished for Naruto to be back.
Kakashi was at the hawk house when a letter from Sunagakure arrived. His fingers were shaking, but he knew only the council can open it. Whatever was in that letter, it could mean war.
Neji was watching Hinata's train again. He did that every day, and he was proud to finally see some improvement. Her skills were no where near as his or Hanabi's, but they were at least there, and she finally stopped crying. She still said Naruto-kun a lot, and Neji knew her too well at this point, to know, she is only training for the blonde guy, but he was happy she at least trained.
He wanted to take her to train with him, during the time he met his team, but she also met her team at the same time, so there was no option for that.
He didn't told her upfront that he knows about her stalker behaviour with Naruto, but he also was ready to confront her about it. He also didn't tell anyone, especially the Hyuga clan, since his goal with her training was, to make her part of the clan again, and this would just damage it too much.