Beta by: RedCommandar72. Cheers to her for being super cool and chill! Thank you again.
A/N: I apologise for any and all error left, although we try, we are still bound by the laws of being imperfect humans.
1.7 Shifting Wind
Onoki hated all the other Hidden Villages. They were all foolish, inconsiderate and stupid! He particularly hated the new Kazekage brat. A kid who barely knew how to put on his own underwear was trying to lead a Shinobi village, what a joke!
He threw away yet another letter from that man's village, there was no way he was going to talk with that man's (a.k.a Yellow Flash's) village. He pulled out another scroll from the big pile and was surprised to find it with a Cloud seal on it. What the hell that brute for a Raikage want anyway? Onoki read the scroll and his eyebrows went upwards, soon a cloud of smoke was coming out of his ears.
The Hidden Villages have called for a five Kage summit. He quickly retrieved the scroll from the tree hugger's village and there it was, the Hokage have stated the need of a five Kage summit as well. Onoki threw the scroll across the room and fumed.
How dare those other Kages make such a big decision?!
There is no way this will end well. The Mizukage for one would gladly kill him on site, and he had no intention of seating on a same table as that toddler of a Kazekage, and let's not even get started on that man's village's current Hokage. Onoki pulled out a scroll and started to write a heated refusal to the five Kage summit. Before he could go on, Kurotsuchi busted in with a panicked face.
"What is it Kurotsuchi? I am busy," Onoki said without lifting up his head.
"They got Roshi!" she cried out.
Onoki's pen fall from his fingertips. "What did you say child?" he demanded.
Kurotsuchi took a breath to calm her rapidly beating heart rate.
"They got Roshi. We have lost him."
Onoki felt the earth move away from below his feet. Both the tailed beast the Village hidden in the Stone possessed were now lost. He looked down at the letter he had state writing and picked up the pen once more. It seems that the five Kage summit will happen after all.
Line break ...
"Bee, you need more protection damn it!" A screamed at the eight tailed jinchuuriki.
"No way bro, I ain't gonna need anything for sure, yo!"
A massaged his head trying to calm his temper down, but since it never worked, he did the only thing he had ever done.
A threw Bee across the Raikage tower and made sure to break some of Bee's ribs. At least in the hospital, the guy will stay put. Gyūki will probably heal him by the end of this week, but A will be damned if anything happens to his pseudo little brother.
Mabui approached him as soon as A sat down. Darui and C were already trying to clean the broken window through which Bee was thrown out.
"This is from the land of Iron, it seems we are going to have the five Kage summit, Lord A," Mabui spoke softly.
A grunted and took the scroll. "Hmm, it seems that way. This is going to be interesting."
Line break...
"Oh my, it seems they all have agreed to meet in a summit. How interesting," Mei snag out. "I need to get ready!"
Ao, ever the trusty subordinate was used to Mei's cheerful nature didn't comment.
Despite her carefree front, Mei was worried about how the summit will go. The Villages will no doubt show distrust towards her village and she couldn't exactly blame them. The horrors of the Bloody Mist will not disappear from anyone's mind any time soon. It will take time, but Mai will make sure that her village has a better future. Even if she has to remain unmarried. Mei got a little depressed thinking over her non-existent love life. She shook the thought away, there will be plenty of time to find a nice guy and settle down, she needs to defend her village before anything else.
Line break...
"Listen up, a five Kage summit has been called in the Land of Iron and I will be going there to discuss the strategies against the Akatsuki. I want Shikaku and Kakashi to accompany me," Tsunade declared.
"Yes Lady Hokage!" The two shinobi in question called out without missing a beat. The Hokage dismissed them soon after. Shikaku muttered something along the lines of the trip being troublesome and left.
Kakashi and Itachi walked out of the Hokage tower together, a comfortable silence falling between the two geniuses.
"How are you holding up?" asked Kakashi after a while.
Itachi shook his head, despite his calm appearance, Itachi was anything but calm. "I have a lot on my mind these days. How is that the Akatsuki have managed to hide themselves this well? It doesn't make any sense. On top of that, we have no intel on Orochimaur as of now. We aren't even sure if he is still with the Akatsuki or not. He just seems to have vanished."
"True, but maybe the summit will help with finding their location. This time around we didn't wait for the Akatsuki to destroy our village before we reach out to others," The copy ninja said.
"Yes, but I feel like we are all sitting ducks. We were able to avoid some of the conflicts, but this just feels like the calm before the storm."
Kakashi eyed the older Uchiha for a little while. "You know, sooner or later we have to inform both Sasuke and Naruto of what is happening. We can't keep them in the dark for long. Are you ready for that?"
"Honestly?" Itachi asked with a sigh. "I am dreading the day."
Kakashi nodded. "Me too. I still look at them I see the bunch of 12 years olds under my care. I can't seem to imagine them as grownups," he said with an eye smile.
Some of the tension was released with Kakashi's words and Itachi too ended up having a small laugh. "Maybe you are getting old Kakashi-senpai."
Kakashi laughed, "Maybe I am. Wanna go spar with an old man, Itachi?"
Itachi nodded. "Lead the way."
Line break...
"Absolutely not!" Naruto said sternly crossing her arms over her chest and stood rigidly.
"Listen, I am not a fan of asking you for such a sacrifice either Naruto, but it has to be done," Tsunade said, she could feel a mountain of a headache slowly creeping up her head.
Naruto didn't bother to answer back this time, just continued to show her defiance. There was no way in Heaven, Hell or Erath she was going to entertain that pompous brat for a feudal lord.
Before everyone gets confused, let's start from the beginning. A few months ago, just before she came back to the village after she was done with her training with Jiraiya, Naruto had the misfortune of running into one of the relatives of the fire lord, a young man named Asahi Haruto*.
He was being attacked by some small-time bandits who were posing as ninjas and terrorising a local town. At that time Naruto, being the kind hearted girl she was, had ended up helping the young lord. The lord, before going his way, promised Naruto to seek her out and save her from the life of a lowly-serving-ninja, his words not Naruto's. Naruto had tried to convince Asahi that her life was very good and despite the hardships of a ninja life, she enjoyed her life. Asahi seemed to not understand her words, but once they had parted ways, Naruto had promptly forgotten all about Asahi Haruto until now.
Now, suddenly after months, Asahi had managed to sweet talk his way into the Feudal lord's personal assembly and had proposed that Naruto should become his fiancée. The fire lord was well aware about Naruto's jinchuuriki status, but was too bored to pass up a chance of a good drama, had decided to entertain Asahi. He said that since Naruto was an adult, she should meet Asahi and if she is willing, she can marry the guy.
Asahi was arrogant and possibly delusional enough to assure that Naruto would submit to his charms if she spends a little amount of time in his esteemed company. The Fire lord had allowed two to seven days at most for this little nonsensical entertainment. Lady Tsunade was made aware of the circumstances, she being the badass Hokage she was, had refused bluntly. Then the young lord himself showed up in her office and refused to leave until they agreed to the Fire lord's, aka his, request. In his words, Naruto was too pure of a maiden to go through the harsh life of a kunoichi.
Thus, Naruto was locked in a staring match with the Hokage and she refused to back down. Shizune was sweating bullets at their antics. Both the Kunoichi in question were as stubborn as mules and there was no way this stalemate was going to end in a good way.
"You will not be alone, I am sure one of your team mates will be happy to follow you," Tsunade tried to compromise. The Lord was willing to pay for a double S-rank mission on this ridiculous proposition of his, and frankly, the village could use that kind of money.
Naruto shook her head. "No, no, no. I am not going near that creep. Send someone who can hold a transformation for a few days or a genjutsu user and done, your problem is solved."
Tsunade sighed. "I have tried to think of that idea, but if the jutsu broke, it could mean a huge political problem for the leaf village. Aside from one of your teammates, I will have to assign a body guard to you as well Naruto. That is another headache for me," Tsunade tried to reason. "If the Akatsuki gets the wind of this notion, they might attack the ninja in disguise and kill them when they find it wasn't you."
Naruto looked conflicted at that reasoning. Tsunade knew the girl was way too good at heart to let anyone get hurt on her behalf.
"Who are you going to send with me?" Naruto asked timidly. She wanted nothing to do with the lord, but any one of her comrade's getting hurt was something she couldn't deal with either.
"I have not decided yet. I will let you know tomorrow. Get ready, you leave tomorrow."
Naruto groaned and dismissed herself. She will just reject the lord within two days and come back. Once she gets back, she has to leave for her sage training immediately.
Line break...
Itachi waited for full five minutes for Sasuke to stop laughing at his face. The whole time Itachi had the driest look on his face and let his younger brother have this win.
"Y-you are telling me," Sasuke couldn't control himself and toppled over with laughter again. "You have to act as a body guard to that Asahi Lord all the while he tries to woo Naruto?"
"I am guarding Naruto, not him," Itachi answered drily and Sasuke started laughing again.
"Oh brother, this is golden. I am so sorry I will be missing it," he wiped his eyes from laughing too much. "Are you not worried the guy will succeed? He is quite good looking and rich from what I hear," Sasuke couldn't help but say.
Itachi glared. "No. She is not someone to go for just looks and money," the older Uchiha almost growled out. "Besides, I have those too," he added as afterthought.
Sasuke tried to stop himself but ended up laughing again. Itachi let out an irritated sound and left the house the Uchiha brothers shared all the while Sasuke continued to laugh at his expense.
Line break...
Naruto was grumpy when she came to the meeting spot for her joke of a double s-rank mission. She was soon joined by Haku who gave her a sympathetic smile.
"It will be okay Naruto. I will be there for you," Haku said giving Naruto a small hug. "If you like I will freeze him and he will not know where the two days went." Haku offered.
Before Naruto could answer Sai joined them, "Or, we can gag him and threaten dismemberment if he tries to complain."
"Hmm, yes that is an option, but we should do that very careful not to leave any witness," Haku answered Sai.
Sai nodded. "Yes, any witness can raise a political issue with the Fire lord."
Naruto was suddenly feeling pity for poor Asahi Haruto. Her friends were a blood thirsty bunch.
Before Sai and Haku could continue with their discussion on how to torture the young lord for a brat, Itachi and Sasuke neatly landed near them with a woosh sound.
Sasuke looked particularly cheery, as cheery as an Uchiha could look, and Itachi looked like someone had kicked his kitten. Naruto though personally thought Itachi looked even better than usual, he was annoyed and had no problem showing it to anyone, it was kind of hot! Dark looks suited Itachi, Naruto decided, while trying not to blush stupidly while looking at her best friend.
Sai happily skipped towards Sasuke. "Yo Duckbutt! are you going with us too, we were discussing how to dismember Asahi Haruto, the freaky lord."
Sasuke had long since given upon correcting Sai, just shook his head sadly. "No, I am not. Itachi will go with you guys. I wish I did though."
"Why dismember him? We can just cut him into multiple pieces and hide it till it rots away, should not take too much time with how rotten he already is. No one will suspect a thing, we can blame Akatsuki if anybody enquires," Itachi added his dark thoughts.
Everyone turned to look at him with varied range of emotions. Sai looked like he was seriously considering the idea, Haku looked intrigued, may be even little inspired. Sasuke looked like he was trying to supress laughter, which is odd since Uchihas don't smile in public, it was their taboo. Naruto looked horrified. Yes, Asahi Haruto was annoying but not enough to earn a death warrant.
"No Itachi, we can't kill him or dismember him or torture him. Political problems and what not, Granny said so," Naruto said moving closer to the brooding older Uchiha.
Even brooding Itachi was cute. Once the thought crossed her mind, Naruto quickly slapped herself mentally. No time to drool over her handsome best friend, they had a mission to finish!
Itachi looked at Naruto with a very innocent expression. "Are you sure we can't kill him. Maybe I will put him inside infinite Tsukuyomi. For only like three hours?"
"No!" Naruto looked horrified. What has gotten into Itachi? Three second of that dreadful jutsu was a clear death for his opponent, but was also lethal for the user himself. Tsunade had explicitly forbidden Itachi from using his Mangekyo Sharingan without permission.
"Listen everyone, no one is killing him or hurting the guy in anyway. We will get in and out as quickly as we can. Okay? "
A collective disappointing 'okay' was heard from the group. Soon the team took off.
Line break…
For all his faults, Asahi Haruto was a gorgeous man, which was another fact that irked Itachi to no extent. Once they had reached his manor, the lord had welcomed them with a huge smile. He was wearing fine silky traditional clothes. He had golden blonde hair not unlike Naruto's own and striking green eyes. For being a pompous lord, Asahi was more fit than he was given credit for.
"My dear, I am so happy to see you. I was just about dying to look into those mesmerising eyes of yours," Asahi said once he had welcomed the party to his huge house. They were sitting on a very impractically decorated living room and a servant was pouring out drinks. Itachi's mood darkened with each passing comment the lord was making at Naruto.
"So, there was a chance you would have dropped dead if she had delayed the trip a few days more?" asked Haku sweetly, a little hopefully as well. Naruto was trying hard to not roll her eyes at Asahi's words but snapped at Haku with wide eyes. Asahi's smile slipped at Haku's sweet comment, but he was quick to get it back.
"Err... yes, my dear. Oh, my days have been dreadful waiting for you. I can do just about anything for you dear," Asahi declared dramatically.
Itachi wanted to smash his head in. If anyone was going to do anything for Naruto, it was going to be Itachi, no one else.
"Is that so? Then you must get a pet Gorilla, you see our Naruto here loves Gorillas," Sai suddenly spoke up. Everyone in the room turned to look at Sai who maintained a very serious face. When he continued to look expectantly at Asahi, the poor lord turned to Naruto with pleading eyes.
"Is that true, my love? You like Gorillas?" The lord almost dared to ask Naruto.
Naruto was just about ready to bash her own head on the table, which probably costed more than her one-month salary, slowly nodded her head.
"I like wild animals. I like man who can tame wild animals," she said slowly, trying very head not to go and strangle Sai. What the hell was he thinking!
Before she could continue Haku spoke up. "You should probably find a baby whale too. Naruto saw one when she was a child and since then wanted one. We would know, we are her best friends."
Itachi suddenly developed fondness for Haku, maybe he will convince Sasuke to date the girl someday, she seems like she has a good head on her shoulder.
The lord had his blood drain from his face. "I see. You have very particular taste my dear," he said wiping out sweat from his face.
"Don't forget her fondness for petting alligators," feeling a little left out, Itachi added his bits. "Lord Haruto, when her last pet alligator died, she was crying for months. It was so sad. We had tried to find her one, but you know how rare they are in these parts of the world."
Naruto decided she had enough. She stood up abruptly before the discussion on her apparent love for wild animals could go on.
"Lord Asahi, I had a long day. I would like to take my rest. Why don't we discuss my love of animals later, yes?"
Asahi was looking just about ready to faint, quickly stood up. "Yes, where are my manners. A maiden like you should get all the rest in the world or your complexation may suffer. My servants will show each one to your rooms. May you have a pleasant rest, dear. Feel free to ask anyone of anything here. They know you are going to be the lady of the house, they will listen to you," Asahi said following them out of the living room.
Line break...
"Gorilla? Whale? Alligator? What am I, a zoo keeper?" Naruto growled, pacing back and forth inside the room while the three responsible for her pacing were relaxing in the room designated to her.
Sai, Haku and Itachi had very satisfied look on their faces and didn't bother to hide it.
"We are trying to help, if he backs off after knowing you like dangerous animals, he might let you go early," Haku explained.
Naruto stopped her pacing and frowned down at Haku. "I expected this from Sai, but you and Itachi? Why did you have to add to it? " Sai didn't look offended with the accusation. Rather, he looked like he was enjoying himself immensely.
"I do not like the guy," Itachi simply said. Besides, the flowery words Asahi was easily saying to Naruto was getting on his nerve, he wanted to be the one to shower her with attention and affection, not that Lord brat!
" 'Tachi…I don't like him either. I am going to reject him anyway. Within two days we will be out of this property and back in our village. Can I trust you to play nice until then?" she asked, finally ending her worried pacing and sitting down facing Itachi.
Itachi broodily peered at her and lost his speech for a moment. When did she grew even more beautiful? Or, was it the ridiculous light the manner had was making her look like an angle?
Naruto suddenly found herself trapped in Itachi's dark-inked eyes, which had nothing to do with his sharingan, and couldn't seem to look away. Sai noticed the change in the room and quickly nudged Haku and gestured her to come out with him. Haku was confused at first, but after the second nudge, she followed Sai out silently. Once outside, Sai quickly made up some excuse about how they need to be left alone to discuss the situation farther and dragged even more confused Haku away.
Back in Naruto's room, Itachi willed himself to calm down and looked away first, he failed to notice how Naruto too was trapped in the same moment. "I am not going to make any promises here Naru. But I will try, for your sake."
Naruto nodded with a small smile. Was it her or was the place getting hot all of a sudden?
"That is all I ask of you now."
They finally noticed the absence of two members of their team and chuckled out together.
"Guess Sai was not in the mood for more scolding," Naruto concluded incorrectly, shaking her head. Itachi hummed in agreement glancing at her fondly.
"Say Naru, I never asked you this before, do you-" he hesitated and Naruto curiously waited for him to continue.
"What is it 'Tachi?" She asked while making herself more comfortable on the carpet they were sitting in.
"I -no, never mind," Itachi sighed. He wanted to ask if she had any interest in any guy, but was afraid of her answer. He would rather stay in dark then know that particular information. Naruto looked at him with confusion, but decided not to press him, she could tell Itachi had a stressful day. However, there was a question nagging on her brain for quite some times and Naruto felt like it was a golden opportunity to ask him about it. Thus, like the most unpredictable ninja she was, Naruto directed her question at her best friend.
"Say Itachi, do you like someone?" she asked throwing Itachi off his game completely.
A/N: *Arashi Haruto is an OC.
Read and Review, I have noticed a lot of people read this and almost no one reviews, be kind to the poor author so that I find motivation to continue *Puppy eyes*. If you find mistakes, do share them, I will correct them right away.
