Hey there, sorry this has taken so long. School's been hell.
As always, thanks to AbaraiSuki for reading this beforehand XD
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto :'(
Naruto couldn't help the grin that formed on his face as he watched Sakura huff at him in annoyance. He wasn't sure why he always did it, but he loved annoying Sakura like this. He figured that he enjoyed the way she seemed to fuss over him when he did and he constantly found new ways to annoy her just to see her get worked up like this.
At the moment, she was trying to correct him on his manners, minutes before they were to leave to meet the other kages.
"You think this is funny Naruto?" she asked as she saw his grin. Naruto's expression turned to one of mock seriousness and shook his head.
"But Sakura-chan, why can't I call the Raikage ojii-chan? He's old!"
Sakura growled at him and Naruto had to fight desperately to stop the corners of his moth from turning up into another grin.
"You know perfectly well why you can't call him that. It's rude! Call him Raikage-sama. Same with all of the others. Even Gaara."
Naruto let out a long, dramatic sigh. "Fine. But I can call the Mizukage obaa-chan right? I mean, come on, she's like… 100!"
Sakura just groaned, rubbing her temples in annoyance. "No. And she's not 100. She's only in her 30s!"
He shrugged. "That is old for a shinobi."
He saw Sakura take a deep breath in front of him and braced himself. He knew that she only did that when she was preparing to physically hurt him. Even after all these years, Naruto had to wonder how exactly she managed to scare the crap out of not only him, but most of the most powerful shinobi of Konoha, with just the glare she was about to give him.
Sure enough, a moment later, her eyes narrowed, her gaze blazing in annoyance. "Naruto," she whispered, her voice telling him to knock it off.
He smiled at her. "Fine, Sakura-chan. I'll be polite. But only because you told me to."
She rolled her eyes, though he didn't miss the small smile she tried to hide from him. "Hmm, I'm sure," she muttered.
A knock on the door stopped him from replying. After telling them to enter, Kakashi poked his head around, smiling under his mask as he spotted his two former students.
"The Raikage and Mizukage have arrived. The summit will begin now."
Naruto and Sakura nodded and both of them followed him as he left the room.
They walked down a long corridor towards the meeting. The summit was to take place in the same room it had all those years ago before the 4th Shinobi War. Naruto only hoped that this would go a lot more peacefully than the last summit had.
"Naruto. Please be polite in this meeting," Sakura said as she walked by his side. Naruto glanced over at her, giving her a small smile. "Of course, Sakura-chan."
"And please try to keep calm. Don't respond to anything that they say."
Naruto nodded again. "You worry too much, Sakura-chan. I'll be fine."
Sakura looked up at him and frowned.
"What about yesterday though? You really reacted to the Tsuchikage. You can't let that happen in the summit."
Naruto sighed. "I know. I'll try to keep calm."
Sakura watched him, still frowning. "Even if they bring up what happened to Sai?"
Without hesitating, Naruto nodded. "Yes. I'll be fine. Besides, Sai died trying to stop this whole thing. If I started a war over his death, that would be sort of insulting, don't you think?" He looked over at her, a grinning. Sakura's frown only deepened.
"But yesterday… you got so upset," Naruto shrugged. "That wasn't about what he said about Sai. That was because of what he said about you."
Sakura blinked. "What?" When Naruto didn't say anything, Sakura just shook her head, looking in front of her again. They were approaching the doors to the meeting hall. "Well… as much as I appreciate that, please don't start a war over me. It's not worth it."
Naruto chuckled and wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders, bringing her in for a one handed hug. "Well I guess starting a war over it would be a little much," he said, feeling Sakura nod. "But still, I don't like it when they insult the most important person in my life."
He removed his arm from around her, pulling away slightly. He didn't want to look at her, sure that his cheeks were slightly red from embarrassment. After a moment, he could feel her gaze settle on him, could feel the confusion in her eyes. But as she was about to ask him something, Kakashi said "Okay, Hokage-sama. We're here."
Both Naruto and Sakura suddenly noticed that they were in front of the door to the meeting hall. After a moment, Naruto nodded, striding forward and pushing the doors open. Sakura and Kakashi followed quickly afterwards. 'Here we go,' Sakura thought to herself, praying that everything would work out.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he noticed the victorious smirk on Ryuu's face. God, the man was annoying. Bastard.
As he walked up to the seat that had been assigned to him, he nodded in greeting to Gaara, who gave him a barely perceptible nod back.
"Raikage-sama," Naruto greeted the older man, bowing his head respectfully. Then his eyes turned on to the last remaining Kage within the room. It had been a while since something that didn't concern Sakura had gotten his blood to boil so fiercely. In fact, he'd have to say that the last time he'd felt this much hatred within him would have been back when he fought Madara, or when he faced down Nagato after he'd attacked Konoha.
"Mizukage-sama," he managed to get out, his voice tight and clipped. She nodded back, though she had the decency to look ashamed of herself. It was then that Naruto noticed that he was at one end of the semi-circular table while the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage were on the other end. It seemed that Kira, who had already taken his place as mediator, knew exactly who should not be placed within arm's reach of each other.
At the front of the room, Kira cleared his throat, gathering the attention of all 5 Kages. "Please, everyone, let's begin."
He motioned for them to sit down, which they did. Behind each leader, their 2 escorts watched on with constant vigilance.
"Now, Naruto," the Raikage began, disregarding titles as he usually did, "Why have you called all of us here?"
Naruto frowned at him. Surely he'd heard what had happened. Gaara had known, and he was the only one who wasn't involved.
"Didn't you hear what happened between the Mizukage and my ANBU?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused.
The Raikage nodded, though he seemed unconcerned. "And? This is an issue between Kiri and Konoha, isn't it? You didn't need the rest of us here to babysit you."
Before Naruto could respond Ryuu spoke up, that confident smirk still in place. "I agree Raikage-sama. I do not see why we are all needed here."
He received a small hum in agreement from the Raikage. From the corner of his eye, Naruto could see Gaara giving him a look from his spot beside him, blatantly telling him to get on with it.
"I knew Tsunade shouldn't have given up her title yet. You're far too young. Too inexperienced," the Raikage continued, not at all concerned at the amount of disrespect he was showing.
Naruto allowed him to rant, to continue. He'd see in the end. Besides, things never had been right between him and the Raikage after their little confrontation in the war.
"The reason that I called this meeting," Naruto said, using every ounce of patience he had, "was so that I could confront both the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage about this. I also wanted both you and the Kazekage to be aware of their intentions, Raikage-sama."
The Raikage looked amused, as did the Tsuchikage. Naruto held back a sigh. He really wasn't cut out for the whole political scheming thing. Then again, he figured Sakura or Kakashi would be good at it. He'd just have to try to think like them then.
He looked right into Ryuu's eyes, willing every ounce of anger he'd gathered against the man to show in his expression. "You agreed with the elders of Kiri to attack Konoha together. After you were done with us, you would turn around and take out Kumo next, leaving you two as the strongest nations with the lands gained from your attacks."
The Tsuchikage looked at him in astonishment. Or rather, he faked it. Naruto had no doubts that the man knew exactly what he was talking about. A quick side glance at the Raikage also told Naruto that he was very interested to find out where he'd learned this.
"Hokage-sama! Where have you come up with these… these… delusions? We would never attack neither you nor Kumo. What the Mizukage and Kiri have done is of no concern to us," Ryuu said, doing his best to act innocent. And if it hadn't been for the fact that Naruto had proof that this was exactly what he'd been planning, he might have fallen for his act.
The Mizukage glanced over at him, a furious and betrayed look on her face. Naruto couldn't blame her however. Ryuu was basically leaving Kiri as a public enemy, something to focus on while he continued to prepare to attack them.
"My men heard the Mizukage confess to her men that Kiri's participation in this whole thing was because of the influence you have within their council," Naruto said, remaining calm.
Both the Raikage and the Tsuchikage looked at him like he was an idiot. He'd been expecting that. After all, this wasn't exactly the greatest proof. There were too many ways for this information to be unreliable and untrue. Even Gaara glanced at him a little uncomfortably, as if to say 'that's all you have?'
"That's not enough proof!" the Raikage said, glaring down at Naruto as he rose from his seat. "You can't just go around saying things like this because someone told you she," he said, jamming a finger in the Mizukage's direction, "said so!"
Naruto glanced up at him, calm despite the outburst. "I never said that was all of my proof. I just wanted to see if the Mizukage would admit it. I'm giving her a chance to clear her name here."
He turned his gaze to the Mizukage, who looked a little uncomfortable in the spotlight, though she kept her cool overall. "Well, Mizukage? Is this true?"
Every eye in the meeting turned to look at her, all of them silently asking the same question.
The Mizukage glanced at every one of them, even Kira who was gazing on in curiosity. After holding the Tsuchikage's gaze for a fraction of a second longer than the others, she shook her head. "No, it's not true."
Naruto quirked an eyebrow, feigning surprise. "Really? Because, you see, I have this scroll…" he said, producing said scroll from under his Hokage robes. It was an exact copy of the scroll Shikamaru had brought to him, all those days ago in his office. He tossed it to the Raikage, who opened it cautiously and read the contents.
"That scroll was found on an Iwa missing Nin in our territory. My Jounin Commander brought that to me before this whole thing began. It's a letter from one of Kiri's council members, promising their support in the Tsuchikage's plans," he paused, allowing the Raikage to absorb everything that he read. "After taking out Konoha, they were going to go after Kumo. They didn't like the way our villages had our Jinchuriki."
The Raikage looked furious as his eyes swept the scroll. After a moment, he glared at both the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage. Both of them looked a little paler than they had before. "You! You would dare?"
Kira stood up at that point, obviously trying to calm the seething man. "Raikage-sama, please calm down. Whatever issues you have here are to be settled peacefully, not with violence," he said, glaring at the Raikage. After a moment, the Raikage calmed himself, sitting back in his seat. However, Naruto could still see the anger he had brimming below the surface.
"Anyway," Naruto said, turning to look at Ryuu now, "I called this meeting so that you could see how pointless this is. Why go through the unnecessary bloodshed? Going to war would just cause more pain and anger and become a source for revenge and vengeance later on."
As Naruto spoke, he was briefly presented with the image of Sasuke, his eyes glaring hatefully at him, and he knew that it was those eyes that he? wanted to prevent, to keep from ever appearing again.
Ryuu was silent, looking a little shocked that Naruto had actually been able to turn the Raikage against him. However, after a moment, he smirked. "Oh well. I guess it would have come out eventually. Unfortunately, Hokage-sama, how can you prove that you didn't write that scroll, just to pin the blame on us?"
Naruto let out a long weary sigh. This was dragging on much to long. "We have the shinobi who was delivering it in custody. We can have him confess to it. In fact, he already has."
The Tsuchikage continued to smirk. "So he's in Konoha then?"
Naruto nodded, not sure where he was going with this.
"Well then, I guess that we'll just have to take him out before Kumo gets word of it then," he said after another pause, causing everyone in the room to watch him cautiously. "What? So you admit that you planned to attack us?" the Raikage asked.
The Tsuchikage laughed. "Yes. Yes we were. You and those… those… monsters," he said, pointing at Naruto. "You need to be destroyed. How long do you think our villages will last, with them running around? We need to destroy them. We will be the ones who rule in the end."
Every leader stood, staring at him in shock. Up behind their respective leaders, the bodyguards all tensed, all preparing for a fight.
"You need to stop this! Fighting will just lead to people being unhappy," Naruto said, trying hard to convince him to stop.
Ryuu just shook his head. "For a while, I'm sure. But when we win, people won't be as unhappy. And winning won't be very hard, with you out of the way."
Naruto's eyes widened and he stood from his chair, not liking the look on the Tsuchikage's face. Unfortunately, he was too slow. At that moment, several figures crashed into the room from the ceiling, all ready to attack every leader in the room, other than the Tsuchikage. Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed that several of them were aiming at him.
He dodged a few of them, at least 4. Most of them were wielding blades with , some sort of poison applied to the edge. Unfortunately, he couldn't dodge the fifth and the final shinobi to jump into the room and soon he was covered in the warm feeling of his blood that oozed from the new wound in his chest.
He stumbled back, barely even realizing as he unconsciously formed a Rasengan in one hand and connected it with the one who'd injured him right in the gut. He was mostly moving on instinct at the moment, as the pain from the wound briefly overcame any conscious thought.
Somewhere in the distance, he heard Sakura call out his name, right before a deafening explosion rocked the room. He glanced back, just as another one of his attackers fell to a quickly formed Rasengan.
The area where Sakura and Kakashi had been standing had been blown out by an explosion and several more shinobi were pouring through the hole in the wall. Kankuro and Matsuri were quick to engage them, but Kakashi and Sakura were nowhere in sight.
He began to allow his mind to direct him again, jumping over the slash of one of his three remaining original attackers, and he activated his Demon Shroud Cloak. Unfortunately, the instant he tried to access the Kyuubi's chakra, his entire body was wracked with pain, feeling as if his very blood was burning. He fell to his knees, which, coincidentally, allowed hims to dodge another sword slash that would have cost him his head.
Using every ounce of willpower he had, he fought off unconsciousness and, tried to ignore the pain that he now realized was coming from his wound. He quickly hit two more of his attackers with a simultaneous pair of Rasengan's, one in each hand, before finishing off the last one with a quick hit to the back of his neck.
As he took a moment to gather his breath and he tried to assess how bad his wounds were. Though he'd only suffered the one hit, it burned unlike any wound he'd ever gotten before. And unlike normal, this wound wasn't healing. No, instead, it was like the Kyuubi's chakra was actually eating away at the wound, sort of like when he went into his tailed forms.
He knew this was bad. He glanced around, anxious to find Sakura and Kakashi. As he finally spotted a spot of pink hair under some rubble a few meters away, one of the shinobi that'd come through the wall ran at him. And it took everything in Naruto's power to dodge.
Sakura groaned as she sat up, fighting to keep the black spots in her vision away. She needed to help Naruto. To keep him safe. She'd seen him take a hit, though she doubted that would be enough to stop him.
As she glanced around, she wondered what had happened to her. When she tried to move, however, a searing pain came over her from her back. She glanced over her shoulder and winced at the burn wounds she could barely see over her shoulder.
She took a deep breath, allowing her chakra to flow through her system, trying to heal the burns, even just a little. Slowly but surely, she felt the pain slowly ebb away. Her chakra felt like cool water to her back and she reveled in it for a moment, glad for the momentary relief it caused.
However, she heard the Tsuchikage laughing and she glanced over, surprised to see him standing over the limp form of Kira, who'd obviously gone to engage him. Sakura couldn't believe the man had been beaten. She hadn't seen how, but she guessed that he'd been overcome, too many attackers to defend against. She wondered where his bodyguards had gotten to and why they hadn't been there to help him. Then again, she wasn't doing a very good job of that either. To her horror, he wasn't moving. Sakura briefly considered going over to help him, when a sharp pain from her stomach stopped her. Turns out, she also had a few broken ribs.
Not that she was surprised. In fact, she would've expected herself to be in worse condition. She should be happy that she'd survived, if anything. As she allowed her chakra to flow through her system again, focusing on her ribs this time, she noticed that everyone, even the Mizukage, was under attack from the Tsuchikage's men.
The Mizukage growled as she took down another attacker, glancing down to a body nearby. Sakura noticed it was one of her bodyguards. Not one of those two that Sakura normally saw with her. Choujiro and Ao? Something like that. But either way, it seemed that this bodyguard had been killed while trying to defend the Mizukage.
As she took down another one of the Tsuchikage's men, the Mizukage glanced up, her eyes blazing in anger. "Ryuu!" she cried, turning the man's attention from the limp form of Kira to her. "What is the meaning of this?"
Ryuu sighed, looking like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And in a way, it was.
"Isn't it obvious? You were against my plan the whole time. You didn't want to do this. The council members were hesitant to join me because of you."
The Mizukage glared at him, trying to pour every ounce of hatred within her into her glare. "So you wanted to remove me? What would that accomplish?"
The Tsuchikage gave a small shrug, infuriating her more. "With you out of the picture, your council would be easier to manipulate." He paused, giving her that grin of his again. "Sorry about this," he said after a moment, looking not at all sorry.
With a roar, the Mizukage launched herself at the Tsuchikage, unleashing every technique and skill she had. She wouldn't stand for this.
Meanwhile, Sakura watched on, in shock that Ryuu could be so cold, so heartless. Not that she'd thought he was all sunshine and daisies or anything, but she'd figured he had at least a bit of respect for his allies. It seemed like even the Mizukage was his enemy now.
As Sakura slowly began to feel the pain from her ribs disappear, she turned her attention back to Naruto. He was fighting off two of the Tsuchikage's men right now, barely dodging their blades. He seemed a lot more sluggish than usual. Wondering what was going on, Sakura watched as he ducked then rolled to avoid the two men. As he rose, she noticed him grimace and briefly hold the wound that he'd suffered before.
At that moment, she suddenly came to a frightening realization. The wound wasn't healing. The Kyuubi's chakra, which normally instantly began to heal any wounds Naruto would suffer, wasn't doing anything.
But what could force the Kyuubi's chakra to do this?
She glanced over to the fallen blade of one of the fallen attackers nearby. Using one hand to focus her chakra on her ribs, she reached out with her free hand, pulling the blade towards her.
It was laced with a sort of poison. Using her free hand again, she activated her chakra scalpel, analyzing the substance. It was a unique poison, the likes of which she'd never seen before. Most of the ingredients were harmless, unable to hurt even a small child. This shouldn't have done anything to Naruto, even if it had made its way inside of his system.
However, one ingredient puzzled her. It was a small herb, one used in medicine that was used to cleanse dangerous or poisonous chakras. She'd worked with it before, using it on the wound that she'd received from the Kyuubi back on their first mission with Sai and Yamato.
Suddenly, everything seemed to click for her. This poison was cleansing the wound of chakra, keeping the Kyuubi from healing the wound. She wondered what effect that would have had on Naruto's body, considering he'd had the healing abilities of the Kyuubi his entire life. Suddenly being left without that would have left him even worse off than a normal person with the same wounds.
Sakura wondered if the Tsuchikage had considered that. As the thought of him being delighted with Naruto's suffering crossed her mind, Sakura suddenly felt an anger like she'd never felt before surge through her. She'd kill him! The instant her wounds had healed, she'd make the man regret ever hurting Naruto like that.
As she glanced back up, Sakura noticed that Naruto was still fighting the two men from before. He was even worse off now, barely being able to side-step the slashes. However, one of the shinobi, probably a little too enthusiastic at the idea of killing the Hokage, put too much force into his downward swing. His sword hit the ground, imbedding itself and causing the man to stumble off balance when he tried to pull it out.
Naruto took the chance, forming a Rasengan in one hand and preparing to hit him.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a body flew through the air, colliding with Naruto and inadvertently saving the other shinobi's life. As Naruto and the body rose from the ground, Sakura noticed that it was one of Kira's bodyguards.
Where had he been all this time? Where had he been when Kira had fallen?
She glanced around, trying to figure out what, exactly, had propelled him into Naruto. Unfortunately, the battle had become chaotic. Several samurai were now making their way into the room, trying to figure out who to attack. The other kages were all dealing with their respective attackers. The Raikage, with his one arm, had suffered a few wounds, though it was nothing serious. Gaara, with his ultimate shield, was still in one piece, though he was taking on around 5 or so shinobi. The Mizukage and the Tsuchikage were still locked in combat, none of the Tsuchikage's men brave enough to get close enough.
Returning her attention back to Naruto's fight, she noticed him and the Samurai who'd collided with him agree to help each other. Naruto turned his back on the man, preparing to take out the one he'd missed before.
But something wasn't right. The Samurai stood with his sword slack at his side, looking not at all concerned. That is, until Naruto turned his back on him. Then he raised his sword, the edge of it pointed right where Naruto's heart would be.
Sakura cried out for him, never before hearing such utter despair in her voice. Naruto tried to dodge, but he was slow, much too slow, and the sword had already been less than a foot from him. Sakura could only watch in horror as the Samurai plunged his blade through Naruto's chest.
The man laughed, pulling off his helmet to reveal the Hitai-ate of Iwagakure. He was one of Ryuu's men, not one of Kira's bodyguards. From somewhere across the room, Sakura could vaguely make out the sound of Ryuu laughing, no doubt feeling victorious as Naruto clutched at the metal blade protruding from his chest.
He fell to the ground, collapsing as if he no longer held any life within him.
And something in Sakura snapped.
Within an instant, she was next to the man who'd stabbed Naruto and was swinging him around by the arm almost like a club. She launched him through the air, straight at the Tsuchikage. She watched for a brief moment with satisfaction as the two men collided and Ryuu cried out in pain. She'd probably broken his arm when the 'Samurai's' armour had collided with him. Good.
Next she turned to the two people who'd originally been attacking Naruto. The both ran at her, swinging their swords downwards.
She side-stepped one of them and pulled out a kunai to block the other.
Using her free hand she pulled out a second kunai from her pouch and, using every bit of her 'superhuman strength', snapped the man's sword by crushing it between her own two kunai's.
The man didn't even realize what had hit him though as Sakura's foot connected with his ribs in a roundhouse kick and sent him flying through the air.
The other one, a more timid looking man, glance over in fear to where his friend had flown. Bad move.
She proceeded to kick him in the gut, sending him straight into an enemy who'd been sneaking up on Matsuri.
The older girl nodded her thanks, though Sakura barely took notice. She turned to Naruto, ignoring the screaming pain of her ribs as she activated her chakra again. He was pale, much too pale. She needed to heal him, and fast. Pulling him just a little bit farther away from the fighting, she began to work on him and hoped that she wasn't too late.
Kakashi groaned as he rose from the rubble of a wall he'd collided with before it had decided to collapse on him. He wondered how long he'd been out. His Jounin vest, he noticed, was singed and burnt. Not surprising, considering he'd been blown up.
He pulled up his Hitai-ate to activate his sharingan immediately. While he wasn't sure what was happening, he doubted that it wouldn't involve fighting. As his eyes took in the battlefield around him, one detail took up most of his attention.
His two students were huddled together, the familiar glow of Sakura's green chakra illuminating them. And Naruto was hurt, again. No, it was worse than normal. This actually looked bad. Judging from the look on Sakura's face, Kakashi found himself wondering for the first time in a long time if his blonde student would die.
How was this possible?
Naruto was one of the strongest shinobi Kakashi had ever had the pleasure of knowing. And he'd known quite a few powerful people. He just couldn't see Naruto being taken out like that.
But the look on Sakura's face told him otherwise. He'd never seen her so distraught, so anguished. Not even in any situation regarding Sasuke. Even Sai hadn't made her look like that.
And truthfully, that scared him.
One of the two final people he cared for in his life was dying. And he couldn't do anything to stop it, just like with the others. With Rin, Obito, Minato, Sai… Sasuke.
He would not lose another person who was precious to him.
He tore his eyes away from the scene, trying to figure out what the cause of his students' pain was. And then his eyes fell upon the Tsuchikage. He was fighting the Mizukage, though one of his arms was hanging limply. It looked broken. Yet, despite the pain he was feeling, he still wore that victorious smirk of his.
He thought he'd won. He thought he'd killed Naruto. Around him, Kakashi noticed that even the other Kages were having trouble. The Tsuchikage had obviously brought the best.
Kakashi began to move forward, towards the Raikage, who had just fallen to one knee after his two bodyguards had been defeated. He had several light cuts all over his body and looked ready to keel over. The three shinobi who surrounded him looked exhausted but happy. They knew that they had him, that he wouldn't last much longer.
Yet, in their joy at having been victorious, they never even saw Kakashi coming.
Before they'd even hit the ground, Kakashi was moving on, searching for his next target. As he turned in Gaara's direction, ready to help the young Kazekage out, he felt himself move with a determination he hadn't felt in years. After all, it took a lot to make him this worked up.
But seeing Naruto, laying there looking so helpless, it had sparked something in him. Kakashi activated his Raikiri quickly, plunging it through the chest of one of the 4 shinobi after Gaara. Gaara stared at him with something akin to fear. Good. He hoped that the Tsuchikage and his men feared him as well, that they realized the mistake they'd made in targeting those important to him. He wouldn't let them get away with this. And if Naruto didn't make it through this… well he hoped then that the heavens themselves were watching over them.
They'd need it.
A/N: Please review XD