Chapter 27

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay, I've been real busy first I was on vacation, and then I was starting college and adjusting to it and all that jazz. Real boring stuff. Anyhow, I'd like to thank everyone who faved, followed, read and reviewed! You guys are grrreat! Did I tell you guys I've been rewatching Naruto? Like from the beginning! Naruto and Neji just got assigned to fight, and Naruto is all jazzed cuz he wants to avenge Neji beating the shit outta Hinata. Oh Neji, I just...have so many feelings about Neji.

Infinite Katalyst: Lol, match made in hell. That's funny. I feel so bad for the Ryu Chunin too, I mean Kiba and Ino warned them sure, but they really don't have any clue what's coming to them with Team Gai!

d46: Thanks, dear!

The chapter is dedicated to midnightscar17, who was so worried about this story they PM'd me to ask what happened! I worked extra hard because you were so concerned!

Katsutoshi sat reading at his desk, a letter in each hand. One was from Kinrei, reporting on his successful takeover of Shimo, the other from another associate. Hiromi stood in front of his desk, waiting patiently for him to acknowledge her presence. His maroon eyes flickered to her, as he finished reading.

"Hiromi, I need you to arrange Yuna's next payment. Also, I need you to send Kinrei this list of documents and tell him to send them to her."

"Yes, Katsutoshi-nii," Hiromi replied automatically, taking a piece of paper he handed her, before looking at him nervously. "Although, there's another thing."

"Yes?" he asked, starting to do calculations of some sort, not bothering to look up at her.

"Kuzuri-san has arrived and is waiting outside your office."

The village leader looked up from his work, cocking an eyebrow. "That's Shogo's girl?"

"Yes, Katsutoshi-nii."

"Send her in then," he replied, closing the file he was examining and taking out another that he would need to see the girl. He wanted to make the whole ordeal over with as quickly as possible, wondering for the hundreth time how Shogo bullied him into this.

His sister nodded, opening the door and gesturing for a pair of people to come inside. There was a girl and a plump, middle-aged woman, looking nervous and weary from travel.

"Kuzuri?" Katsutoshi asked, looking at the girl who would become his wife for the first time. Light brown hair framed a slightly tanned face and deeper brown eyes that held a defiant glint in their depths.

"Yes, Katsutoshi-san. My father sent a letter along with me."

The man took the letter, but didn't read it, instead setting it to the side. He gestured to the older woman. "Who is she?"

"I'm her former nursemaid, Fusayo," the woman in question harrumphed. Katsutoshi's eyes narrowed.

"If you're her former nursemaid, then why are you here?"

"She's my companion, Katsutoshi-san. It is all in the letter," Kuzuri cut in, defending her motherly figure and seemingly unhappy to be there. Hiromi's eyes looked nervously between the pair of Ishi women and her brother.

"I need you to understand something, Kuzuri. I only agreed to this because your father is such a big supporter of my cause, militarily and financially, even when it was my father's instead of mine. It is highly unlikely you will receive much affection from me, and you are free to be left to your own devices under two conditions." Katsutoshi spoke frankly, his eyes boring into hers. "Those two conditions are that you are available when I have need of you and that you do nothing to undermine me or my plans. Hiromi, my sister, will monitor you and make sure you aren't doing anything you aren't supposed to. Understood?"

Kuzuri frowned, but nodded anyway, her father told her to expect as much. Fusayo clicked her tongue, but also did not say a word.

"Excellent, all you need to do is sign right here, and we'll be officially married."

Feeling as if she was about to sign her life away, the Ishi girl hesitated. Fusayo gently prodded her forward, with a reassuring look and a gentle hand. Reluctantly, Kuzuri leaned over to slowly sign her name, the closeness to Katsutoshi making her uncomfortable, even with the desk between them.

"Now, Hiromi, take her home. Kuzuri, I will attend to you later," Katsutoshi spoke, voice void of emotion, as he stamped the completed form to make it official.

"I told you I don't know where Setsuna-sama is!"

"And I told you that's not good enough," Kinrei replied, looking down at Nadare, who was strapped to a metal table. He gestured to Byakuren, who took her ice sword and stabbed Nadare's foot through, causing the man to scream.

"That's going to be a special kind of wound," Byakuren said in a sing-song kind of voice. "Being stabbed by my sword will cause your foot to slowly freeze completely, the only way to save it is to burn the ice off your skin. Of course, if you wait too long, there will be no saving it, and it'll have to be sawed off before it spreads up your leg."

Nadare moaned in pain, as ice started to form around the wound, just as Byakuren said. A vision of his daughter slipped through his mind,tears falling down his face from the pain. "But...Hatsuyuki...she was cut."

"Yes, she was," the woman replied in a dissatisfied tone. "And since we think she may have been the one to save Setsuna, she either burned her own flesh or is staving it off with healing jutsu enough to make her death so much slower. Infection, organs freezing, either way she's a goner."

"No.." Nadare moaned, shaking his head. "I won't, I won't tell you anything!"

Kinrei rolled his eyes wearily. "My sister must have brainwashed you real good to have withstood torture from the ANBU and now this. We don't care about your little girl, we just want to know where Setsuna may have gone."

"It's useless to ask," Nadare said through gritted teeth. "She has virtually no allies."

"Yes, we've noticed," the new village leader said. "All she has is that Neutrality Pact and a loose allegiance to the former Land of Snow."

"Do you think she's hiding with Koyuki Kazahana?" Byakuren asked in a low voice so Nadare couldn't hear, looking to her lover.

"It seems the most likely option. However, I also think you should stab another part of him, just in case there is something he isn't telling us. We'll play his waiting game all night if we have to."

The woman smirked wickedly, stabbing Nadare's left hand next, warranting another scream of pain from her victim.

Meanwhile, in a wintry forest near the border of the Land of Lightning, Setsuna looked to her companion, noticing the young girl was struggling to keep up, and that her wound was bleeding again. Hatsuyuki's breathing was labored, and beads of sweat were formed on her forehead despite the snow and low temperatures. In addition, she was clearly anxious about the fate of her father, her face pale and her movements unsteady.

"Hatsuyuki, how bad is your wound really? Did Byakuren use her sword on you?"

The bodygaurd paled even moreso and slowly nodded, putting a hand to the giant sticky spot on her shirt. Setsuna sighed, pinching her nose in frustration.

"What did you do to treat it?"

"There was ice forming, so I took a kunai, heated it with fire and cauterized it. I've been healing it a little every so often, but it's very painful."

The blue haired woman seemed relieved, but still concerned. "It might get infected. Byakuren makes a point not to clean her weapon well, it leaves nasty bacteria. Smells pretty terrible too."

The girl nodded, "I'll get some ointment in a village as soon as I think it's safe."

"State your purpose in these lands, Shimo ninja!" a voice suddenly cried out, surprising the two women. They looked behind them to see none other than the Raikage, A, along with two bodygaurds. The powerful leader of Kumo seemed to be sizing her up suspiciously, somewhat perturbed by the fact she was almost as tall as he was. Setsuna turned slowly to face them, and bowed slightly.

"Raikage-sama, I am Setsuna of Shimo. My village has been taken over and I barely escaped, we were heading to ask you for help."

A's eyes narrowed slightly, and he crossed his arms in front of his barely covered chest. "Normally, I would press you further, but it's imperative that I know. Is Katsutoshi behind this?"

Surprised he seemed know about Katsutoshi, she nodded. "I have reason to believe so. The man who took over said that Katsutoshi sent him." She neglected to mention that the man was her own brother, however.

"You better come with me then on my journey, I am headed to a summit of the Kage. I'm sure they'd be delighted to hear how a damn pawn of that wannabe landed on my doorstep."

"As much as I would love to do that, sir, my companion has been injured," the exiled woman said, gesturing to Hatsuyuki.

"Don't worry, we'll be seeing the legendary Tsunade, the 5th Hokage. If anyone can fix that girl up it's her."

"Alright then, we'll join you Raikage-sama." Setsuna said, extending a hand to the leader of Kumo in thanks.

"However, I warn you that if I have any reason to think you are merely a spy of Katsutoshi, attempting to undermine Kumogakure and the other nations, I will not hesitate to eliminate you and your companion, and painfully at that."

The young bodygaurd's eyes flashed nervously, but her surperior merely nodded in agreement. "I understand perfectly, sir. I would do the same in your position."

Naruto smiled to Karin, the two sitting in Tsunade's office having some tea. The Hokage fill-in's legs were propped on the desk as he listened to Karin talk about her medical training with Shizune and Aya.

"I'm glad Aya came here to study, I've felt so lonely ever since you guys were deployed to Ryu. I think Sai hates me, to be honest." Karin spoke, looking into her teacup.

"Well maybe he just doesn't like being cooped up with almost everyone else traveling all over the place for missions and stuff. Maybe he just feels left out?" Naruto asked, with a shrug. The idea of Sai having emotions seemed off to him.

"I feel like it's more than that, I think it's about Sasuke. I understand he got compared to Sasuke a lot, and I think he places his frustration with the situation on me. I feel his chakra change in my presence, it becomes cold. Sasuke's always felt cold except for when his emotions were running high, but as far as I can tell, Sai's chakra normally feels calm and neutral."

"That's kinda weird," Naruto pondered, finally sliding his legs off of the table. "The Sai I know usually doesn't have emotions, he's just kind of blank."

"I'm worried about his interactions with the babies," Karin murmured, fingers interlocked over her slightly rounded stomach. Her empty teacup sat on the desk, forgotten. "I mean, eventually my observation period will end, but he'll have to keep up appearances every once in a while as their pretend father."

"It seems like a heavy burden to place on someone's shoulders," the blonde pondered, feeling sad over the unfortunate circumstances surrounding his friend. He coudn't help but to feel a twinge of regret over Sasuke, like he did every day.

"I'm worried about the twins, too. If they're going to seek revenge like him."

Naruto smiled optimistically, like he always did. "Don't worry, Karin, Sakura and I will help! I vow to you, I will protect your children and do my best to keep them from trouble!"

"You make a lot of vows, don't you?"

A knock stirred the two from conversation, and they looked to see Hinata shyly peeking her head into the office. She entered, seeing Naruto wave her in, panicking that she may relapse on her shy tendencies around him.

"Um, I'm very sorry to interrupt, Naruto, but I need a new leave of absence form."

"Sure thing, Hinata, let me see if I can find one." Naruto stood to dig through massive piles of paperwork, and rummage through drawers in search of her required form. "What do ya need it for?"

"Well, I'm supposed to leave to visit Gaara, but I received a message from him last night requesting I move up my visit to after the Summit due to the circumstances," the Hyuuga replied, suddenly feeling self-concious due to the redhead's gaze on her.

"You must be Hinata," Karin said, figuring out who she was from hospital gossip. "I'm Karin."

"Y-yes, I've heard about you from Sakura and Ino. It's very nice to meet you," the heiress replied, shaking her hand.

"Likewise. Congratulations on your impending marriage."

Hinata blushed slightly, feeling awkward, poking her fingers together nervously. "Ah yes, and congratulations to you too on your pregnancy."

Naruto's groan of frustration interrupted them, both looking up to see the room a mess, papers strewn about. "Sorry Hinata, I couldn't find that form. This office is a mess, Granny will probably needs a cleaning crew to make it look decent in here. I'm sure Shizune will have whatever you need."

The shy girl nodded in understanding, murmured her thanks and stepped around the mess to leave the office. Karin hummed thoughtfully, it was so different there than what she was used to. Almost anyone associated with Naruto and Sakura seemed so nice, a jarring difference to the ninja she encountered growing up.

"Nice girl."

A/N: Aaand there we have it. Boy oh boy, rewatching the show from the beginning gives me so many feelings. Especially about Neji. *clutches heart sadly as sad Naruto flashback music plays.* I need to write/read/consume more NejiTen, I don't think I'll ever get over it.

I hope you liked this update, it was a challenge to put together, as I easily get suckes into the "bingewatch zone." Thank the lord I don't have netflix, or else I'd probably never update! Anyway, thanks for reading! Please be kind a leave a review, my numbers seem to be dwindling even though the faves and follows say otherwise. I can't make this better unless you tell me how you feel!

Love,

MyHikari