Ghost in the Sand
Suna's Mess
Making sense of the mess the sand shinobi were in was no easy task. Baki made the decision to turn himself over to Kohana not because he felt the sand shinobi should surrender, but because Suna needed someone to negotiate the mess created by their forth Kazekage. As the Kazekage was nowhere to be found that left one of the elders from the council to instigate the negotiations. In choosing to do so he knew the negotiations would be tense, particularly when he learned the third Hokage was dead.
"Where is the forth Kazekage?"
"I honestly don't know. If we knew where he was located he would be the one here doing the negotiations or he would have chosen the person who would be doing the negotiations." Homura Mitokado glared at Baki. The old man turned to whisper to Koharu Utatane as their mouths pushed together.
Elder Koharu turned back to him. "We need to discuss this with a few of our jonin."
Baki watched as they left the room, and felt an anger towards the Konoha. He sat at the table until the two elders came back with two of their jonin. Elder Koharu folded her arms. "Are you sure you don't know where the forth Kazekage is?"
"I'm positive." The man leaned back. "I also don't know where his three children have gotten to which is just as distressing." The eyes of the Suna shinobi narrowed as he attempted to decipher the expressions on the faces of the Konoha shinobi in the room. He recognized the two jonin as the sensei of the genin Gaara almost killed during the preliminaries, and the other was the sensei of the genin which managed to harm Gaara. "Vindictive much?"
Elder Homura took a seat across from Baki. "It's quite understandable for you to be wary of us. The Shinobi of your village attacked our own, and this would understandably make us enemies. Despite the death of our Hokage we still find it hard to believe Suna would break our alliance."
"Truth be told I wondered about that myself, but I couldn't question the Kazekage about such matters." Baki looked at the table in front of them waiting for the elders to say something to which he could respond. He folded his arms across his chest. "The only reason I'm here is to negotiate our terms of surrender, and to make sure there is no further war between our two villages."
"You want us to believe Suna is in more dire straights then Konoha?" Elder Kokaru's mouth pushed together as she kept her hands tucked into her sleeves.
Baki remained silent for a short period of time, before deciding it was best to say something in regards to Suna's condition. "I believe the elders of Konaha's council know of the contracts the Land of Wind daimyo took with your village."
Elder Koharu glared at Baki for a few minutes reminding him of lady Ciyo. She removed her hands from her sleeves and folded her hands. "I don't know what our contracts with the Land of Wind have to do with this. The requests made of us were extra requests. When a daimyo will need to use a hidden village outside their own country is always in fluctuation."
"So you honestly thought nothing of the long string of requests coming from the Land of Wind?" Baki watched as the elder woman's eyes suddenly widened. "The daimyo for the Land of Wind prefers using the shinobi of Konoha over those of Suna because your prices of cheaper."
"Surely you simply needed to cut your own prices." The female elder watched Baki carefully. Her eyes opened suddenly as her mouth opened.
"You just realized why we couldn't."
"Your daimyo also cut back on what he payed you for guarding your own lands." Koharu frowned as her hands clenched the edge of the table. "Why didn't your Kazekage say anything to us? We would have refused the requests. Surely you knew this."
Baki watched as the two sensei of the genin who fought Gaara looked at each other. The white haired jonin spoke what both were thinking.
"The daimyo for the Land of Wind used the treaty between Suna and Konoha to his advantage. If the Suna shinobi did anything to rebel against the Land of the Wind's daimyo he simply needed to bring in us Konoha shinobi in as the Suna shinobi would not be able to do anything because of the treaty. Thus the treaty with us had to be broken, or at least that's how I imagine the Kazekage was thinking when he teamed up with Orochimaru."
"That's more then what I was thinking Kakashi, but that honestly works."
The Suna shinobi remained silent as he stared at the two jonin, and then he spoke in a monotone voice. "What exactly do you want?"
"Suna I take it is looking for the forth Kazekage?" Koharu's fingers folded together as her mouth pushed together.
"I believe we're simply repeating things which have already been said, but I may very well be mistaken."
Elder Homura raised his hand. "We would like to offer help in finding the forth Kazekage."
"So that you can assassinate him in revenge for the death of the third Hokage?"
"As we've already said it is understandable that you don't trust us to help you search for your Kazekage. This is why we're only sending Kakashi and Guy with you specifically." The male elder folded his arms. "We'd be more at ease knowing they were helping search for your leader. The sooner the Kazekage is found, the sooner we can figure things out."
"Is that something so simple?" Baki leaned back while looking at the Konoha shinobi.
The male elder of the Konoha village let out a sigh. "We don't think the forth Kazekage was even at the Chunin exams."
A deep breath escaped Baki's lips. "If you had your suspicions then why didn't you say anything sooner?"
"Perhaps instead of asking whether or not you knew where the Kazekage was we should have asked when you last saw your Kazekage." The male elder watched as Baki remained silent. "Orichimaru took his place. The question though is when did he do this."
Baki carefully contemplated what they were saying. The negotiations quickly seemed to be heading in the direction of an interrogation. "Could the Kazekage be dead?" The man shook of the thought. "The last time I saw the Kazekage was when I left with my three students for the Chunin exams. Did it come directly from the Kazekage."
"The order to attack..." The man's eyes darted. "I can't honestly say." He took a deep breath. "I received the plans for the attack a week or two before the Chunin exams, but it wasn't from any of our shinobi. I received the orders from an Otoga shinobi." A sickening feeling hit his stomach as he found himself wondering exactly when the Kazekage was replaced by the man.
Kakashi folded his arms across his chest. "What exactly were your orders when you left?"
Baki glared at the other sensei. "I can't exactly say."
"Look. We're all friends here. You can trust us."
The male elder of the village let out a sigh as he glared at Guy. "I know there are secrets, but is this really something we should be keeping secret if it means finding your Kazekage."
"I'm sorry. The reason I can't say anything isn't because I was sworn to secrecy regarding what he told me then. His orders were vague. He said Gaara and the Chuunin exams were important in regards to bolstering our economic state." Baki didn't say the second part. "My job was also to try and keep the three out of trouble. The council doesn't seem to be aware of the fact the three are the Kazekage's own children at this point in time. They don't need to know we struggle with Gaara either."
"I see." The male elder turned his head to the two jonin. "Kakashi. Guy. We would like you to travel back towards Suna to see if you can't help them find the Kazekage. Be sure to send word to us when his status is determined. We can then resume negotiations."
Baki stood up then. "If that's the case then I'd be best going since no negotiations have taken place."
"Until your Kazekage is found consider the treaty status to be the same, but this doesn't mean it will remain the same. Might Guy needs a distraction from his student's injuries."
The man headed out of the room while the lips of his mouth pushed together in frustration. He didn't like bringing the two men along with him. "We don't need their help finding the Kazekage. The elders of Konoha know this all to well. They're simply being sent along so they can keep tabs on the situation. Did she have to bring up the genin Gaara practically mutilated? It's as if she wants to add another sting to Suna's troubles."
The three first stopped by the hospital to check on a certain students therapy. The interaction between the student and Guy made Baki wonder how useful the man would be. The man appeared to soft compared to the way Suna shinobi were expected to treat their students, and he also couldn't rule out revenge.
Guy's student Lee blinked a couple of times after the two greeted each other as he looked at Baki before pointing at him. "You're Gaara's sensei are you not?"
The Suna shinobi glared at the boy, and then watched as he got depressed. "Is he depressed because of his injuries? He doesn't look like he will ever be able to fight again. This is the kind of trouble which follows Gaara, but in this case he's lucky."
"How is he doing?"
Baki continued to frown at the boy. "He's concerned with how Gaara is doing? He's not at all afraid of him after what Gaara did. Is he some kind of moron?" He said something straight forward. "You do realize the Suna shinobi attacked Konaha right?"
"If you are with Guy sensei and Kakashi sensei then things must be fine between us now. Could you tell Gaara I don't blame him."
"Another odd thing to say. And we don't have time to be making these kinds of stops." They left then with Baki hoping they wouldn't make another stop. Unfortunately the three men passed a ramen stand on the way to the gate, and Kakashi stopped short.
"Hold on a second." Kakashi ducked into the ramen shop, and Baki thought it was another useless stop. He then watched as the man tugged his blond haired student by the ear. The Suna shinobi was quite sure the boy was still dressed in the garb assigned by Konaha's hospital. "Naruto... you're still supposed to be in the hospital after your fight with Gaara."
"I wanted some ramen." The blond haired boy blinked a couple of times when he saw Baki and a smile spread across his face as a hand reached behind his head. "Hey. You're Gaara's sensei aren't you?"
"Again?"
"Could you let Gaara know I'd like to eat ramen with him the next time he comes to Konaha?"
"First, I'm not Gaara's personal message service. Second, there is a high chance he's not going to be allowed to come back. Our council is likely going to want to keep a tight leash on him after what happened." Baki watched the look of disbelief on the blonds face, and then watched as Naruto crossed his arms and glared at the man. "Either way you look at it Gaara messed up. There is a high chance the council will call for another assassination attempt on him, or even order the Kazekage to kill Gaara himself."
"This has to do with what's sealed inside him, doesn't it."
"Intuitive, or something else."
"Did any of you think the problem isn't Gaara, but everybody else."
"Say what?" Baki found his facial features suddenly faltering for a few seconds.
"You know what I mean. It's all your fault Gaara's been alone this time. He..."
"Naruto. Back to the hospital, or do I need to perform One Thousand Years of Death on you?"
"Ah... that technique. That technique combined with a kunai and explosive tag worked really well in my fight with Gaara." The blond withered suddenly under the glare of his sensei. "I'll be going back."
Something told Baki he probably didn't want to know what this One Thousand Years of Death technique was.