Chapter 3: Not High Enough
Sasuke Uchiha had always been a man of pride, indulgence, and above all; vanity. He'd been built up so high – in his mind, he was certain that it was his destiny to be lord of Konoha. He'd been denied this simply because his family wasn't of the right nobility.
The Uchiha family was rich, powerful, and influential but they did not rule Konoha. Because of this, Sasuke could never be lord.
Sasuke had not attended the knighting ceremony the morning before, simply because he was moping over a new lord being appointed. Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke was quite familiar with him; a bumbling, clumsy, stupid, horribly over-confident, undeserving dickhead.
But, as if by fate, most of the notable families in Konoha had been called to the lord's home by the previous, Lord Jiriaya. Sasuke assumed that he now had to meet with his much stupider heir. The fool probably didn't even know what awaited him. The meeting would be a perfect time to challenge Naruto's intelligence and worthiness, and make himself, Sasuke Uchiha look like a much better lord.
At least in his mind...
* * *
"Wake up, my lord," A young chambermaid shook his shoulder nervously. Sakura walked into the room, adjusting her armoured gloves.
"He still hasn't woken?" Sakura asked. The chambermaid shook her head and stepped back, allowing Sakura to take over. She roughly grabbed his shoulder and began shaking him. "Wake up, my lord! You have business to attend to today!"
Naruto groaned and buried his head, "I don't want to sign more papers!"
Sakura sighed, "It's not paperwork. You have a meeting with the higher families today; the Uchiha's and the Hyuuga's."
Naruto peaked out from behind his pillows, "Can they come tomorrow?" He asked.
"No, most are already on their way and telling them that you've rescheduled due to a hangover would be impolite, improper, and frankly, stupid." Sakura scoffed, "Now get dressed and come downstairs quickly, if they think you slept in that would cause insult."
"I still don't want to." Naruto groaned.
"That doesn't matter, you have to. It's your duty, as it is mine to make sure you do yours!" Sakura said, her tone growing impatient. Naruto recognized her tone from his many years having Tsunade wake him up, so he quickly rose.
Sakura smirked to herself and left the room so he could get dressed in peace. About five minutes later he emerged, looking quite sloppily dressed but clothed nonetheless. Sakura sighed, she seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and fixed him up. "Really, my lord, you should be able to dress yourself."
Naruto didn't respond, he was too preoccupied wondering how his noble guests would react to his loud, pink-haired female knight. Whom he still wasn't certain was female, considering that he'd only seen her in armour.
Once Sakura had finished fixing him up, she took his arm and lead him down the stairs to a fairly large room with a round table. He took a seat near the window, hoping he could tune out his guests this way. Sakura sighed inwardly as she saw it coming.
Within ten minutes, the Hyuuga family's representatives had arrived. Neji Hyuuga represented the West wing, which was quite a bit less regarded than the East wing, which had sent Hinata Hyuuga as it's representative. Both took their seats, though Neji seemed to want to get right down to business.
"This is highly irregular. Should an older, wiser man not be appointed to the lord's position until Naruto is of a better age?" Neji exclaimed.
"We're still waiting on Master Uchiha," Kakashi, who had slipped in moments ago said.
Neji begrudgingly took his seat quietly, deciding that his oppositions would be much better should he have Uchiha to back them up; though the Uchiha representative was running quite late. "Maybe he decided not to come?" Neji suggested, "Or he forgot."
"No, that's not like the Uchiha. They'll be here." Kakashi said, knowing that they were obviously trying to send a message.
About an hour after the meeting was supposed to have commenced, Sasuke Uchiha entered the room. He didn't apologize for his lateness. He simply took his seat and stared ahead at the person who happened to be across from him, Naruto. "It's about time you showed up, Uchiha." Naruto grumbled.
"You kept everyone waiting with your tardiness!" Neji added, infuriated that he hadn't thought to show up late as well.
Sasuke scowled, "You're holding it up further by complaining. Can we get on with this?" he asked.
Naruto glared back, but nodded. "Yes, let the questions begin." He waved his hand dismissively and got prepared to tune out the yelling and annoyed shouting. Sakura, who was standing behind him also prepared herself for any remarks that could be directed at her.
"I'd like to start by restating what I said before Master Uchiha arrived; Naruto is much too naive and young to be lord of Konoha! He should step down and allow a more mature person to take over until he is of age!" Neji spoke loudly, making his younger cousin cringe.
Naruto was unfazed, "The last thing these people need right now is an unstable government. If I step down they'll question my leadership forever. Not to mention the distrust that may come by randomly appointing someone, because as I see it there are no likely candidates aside from Kakashi Hatake and Lady Tsunade."
"This argument is irrelevant." Sasuke spoke up, "It doesn't matter that Naruto is young, or naive. It matters that another kingdom may see this and jump at the chance to attack. We need more army enforcement!"
"That's the last thing we need!" Neji shouted back.
Naruto had, of course, tuned them both out and was currently watching two knights patrol a tower outside the window. Sakura was paying attention to their arguments, however, and was hard-pressed to not interject. After seeing that Naruto wouldn't respond unless he was addressed directly, she began to speak. "The military is the strongest out of all the kingdoms. Everyone knows that. Besides that, only a foolhardy coward would attack during a regime change.
"Even Suna knows that military force and guarding is always doubled the first month or so while a lord settles into his position. To attack now would be suicide." Sakura explained her opinion as clearly as she could.
Of course though, the men being men didn't hear what she said and only noticed how feminine the lips that spoke were. "Who is this wench?!" Neji asked, horrified that a lower ranking officer would address them so confrontationally.
Naruto was pulled from his daydreams, "Wench?" he asked, "This is Sakura Haruno, my white knight." He spoke unfaltering at first, then realized what he was saying and his voice became noticeably quieter by the time he finished.
"White knight?!" Neji had heard, "The strongest knight in the land is a woman!? We'll be attacked for sure! Is this some kind of a joke?"
Sakura's cheeks turned pink as she restrained herself yet again from pummelling one of the men into a bloody mass of red pulp. Kakashi spoke, however, "I doubt it, Hyuuga. We're know all around for having the strongest military base in the known world. If our strongest knight is a woman, she's bound to be a definite force to be reckoned with and probably not someone you want to be on the wrong side of. Right, Dame Sakura?"
Sakura hesitated for a moment before she nodded, "Right."
Naruto, who hadn't realized how strong Sakura must be looked down at his hand which she'd nearly crushed the other night, he had small bruises from her fingers on either side of his hand. Was she holding back then!? He'd have to watch what he said from now on.
Neji calmed down slightly, "You may be right, Hatake," he said.
"May be?" Sasuke asked, "I doubt the Lord of Suna will interpret a stupid young Lord and a female white knight in a strong way. He may even take it as a challenge, knowing Lord Gaara..."
"Stupid?" Naruto muttered under his breath.
Hinata, who hadn't said a single word since her arrival, decided to speak. "Th-that's not true, Master Uchiha..." Sasuke cocked an eyebrow as she continued, "Lord Naruto is the greatest thing we could have hoped for. Even Lord Gaara knows he'd be well-matched against him..." she blushed deeply and trailed off, sitting back down. Obviously she'd gotten carried away.
"I disagree." Sasuke said bluntly, and then stood. "I've had enough of this meeting of the idiots. Good day." He huffed, and then quickly left the room.
Naruto waited for him to leave and shrugged, "Meeting adjourned then?"
* * *
"Their military is strong, of course. But even steal has a breaking point..."
"That's a very irresponsible way of looking at things, my lord."
"No, it's logic. If you fuck with their minds long enough, they're bound to reach a point of devastation then either surrender, or fight as a weakened army."
Kankurou Sabaku nodded in agreement. "He's right, Temari. Their military strength would be cut in half and the mental state of half the people at least would be very weak. We'd just have to sit back and watch the kingdom fall in on itself."
Temari nodded slowly, "True... but isn't that a bit cruel, even for you, Gaara?"
The Lord of Suna looked up and scowled at her; he chose not to dignify her with a response and turned away again. "Set up the troops to leave in a few days, Kankurou. We'll have Konoha in our palms shortly," an evil smirk washed over Gaara's face.
The Lord of Suna would soon have his revenge.
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A/N: The plot thickens. I'm pretty sure the characters were OOC, but I did my best. I hope you're enjoying my story so far!