CHAPTER SIX

A NEW THREAT

As promised, Naruto called a council with the leaders of the village. Sakura glanced about at the various faces in the room. There were several generations of nin, but all had contributed with the success of Konoha in the past. Sakura then looked toward Sasuke, who stood not far from her. Naruto sat in his chair not far from the two, wearing his kage robe, his hat was upon the table.

"As troublesome as it may sound, there's a village unaffiliated with any of the five nations. Sasuke has spent years tracking them and stumbled upon information that could be of great use to us," Shikamaru began, hoping to bring everyone up to speed. This will be the fifth time Sakura had heard the story. The first two were from Karin, the third from Sasuke in their home, the fourth in front of Shikamaru and Naruto, and now the council. Every time she heard the story however, more information was released.

"They are from a village called Jigoku mura" Sasuke began. "Because their village is located underground, the entire area is referred as Yomi-no-kuni."

It literally was the village hidden in Hell.

"What does this mean to us?" one of the council members asked. "Aren't the ninja of Jingoku a legend?"

This statement prompted similar responses. Sakura watched as the villagers went from concerned and nervous, to dismissive toward the entire threat. Naruto on the other hand, kept his eyes fixed on Sasuke.

"It's not a myth or a legend," Sasuke stated, causing the murmurs to quiet down. "I know because I managed to infiltrate the village. As proof I brought a gift." He reached into his cloak and removed a necklace with a silver circle pendent hanging from the base. Within the circle were lines that resembled a labyrinth. "The mark of Diyu."

"What does it do?" Shikamaru asked.

Sasuke was quiet for a moment before replying, "I don't know, but I'm determined to find out."

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura spoke up, catching her husband's attention. "Will they come to Konoha looking for you?"

"No," he replied in his usual serious tone. "No one out there would know my affiliation."

Sakura poked out her bottom lip unsure if she believed that. Sasuke had a very distinct look. He had the sharingan in one eye and the rinnegan in the other. He returned his gaze to the council as he continued. "This is a group of people who need to be stopped before they unleash their power onto the villages one by one."

"Besides senseless destruction, do you know what their goal is?" Ino spoke up.

"From what I gathered, they want to open a gateway," Sasuke answered. "I can only assume it's a power source. My information is limited. If you give me more time, I'll be able to find out their true motive."

"So you need a team?" Naruto asked.

"Precisely," Sasuke replied.

"Hokage-sama, what are you going to tell the villagers?" one of the elders asked.

"Nothing," Naruto answered. "Right now, until we can determine this village is a threat, there's no need to put everyone in a state of panic. But, we can limit the missions outside of Konoha and increase training. We should also bump up our defense."

Sakura wasn't sure if she agreed with Naruto's approach, but didn't question as she watched the council members return to whispering to one another.

"Eventually you'll need to alert our allies," Shikamaru whispered to Naruto, causing the Hokage to nod his head.

It wasn't much longer until the members of the council were dismissed, leaving only Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Naruto and Ino remaining. Naruto stood up from his seat and picked up his large red and white before placing it once more on his head. "Sakura-chan and Ino, thank you for staying. Seeing as you're head of the medical department, and you're in charge of interrogation, I think both of you will be needed for the next step in our plan."

"Plan?" Ino questioned, before glancing over at Shikamaru, then back to Naruto. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke and asked, "How many jutsus did you obtain from Jingoku?"

"Nine," Sasuke answered causing Sakura to gasp.

"Sasuke-kun, are you crazy?!" she immediately exclaimed.

"Did you want me to leave the jutsus with them?!" Sasuke snapped, causing the medical ninja to quiet down. His gaze darted once more to Naruto. "The jutsus they have are far more advanced than anything I've ever seen before."

Shikamaru furrowed his brows before asking, "Then why are they revealing themselves now? Why didn't they do something a few years ago? Why didn't they participate in any of the wars?"

"I don't know," Sasuke replied. It was as though those three words cut through his like a knife.

"I'll give you a team," Naruto casually said. "I'll have a couple of names on my desk by tomorrow."

"What about the jutsus? Shouldn't we hold them here?" Shikamaru suggested.

Naruto shook his head. "That's too obvious."

"You can't be suggesting that he needs to keep them at his house," Ino gasped.

"Is that a bad thing?" Naruto asked.

Sakura slammed her hands down on the table and shouted, "You can't be serious! We have children at our house and-."

"Children?" Shikamaru and Ino asked in unison.

"It's a long story," she groaned, before turning her attention back to Naruto. "What could possess you to think that's a good idea, Naruto!"

"The way I see it, if they managed to track Sasuke down to our village, they would assume that he was very smart. I mean, he was able to still their forbidden jutsus, right? By being smart, he would want to hide the jutsus in a place no one would find them. That would be either this office, my house, in the mountains or somewhere with security. The last place anyone would suspect is at his own house. It's too obvious for an Uchiha."

"Strangely enough…that…makes sense," Shikamaru sighed.

"Now that that's settled, Sasuke, I'll need you to report back to my office first thing in the morning," Naruto grinned as he leaned back in his chair.

"I hope you're right," Sasuke answered before exiting. Ino took her leave next, but stopped once she was beside Sakura to whisper, "If you and Sarada-chan want to stay at my house, just let me know."

After Ino, Shikamaru exited, leaving Sakura alone with Naruto.

"Why are you taking this chance?" Sakura asked. "Aren't you even a little concerned something might happen?"

"Nope," Naruto replied. "Because I trust you're strong. You and Sasuke are sannin. I'm more than confident you'll be able to hold your own."

"We know nothing about this village," Sakura argued.

"But Sasuke does," Naruto said as he walked over to her. "Sakura-chan, I'll have security stationed near your house. I just know the first place they'll strike is here." Her green eyes locked intensely onto him; however, her gaze softened when he kissed her forehead. His plan sounded foolish, and yet…she wanted to trust him.

"Idiot," she lightly whimpered before wrapping her arms tightly around him. "If your plan doesn't work, don't think for a second I won't come after you."

Naruto laughed, earning a dead serious expression for the woman. Immediately he smiled as he nervously replied, "Hear ya loud and clear."

"Good," she said before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. She parted from the Hokage and walked out of his office. Down the hall she saw Sasuke waiting, with his back leaned against the wall. She didn't expect him to wait for her, and almost instantly she felt her insides wishing to tie themselves in tiny knots.

The Uchiha glanced over as she neared him.

"Sasuke-kun," she began, however stopped when he hugged her. Sakura was shocked, unsure of how to respond. He had hugged her in the past, but this time it felt different.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about Shimeji-kun the way you did. I meant to tell you earlier," Sasuke began.

He was apologizing. Sakura couldn't explain it, but whenever she heard the words "I'm sorry" from Sasuke, she felt a sea of emotion overtake her. She didn't want to. She wanted to call him an idiot and tell him she wasn't in love with him. She wanted to push him away. She wanted to reject him, and yet those two words made her powerless to him. "You better be," she whispered as she buried her face into his shoulder. Why did her heart always feel conflicted. She wanted Naruto…and yet a small piece of her continued to long for Sasuke. The little girl she was often ashamed of was cheering in the back of her mind.

"Sasuke," she began, being conscious not to use the "kun" suffix. "Sarada-chan has felt lonely without you. You should stay home more often."

She knew there was a threat she needed to focus on, but the pain she felt at home continued to push itself to the front of her mind. Sakura took a step back from Sasuke and stared at him. She stared at his visible eye due to the fact his long bangs covered the other. His eyes weren't as cold as they were in the past. She didn't know if he loved her, but through-out their marriage, just having him was enough. Not anymore. Sakura parted her lips to tell him that she felt a distance between them. She wanted to tell him she was falling out of love. She wanted to tell him her heart belonged to someone else.

He tapped her forehead and turned to walk down the hall, extending his hand for her to take. Hesitantly Sakura took hold of Sasuke's hand, enlacing her fingers with his before leaving the building to walk back to their home. On their way out, she glanced over her shoulder toward the Hokage's headquarters. She couldn't shake the feeling she was betraying Naruto once again.

A/N: So, here's another chapter! Had to add in some more of that angst and draaaaama. I'm going to start working on my ChoHina story again. No worries, I have up chapters 7, 8 and 9 saved on my computer to release over the next couple of days. Please review!