Author's note: I know there's quite a lot of explaining from Shikamaru and Tsunade in this chapter, I apologize for that, it's just to set up the current world after the time skip. And I thought it'd be a little more interesting coming from character perspective, then just typing it out formal like. So I hope this chapter doesn't come off as too tedious.
And yes, this is going to be a NaruSaku story for those of you who asked.
Also, thank you, thank you, for all the nice reviews for chapter one and all the people who faved the story! It's gotten a better reception that I had expected, you guys are awesome!
Part 2: Unease Over Konoha
Perhaps there is no agony worse than the tedium I experienced waiting for Something to Happen.
- Lance Loud
The moon was rising over the village of Konoha and it's pale light illuminated the quiet streets below. Shops and businesses closed hours ago and most of the citizens were tucked safely in their homes away from the chilly, crisp spring air. A lone person or couple could be seen going to or fro from the few bars or the select restaurants that catered to the late night patrons. Most of the late night businesses gained their profit from shinobi working night shifts and the occasional night owl civilian. Though tonight, the business owners noticed with dismay, the shinobi patrons were absent, leaving for a slow and unstimulating evening. All in all, it was a typical, if quiet, night in Konoha.
On the outskirts of the village it was a different matter all together. Tension hung thick in the air here. Shinobi gathered to patrol the walls and guard the gates of Konoha. By order of the Hokage, extra patrols and guards had been called to duty. Squads of ANBU, deadly and unnoticed, patrolled the forests surrounding the village. The jonin, the ones still in the village and not out on a mission, had all been put on high alert to keep a watchful eye out tonight. The village shinobi were ready, if called, to gather and react to an approaching threat within minutes.
The majority of the shinobi didn't know the details of what was going on, which wasn't unusual in their line of work, especially when it had to do with their jinchuriki. All they knew was that they were waiting for Naruto to return tonight and that trouble, in the form of Sound-nin, might very well be on his heels. And if that were the case, deal with said trouble immediately, and secure Naruto's safety.
That was all most of them needed to know anyway. In the last few years many had grown fond of the jinchuriki and he had became a symbol of the future to many of the shinobi and villagers alike.
One shinobi waiting that night, however, did know the details of the situation. His spiky hair was pulled back into a ponytail and blew in the gentle night breeze. He wore the typical Konoha chunin and jonin flak jacket with the Leaf forehead protector tied around his arm. A black strap, which held a tiny radio transmitter, was fastened around his neck. He was perched in a tree in the forest outside of Konoha with the rest of his squad. He looked like he was standing there without a care in the world from his relaxed posture, but inside his mind was running a mile a minute and the tension in the air possessed him as well.
Shikamaru couldn't help but be tense and worried, even if he'd never show it. In these last two years, Konoha's jinchuriki had become one of his best friends. Along with Choji, the three of them had had some really good times together and weathered the terrible ones.
"Piss on this waiting! Why can't we just go look for him instead of standing here with our thumbs up our asses?" the annoyed question, almost a growl, came from beside the lazy jonin.
An agreeing bark came from the large white dog on down the line and Shikamaru sighed. There were two shinobi that couldn't wait patiently if their lives depended on it. Ironically, they were waiting for impatient shinobi number one, and impatient shinobi number two just happened to be standing right beside him. Troublesome.
"Because we're one of the sensor retrieval squads in standby Kiba-kun," Hinata answered patiently, used to her teammate's behavior, "we can't go until the Hokage gives the order."
Wonderfully patient Hinata, Shikamaru thought. It saved him the trouble of having to answer. An aggravated Kiba was a pain in his ass and he was in no mood to talk.
He was the squad leader of this sensor team, temporarily dubbed Team Nara, which consisted of Kiba and Hinata as the trackers, Chouji as a guard for his team… like Kiba and Hinata really needed a guard anyway, and Ino was standing in as a medic. Ino was part of the Torture and Interrogation Force with her father these days and had really advanced her mind persuasion and manipulation skills. She didn't normally go out with squads like this, except ANBU on rare occasion, but tonight was an exception and her skills as a battle medic were the higher priority.
"The hell good does it do if Naruto's in trouble or got caught and can't get here?" Kiba grumbled squatting down on all fours.
Akamaru gave a little whine and head butted his partner.
"Will you just shut the hell up already! You've been complaining for the last hour!" Ino practically hissed.
Hinata, trying to keep the peace, tried to head off the rant she knew Kiba was about to give, by making little shushing noises and calming gestures.
Shikamaru sighed again. Like Ino had a right to bitch at anyone for bitching anyway. The platinum blonde was the best nagger he'd ever seen. It was her best skill by far. She always got him to do all kinds of useless things with that nagging.
Why, oh why, couldn't he have Sakura and Shino on his team instead? Sakura irked him a lot of times too, with her behavior towards Naruto, a subject he wasn't even going to think about right now, but she could at least wait quietly. Too bad Team Kakashi was in standby also and Sakura was with them.
The squabble was in full swing now as Ino and Kiba let out pent up frustration by bickering with each other. Hinata's effort was going totally unnoticed. It took entirely too much energy to bother to tell them to knock it off, so the lazy jonin tuned them out instead. As long as they didn't start using jutsu against each other, he really didn't care. He wasn't their babysitter.
The lazy jonin disliked it, hated it even, when Naruto was sent out on solo missions. Team Kakashi took on some crazy missions, as it was, since they were pretty much the strongest squad the village had at its disposal, especially with two Kage level jonin, an elite rare wood type user, and the best medical-nin the village had beside the Hokage herself. Their missions were especially dangerous when they were deployed as ANBU.
Considering how well known most of their team was, it would be impossible for them to live as most ANBU did, away from the public eye and masked, even within the village. People would notice their disappearance too much, so they didn't hide it, per say. It was a part of shinobi life no one talked about. When Team Kakashi disappeared for days or weeks at a time and no one had heard about them being sent on a mission, everyone knew then that they were off doing whatever as ANBU, and when they returned the shinobi knew not to ask questions. It was the way it worked for them.
And the civilians of the village had no clue their beloved jinchuriki and the rest of his squad had anything to do with ANBU. They just assumed they were away for a long mission.
But those solo missions of Naruto's… they were something else.
The lazy jonin knew his friend was a living weapon. It's what a jinchuriki was made for and Naruto had grown into that role over the years. He was a Toad Sage and jinchuriki rolled up into one package and when shit went down, well Shikamaru was still amazed sometimes at how strong his friend had become. He hated to admit it, but his dad had been right years ago, some times the best teamwork they could offer the blond shinobi was to stay out of his way.
As Hokage, Tsunade had a duty to protect this village at all cost, even if that meant sending her favorite shinobi, the boy she held the most dear in her heart, into crap like this to protect everyone. And Naruto, altruistic to the core Naruto, would go on these insane missions. Of course he would, the idiot could be bleeding from the eyes and still ask if someone else was all right, Shikamaru mentally sighed.
Basically, his friend was an effective weapon and powerful shinobi, and it was logical to send him to do the things no one else could… but that didn't mean he had to like it. At all.
Shikamaru felt a soft nudge on his arm that interrupted his thinking and turned his head to look at the person who'd gotten his attention. Chouji stood on his other side with a thoughtful look on his face. He wore his typical red shinobi garb covered by the Akimichi armor. His long brown hair fell over his shoulder as he turned his head to look at Shikamaru.
"Ne Shikamaru, why can't we wait farther out?" Chouji asked.
At least Chouji posed the question reasonably. Shikamaru understood his friend was just trying to understand the situation instead of complaining. He also got the feeling the larger shinobi was seeking reassurance from him, something the lazy genius couldn't give him.
"There are shinobi waiting farther out from Konoha, Chouji," Shikamaru explained calmly, "we, on the other hand, need to stay close so orders can be relayed swiftly."
It was the first time Shikamaru had spoken aloud in a while and he noticed it caught everyone's attention. Ino and Kiba had even taken a break in their bickering.
"Listen, I know everyone's wound-up tight, but trust me, we don't want to have to get deployed. It means the situation has gotten ugly and that doesn't bode very well for Naruto. So can we just stop with the pestering, please?"
"Sorry, Shikamaru," Chouji apologized quietly.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Chouji," Shikamaru sighed.
The lazy jonin didn't say anything more, Chouji would understand anyway. At least he bought some peace and quiet for a minute or two as everyone looked reproachful and clammed up.
What Shikamaru said wasn't entirely accurate either. The situation was already ugly; they were just waiting for the potential fallout. If they got the order to head out, it meant Naruto was caught, hurt, or dead and couldn't get back with the scroll. He couldn't tell his team that though. Besides, they would just worry more, as everyone here was pretty close to the jinchuriki as it was.
That gods be cursed scroll that started this whole annoying mess in the first place and his squad was potentially going to have to go into who knows what to recover what they could. Technically, the scroll came first, then Naruto… but Shikamaru honestly couldn't care if someone took that scroll to Kabuto or the Amegakure emissary and shoved it were the sun doesn't shine.
Some distance away, in the same forest, the second sensor team was waiting in standby and no less tense. Sakura sighed and shifted her weight for the tenth time in the last five minutes. An action Kakashi didn't fail to notice.
"Relax, Sakura, with any luck we're all out here for nothing. Try to enjoy the first spring air while you can, ne," Kakashi said in his usual carefree tone.
He might be giving her the smiling eye, but it didn't fool the pink-haired kunoichi anymore. His lax attitude was just for show, and she knew it, knew it because Kakashi did care, whether he liked to admit that to anyone or not.
"Do you really believe that, Kakashi-senpai?" she had to ask.
"What I believe isn't going to change the fact that we have to wait," he answered in that almost bored tone he liked to adopt when he didn't want to answer.
Sakura restrained herself from giving a frustrated huff. It's not like that would affect her team leader anyway and when Kakashi didn't want to answer a question, he simply didn't.
Neji, who had previously been standing there quietly, spoke up.
"I am worried for Naruto as well, but I have faith in his abilities."
She wasn't sure if Neji was trying to reassure her or was just commenting. It was hard to tell with him and that calm facade. The Hyuuga, an ANBU now as well, was temporarily part of the team for this mission. They needed a sensor since Naruto wasn't there.
As everyone here was ANBU, they had all been briefed on the situation. Sakura would have been on this mission if Tsunade had only let her go with Naruto.
"Anyone can be overwhelmed with enough numbers and Naruto has probably been doing some intense fighting for the last two days," Tenzo pointed out.
Not helping! Sakura's mind screamed out. Creaming Tenzo, or should she call him Yamato since they weren't in ANBU uniform, whatever, would be awkward since he was still their team leader when Kakashi wasn't around.
"And every Sound-nin in the area is going to come after him, no matter what. Dickless will be lucky if he can get out of Oto at all," the fifth member spoke up.
Him, however, she could nail.
"Thank you for pointing that out, Sai!" she finished by flattening the pale shinobi against the hard ground with her fist.
Yamato sweat dropped glad it wasn't him. He'd forgotten how scary the young kunoichi could be when she was tense and worried. Also, lately, she had been extremely edgy and snappish with anything to do with the jinchuriki. Prying into that situation, especially after hearing the rumors of their very public fight, was not on his list of things he wanted to know. No thank you.
"Maa, maa, Sakura," Kakashi said while making calming gestures with his hands, trying to save his dense teammate from further harm.
"What I think they mean," Kakashi went on, "is that if anyone can do it, it would be Naruto. We're here just in case he needs a little back-up."
Sakura wanted to point out that she wasn't a kid anymore and Kakashi didn't have to try to appease her, but instead she just crossed her arms, leaned against a tree, and tried to ignore Sai. The men left her alone, recognizing the back off posture.
Sai almost said something into the silence, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Neji elbowed him hard in the ribs, hoping Mr. Oblivious would get that hint. He, at least, had an instinct for self-preservation.
The pink-haired kunoichi knew she was being a bitch to her boys lately, as she called them, and that they didn't deserve it. She just couldn't seem to get her nerves to calm down. She was extremely glad everyone was in the flak jacket right now and not in ANBU gear. All the uniform did was remind her of the start of this whole horrible mess she'd gotten herself into with Naruto three weeks ago during their last mission. She couldn't even blame Naruto; it was mostly her fault because she couldn't make up her own mind.
To this day, he still protected her. She had come to him in a time of need, when she felt so vulnerable after that crappy mission, and he was so supportive about it. They had shared a moment in those desecrated woods and shared a kiss that made her knees weak, which should have led to the happily ever after like she read in the story books. But noooo, she had messed that up and pushed him away. Even though he went on like normal, she knew she had really hurt him this time. Naruto had tried to be the responsible one and talk to her about it later, but she brushed him off, not ready to face the possibilities yet. Then they had had a falling out last week and to make matters worse, it was embarrassingly public.
The boys of their age group had taken to going out together once a week and everyone who wasn't on a mission came. Some nights it was just dinner together, others they went to the clubs or bars, they took turns choosing. The pink-haired kunoichi thought it was good for them to hang out and she could see that Naruto really enjoyed those nights.
This week was simply dinner. Lots of sake had been involved though and Sakura had the suspicion it might have been the boys effort to cheer up Naruto. Still, that she could handle, what had set her off, as soon as she happened to walk into the same restaurant with Tenten and Hinata, was well… Ino had been there too. With the guys, right beside Naruto. The last she checked, Ino wasn't a guy! Oh she knew Ino hung around Naruto a lot anymore, because Shikamaru hung around Naruto, and really that shouldn't have bothered her. But Ino was always so flirty. And pretty. And annoyingly good at it.
Stupid interrogating pig!
Naruto might have been a late bloomer, but she would be the first to admit, her teammate had become very attractive. Sakura had seen a picture the Hokage had given Naruto of his parents and his mother was a very pretty woman and, well, the rumors about the Yondaime being handsome, were very true. They had definitely produced a nice looking child! And Ino was a flirt by nature, especially with good-looking men, and she was sitting right beside Naruto, practically leaning over into his lap. And after being trained by the super pervert Jiraiya, Naruto was a bit of a flirt with women too, even if he didn't realize it. And did she mention there was sake there?
Okay, maybe she jumped to conclusions about her two best friends. It was probably only drunken flirting after all, no big deal. But damn, if she hadn't been jealous, and it all somehow escalated from there. She had never had a verbal fight with Naruto like that before until Shikamaru, aloof Shikamaru of everyone, broke them up.
Now everything was different all of a sudden. Naruto had started to be more formal toward her. He avoided her when it wasn't necessary to be around her and he stopped calling her Sakura-chan. She had tried for so long to get him to stop calling her that. It was a trivial detail. It shouldn't bother her at all, right? But if it was no big deal, how could something so simple hurt so much?
The pink-haired kunoichi didn't know where she stood with Naruto, or where she wanted to stand with him, and the confusion was driving her crazy. Mainly because she never thought she might ever like him, of all people.
"Urgh! I can't think of something like this right now!" the kunoichi screeched.
Sakura didn't realize she had yelled that out loud until the rest of her team, not so indiscreetly, sweat dropped and backed away from her.
The kunoichi felt her cheeks flush pink and desperately wanted to melt into a tree and disappear like Yamato could do. The most she could manage was an embarrassed half laugh.
"Maybe we should just all relax and wait quietly," Kakashi suggested lightly.
His tone was way too happy to be real.
"Right, sorry," she apologized.
Sakura got the hint and settled down at the base of a nearby tree to wait quietly.
The waiting shinobi weren't the only ones tense and worrying. In the soft light of her office, a busty blonde with long hair stood staring out the window at the top of the Hokage tower.
Tsunade put her hand against the window, leaned her head against the cool glass, and sighed. Staring out the window wasn't going to help him come back any sooner, or safer, but it was a habit she couldn't break. Ever since… well ever since she had let Jiraiya go that last time. She didn't like to think about it, but she had let him go, knowing he probably wouldn't be coming back.
The fool always did have a habit of going off to do what needed to be done for the good of the village without any concern for his own safety.
It was a trait his apprentice annoyingly shared. Hokage or not, she was a fool too for sending her brat out on these type of missions, and then worrying the whole time he was gone. But she couldn't help it. She couldn't, because every time Naruto went out, especially by himself, she was afraid he wouldn't come back. And lets face it; Jiraiya's students didn't have the best track record for living to a ripe old age.
Konoha didn't need two Namikaze's to die young protecting them. That, and the brat really needed to take this job from her within the next couple of years. Despite the illusion she kept up all the time to look young and vital, she could feel the wear in her body. Tsunade knew her Sōzō Saisei, the Creation Rebirth jutsu, would shorten her lifespan before she used it. She knew she wasn't counting the years she had left yet, or anything, but she was tired and still had a couple of things left to do in life before she died. She owed it to herself and to him. It was time to pass the protection of the village on to someone younger.
The busty blonde hadn't officially announced anyone as her successor, but she knew whom she wanted to pass it to and she trusted he would do right by the village. She had been trusting him to take care of more and more things for years now… including her paper work recently, she couldn't help but smirk at that one. It was great Hokage training, really!
All the other Kages of the great nations already respected and liked Naruto after the 4th Shinobi War, so that hurdle was taken care of to begin with. That had a lot of benefit too. They already knew what type of person the jinchuriki was, mostly honest, overly blunt some times, didn't take any political crap, and very caring for the entire village… and they were okay with that. Even that old fence sitter Ōnoki, who was still the Tsuchikage, despite the fact that he had been saying it 'was any day now' for years.
A shinobi also required the approval of the Land of Fire's Daimyō as well as the village jonin to become Hokage. Tsunade didn't think either would be a problem as many of the shinobi assumed Naruto was probably going to be the next Hokage as it was and the villagers had been saying he was Hokage material since Pain's attack. As for the Daimyō, well he was fickle to begin with, and all he and his advisors cared about was the linage of the candidate. Naruto was the son of the 4th Hokage, a descendent of the Senju, student to a legendary Sanin and the famous Copy-nin, a Toad Sage and close to becoming a Sanin himself, and if Tsunade had her way, very soon her apprentice as well. The man had nothing to argue against.
All he needed was more diplomatic and political training. She could fix that by taking him along with her for meetings from now on and start training him in political tactics. Showing him the ropes of the job personally and letting him ease into it. Making him read political documents and study the history and culture of Konoha and the nations they dealt with. Sure he would probably hate some of it, but he would do it because he knew he had to if he wanted the job.
"Tsunade-sama?" a voice broke into her thoughts.
Tsunade turned to face Shizune standing in the doorway looking uncertain. The Hokage was so caught up in her thoughts she never noticed the other woman enter the room.
"What is it Shizune?"
"I was just wondering if you needed anything?" Shizune asked.
"No Shizune, I'm fine," Tsunade finished and turned back to stare out the window.
The heels on Shizune's sandals clacked on the floor and the Hokage could hear the younger medical-nin cross the room to come stand beside her.
"You're thinking about him again," the younger woman remarked quietly.
Tsunade knew she wasn't talking about Naruto.
"A little," she admitted.
"It wasn't your fault Tsunade-sama, then, like now, you're doing what you must to..."
"Enough Shizune," Tsunade cut in, "I know already, I know. I'm still the one who has to live with that burden though."
Shizune didn't say anything else about it and the Hokage was glad.
"I'm thinking of making it official soon," Tsunade said still facing the window.
She knew Shizune would follow her line of thought without explanation, the girl always did.
"He's only eighteen Tsunade-sama, are you sure?"
"He'll still need diplomatic training, I know, and I'm going to have to beat some of those annoying bad speech habits of his out of his head, but is anyone ever really prepared for this job? It's not like it's going to be tomorrow by the time he can take over anyway."
"Besides," the Hokage continued on before Shizune could say anything, "I think he'll already have the jonin support, the villagers will support him too, and I don't really care what those shriveled up old biased crones on the council think. There will eternally be a few nah Sayers left in the village because of what he is, but we'll just have to deal with it. The other four Kages already know how to handle Naruto and the last time the Kazekage was in the village, I know I heard Gaara remark that when Naruto became the Hokage they would get a chance to talk more, even if only through meetings."
"Naruto-kun really has come a long way since Jiraiya-sama took him as an apprentice all that time ago," Shizune couldn't help the fond smile that came to her face.
"The village has come a long way as well. Six years ago, neither the villagers nor the shinobi could tolerate Naruto and did everything in their power to let the poor kid know they thought he was a monster. It still amazes me that after his awful childhood he loves this village so much. With his potential, he could have very well turned into everyone's worst nightmare," Tsunade finished.
"Yes, but Naruto-kun has the strongest spirit I've ever seen and he does have an ability to touch people, to make them want to better themselves as people, just by being near him."
"And it's exactly that strength and ability that's going to lead this village into the future!"
Shizune had to smile at her Master's enthusiasm. Tsunade-sama really was fond of Naruto-kun, they both were. Even though she worried about him being too young, she knew he would be fine. Tsunade-sama would guide him, the jonin would advise him, and his friends would support him. He might be awfully young to become a Kage, but in retrospect, Gaara-kun had been much younger and look how well Suna was doing with him as Kazekage. Gaara-kun had even led them through a war and the people of Suna loved their Kazekage. Shizune also had a feeling the Kazekage would play a big role in helping Naruto-kun cope with being Hokage as well.
"Ahh, the brat will make a good Rokudaime and I can retire and get rid of all this paperwork!" Tsunade seemingly finished a thought in her head, forgetting Shizune was there.
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune sweat dropped, "Naruto-kun already helps with a lot of your paperwork when he's in the village."
"Yes well, now he can…"
The rest of Tsunade's sentence was cut off, when a popping sound from behind the two kunoichi, made them startle and turn around.
When the gathered smoke cloud disappeared a small magenta toad sat on the Hokage's desk. Tsunade recognized the messenger toad and knew he was able to carry things larger than himself in a compartment, which defied space and gravity, within his stomach.
"Well?" the Hokage asked impatiently.
The toad, needing no farther prompting, croaked and opened his mouth. His tongue shot out in front of him holding a medium sized scroll. Tsunade took the scroll. She recognized it immediately; they were supposed to be guarding it at the shrine that bordered The Land of Fire and Rain, after all. She opened it anyway, just to verify that it was the right one, then rolled it back up and locked her intense gaze on the toad.
"Where's Naruto? Report!" she demanded.
"Somewhere in the Land of Fire, Hokage-sama. He sent me here to get that scroll to you before morning, I got the feeling something wasn't right. He sounded tired and his chakra felt weak."
Tsunade listened to the toad's report with a growing sense of dread. At least she knew he was alive when he sent the toad. She also knew that Naruto would never send something so important out of his care unless he didn't think he could make it back.
"Shizune!" Tsunade went into full Hokage mode.
"Yes!" Shizune responded to Tsunade's tone.
"Secure this god damn scroll," she commanded handing the thing to Shizune, "so that I can shove it down the emissary's throat tomorrow!"
"Right!"
"And give Teams Kakashi and Nara the all clear! Tell them the package is secure, now go find out missing shinobi, and if they run into any Sound-nin in our country, show them no mercy!"
"Right!" Shizune responded already running for the door.
"Don't you dare die on me before help gets to you brat, or I'll never forgive you," Tsunade pleaded turning back to resume staring out the window.
"Team Nara, come in," Shikamaru heard through the radio.
"Shut up," the lazy jonin simply said.
All the chatting stopped in an instant as all eyes focused on him.
"Team Nara here, go ahead," he responded touching the button on the receiver.
"The Godaime has given the clearance to move out. The package is secure, your orders are to find and secure the safety of the delivery boy. If you run into any hostile shinobi, show no mercy."
"Understood, Team Nara out."
Damn it, was about all Shikamaru could think of.
"Looks like your going to get your wish, Kiba," the Nara said with a grim look, "lets go."
All the previous bickering and tension was forgotten as the shinobi focused on their task. The shapes of five shinobi and one dog shot silently off into the night.
"Team Kakashi, come in."
"Team Kakashi here," Kakashi said hitting the receiver button.
Kakashi's voice broke the silence that hung over the squad and everyone focused on the Copy-nin.
"The Godaime has given the clearance to move out. The package is secure, your orders are to find and secure the safety of the delivery boy. If you run into any hostile shinobi, show no mercy," the radio operator repeated the message.
"Understood, Team Kakashi out."
"Looks like Naruto is going to need our help after all," Kakashi said quietly.
"Let's go!" he ordered.
The waiting shinobi jumped up into the trees and took off towards the north.
Sakura didn't notice as her fists unconsciously clenched. Fear was replacing the doubt and frustration she had been feeling. There wouldn't be any time to sort out her confused feelings if Naruto were dead. Please be all right until we get there, she silently prayed.
TBC
I know Sakura's internal rambling might be a little confusing at the moment, but trust me, I won't leave you hanging on those past events.
It takes me a little longer to write action sequences than it does introspective chapters like this, so part 3 will take longer to update.
As always, reviews are never required, but always appreciated.