A/N – Yosh! Update here! I'm a bit stuck on this story.. I'm kinda running out of ideas.. but I'll continue this for sure.. if you have any idea or something review and tell me k?

Chapter 5: The Kazekage's arrival

"Sasuke-san! Sasuke-san!" a Chuunin running from the direction of the Hokage tower yelled at Sasuke. He recognized him as Kotetsu who worked at Tsunade's office.

It was early morning on a bright Monday and Sasuke had just arrived from dropping Satoshi off at the academy. Satoshi asked him to drop him off and Sasuke, glad to have a distraction and a reason for being late, agreed.

"Hokage-sama requests you at her office immediately Sasuke-san. It's about the Kazekage's arrival. It seems the time has changed," the chuunin huffed out while panting harshly from running all the way.

"Hn, I'll be there." the chuunin nodded and poofed-away, probably teleporting himself to the tower again. Sasuke looked at the direction the chuunin had come from before walking to the grocery shop across the street.

'We need to eat something more than onigiri everyday.'

After his shopping had been done and he had put away the groceries at his home Sasuke sped off to the Hokage towers. 'Tsunade will probably be sleeping again.

But after he arrived in the office, he was greeted by utter chaos. The room's furniture all upturned, some even crushed as if in a fight. The whole room was clouded by smoke, blocking off sight of anything farther than two or three meters.

Sasuke looked around wildly, activating his sharingan and checking for enemies. But he didn't prepare himself for the sight he was greeted with when the cloud of smoke cleared away by a gust of wind.

The great-Jiraiya (as he liked to call himself) was hanging outside the side window of the tower. The only thing that made sure he didn't drop to the floor hundred meters below was Tsunade's hand, clutching his ankle.

Sasuke pocketed his kunai and de-activated his sharingan, sighing at the utter stupidity of the situation.

Jiraiya was screaming while begging Tsunade not to hurt him while Tsunade was cackling evilly. Shizune was beside her, crushing Tonton to her breasts, and trying to coax the Hokage into letting go of the Gama sannin.

Sasuke cleared his throat loudly, trying to make himself heard above the racket made by Jiraiya. When it didn't work he quickly made a Chidori before slapping it to the wall beside him.

'What a waste of chakra, but at least it got their attention.'

And he was right, both sannin and Shizune were looking at him with shock. Then Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the huge gaping hole next to him.

But before she could open her mouth to box his ears Sasuke spoke up.

"You called for me, Hokage-sama?" he drawled out lazily, while putting his hands in his pockets and taking a relaxed stance.

Tsunade let go of Jiraiya (his screams were heard throughout the whole village) before she opened her mouth to shout at him, only to get cut off again.

"Ano, Tsunade-sama?" Tsunade's angry eyes focused on Shizune, who shivered slightly before gaining confidence.

"You should calm down a bit, Jiraiya-sama has left." she squeaked out before crushing Tonton again, at this the poor pig looked deathly pale.

Sasuke felt a spark of pity towards it before he concentrated his attention on the now deeply breathing Tsunade, was who apparently trying to calm herself.

"That old pervert probably slinked away to spy in the onsen again. Wait till I find him again, writing those books for those other perverts to fill their sick fantasies." Tsunade muttered angrily before sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Shizune!" she boomed out. 'Probably deafening her own eardrums and other's around her', Sasuke thought tiredly. 'How does Shizune-san stand her? She's no better than that other idiotic pervert.'

"Hai, Hokage-sama?" Shizune whispered in fear. Tonton was pale again.

"Get me some sake, and call the other rookie nine and Gai's team here. And I want them here NOW!" Tsunade yelled again before collapsing on to her chair.

"Hai Tsunade-sama!" Shizune scrambled off and out of the door leaving Sasuke with the pissed off Hokage.

Sasuke sighed again after watching Shizune run from the door.

"What are you sighing about, gaki (brat)? I should be the one crying for putting up with you snot faced little punks." Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the insult.

'Snot faced? How old does she think we are?' He thought angrily while holding himself from yelling at the Hokage. 'It wouldn't do to lose my composure.'

"What did you call me for Hokage-sama? Kotetsu told me that the Kazekage will be arriving at a different time?" Sasuke inquired, he wanted to get out of here soon. His mission with team 7 didn't go well.

It was one of the rare missions they got in the week of disbandment where they went on together. But his ears were still ringing from Sakura's screeching and Riku's yelling when they had lost the pet fish they were supposed to deliver.

They had fish for dinner so the confusion had arisen when they discovered the fish 'missing' only to be seen swimming contentedly in the small puddle next to Kakashi (who was supposed to 'watch' the fish.)

"Ah yes, there was a small alternation in the schedule, we will discuss that when the others get here. I called you here to say that you have been assigned as the kazekage's personal bodyguard while he is in Konoha." Tsunade's face didn't show any emotion, but her eyes were gleeful.

'Is the hag being serious? 'Sasuke thought, shocked. But his eyes narrowed in anger when he saw the gleeful expression in her eyes. 'The old hag is enjoying this. She knows that Gaara and I hate each other. What is she playing at?'

"Oh and you will be staying with him at 'all' times, Sasuke. And I mean you will be with him at night too. I already told Hinata and she agreed to watch Satoshi. You can see him when the kazekage is with your replacement." This time her voice betrayed the bored expression on her face.

Sasuke was almost spitting knives when at that exact moment the door was slammed open by an energetic Kiba and Akamaru.

"Yo Sasuke, Still picking on the hokage I see," he had to dodge an empty sake bottle thrown by the Hokage at this.

Sasuke didn't get a chance to reply when the entire rookie nine the Hokage office. Gai's team was on mission except Neji, who just arrived from his ANBU mission, as stated by a panting Shizune as she entered the office arms full of sake bottles.

"I guess I should start then. Sakura, brief Kakashi about what had been going on when he gets here or when you meet up with him." Sakura nodded her head before cursing their ever-late sensei for his tardiness.

'He's probably off harassing Iruka again, that poor man', she thought sympathetically 'having to put up with that madness Kakashi-sensei is.'

"All right, I'll start off with the pressing matters at hand. The kazekage has changed the schedule, he will be arriving in two hours," Tsunade ignored the looks of disbelief and outrage and didn't give them a chance to comment before continuing, "Sasuke here," she gestured towards the sulking raven "will be the personal bodyguard to the kazekage while he is here. You won't be doing missions for a while, nor jounin-wise or ANBU."

The others looked at him with pity at this, shaking their heads. Sasuke seethed silently, vowing to get revenge on the Hokage.

"Sasuke's replacement while he's with Satoshi or off duty will be Neji," she nodded at the silent white-eyed jounin at the back, "you will be switching with Sasuke when you're not on missions."

Tsunade took a deep breath before starting to talk about what had been troubling her more than the kazekage or the chuunin exams.

'That idiot Jiraiya, he just HAD to bring this up right when I was up to my neck with these things. I need to find a Rokudaime soon', she thought sadly.

'When will you be back, gaki (brat)? I'm saving my seat for you. You told me that you will be the one sitting on it when I retire. What happened …Naruto.'

She sighed before speaking again. "What I asked you to come here to discuss most importantly was the news Jiraiya brought me today."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at this. 'They were discussing important information? With one of them dangling out off the window?' He scoffed mentally.

The others, who had been complaining or sobbing about the news, sobered up instantly when they saw the serious expression on the Hokage's face.

But before Tsunade could start talking there were two chakra signatures that appeared that instant. Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya had finally arrived.

But Tsunade interrupted them before they could utter a single word of greeting.

"Get inside and soundproof the room Jiraiya." She ordered the bulky man sitting on the ledge of the window.

Jiraiya instantly secured the room after stepping inside and nodded to Tsunade. "You start Tsunade-hime (Princess Tsunade), I'll fill in when needed." Tsunade nodded in agreement before looking at the group gathered.

"Before I should start I must tell you that this news is old, we just didn't get it earlier. The contact had been cut off from Jiraiya and when he had finally got hold of him the man was dead. The news he got was from the other contacts in the network, this must've happened few weeks ago." She sighed again before continuing.

"It seems that Akatsuki had recruited a new member," the whole group tensed at the mention of the dreaded name. It had taken too much from them, and they still haven't recovered from the losses.

A new member? This soon? I thought they were disbanded or something. What the hell is going on? thought Kiba angrily.

It was Jiraiya who spoke up after that, Tsunade was busy drinking the sake Shizune had brought before the meeting, and half of it was already empty, courtesy of the Gama sannin.

"We don't know much about this 'new member'. We don't even know if it's a member." He held his hand up to Kiba, who opened his mouth to comment some insignificant thing, at least according to Sasuke.

"This new person is very young, probably your age. He seems to have incredible power, we don't know what exactly his power is, but my spy who worked for Akatsuki said that this boy was able to kill off thousands within five minutes. I don't know how much of it is true though, the man was dying when I met him, and he could've been hallucinating." There were gasps running in the room when he finished this.

'Able to kill thousands within minutes? What IS he? If this information is accurate then we are in deep trouble.' Sasuke thought, frowning while contemplating the new information.

He looked at Shikamaru, who had his eyes closed and hands in the familiar motion of holding his fingers together, palms apart and thumbs pointing downwards when he was thinking.

"The most troubling thing is, exactly a week after giving me information about the new guy, all my spies who were onto Akatsuki were killed off. None of them survived. And I think that this new member, whoever he is, is the reason. Somehow he caught on, I don't know how, but it seems he did." Jiraiya looked angry at this.

"Jiraiya-sama," Jiraiya looked up from where he was searching for sake bottles when he heard Shikamaru speak.

"Do you know how old this information is?" he was still crouched with his hands together, thinking.

"I can't be sure. I got this from Iwa when I was there. Don't worry Tsunade; they are not leagued with Akatsuki. Tsuchikage personally talked to me about this. This info is correct but even they're not sure about the duration. They evacuated most of their spies when the others were getting killed off. It was probably a few days old when I heard this, so that means it about three or four weeks old." Everyone looked troubled at this.

"There was something else I heard. It had been in my mind for a while. It was when I was training Naruto nine years ago, remember when I took him with me to train for two years?" everyone except Sasuke nodded their heads at this.

It was painful remembering, but they had to this time. They couldn't run away forever.

"There was news about a new member then too. It was just like this. The person was boy with an unlimited power and ability. At that time he was the tenth member of the Akatsuki because Madara wasn't there." the whole room was silent except for the sounds of their breathing and noises from the outside.

"I never got much information about him then either. The Akatsuki were either hiding him or they didn't know."

"Didn't know?" Kiba voiced the question running in the minds of the majority.

"What do you mean they didn't know? I thought all of them knew about each other. Did that mean even Pein didn't know?" Jiraiya grimaced at the mention of the name and briefly touched the stump in his right side, where his right arm was once, before his fight with Pein.

"We don't know Kiba." It was Kakashi who answered. "Pein must've known since he is the one who recruits new members."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement before continuing.

"We don't even know the identity of this boy, yes he is a boy Kiba, and he is your age." He said before Kiba had a chance to interrupt, "Madara didn't know about him seems, he was kept a secret from the other members by Pein and Konan."

"He was never officially introduced as a new member after Madara ran away. We don't know where he is, who he is, what village he is from, what he is capable of. We know absolutely nil about him except that he was a member." Jiraiya finished with another swig from his sake bottle.

"Where did you get this from Jiraiya? Do we even know if this is true? There is no actual proof or anything." Tsunade was still trying the grasp the fact of another S class missing-nin popping up.

"I know Tsunade. But this information is true and it took five of my best spies to bring it to me. They were killed the next day." Jiraiya looked regretful.

"They were probably hunted from the start." Kakashi said without taking his eyes off the Icha Icha book, he didn't look up even once during the meeting.

"Could be, yes, it probably was, Kakashi. But still we don't know what we are supposed to do with this information." Jiraiya spoke in a frustrated tone, he had given up his best and they didn't get anything about this person. 'Just what exactly is he?'

Shikamaru's lazy drawl snapped them out of their reverie. "Mendokuse, we don't do anything about it unless we are needed to. Jiraiya-sama, have you heard about this leader or anything about activities of Akatsuki?" at Jiraiya's negative shake of head he continued.

"So we have a new member of Akatsuki who Pein works for at the moment. This 'boy' is able to destroy a whole village without breaking sweat as you said. So we have a mini-human Kyuubi," he ignored the glares from others, "running around somewhere doing nothing. There is actually nothing we are able to do, ne?" he looked around and sighed before explaining at their confused looks.

"Mendokuse, we don't know who he is, where he is, what he is doing, what village he is from..." Shikamaru stopped with a shocked look on his face.

"Shikamaru?" Ino asked worriedly, Shikamaru wasn't one to express emotions except boredom since it's too 'troublesome', but from the shocked look on his face he was either scared or curious.

"Jiraiya-sama? This new or old leader... Whatever... is he actually a missin-nin?"

Shikamaru's question sent mutual feelings of fear and shock into all of them; even Tsunade looked at Jiraiya, all of them waiting for his answer. He looked sober than he was, considering the seven sake bottles he finished off.

If he wasn't a missin nin, that meant that he had free rein to go onto other villages or shinobi countries without any trouble the usual missin nin got. He didn't have to change appearance, he didn't get hunted, he had missions that gave him absolute freedom to roam anywhere and most of all, he had the protection of the village he was working for, which acted as a security blanket when other hidden villages got suspicious or any accusations were thrown his way.

"I… I don't know. Akatsuki usually hired only missing nin. But considering the fact that only Pein knew of this new member I'm not sure if the regular rules apply to him." the statement sent made them shiver with apprehension.

"You... Don't know?" It was silent for a full minute before hell broke loose.

" WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN YOU PEVERT? DO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF DANGER THAT PUTS US IN?! HE COULD BE RIGHT HERE!",Tsunade yelled charging into Jiraiya who was sitting at the edge of her desk.

But Neji and Kiba along with Shizune took hold of her before she could pummel him. He was too important to be injured right now.

Meanwhile Jiraiya hadn't moved an inch from where he was sitting. He seemed to be in deep thought.

"This is getting dangerous Jiraiya-sama. We need information quickly. Tsunade-sama is right, he could henge into one of us or a villager and gather information too important for the village or even other villages to loose." Neji reasoned out, his byakugan activated and searching every one of them to check whether they were actually them.

'Shouldn't it be too late?' Sasuke thought with a sigh. If he was here he would've gotten information he needed hours ago.

'This is too stupid and dangerous. If he is as the sannin says, we have to prepare ourselves.'

They were interrupted by the knock on the Hokage's door and the muffled voice behind it calling for the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama? The kazekage is coming; I sent the two ANBU and the two Jounin as you asked me to do so Hokage-sama." It was Kotetsu.

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya and with a silent nod he cancelled the soundproof jutsu he had on the room. Then she looked at the gathered shinobi. Her whole demeanor changed into one of seriousness.

"The information that was discussed in this room is classified, and you know what will happen when you accidentally or intentionally give any classified information to others." she glared at them.

"We will proceed with this discussion at another summoned time, I want you to scout for any information you can about this. I will personally tell the kazekage." She stood up behind her desk.

" Meanwhile I want you to engage in the normal jounin schedule, some of you might be in the chuunin exam preparations," she looked at Neji and Shikamaru at this, "while others will be busy with the duties of protecting the Kazekage." she glared at Sasuke who glared right back.

"You are dismissed." She stated before walking out of the door with Shizune.

All of them filtered out of the Hokage's office, heavy with the weight of the new information brought by Jiraiya.

Sasuke was getting a headache. He had been having them regularly now. 'Maybe I should go to the hospital? I could get off this stupid Kazekage thing then', he thought to himself as he walked down the main streets of Konoha towards the main gate.

'First it was dreams about Naruto, and now the Akatsuki', he sighed before jumping to a roof and running.

'Where are you Naruto? Did Akatsuki get to you?' He shook his head. 'Then we'll all be dead by now, with that Pein's crazy world domination.'

He frowned when he thought about it. 'Maybe it wasn't Pein's idea? Probably Madara's. But Pein wanted world domination. According to that old pervert he wanted a world without war, a world without pain.'

He jumped off the roof of the house when he saw the shinobi and villagers gathered to welcome the Kazekage. Sasuke saw the Kazekage and the guard at the end of the road leading off from the village gates.

'If the new person was there then why didn't he do something about Madara? He can't have actually agreed with Madara and if Jiraiya is right Madara was left in the dark about the whole thing. It can't be possible with someone like Madara.'

Sasuke eyes widened at the thought.

'Pein wasn't stupid; he must've known that he couldn't keep the other member as a secret for long. If one of the members saw him they would've known right? They were, after all, the best, even if they were evil.'

'Could it be that then? Pein was using him until they got rid of Madara?'

Sasuke was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard Tsunade greet the Kazekage at the gate, and then she motioned behind her back towards him to come. Sasuke grudgingly strutted towards her, glaring at Gaara all the while.

"Kazekage-sama, you know Uchiha Sasuke? He will be your guard while you're here. Hyuuga Neji will be switching with him when he's having a break." Tsunade finished and turned to Sasuke and motioned him to greet the Kazekage, which also means gave him a glare that read If-you-don't-do-it-D-rank-missions-for-the-rest-of -your-life.

Sasuke looked at the Kazekage before giving a stiff formal bow which Gaara returned with a slight nod of his head.

"Hokage-sama, there are things we need to discuss about the exams. There has been some… complications." Tsunade frowned at Gaara's words before nodding.

"We will talk in the morning Kazekage-sama, you need to rest now." Gaara nodded his head in agreement before turning to his sister who was standing to his right.

"Temari, I will ask for you when I need you. Go if you want to." Temari smiled at him softly before nodding her head and teleporting away.

"Sasuke-san?" Sasuke looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Shall we move on then?" Sasuke nodded before following him when he walked into the village.

'This is going to be a long week, I hope I survive it.'

Uchiha Satoshi looked at the clock on the living room for the hundredth time that evening. Hyuuga Hinata was in the kitchen, making him dinner while he was playing in the living room with the toy train set Sasuke had bought him for his fourth birthday.

'Otou-sama promised me, where is he? I thought he said he was never going to break his promises.'

He willed himself not to cry, he was an Uchiha and he would not cry. But his will wasn't enough to stop the tears from running down his porcelain white chubby cheeks, his big ebony eyes normally filled with happiness and always in upturned U's, were sad.

"Satoshi-kun?" a gentle voice called him from the kitchen. Hinata emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on the apron she had on before smiling softly at him.

"Come on Satoshi-kun. I made you your favorite today, Senbei-jiru. Won't you come?" she asked.

Satoshi contemplated whether to decline or accept. 'Otou-sama will be angry that I said no to Hinata nee-san. She is only doing this for me.'

He nodded before packing his train set neatly and putting it on the table before following her to the kitchen.

He looked at the clock one last time before he entered the kitchen.

'Where are you Otou-sama? Have you forgotten our promise?'

Sasuke sighed for the umpteenth time that night. He was tired from the mission the day before and walking around the whole damn village Gaara of all people hadn't exactly done anything to his spirit except dampen it further.

"Sasuke?" a voice called from his left. He felt an overly large amount of happiness when he recognized the voice.

'Neji'

"I'll take your shift from now Sasuke. Hinata-sama is with Satoshi, I visited her before I came here, and she told me to tell you that Satoshi is in a sour mood. Maybe you know about it?" he asked.

It was then he remembered what Satoshi asked him that morning.

He felt like slapping his forehead but refrained from doing so. He was an Uchiha and an Uchiha didn't act disgracefully, in ANY situation.

He also refrained from kissing and hugging Neji for coming. He almost gagged for thinking such things, but he was too happy to see him.

"Hn. I told him I would come in the evening. But the Kazekage came early and I didn't get a chance to go home or send a message." He replied nonchalantly.

Neji nodded before jumping down from the roof he was standing on, which was the same roof Sasuke was sitting on.

"Then you should go now. I'll inform the Kazekage." He said and started to walk towards the hotel entrance.

Sasuke nodded before doing the familiar seals for a teleportation jutsu.

When Sasuke arrived at the house it was in darkness.

'Did Satoshi go to sleep this early? 'He thought with surprise.

His son's actions made Sasuke think he was nocturnal; he didn't go to sleep till very late or even morning, keeping Sasuke awake also much to his irritation.

He greeted Hinata and thanked her for staying when she answered the door. He locked it after she left and trudged towards his son's room.

When he entered and saw Satoshi's form he knew that he was awake.

But he felt guilty for not bothering to send a message when he saw the tear stains in son's face and the wetness in the pillow.

"Sato, I know you're awake."

He sighed when Satoshi didn't answer or even acknowledge his presence.

"Gomen nasai, Sato (I'm very sorry, Sato). I am very tired now but I'll tell you why I couldn't come in the evening. The kazekage arrived early today, the schedule was altered and he came in early afternoon, at about two," he saw his son's form shift and took it as an encouragement to continue.

"I'm in charge of his protection Sato. I won't be home most of the time, but Hinata-san will be here for you. I have to protect him everyday and I can only be free when Neji is not on duty or doing a mission, he's my replacement. He came early from a mission just so I can be here tonight."

He turned and saw that Satoshi had opened his eyes and was looking at him. His eyes were puffy and red from crying. Sasuke chuckled softly before kissing his son's forehead.

"Sato, I will not break a promise unless I absolutely have to. I can't defy my Hokage can I? If I do I will probably running from the village next minute with you on my back."

He saw Satoshi smile before nodding.

"Gomen Otou-sama. I thought you forgot." he sniffled, his small button nose crinkling, trying to block another stream of tears.

Sasuke gathered his son's small body into his arms before climbing with him on to the futon.

"Never, chibi-kun (Little one). Not without a strong reason." he felt his son nod his head, hitting his chin.

"Oyasumi nasai Otou-sama." he said softly while burrowing into his father's warm big body.

"Oyasumi, chibi-kun."

Oyasumi, dobe.

"Oyasumi, Sasuke-teme."

The dark figure bathed in a midnight black cloak observed the village in its glory in moonlight.

He jumped down from the lamp post he was standing in to the roof of the house next to it. He didn't make a single sound as he sped off from roof to roof, nearing the Hokage monument with each leap of strong long legs.

He stopped suddenly as he sensed chakra signatures behind him. And he masked his own, as he watched the two shinobi on the night patrol duty move past him, their bodies clear in the light of the full moon hanging in the black sky.

They didn't sense him nor see him, his presence, passing off anything they sensed as a mere shadow.

He looked at the gate again, as it was illuminated from the night lamps that hung from it.

Then he sped off again, blending in with the darkness and shadows, where the silvery moonlight couldn't reach.

"Tadaima, Konoha."

VOCAB –

Senbei-jiru- a winter miso soup made with salmon and vegetables such as daikon, carrot, potato and onions.

A/N- Ah. Another chapter finished! Thanks for reviewing my story ! I hope to see more of those!

I have a question though… can you add the honorific –kun to Chibi? I'm not sure about it, but it sounded nice so I did it anyway.. if its wrong tell me so I can change it, please?

Yatta! Its my birthday tomorrow!

Ja ne minna!

TC ^_^