Naruto wheeled around and headed back into the room. Sasuke took a deep breath and threw back his shoulders. He followed a step behind Naruto, keeping his attention focused dead ahead.
A hush entered the room ahead of them, taking jovial conversation down to whispers and mutters, and making all eyes turn to the two of them.
Sasuke schooled his features to a perfect blank. He was aware nearly everyone in the room disapproved of his presence. He could feel the hatred from some groups of people at having the last living Uchiha in their midst, and at least as many reacted to his shabby appearance. He had been living a low class life, little more than a vagabond, and suddenly he stood in the middle of a refined - and powerful - group of people.
Behind Sasuke, Shikamaru and Ino entered unobtrusively and veered off to speak with contacts or other court attendants.
He tuned as many of them out as he could as Naruto led the way to a dais littered with pillows. The Fire daimyo sat on it wrapped in silk robes and fanning himself. Or rather, he had a fan open and was staring at Sasuke from behind it, eyes as wide as saucers.
A group of people in fine gowns gathered on either side of the daimyo. The men, four of them, wore conical hats and the one woman, positioned closest to the daimyo, had hair arrayed in an intricate knot with little decorations hanging off the sides. They each quietly observed Sasuke. They neither whispered nor were distracted by his clothing. They displayed a range of concern, eyes flickering to Naruto for assurance that the Uchiha wouldn't suddenly explode into a murderous frenzy. But that concern traded off with calculation as they stared at Sasuke, trying to work him into their schemes.
One of them shifted like he was about to take a step forward, but then he seemed to think better of it. Sasuke's gaze swept to the man's face. Dark blue eyes tried to hold fast but quickly widened in fear. Then another man moved, taking the steps the first man dared not. He had dirty blond hair and gray green eyes.
Naoki Masaki, Sasuke guessed from what Shikamaru and Naruto had told him. A solid man, honest, but determined to get his way. His position forced Naruto to stop several feet away from the daimyo.
Like a petitioner instead of a Hokage, thought Sasuke. He frowned.
The other men shuffled in behind the man, creating a buffer between the daimyo and Naruto.
"Lord Hokage," Naoki began.
"I get it," Naruto interrupted. "I get it, but I don't have time for this." He stared back at Naoki, letting the older man realize very clearly how much stronger Naruto was.
Naoki pulled in a breath and let it out. "Very well. It's on you, then." He stepped out of the way and behind him the men parted.
Naruto grunted and stepped past the men. As Sasuke passed them he heard mumbles of complaint, no one daring to really tell the Hokage to stop. "My Lord Hokage, you must understand-" "I can't believe the Hokage would..." "How can..." "Shocking..." "Should we leave?"
"ALRIGHT! At the foot of the dais Naruto bowed low and then flung an arm toward Sasuke. "Everyone, Lord Daimyo, this is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't care what you think you know, what matters is he is my teammate and my friend!"
A peculiar feeling went up Sasuke's spine, like tingling but also energizing. Naruto was sticking up for him. He bowed, perhaps not as low as the circumstances should have dictated, but enough so that his action was unmistakable.
Around him the energy of the room shifted. The nervous fluttered calmed down as many people made up their minds - some decided to view him with revulsion and some determined that it was worth putting faith into the Hokage's words and giving Sasuke a chance. Sasuke kept his face neutral and his hands loose at his sides.
The individuals who still looked on with disgust were clearly not ninja. They weren't so dangerous that he could detect a killing intent from them, but their irritation was acute.
From the corner of his eye Sasuke spied an ancient man in an overstuffed chair staring at him with beady black eyes. Thin gray strands fell about his spotted head and the man suddenly grinned at Sasuke, baring yellowing teeth. The man slid a decrepit hand over a blanket laid over his legs. To the man's right a much younger woman with black hair looked askance at Sasuke and then the old man.
The daimyo's voice brought Sasuke's attention back to the matter at hand. "Hokage-dono, I just don't know... It's just that..." The daimyo whimpered from behind his fan, eyes darting to Sasuke from time to time.
"You'll get to know him, Seibei-sama. Then you'll see, I promise."
Among the advisers an average looking man with wisps of brown hair flying from under his conical hat finally stepped forward. "My Lord Hokage, I would not dare to presume to tell you what you should or should not do, but this is agitating our daimyo. Would it not be better if your...teammate waited...eh...somewhere else?"
"No, it would not be better!" Naruto swung around to face the man. "Hey, if you think you feel weird, think about how the guys from the Land of Earth feel! Other than their Tsuchikage, they pretty much don't have anyone who can take on this ba- I mean, go toe-to-toe with Sasuke."
Sasuke shot Naruto a look, which Naruto missed since he was facing away. He hadn't discussed his commitment to non-violence with the blond, but surely he wasn't promising Sasuke would just fight all comers?
"That's besides the point," another functionary spoke up. "Bringing this man here, you may as well have brought a wild tiger! Even if the other side were not foolish enough to bring a fierce animal to fight him, you have still set loose-"
"Sasuke is not an animal!" Naruto all but snarled. "If he can't be here then I'm going home and taking my people with me!"
Sasuke wondered if the advisers weren't better off concerning themselves more with Naruto's temper. It was the jinchuriki who was more likely to go wild, after all. The murmurs around them rose to a hissing panic as several functionaries realized their safety was precarious at best if left alone with the contingent from Iwa.
Ashen-faced, the daimyo babbled out, "You can't leave! The Earth daimyo will make me change the treaty again! You know I'm just waiting the last two days before we sign it and they finally leave!"
"Two days?" The words escaped Sasuke and he clacked his teeth shut after them.
The daimyo cringed behind his fan and the advisers all took a step back as if Sasuke might turn into a wild tiger then and there.
At the weight of Naruto's hand on his shoulder he forced the tension to recede from his face and summoned calm from deep inside. "Two days was what we figured all the formalities would take. But that was before I talked to you. Now I'm sure we can get that done by tomorrow."
"It needs to be signed in the morning." Sasuke growled quietly.
"I know," Naruto growled back.
Back on the dais the woman whispered in the daimyo's ear. Shikibu was the woman's name and Ino seemed to hold her in awe for how much direct power she had over the daimyo. Their conversation was hidden from Sasuke's view by the daimyo's fan, but at its conclusion the daimyo's shoulders relaxed considerably.
Shikibu spoke in a smooth tone. "It seems we will be best off acquiescing to the Hokage's whims. Guests who have nothing to do with the negotiations are permitted at this gathering, after all. Lord Daimyo has agreed to allow the Uchiha to stay." She stared from the dais, down at Sasuke, dark brown eyes meeting his unflinchingly. Her warning was clear: he was not to go near the daimyo.
Beside her the old man nodded, dangling charms shaking off the sides of his headdress.
"Good!" Sasuke didn't have to check to know Naruto was grinning. He whirled around and ushered Sasuke away. "C'mon b-, Sasuke, let's go introduce you to some cool people!"
The cool people turned out to be an amiable woman and a man who clearly did not want to be in close quarters with Sasuke. The woman, Fumiko Asakawa, gave Sasuke a smile and waved over one of the party waiters bearing a tray of wine glasses. "I know you don't drink, Lord Hokage, not until the wee one is born, but perhaps your friend...?" She had taken a glass from the tray and pushed it at Sasuke before he could decline.
"C'mon, man!" muttered Naruto, "someone has to drink tonight."
Sasuke felt like frowning but recalled Ino's single piece of advise. "Here, more than anywhere you've ever been, what's on your face matters way, WAY more than what comes out of your mouth. A smile will do more than the most profound oath, and sour faces... well just try not to look upset so much. Playing it cool here just makes it look like you don't care and that will convince people not to work with you. Okay?"
Of course, Sasuke had scowled but Ino simply pointed out that was exactly the kind of thing that could sink their efforts.
Sasuke accepted the glass of wine with a small grunt. Fumiko passed a glass to Tadahisa, her male counterpart and hoisted her own glass. "Here's to these negotiation being almost done! I cannot wait to sleep in my own bed again!"
"Hn." Sasuke raised his glass. His bed was any spot off the road where the rain wouldn't find him, and like Fumiko he would prefer to be there than among these bureaucrats eager to agree or disagree depending on the direction of the wind.
He stared into his glass for a moment before taking a drink. Fumiko, he recalled, was mistress of a large territory in the west, noted for idyllic lakes. She got along famously with Naruto, although her power in the court was moderate at best. Tadahisa was her envoy and spoke in her stead when she was not at court.
As Naruto and Fumiko chatted Sasuke looked around the wide salon. The old man who had smiled at him was deep in conversation with Shikamaru. Ino held a sort of mini-court as three young men vied for her attention at once. The elders Homura and Koharu, ever inseparable, were speaking with two members of the court who seemed to be the same age.
He gave reserved responses, little more than grunts, to Fumiko's questions when they came his way and soon she only chatted with Naruto. Sasuke was glad. Tadahisa still gave him nervous looks but also gave more attention to Naruto.
Sasuke was tempted to feel annoyed that for now everyone was content to ignore him. But he held onto Shikamaru's instruction. "No matter how restless you feel because you don't think you're doing anything, keep in mind that your presence alone is changing everything. Not just for Konoha but for Sakura too. You'll have to be patient with these people. But trust me, the action is going to revolve around you. Even though it might feel like people are reacting to you like you're radioactive, there will be those who come to you. That's when things will get interesting really fast."
Once Fumiko and Naruto had ignored him for several minutes, Sasuke felt he was permitted to move around on his own. With nothing better to do he walked up to a screen with a painting of egrets on a river's edge. It reminded him a little of his home for the past year.
-傷-
Yamato opened his eyes. He had dozed off but two of his tracking seeds had set a chakra note reverberating through him. Touru and at least one of his men were on the move. Yamato wasn't only able to mimic other people with eerie precision, he could take the shape of almost any naturally occurring plant, alive or dead. In this case he had attached himself as a low branch on a willow tree.
He had disliked the Hokage's plan to allow Sasuke to sneak into the Iwa camp to see Sakura very much, and as a compromise Naruto had told him to infiltrate into the camp once Sasuke returned. He found a minor disturbance in Sasuke's wake but the Iwa all blamed it on Sakura, and anyway it had largely calmed down by the time Yamato had slipped in.
Yamato and Kakashi had reasoned that Touru would stay close to Sakura, and never let her hope of getting away from the justice he imagined she deserved. So he was there to make certain nothing happened to her and to be a backup line of intelligence. He had shared a smile with Kakashi then. Covert work like this brought back memories.
From where he hung he could see the Iwa camp very well. There was movement in the camp, although from a superficial view it looked merely like a guard rotation. Yamato would have ignored the movement but his tracking seed indicated that Touru was at the water's edge.
Yamato reconstituted his body to its original shape. Once on his feet he moved softly through the trees to the river bank. In the dim moonlight he could see four burly shinobi hauling a wagon onto a jetty some 20 feet downstream. At the end of the jetty a wide boat waited with Touru and another shinobi. Yamato couldn't see into the cage on the wagon very well but he guessed from the outline that it was the sleeping form of Sakura Haruno.
He frowned. Dawn was several hours off and Naruto and Kakashi had been assuming Touru wouldn't take her into the Land of Earth for at least another day. Not even waiting for first light was very strange.
He remembered seeing the tent she was taken into. It seemed undisturbed. He retreated into the forest and cleared his mind. "Kai!" A silk veil seemed to drift from his mind and he realized most of the camp was already struck leaving only one squad that wasn't preparing to take to the water.
Yamato was irritated but he didn't have time to curse mistakes. It was the Iwa who had underestimated who they were up against.
He returned to the water's edge. There the wagon was being settled onto the boat. When it came down water rose up high on the gunwale. The wagon was surely immensely heavy.
Yamato looked across the river. It was wide enough that swimming across was ill-advised. The current in the middle, where the bottom was deep, ran very fast.
The very reason the river was important was because of the many trade routes throughout the Land of Earth that met the river. Wherever Touru was ultimately taking Sakura it was currently impossible to guess. Four roads met the section of the Earth side of the river that Yamato could see, and he knew that further downstream there were more roads and two major highways.
He would just have to stay close to Touru to figure out where he went.
The Iwa were in the process of casting off so Yamato quickly pulled off extraneous equipment. He quietly entered the water, holding onto some tree roots to resist the water's pull. Once he had sunk to where the water was below his nose he called on his wood style to change his shape.
His back, neck and head fused and elongated, his face took on the texture of ash bark and a knothole formed around his eye. He would be able to look out and breathe as he seemed to float along with the water, an uninteresting piece of driftwood.
Yamato left his arms and legs mostly unchanged and under water and paddled out into the river.
-傷-
Touru took a seat toward the bow. Kippei, the remaining member of his squad, took hold of the till and cast off. The other men quickly pushed off from the jetty and settled in, two would row in front of the wagon and two behind. The Jonin Specialist Hisako Yamaguchi also joined them. She moved carefully. With her arm in a sling the treacherous shifting of a boat could be problematic.
When Touru had told her that the Tsuchikage insisted they take Haruno to Doginai immediately he got the impression that Hisako was secretly rejoicing. He mentioned that it was further inland than necessary if the Tsuchikage wanted Haruno tried as quickly as possible. But she had just sneered. It was a very convenient location to a certain member of the Interrogation Force who lived in the mountains.
That brought to mind a certain man that Touru had hoped to never encounter again.
From Hisako's dark smile he was certain he had thought of the right man. Kenta Kobayashi was older and only appeared in Iwa on very special occasions, such as when the jonin formally accepted Hidesaburo as the Fourth Tsuchikage.
Or when a hardened rogue ninja was caught and when he was ordered to speak had bitten his tongue off. It has been Touru's bad luck when his squad was ordered to carry the sedated rogue to Kenta's "office." It was only six hours later that they retrieved him. The man was conscious - and quite a disaster: his shirt was in ruins, he had torn much of his own hair out and stank of piss and vomit. Just mentioning Kenta's name was enough to make the man weep and grovel.
From then on, Touru heard, the Intelligence officers had no trouble questioning him, whether conscious or not. However, he was never clear on how they got their answers. He had seen some of the man's writing after his "session" with Kenta, if blotchy scrawls and numerous tears in the paper could be called writing.
The man terrified Touru, certainly. But he would be absolutely glad to turn over custody of Haruno to the demon of the Interrogation Force. It served her right.
Out on the water the breeze was sharp. Hisako was already wearing a light cloak and he followed suit. He kept an eye out on the water. The half moon let shadows stretch, even on the water. A good shinobi would put these to use. But no one could swim in this river without drawing attention to himself.
Touru looked back at where they launched. He had left a squad of shinobi with a specialty in misdirection facing the Konoha ninja. That squad of three would cover his exit... And then be left to fend for themselves. There was almost no way they could get away if Kakashi Hatake discovered Sakura Haruno was no longer with them.
He turned back around with a grunt. He was much more used to being on the teams that slowed down the enemy while the high value individuals made their escape. He didn't like to think he was leaving Iwa shinobi behind to be captured or even killed, but the Tsuchikage's instructions left him little choice.
He went over the steps in his mind once more. Once across the river he would send a message to Hidesaburo that they had landed and were on the way to Doginai. Haruno still had a good 20 hours left of unconsciousness. Hisako may not be able to reach her in this state, but perhaps she could with Kenta using his terrible techniques. Admittedly, a strong mind could escape the Mind Numb seal more quickly, but even rounding down to 16 hours Touru could well imagine she would be in the hands of the Interrogation Force before she regained consciousness.
He wondered if he could ask to watch the process.
The boat began to move faster as the bend in the river really grabbed it. It wouldn't be long now. Just another hundred yards and they would be in sight of a small port where another dozen shinobi would meet them.
Very soon he spied a glow of light and Kippei was guiding them toward the shore. The landing there was much larger and build for complicated and heavy objects. There was even a crane they could use to lift the wagon and set it on land. It would be a quick process to unload and be on the highway headed inland, perhaps in as few as 10 minutes.
While they were moving toward the landing there was a sound of wood colliding in the water. Someone on the landing held up a lantern to see what it was. One of the men who had been rowing laughed and said it was just driftwood. Using his paddle he swept it back until it was clear.
Touru jumped up to the landing and stared out into the water. The current caught the driftwood and swept it further down the river and into the night.
He turned around to help the men with the wagon. They needed to get moving as soon as possible.