A/N: Here's the next chapter!


Chapter 3: Troubling News


"Twenty-five dead, the entirety of Troop 9 and a few from Troop 12." Tsunade recited to the leader of the Akatsuki, a shadowy man with bright orange hair and pale skin.

He nodded, his piercings glinting in the light. "This is... troubling, to say the least."

"I'll say." Tsunade barked a laugh, but she wasn't feeling funny. "They're picking off our soldiers like flies out there."

"Don't worry, hm." A blonde young man of only twenty-four smiled at her. "They won't catch us. We'll be telling you all about it before next Wednesday."

"You'd better!" Tsunade nudged him hard, but a grin was on her face. "I want all of the information you have on Sunday, big bust or not. And... please, be careful."

The leader nodded again, gathering his robes around himself. "We'd better head out if we want to keep that promise."

"Good luck," Sakura piped up.

One of the taller members, a man with suspiciously-blue skin, grinned toothily and pulled her close for a noogie.

"Don't sweat it, shorty." He chuckled as she protested, trying to get away. "We'll be just fine!"


"Hear ye! Hear ye!" A messenger shouted, catching the attention of the people in the square. "The esteemed King Fugaku has made a new decree!"

He made a big show of unrolling the scroll and began reading loudly, "On this day of the new era, June 1, let it be known that any and all members of the rebel group Riot are to be targeted and brought to justice for the crimes they have committed against the royal family!"

The crowd began to murmur. A woman with sunny blonde hair and a man with graying mauve hair both looked at each other and sadly shook their heads.

"Any attempts to riot against the royal family will be subsequently squelched and the rioters' families purged." The man's eyes had an uneasy gleam in the light, but it was gone before anyone else could notice. "And, in addition, if you are caught harboring a known criminal, your family will also be purged, and the criminal hung in the square!"

The crowd began murmuring even louder, some shouting out their disagreement to the chagrin of their loved ones. The blonde woman and mauve-haired man held each other closer.

Somewhere in the village square, a young man of noble birth and unruly earthen hair sighed heavily. He turned to his friends, an orphan and a martial-artist's charge, and gestured to them both. They nodded in unison and slowly disappeared from the throng.


"My son," the queen busied herself with running her fingers through his hair as he leaned against her, "has your father's new rule appeased your anger?"

"Yes, Mother." He smiled into her shoulder, closing his eyes in bliss at the feeling of her gentle hands. "By the time I find a new bride, I hope they're destroyed."

The queen gave an indulgent half-smile at her youngest son, humming in response.

Nearby, Naruto leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest as he stared out of the double-pane windows and into the front gardens.

"For your sake, I hope you find someone quickly," the blond snarked, though with no real heat behind his words.

"Naruto," she chastised gently.

"It'll be difficult to find someone who can outshine her in all her qualities." The prince retorted, opening his eyes to glare half-heartedly at his friend.

"Sure, sure," he waved a hand dismissively. "Difficult, yeah, if there were any single maiden in the kingdom that you would actually consider."

"Picking a young lady who proves to be loyal and kind is a challenge." Mikoto chimed in, muttering under her breath, "Especially in this age."

Naruto merely shrugged, pushing himself off the wall to walk over to where the two royals sat.

He plopped down on a sofa next to them, sighing in content as he did. "How on earth do you get these chairs to be so comfy, your Highness?"

The noirette giggled, giving him a sly wink. "A woman never reveals her secrets. You'd do well to remember that, Naruto."


A scrawny orphan girl huffed tiredly as she dug deeper into the ground, her 'brother' racing about with tools and seeds.

"How about not leaving everything to the last minute next time?" She called sarcastically to another boy, lounging in the shade of a peach tree.

"What's the fun of that?" He answered sleepily, lifting the book off of his face for a few seconds to squint at them. "Besides, you two seem to have everything under control."

"True, but I don't think I'll be able to keep going much longer." A boy with straight black hair in a bowl cut sent him an apologetic look as he dropped the bag of seeds onto the dirt. "Shikamaru, aren't we supposed to be going over the Thing?"

The boy frowned, pausing for a moment.

The girl finally angled her shovel in such a way that she could easily drive it into the ground, leaning on it while dabbing at her forehead with a grubby handkerchief.

"I gotta agree with Lee." She gave her sibling a nod. "It's such a waste of time to be working on some stupid garden when we should be discussing the Thing."

"We can't right now. Ino's here." Shikamaru gestured with his eyes to the back door, placing the book back over his face. "Until she leaves, we have to wait."

"What is Yamanaka even doing here?" Lee wondered to himself. "Marriage?"

"Kami forbid." Shikamaru snorted. "They're talking with my father about merging our trades."

"Flowers and intellect." Tenten, the girl, said flatly.

"Our families have been friends for generations." He took the book away again to give her a glare. "This could turn out to be a great decision in the long-run for us. Yamanakas aren't feared for their expertise in horticulture, after all."

The two siblings stood in silence, Tenten staring down the lazy teenager before finally looking away, rolling her eyes.

She yanked out the shovel, now digging holes more aggressively, while Lee watched on in thought.

After a few minutes, he grabbed a handful of seeds and began to sow them, humming to himself, "...I wonder how she's doing."

"She?" Tenten echoed in confusion for a moment. "You mean-"

"Flower, yes," he interrupted with a nod.

The trio grew quiet as an overjoyed shout was heard from inside the house, and Shikamaru sat up and leaned against a tree.

They waited, Tenten poking at the dirt with the tip of her shovel, until they were sure that nobody would eavesdrop.

"Last thing I heard is that the Flower made it to its destination." Shikamaru confirmed, shutting the book and laying it on the grass. "If that new law is right..."

"...then Riot's going to have more problems than just infiltrating the castle." Lee finished with a sigh of despair. "We knew it wouldn't be easy, but... but I hate that we didn't think of this contingency."

"Not even the Nara clan can think of everything." Shikamaru spared him a comforting smile. "The Uchiha family is already unpredictable."

"They sure live up to their nickname," Tenten glowered at the ground at the thought. "Spitfire is an understatement."

"If the Flower perishes in the flames, we already have a blessing to continue on without it." Lee's shoulders squared, and his eyes narrowed in determination. "We will become a Phoenix in her place."

Tenten gave him a weird look. "You've been spouting off about stuff like 'phoenixes' and 'lotus flowers' for a while now. You okay, Lee?"

"Huh? Never better." He seemed to snap out of something and gave her a big grin, complete with a thumbs-up. "Sorry... sometimes thinking of what would happen if she died..."

Shikamaru cut off that thought by getting to his feet, brushing off the back of his trousers. "We won't let that happen. I promised her. We promised her."

Tenten chuckled, throwing her shovel to the ground. "You're right. No matter what happens, we're loyal to the Violet and the Iris."

"What about the Dahlia?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow. "You think it made it as well?"

"I know it did." Tenten nodded once, firmly. "It's not the type to just keel over when things get rough."

"Of course not."


A/N: Flower = kinda-too-obvious codename for Sakura? The flower codenames and their owners will be revealed in a bit.

Please tell me what you thought, feel free to speculate, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!