Chapter 19
A/N: So I have a snow day today and decided to update. I'm trying to make this puppy extra long! Thank you to everyone who did review however, as well as fave and follow!
Stallion6: It's just the way they are I'm afraid... *sigh* Tani and Ishi are not very nice.
Infinite Katalyst: Of course it is!
NicolaiGrey: Here it is! You don't have to wait any longer, m'dear.
The Keeper of Worlds: Thank you!
As always, please leave a review. If you give lots of nice ones today, I'll update again tomorrow! :) And as a reminder, please vote in my poll! :D
"What a bunch of ASSHOLES!"
Karin looked up from the mounds of paperwork she was buried in as she heard Tsunade yell. A large crash followed, with a string of angry curse words. The Hokage undoubtedly punched something in anger.
"Probably the council," she heard a voice say. She looked over to her companion, Sai, also buried in his own mound of paperwork.
"What could they have done this time?" she asked, as another crash resounded through the building, some dust and small pieces of the ceiling falling around them.
"They aren't being helpful or conclusive. They haven't been able to agree on a single plan of action since the news about Onoki's death broke." Sai watched as Karin cleaned the plaster off her glasses with her shirt, her slightly rounded stomach exposed for him to see. He frowned. Thinking about Sasuke's child always put him in a foul mood.
"What can the Leaf really do about it anyhow?" Karin asked, putting her now clean glasses back on.
Sai shrugged. "I suppose nothing at this time. We can hope Ryu has sense in their heads at the Summit they're attending."
"Y'know I think this is the most you've talked to me in weeks."
"Hn."
"Sasuke-kun did that a lot too."
At the mention of Sasuke's name, Sai put on a fake smile, collected his and Karin's completed documents and stood to leave. "I'm going to take these to Shizune-san for filing."
After he closed the door, she deflated a little. "Way to blow it, Karin." she murmured to herself. Ever since Naruto, Sakura and Ino left for Ryugakure, Sai was her only companion in the village.
She was so lonely she tried to strike up conversations with him, but whenever Sasuke or the baby came up he got jumpy, and usually left. As lame as she thought it sounded, she wanted to be be friends with him.
Resignedly, she went back to her paperwork wracking her brain to think of ways to get Sai to be friendlier with her. It was so much less complicated in Oto, where the only companions needed were your teammates.
"Blast Konoha and their friendship..."
Team Miyako and Team Rai once again sat waiting for their Konoha instructors, who on Day 2 of their specified training time, seemed to be making a habit of being late.
"I wonder what happened at that meeting Kakashi-san and Naruto-san got summoned to," Kamenosuke wondered, brushing some hair out of his trademark Takeshi green eyes.
"My Dad is Head Jonin, and he said Tanigakure and Ishigakure are trying to get other small villages to gang up on the big villages and us." said Hoshi. "He said that at the meeting, Nakina-sama decided to go to that small village summit that Fujie-san mentioned and try to convince the other villages not to join them!"
"Ishigakure is so close to us though, I'm worried," said Umeko.
"Aww don't worry Umeko, I'm sure Nakina-sama will smooth everything out at that meeting," Nozomi said, trying to reassure the redhead.
"Doubtful," said the ever stoic Hideki, who up until that point had been silent. "If Nakina-sama wants to smooth it over, she'd have to renounce our alliance with Konoha."
"That's right," Daisuke added. "Although I think Tani and Ishi are small fries. With Konoha on our side, we'll crush them like ants!"
Unbeknownst to the group, Naruto and Kiba had been walking up, listening to every word. "Don't you get it?" Naruto asked them. "If Konoha goes in and crushes them, we'd be as bad as they say we are."
The Chunin stared up at Naruto in shock. Kiba frowned. "Oi, Naruto, in their defense they haven't been briefed on the situation."
Naruto shook his head, then pointed at Hoshi. "She has, her father is Masanori Mizushima, he's on the council."
Hoshi blushed a little, and murmured "Yes, that's right..."
Kamenosuke looked at the two of them. "Say, where's Kakashi-san?"
"Yeaaahhh, he's going to be late so we're gonna start with 3 on 1 spars." Naruto said with a far off grin, remembering all the times he had to wait on Kakashi.
Hoshi did not look amused. "Why is he going to be late? Is this not important to him?"
Kiba shrugged. "Don't take it personally kid, he's always late. Since the dawn of time, Kakashi's been late to things. He was probably born late, he always gets to missions late, heck if he stops dicking around with Shizune and asks her out, he'll be late to his own wedding."
Naruto frowned slightly, knowing that Kakashi picked up being late from his teammate Obito but sighed and moved on. "So who will join Nozomi and Kamenosuke against me, Hideki or Hoshi?"
Kamenosuke jumped up excitedly. "Either way I get the advantage! Hideki is my first cousin and we train together a lot, but Hoshi has badass water style jutsu!"
Hideki stepped up. "I'll join you and Nozomi, Kamenosuke."
Later, after Kakashi finally showed up, the 3 set to work with their pairs and tested their skills. Hoshi indeed use water style, but when mixed with Daisuke's earth style in the warm ups, things got muddy, much to Umeko's chagrin. Umeko used jutsu that constructed protective chakra shields, and she was able to put up a dome to protect herself, Hoshi and Daisuke from Kiba and Akamaru's Fang Over Fang, but it shattered upon contact. A mental note was made to help her improve in the future.
Hideki and Kamenosuke on the other hand used the Takeshi clan's Bamboo Style and Nozomi used snow themed genjutsu.
It seemed to Naruto that Ryugakure had interesting mixes of people and jutsu due to its willingness to accept foreigners.
"Ok you lot, that's it for the day," said Kakashi as he started reading from his book. The 6 teenagers sighed with relief.
"Wanna get dinner, Kamenosuke?" Nozomi asked, a small blush on her pale face.
Kamenosuke smiled sadly. "Sorry but Hideki and I have to help my Dad watch Tsubaki-chan. He sucks with little girls."
Naruto overheard and piped in. "Is your Dad, Eiji, the Head of Takeshi clan?"
Kamenosuke nodded with a frown. "He got the title after his brother Masato and Masato's son Torao died. Nakina couldn't do it since she's really a Byaki, but she got to lead the village so I guess it's all good. Really, by birthright it should be Tsubaki-chan, Nakina and Torao's daughter, but she's only 10."
The Chunin all started to head their separate ways. Kiba, who had been listening to Naruto and Kamenosuke frowned.
"Are you getting all buddy-buddy with the council, Naruto?"
"No! I've only seen them like 2 or 3 times. I just have to start paying attention to political things so I can be an even better Hokage than my Dad!"
Naruto paused for a second, before looking back at Kiba with a funny expression. "Don't tell me you're gonna sulk like Shino does?!"
"Tch! As if Naruto! I was just asking a question."
"Did you get into an argument with Ino again?"
"No, as a matter of fact I haven't seen her toda- WAIT, WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"
Naruto just took off running and giggling like a schoolgirl, Kiba chasing him. Thy passed Hoshi, Nozomi and Umeko who were walking home. Hoshi rolled her eyes at them.
"And to think that they train us."
Meanwhile, in Tanigakure, a black haired man sat a chair examining a map on his desk. His hair fell into his eyes, and was a tiny bit shorter than shoulder length, but it reflected the light of the setting sun that came in through the window. The person in front of him stirred a little, not having been directed to move by their leader.
The man with the map looked up.
"Hiromi."
The person in front if him, Hiromi, stirred. "Yes, Katsutoshi-nii?"
"Shogo-san will be here tomorrow, and I suspect the other village leaders are on their way as well. Are we prepared for them and their guards?"
"Yes, Katsutoshi-nii."
"It will be your duty to guard the gate and check them all in. If anybody from the 5 Great Nations shows up, kill them on sight for trespassing without permission."
"Do expect delegates from Ryugakure to be there, Katsutoshi-nii?"
"Yes, I actually do. I can only imagine Takeshi Nakina-sama's blood boiled when she heard her village was being accused of starting Iwa's civil war."
"How were they pushed into a civil war exactly?"
"I have people covertly turning the masses against Kitsuchi naturally."
Hiromi gave a nod. Katsutoshi looked at her, his maroon eyes meeting her own red-violet ones. "Oh, and Hiromi?"
"Yes Katsutoshi-nii?"
"Send ninja to the small villages to talk to the people while the summit is taking place. Even if their leaders refuse to join us, their people might not."
Hiromi nodded and he dismissed her with a flick of his hand. She instantly exited to fill out his wishes, her black hair waving as she spun towards the door.
She frowned as she leaned against the wall outside of Katsutoshi's office. She didn't like what her brother was doing, she felt he was recklessly endangering the village. Their father never would've tried to do something like this, especially when the 5 Great Nations were so powerful.
Katsutoshi, on the other hand, couldn't of been happier. Everything was moving according to plan, and he couldn't wait to put everything in action.
"I'll weaken those '5 Great Nations' til they aren't so great anymore." he said to himself, his hand a fist on the map.
Gaara's delegation as well as Shikamaru, Neji, and Aya ran across the land under the moonlight. They had to go through the Land of Rain on their way to Konoha, as they were trying to avoid going through the Land of Rivers. They had no idea what Tanigakure nin would do to them if they were caught in their land.
"How long will it be before we arrive in Konoha?" Aya asked curiously.
"It'll be another 2 days," Temari said.
"Betcha you aren't used to all this rain," Kankuro said to the girl, indicating the slight drizzle.
She shrugged. "It's been a little rainy in Ryu lately due to the rainy season. But winter is going to start any time now there and it will snow like crazy."
Gaara looked at the sky, and frowned a bit at the drizzling sky. The trees had protected them somewhat, but they needed to stop for the night.
"Come on, lets stop for the night." he said to the group. They stopped and nodded.
Kankuro smirked at Temari. "But you can't be in the same tent as Shikamaru!"
Temari blushed furiously then whacked Kankuro on the head with her folded up fan. "You idiot!"
"OW! What was that for?!"
"Temari, Kankuro, quit being so childish." Gaara scolded, as Neji and Shikamaru rolled their eyes.
"Do they always act like that?" Aya whispered to Neji, her aqua eyes watching Temari and Kankuro warily.
"All the time. I fear for my cousin, marrying into all this..." Neji sighed wearily.
Shikamaru turned to Gaara. "So what do you think we'll have to do after that small village summit Tanigakure is hosting?"
The Kazekage fell silent in thought for a moment. "Hopefully, nothing. But what will probably have to happen is another 5 Kage Summit."
"Don't you think Tani is being quite bold considering they're sandwiched between Suna and Konoha?" Temari asked, joining the conversation.
"That's the part that confuses me." Shikamaru said, deep in thought. "How troublesome."
"Enough of this political talk you guys, I'm starving!" Kankuro whined.
"Of course you are, all you think about is food!"
"It's sustenance necessary for life, Temari!"
"You eat as much as Choji..."
"Y-you take that back!"
Gaara sighed. As Shikamaru liked to say, his siblings had the tendency to be... troublesome. He hoped to get to Konoha soon and escape from their childish bickering for a little while.
A/N: It's SNNOOOWWWMAAGEDDOOONNN! I found out I have ANOTHER snow day tomorrow, can you believe that?! Maybe I'll update again tomorrow if you guys are nice to me and leave lots of nice reviews!
But really, please review and vote in my poll!
Love,
MyHikari