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Chapter 11 – Back in Konoha…
Tsunade was happy but also angry. She had agreed to send out the missions going after Naruto after the council had declared him a missing nin. And no missions had been successful so far. The reason this made her happy was that it was showing her who in the ranks of Leaf shinobi were against Naruto. She had charged Baika and Sasuke with breaking the thirds law. The council let Baika go to prison but not Sasuke. He remained free. Ino had asked to be sent to Suna the day Naruto left asking to see Gaara and try to work with the Suna to help Naruto. And maybe get a different husband.
(Flashback)….
"Please Tsunade. Please send me to Suna. I really don't want to marry Sasuke." Ino pleaded on her hands and knees with Inoichi standing right behind her.
"Weren't you one of the fan girls that were so set on getting Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.
"At first I liked him. But eventually it became a game to help build up Sakura's confidence and annoy Sasuke. She was so self conscious and he was so pompous. I was her friend and wanted to help her. Eventually I got tired of the game of 'try to get his attention, only to be ignored.' You see Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, Lee or even Gaara, any of them would be better husband material, let alone boyfriend material." Ino said as she looked into Tsunade's eyes. "I do not want to marry Sasuke. I will not marry him. Even if the council tries to force me too, I would stand him up at the altar."
Tsunade chuckled at this development.
"Tsunade-hime, most of the ninja clans are against what the civilians and a couple of the clans did to Naruto. I for one am almost ready to take the Yamanaka clan out of Konoha and go to Suna. I have talked to some of the other clans. You know the Hyuuga were ready to leave with Naruto that day? Well, the Nara, Akamichi, and a couple other minor clans are nearly at that point. Lady Tsunade what can we do not to destroy Konoha?" Inoichi pleaded.
"You think I wanted Naruto to go? But I admit Hiashi did have a brilliant idea in marrying off Hinata to Naruto. From their last letter he appears to be falling in love with her, and I am happy for them. The council has done irreparable harm to the village. I in a certain way understand why the snake-teme wants to destroy it. My grandfather's dream is not going so well. I am almost ready to take all the clans and any civilians that will come with me and leave the village too. I am appalled at how they treated the son of their hero. And my adopted little brother." Tsunade said nearly in tears. (Yes the tears again…)
There was a knock at the door.
"Come!" Tsunade said as she looked sympathetically towards Ino. "Ah just the people I wanted to see."
Ino looked up to see Shikamaru, Choji and Asuma enter the room. Ino quickly wiped her eyes and stood.
"Asuma? Your team has been selected for a mission. Gaara has been designated as Kazekage-to-be. Your job is to escort Ino Yamanaka to Suna for negotiations." Tsunade looked at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, after you arrive, I have another job for you." Tsunade smiled evilly. "You are too try to help negotiations by dating Gaara's sister."
Shikamaru's eyes went wide but then he raised his hand to his head as he shook it. "Troublesome. How far do I have to go Lady Hokage?" Shikamaru asked.
Tsunade continued to smile. "As far as it takes for the mission to succeed."
"Does the mission entail a second marriage?" Shikamaru asked pointedly.
"The first one is up to Ino and Gaara to decide, and a second one is up you. Marriage to a Kage-to-be is more important to this village's diplomatic relations than bringing a clan back. Okay you may leave whenever you are ready." Tsunade said smiling.
Ino walked over to Tsunade and wrapped her in a hug. "Thank you Tsunade-sama."
"Yes, thank you Tsunade-sama. The council has put too much emphasis on one person and not enough on the village. Naruto Uzumaki was and is a more valuable asset to this village than Sasuke Uchiha. I just don't understand why the council chose a dying clan over the son of a Hokage, and our most revered one at that." Inoichi said shaking his head.
"The village was prejudice against Naruto from the start. He did well to get as far as he did." Shikamaru said as he smirked.
"What's worse is that several of our allied nations have heard about this exile and are quite mad at Konoha. The Lands of Wave, Tea, Snow, Bird, and a couple others were saved by Naruto or a team he was on, but with Naruto putting the most effort into it or being seen as the one who actually succeeded. Given this a lot of contracts we normally would get from these sources are going to other villages. Did you know that Naruto is the reason I am here?" Tsunade said as everyone in the room was shocked to hear that Naruto was the major reason she was Hokage. "The little brat struck a chord in me to want to make sure he became Hokage. Now I am not so sure he may have a village to come back too, or a village that wants him to be their Hokage."
Team ten got packed up and went to Suna later that day.
Ino seemed so happy to be leaving Konoha that Shikamaru even smiled.
(End flashback)….
In the Uchiha compound Sasuke was in the shower. "Jeez Sakura aren't you pregnant yet?" Sasuke asked as he nearly whined. "We have done it like five times…"
Sakura looked frustrated as she sat in the bed with the coverers in her armpits. "Sasuke-kun… We won't know for a little bit. And this is only the first week." Sakura whined. 'It doesn't help that you haven't reached puberty yet, jerk. The body functions but cannot produce offspring yet. For a genius he isn't that smart. Not bad in bed but not that smart when it comes to women.'
Sasuke just shook his head 'creating a clan. Is, how would Shikamaru put it? Troublesome…' "Sakura… Where is Ino? I have not seen her. I thought she would want to also help with starting the clan as soon as possible." 'How annoying.'
Ino sneezed as she walked in Suna near the Kazekage's office. 'Damn Sasuke-teme.' Sasuke sneezed.
An hour later Sasuke and Sakura walked into Tsunade's office. "So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit Uchiha-san?"
"Check her out and see if she is pregnant yet." Sasuke said as he pointed a thumb towards Sakura.
Tsunade looked shocked. "You two didn't?"
Sakura blushed and smiled. "Yes ma'am, five times in the last week." Sakura said proudly.
Sasuke looked annoyed.
Tsunade folded her hands in front of herself. "Why not go to the hospital. Why are you bothering me the Hokage? I also have two problems with your request Sasuke." Tsunade said with annoyance in her voice.
"Yes and so what are they?" Sasuke said with an annoyed look on his face.
"First you are both too young to be having children, you are just thirteen. Second I am not your personal doctor or nurse." Tsunade stood up and looked angry. "Also you are talking to your Hokage in a disrespectful tone. ANBU remove the Uchiha and place him in a cell for a day so that he can think over what he has done. Sakura, go to the hospital and have a full exam. That is all!" Tsunade said as two ANBU grabbed Sasuke and hauled him off to Ibiki. Sakura walked to the Hospital sulking.
Tsunade smiled as she had gotten Sasuke Uchiha twice in one day. This was starting to be a good day. Also Naruto's report should be coming today, delivered by Gamakichi. A knock on the glass of her office brought a big smile to her face. "You're right on time Gamakichi." She opened the window to allow the orange toad entry to her office.
"Yo toots. Got the latest from the kid. Man is he far away." Gamakichi said with a smile on his face.
"So did he make it to the Snow country?" Tsunade said as Shizune entered with more paperwork.
"Did you send Sasuke to Ibiki, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, she then noticed the toad. "Hi Gamakichi, how are you today? Do you have the latest from Naruto and Hinata?"
"You know it, fresh from his pen. It is kind of funny though. He summoned me to a different place. I am not even sure he is even here anymore." Gamakichi said as he handed Tsunade the scroll.
"Hm… let's see what we have here…" Tsunade said to no one in particular as she opened the scroll. "What the hell?" Tsunade slammed the scroll on the desk.
"What is wrong Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked, almost frightened.
"Get Jiriaya in here now!" Tsunade yelled as she looked back down to read more.
Hey bachan,
We may have a problem. Hinata-hime and I are doing well. We just don't know where we are. I was working on one of the 'Flying Thunder God' seals and we got pulled into a vortex. It shouldn't have happened at all. I woke up injured. According to Hinata-hime we were pulled through something. I hit a wall rather hard. It took fluffy a day to heal me. We met some new people and they seem nice. One is an Avatar, seems to be an all powerful being here, not sure what they mean by it though. Also Aang, the Avatar, met fluffy in person. I have no clue how he was able to come into my mind and meet fluffy but he did. Aang, Katara, and Sokka seem to have no knowledge of jutsu, but they can perform the neatest stuff. They call it bending, but it is similar to jutsu. They appear to only use four elements instead of five we do. They use Air, Fire, Earth and Water as the elements they can manipulate, and I mean manipulate. Hinata-hime says they use some chakra to do it but they are not using seals. I am trading jutsu for bending knowledge.
On a personal note… I think I have finally fallen for Hinata-hime. She is everything to me. I could no longer live without her. You can tell that teme council that they will have hell to pay for what they did. I have a plan if and when I get back.
Naruto Uzumaki, the Sixth Hokage.
Tsunade sighed and giggled as she finished the scroll. She unsealed the second scroll the one meant for the council to read. It was a bunch of random prattling about snow and how it was cold and bothered both Hinata and Naruto. She waited to unseal the third scroll from the scroll until Jiraiya arrived.
Jiriaya entered the room quickly letting Shizune close the door behind him.
"Tsunade-sama, we got the report back from Sakura's tests." Shizune was giggling. Tsunade and Jiriaya looked at her quizzically. "Sasuke is not going to produce any heirs any time soon."
"And why is that? Is he shooting blanks?" Jiriaya said with a chuckle.
"In a way yes he is." Shizune said as if challenging the Sannin to try to guess what was wrong with Sasuke.
"Out with it Shizune." Tsunade said impatiently.
"Sasuke is not ready to produce children. He still had not hit puberty. Sasuke isn't even shooting." Shizune said as she tried to muffle her laugh.
Tsunade, Jiriaya and Gamakichi all laughed so hard they nearly passed out. "So Sakura has been basically practicing without any chance of getting pregnant?"
"Yes ma'am. Ibiki confirmed it when he strip searched him for his day of detainment for his disrespecting the Hokage." Shizune said with a big smile. "Oh Sakura asked if she could study medical jutsu under me. I told her she would have to ask someone else as I would not allow her to train under me because of the way she treated Naruto-kun."
"I totally agree with you, what she did to Naruto was appalling." Tsunade frowned, and then her expression turned to a smile. "My little brother deserved better, and now he has it. On that subject, the reason we have not been able to locate them is because they have been pulled into a seal of some sorts. I have no idea what that means, that is why I wanted you to be here Jiriaya." Tsunade unsealed the third seal, which contained four scrolls and one was slightly burnt. "This I believe is the notes and information Naruto and fluffy were able to figure out when a seal he was working on pulled Naruto and Hinata into it."
Jiriaya looked at the scrolls. "He has gotten much better at taking notes, and his theory is incredible. He may just be right that they are not on this world any more. He also notes that jutsu and chakra are behaving a little differently, not a lot but just enough that elemental manipulation is a little easier. If he and Hinata can master this bending he is writing about he will have new powers that will make the best jutsu users pale in comparison. I am not even sure we could do what he is doing now. He only has notes on Air and Water, apparently he has found an air master, and the water sensei is only a novice but improving."
Jiriaya looks at the burned scroll. "I see which one he was working on. Gamakichi I will have a scroll for him next week with my findings."
"Right ero-sannin." Gamakichi said as he took a scroll from Tsunade and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Why that little…" Jiriaya said in a rage as Tsunade interrupted him.
"Stow it!" Tsunade said angrily. "Now let's go over all this information and then give the council the bogus letter." Tsunade said with a smile. "We can show Hiashi the real one later."
"Are you always this quiet?" Ino asked the red headed boy holding her hand as they walked down the road in Suna.
"I only say what I need too. Nothing more, nothing less." Gaara said quietly with a slight smile. "Why do you insist on holding my hand?"
"Do you not like it Gaara?" Ino said almost pouting.
Gaara rolled his eyes. "No, it is not that. It is just that you are holding hands with a monster."
Ino shocked looked at Gaara as a single tear ran down her face. "You are not a monster. Gaara-kun, you were abused and neglected. Naruto-kun showed us both that we are people and we all need kindness." Ino whispered quietly to Gaara.
Gaara wiped the tear from her face, surprised that she did not flinch at his touch. "Why are you not scared of me?"
"I looked into your eyes. They are not the same eyes you had during the chunin exams. They are sad, not evil and bloodthirsty like they were then. You have changed. We have known each other a week now. I admit that I first came here to avoid marrying Sasuke, I figured you would be an easy catch." Ino looked down and shook her head. "You are not a catch, at least not in that sense. You in a lot of ways are a child who missed out on life, and love." She looked over at Temari and smiled weakly. "I know your siblings care a lot about you, they were also scared of you, but they did and still do care what happened to you. I have come to care about you too, Gaara."
Gaara smiled, actually smiled a genuine smile, not an evil one. "You still did not answer my question Ino-chan."
"Should I be scared?" Ino said with a smile.
Gaara shook his head. "How soon before you are married to the Uchiha?"
"Never, if I have anything to say about it." Ino said angrily.
"You do not like him?" Gaara asked.
"We have been over this before Gaara-kun. He was not nice to Naruto-kun, and is using Sakura-chan. I don't understand what people now see in him. He abandoned the village spills village secrets and is still given the run of the shop. Did you hear the council declared Naruto a missing nin even though they exiled him." Ino said frustrated.
"Ino-chan. Do you think a political marriage between us would work?" Gaara asked.
"I don't know but we could make it work. I like you, I really do. In time it might become love. What do you say? Would you like to try?" Ino asked.
"Hey sister, no funny stuff with my brother until you are married to him." Temari broke in.
Ino turned to the other blond and looked her right in the eyes. "I wasn't talking about that. I wanted to know how Gaara-kun felt about setting up the marriage not finalizing it."
"Oh, sorry my mind got ahead of me." Temari replied while she blushed. Shikamaru only could shake his head.
"Temari-chan, we have a few years to figure this out. There is no rush, unless Sasuke tries something. Right now I am just enjoying getting to know Gaara-kun." Ino smiled and kissed Gaara's cheek.
Temari and Shikamaru stopped and looked dumbfounded.
--
A/N: Back to Avatar world next chapter. Just thought a trip back to Konoha would be entertaining. Sorry about no Zuko this chapter… Will be next chapter… My muse told me to go to Konoha and I did, don't fight the muse, never fight the muse…. Suki, Zuko and one hell of an a whooping next chapter or maybe the next. I wanted to show that life has changed without our lovable ninja… And OH BOY is the council in for it…. But that is for later down the road… like a few years… Naruto needs to help the Avatar and the Avatar needs to train Naruto. :D