Chapter four – Stick to the plan
"Kazekage. What do want us to do with them?" asked the leader of the samouraïs
"Let them be … they are my friends." request the said man
"A… A… alright my lord. Let's go" said the soldier to the rest of his troop.
As they were retreating, Kakashi, Yamato and Naruto straighten their pose, putting kunais and other weapons aside.
"So, what brings you here Naruto?" asked Gaara.
On Sasuke's side
"What's wrong Sasuke? Oh wait! It's the guy that was chasing you the other day!" yelled the girl into the dark haired man's ears.
"Stop pestering me Karin I'm trying to focus here." said Sasuke in a more than annoyed tone while pushing her away from him.
"Oh sorry Sasuke!"
"It was about time you shut your big mouth, whore!" yelled the shark like boy.
"Go to hell you asshole fish!" replied the girl, punching his face. Unfortunately, Suigetsu, who was standing right behind Sasuke, have used his water jutsu, which mean, he turn his head into water and Karin hit Sasuke's back instead.
Everything was silent after that. Karin was so scared of Sasuke's reaction that she fell unconscious while Suigetsu was trying to muffle his sneers. Jugo was only shaking his head in exasperation. But Sasuke couldn't care less about his teammates now, besides, that punch was way to weak to hurt him. In fact, he was focusing is sharigan on the lips of Naruto and Gaara. He was trying to decode their conversation.
"I want to talk to Raigake before the meeting start."
"About what?" request Gaara, but the conversation was interrupted by two running figures.
"Gaara are you alright?" asked a blond girl
"Yeah! You disappear so quick that I thought you were the one causing the mess outside." said a man with a huge bandaged bag on his back.
"Yes, I'm okay. We have visitors!" replied the Kazekage in his happiest monotone voice.
The two figures came to an halt as they joined their brother, surprise written on their faces. The two people were indeed Temari and Kankouro.
"Hey Temari! Kankouro! Ah ah! Long time no see!" yelled Naruto
"Ah ah yeah! It's good to see you back with Kakashi and the scary guy, Yamato ne?" said Kankouro
"Hello to you too!" greeted Kakashi
"Hey! Who is the scary guy here? That's so unfair." replied Yamato, while Kakashi sweatdropped.
At that point, Sasuke was getting bored. He didn't give a damn about their little reunion. He wants to know why they were here and why Naruto would want to talk to the Raikage. Good thing for him that the Kazekage was thinking the same thing and decided to ask Naruto.
"Anyway. Why do you want to talk to Raikage Naruto?"
"It seems like Sasuke is in trouble in Kumogakure and I want to plead his case in front of the Raikage." admitted Naruto.
"What did he do this time?" asked Gaara.
"He have joined the Akatsuki and kidnapped the Raikage's brother who is the eigth tailed beast. We don't know if he has killed him… but the Raikage wants Sasuke dead and he had asked the Hokage to kill him." confessed sadly Naruto.
Sasuke was shocked.
'How can he know that?' Sasuke asked himself. 'Pfff! If he is stupid enough to think that I need his help, he can waste his time if he wants. For all I care…'
"It seems like a lost case Naruto." said Gaara
"Gaara! Don't say that!" replied Temari
"Oh it's okay Temari. I'm not afraid of a little challenge eh eh." spoke the blond boy with a big smile.
"It's not that I don't believe in you Naruto. It's just that the atmosphere is a bit difficult here. Since we have discovered that Tsunade is in a coma and that the new hokage is Danzo, there is some tension around here. In fact, there are some frictions between the Raikage and Danzo. The Raikage being the short tempered and impulsive man he is, you can easily understand the situation… As for the rest of the kages, it's not any better. Tsuchikage thinks I'm too young to be a kage, Mizukage hate Danzo. Since she was an old friend of Tsunade, she can't stand to seem him there when she was expecting to see the Gondaime and I have to admit that we are not really excited by the nomination of Danzo. He is not the kind of man we can trust. So as you can see this promise to be a long meeting…"
"Ohhh come on Gaara! I'm sure it's not that bad, ne? teased the blond jinchuriki.
"Naruto. When I left, the hall the Tsuchikage was throwing his hat at Danzo. Mizukage was muttering something about men and their ego, and the Raikage was yelling at the leader of the iron village. If you want my opinion, it's getting out of hand." admitted the Kazekage.
"We understand lord Kazekage, but Naruto is just too stubborn to let it go and as for the nomination of Danzo… I have to inform you that the jonins haven't vote yet so maybe he is just a replacement. Anyway let's change subject, I was wondering… If Danzo is here, Saï must already be there too no?" asked Kakashi
"Yes he arrived late this afternoon." answered Temari
"We will let you in but it would be preferable for you to remain hidden until tomorrow. You will plead your case in front of the council, Naruto. Sasuke have become a main source of conflicts among the great nations and it would be preferable for you to talk to all of the kages. You might have better chances at convincing the Raikage to let go of Sasuke if there are other persons who listened to you. Temari will find you some rooms for tonight." explained Gaara.
This was interesting information for the avenger.
'So, there's problems among the kages, hn? This will make my task easier. If there is division among them, they'll probably be to confused to sense us approaching. All I'll have to do, is wait until the perfect moment show up and kill the bastard.' thought the young man.
Sasuke's plans were going on just as he had planned them and he wouldn't need to take on the entire village to do so. Madara was right. Even if he hadn't trust him, he had led him where he wants to be.
"Huh!? Okay Gaara. We will do as you say. Thank you." said Naruto
"Hey Naruto?" asked Kankouro
"What?"
Sasuke was about to end his spying game, he had all the information he needed. But something that Kakouro and Naruto said had caught his attention and this something was indeed a name …
"Well, if you, Kakashi, Yamato and Saï are here … where is my favourite sexy medic?" he asked again, winking his left eye at the same time.
"Huh!? Sakura!? Well humm… I kind of… left her home…" said Naruto, his tone grave, his eyes downcast.
"Ooo! I see…" replied the boy with a more serious voice.
Kakashi and Yamato feeling the tension rising among their group decided to change the subject.
"Well, how about you show us our rooms? It's getting dark already and I wouldn't mind some time for myself." spoke Kakashi.
"More like some time with your perverted book…" whispered the blond haired boy.
"What was that?" asked the sharingan's wielder.
"Nothing, old man. So are we going in Temari? questioned with impatience Naruto.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha…" laugh the said girl "Yes, follow me."
"I don't understand what you mean Naruto… who is the old man here… Oh I get it! You were talking about Yamato." said the grey haired man.
"Don't put me in that mess Kakashi, I'm already scary, I don't need to be old too." replied broodingly the man.
"H-uh!? Yeah right…"
Sasuke turn on his heels, he doesn't know why but he was relieved to know that his ex-teammate was safe at home. Or at least, what was left of her home. It reassures him that she was save, even if doesn't care to what happened to anyone of his ex-teammates.
"She will be mad at you when you'll get back Naruto…" mentioned Kankouro as they were walking.
"I know…" came the reply of the blond boy.
'Or she will be hurt when she'll learned I left her home.' thought Naruto with a sad look on his face. 'Understand it Sakura… it was for your own good.'
With Sasuke's team
"Karin wake up!" hissed Sasuke at his still unconscious teammate.
"Huh!? What!? What is it Sasuke-kun?" replied the said girl with a seductive glance at him.
"So, finished with your voyeurism already?" asked Suigetsu with a grin on.
"Hn. We are making a move. We are going in."
"WHAT!?" yelled the shark like boy and the girl.
"Humm Sasuke, I don't think it would be wise to get in there. We could get caught…" started the tall man with orange hair.
"Don't worry about that. They are too occupied to notice. We will enter by the south gate as we have planned and find a spot near their meeting place so we can spy on them until the time have come for us to attack." explained the avenger
"Ohhhh!" replied Suigetsu "So, you haven't done with your voyeurism!"
"Enough! Get ready." spoke softly Sasuke.
"Yes." The three said in unison.