NOTES: I've noticed I haven't written many of these since the beginning of this story, so I've got some thoughts on what's been going on so far:
-Sasuke is definately NOT turning out like I expected. He's very...understanding, which is not how Sasuke is at all, as Naruto fans know. However, I do like how he's turning out, and I did warn he'd be OOC... I just didn't realize it'd be so much. Sorry, die-hard Sasuke fans.
-Naruto is also not himself, as Gaara addresses in the next chapter. For that, I'm definately sorry. I adore who Naruto is, and changing that is a borderline sin. So, I'll work really hard to get him back to his usual self during the Fall and Winter seasons.
-I love the children, but I haven't been focusing on their talents at all. I think I'll be doing that in detail for the Fall segment. If anyone has any complaints about this, let me know.
-This story's become very political, I've noticed... Sorry, that wasn't my intention. But I like fleshing up a story, instead of filling it up with meaningless sex (which I have a tendancy to do after a while..) So, there's politics, and a Chuunin Exam coming, but other than that, let the SasuNaru lovin' commence!
-I haven't touched at all on how Hinata fell for Kiba, and that kind of upsets me because I really love Hinata as a character and wish I could develop her more. Maybe I'll break the eight-chapter pattern, or maybe have a bonus chapter in the end or something. So, look forward to a little KibaHina tidbit soon.
-Thank you, everyone, so much for reading this story and its partner Different Seasons. Your veiws and comments are what keep me writing. Seriously! Otherwise, I'd be playing Persona3 all day long instead of struggling with Naruto and Sasuke difficulties. So, for your positive and negative comments, your complaints, your wishes, and your expectations, I thank you.
6
"I'm telling you, having Sound participate in the Chuunin Exams is a bad call," Sasuke frowned over at the blond as they made their way together down the hall. People nodded their acknowledgement to the Anbu captain and the Hokage as the pair passed, and one or two whispers followed after them but were ignored in favor of the current situation.
"Having them not participate would be even worse, especially now with all this tension going around, am I right?" Naruto turned the corner and waved to Gaara, who waited for them with his arms crossed and two Anbu guards flanking him on either side. Sasuke motioned to the two and they immediately pulled back as Gaara fell into step beside them and they continued on toward the meeting room.
"Do you think we should trust Sound, Gaara?" Naruto looked over at his friend.
The red-head made a sour-looking face. "Personally, I wouldn't bother with them. But this is you, Naruto, and you're different from me." They reached the double doors and stopped to finish the conversation. "You have more compassion, and that's not at all a bad thing."
"It could get him killed, if he's not careful," Sasuke warned.
"Isn't it your job to make sure that doesn't happen, Uchiha?" Gaara shot back effortlessly. Sasuke's face turned dark red. He opened his mouth.
"Why don't we just see how the meeting turns out?" Naruto interrupted hurriedly. "If negotiations go sour, we'll deny entrance to our country. If not, we'll let them participate this year and see how it goes."
"A very diplomatic answer," Gaara nodded and pushed open the double doors. The people around the oblong table stood from their chairs to welcome the two kages. Sasuke made sure his mask was strapped tightly over his face, and his katana was unlatched and ready at his hip. One hand settled on the wrapped handle casually, deceptively. I won't let it happen, he swore as he followed the two leaders into the room. No one will take him away from me now. No one.
"Hokage-sama, it's Nara," the voice accompanied the hurried knock.
"What the hell's got his tail in a twist?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the office door.
"Come in, Shikamaru," Naruto called and the tall, lanky ninja did slip inside, holding a scroll.
"Sir," he saluted the Hokage.
"Oh, come off it, Shikamaru," Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Since when are you so formal?"
"Since we received this from Senator Rin," he said and tossed the scroll to the blond. Naruto caught it, a worried look flickering across his face.
"Is she alright?" he asked.
"She's fine," Shikamaru nodded. "But the negotiations went bad. The Mitzukage denied the treaty offer and has now claimed Isolationalism."
"What about the others?" Naruto's eyes skimmed over the letter.
"Neji's forces will be pulling out within the next few days," the tactician summarized. "They got in pretty deep, but haven't uprooted the entire organization, so it's going to take them some days in order to cover their tracks."
"Any chance of it coming back to bite us in the ass?" Sasuke asked Shikamaru.
"Not if they're careful," Nara shook his head. "No casualties and no prisoners, so they can't investigate into us that way."
"It says he wants Inari back in the Water Country," Naruto lifted an eyebrow.
"He doesn't want anything to do with us, helpful or otherwise," the jounin shook his head. "He's even turning away Lee's support team."
"What? Is he stupid or something?" Sasuke frowned.
"Get's worse," Shikamaru said. "He wants the original bridge to either be dismantled or destroyed."
"Why!" Naruto jumped up out of his chair.
"Because he doesn't want the Water Country to be involved in anything. Good, bad, neutral, nothing."
"That…doesn't make any sense," Naruto plopped back down into his chair, looking defeated. His eyes unfocused and became blank, as if he wasn't there in the room any more. Sasuke watched this for a moment, then turned to the other man.
"There's no point in dragging it on this way," he sighed. "If the Mitzukage doesn't want our help, we can't force it down his throat. Is Rin coming home?"
"She'll be back the day after tomorrow," Shikamaru answered.
"Send a message to Inari: tell him to come to the Hokage's office as soon as he can," Sasuke rose and began to pace, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Send another to Lee and tell him to pull out and come home. Neji already knows withdraw procedures, so don't worry about him." Sasuke waved it off, still pacing. "You, Nara, I want you to write a response to the Mitzukage."
"Me?" the taller man frowned a bit. "No way. Too troublesome."
Sasuke ignored his comment: "Tell him that we'll withdraw all of our forces, just like he ordered. But," he stopped and lifted his eyes—which had at some point changed into the Sharingan—"we will not destroy that bridge. The Great Naruto Bridge is a symbol of the lives of several very important people who have left this world, and Konoha will not stand to see it dismantled. The Water Country may lock us from its borders, but to attack the bridge is to attack us," Sasuke glared. "Emphasize that. Any questions?"
"No… No, sir," Shikamaru looked from the dazed Naruto to the commanding Sasuke, then turned and left the room to carry out his tasks. Sasuke waited until the door was closed and then strode over to the blond sitting limply behind his desk. He gripped the other man's shoulders and shook roughly.
"Hey!" he said (louder than he'd intended). "Snap out of it!"
"The bridge…" he whispered, unheeding. "Haku… Zabuza… Tazuna… Inari…"
"We won't let it happen!" Sasuke shook again. "Snap out of it, Naruto!"
"Sasuke…" Naruto looked up, dazed and far away. "You died there, too…"
The raven-haired man stopped shaking his companion and instead, wrapped his arms tightly around his lax shoulders and held on tightly. "No, Naruto," he said strongly. "I'm here. We're here. Destroying a bridge doesn't take away the memories that were built with it. Do you understand? I'm alive, and Haku lives on in my son. Zabuza is a legend in his country that will never die, and Tazuna is kept alive by Inari. Don't you see that?"
He pulled away, looking into those far off blue eyes. Naruto slowly returned to this reality, from seeing the ghosts of the past. He blinked his eyes back into focus, shook his head sharply to clear it, and lowered his forhead with a gentle thunk onto Sasuke's. "Yeah," he nodded. "You're right, Sasuke." He let out a shuddering sigh. "Sorry about that." There was an abrupt knock on the door. Sasuke and Naruto quickly pulled away from each other, Sasuke looking at the door in slight annoyance and Naruto slapping his face with both hands to clear up any lasting emotions. He cleared his throat. "Come in," he called.
The door opened and tall, lanky Inari entered. "You summoned me, Hokage-sama?" he took off his white and black striped hat and bowed his head.
Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, who nodded slightly, and sighed, pushing his own hat back off his blond head and leaning his elbows on the desk in front of him. "Inari, there's a problem."
"Is there something wrong with the bridge preparations?" the younger man looked suddenly worried.
"No, no," Naruto shook his head, holding up his hands in a 'calm down' gesture. "It has nothing to do with your work. In fact, I'm very excited about it, but…" he shot another look at Sasuke and again the dark-haired Anbu gave a discreet nod. "You see, Inari, we received a message from the Mitzukage a little while ago. He says…that he doesn't want us building this bridge after all."
"He doesn't want us to build this new bridge?" Inari repeated, looking confused.
"Yes," Naruto took a deep breath. "And…he wants us to destroy the old one; the one your grandfather built."
The young man's normally pale face whitened considerably. "Why would the Mitzukage…?"
"He's declaring Isonationalism," Sasuke explained. "He's calling for all of our forces to be taken out of the Water Country. Also," the Anbu raised an eyebrow in emphasis, "he's calling all of his own people back into the country."
"Iso…nationalism?" Inari swallowed. "Then…the borders?"
"They'll probably extend the closure to all of their borders," Naruto shook his head. "No one would be able to get in or out."
"All because he's scared of a little threat," Sasuke turned up his nose.
"He wants to protect his country. I do not begrudge him that," Naruto waved it off. "But Inari, I wanted to let you know to stop construction on the bridge and to return home to Tsunami." The blond smiled sadly. "She'll need you with her."
"You mean, for when they tear down my grandfather's bridge?" he said coldly and Naruto flinched at the emptiness in his voice.
"Unfortunately, yes," he said. "But I'll try not to let that happen. However, I can't force the Country of the Wave to bend to my will on this; that will lead us to war almost instantly." Naruto's brow creased—his hands were tied, and he didn't like that at all, especially for something like this. "I'm sorry, Inari. I'll have Konohamaru escort you out tomorrow morning, if you'd—"
"So, that's it then?" Inari said in that same toneless, emotionless voice. "You're just giving up, nii-san?"
Naruto winced. "It's not that simple, Inari," he said softly. "I'm not just a weak little genin who can get away with voicing my opinion all the time. I'm hokage now."
"What good is that position if you can't even protect a bridge?" Inari cried, tears welling up into his eyes. He sniffled, wiped an arm across his face furiously, and stood before Naruto and Sasuke, fists clenched. Naruto sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes to think. Sasuke, however, spoke up in the silence.
"I've already sent a response to the Mitzukage about this," he said. "I told him that we would pull out our troops and stop trade with the Country of the Wave, but if he were to try and attack the bridge, it would be like attacking us and we would retaliate."
"You said that to the Mitzukage?" Inari blinked at the taller man.
Naruto shared a similar expression. "When did you do this?"
"When you were lost in thought over all of the news you'd received," Sasuke shrugged. "I hope that's alright with you, Hokage?"
"Uh…yeah," Naruto nodded, stunned.
"All right, Sasuke-san!" Inari beamed, tears still hanging in the corners of his eyes.
"As for you, Inari," Sasuke's lips twitched in a slight grin, "you should go on home and be with your mother, regardless of what ends up happening."
"No," he said, wiping the final reminants of his outburst from his eyes. "I want to request permission to stay in the Fire Country. And I want to bring my mother too."
"Why, Inari?" Naruto asked him. "I thought you were mad at me two seconds ago."
"I shouldn't have over-reacted," he admitted with a slight blush. "I know you try your hardest to make everyone happy, nii-san. Why else would you have hired me to build this new bridge?" He shook his head. "I don't agree with what the Mitzukage's doing. Ignoring what's happening won't make it go away, and someday, that ignorance might be our downfall."
"The baby's talking like a grown man," Sasuke grinned teasingly.
Naruto contemplated for a minute, then shook his head. "I can't let you do that, Inari."
"Why not?" the younger man pouted.
"Because it's the same as running away from the problem," Naruto explained firmly. "If you leave, no one will be there to petition for the bridge on that end, and that could make a big difference. Besides, you love your country, don't you?"
"It's stupid," he mumbled under his breath.
"It's not, and you know it. Inari," Naruto leaned forward again. "What did your father tell you?"
The young man was silent for a long moment. He finally jammed his floppy hat back onto his tousle of black hair and nodded. "I'll go back," he said. "For my mom."
"Good," Naruto smiled. "Tell Tsunami I said hello. And remember, you and she are always welcome in our country."
"I know," he smiled back, nodding. "Thank you, Sasuke-san. Naruto nii-san."
"Anytime, crybaby," Sasuke nodded back with a teasing smile.
"Take care of yourself, Inari. Send me word if you ever need any help," Naruto grinned.
"I will," Inari waved and left the office.