Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

TKFQH

The Weakest of Kings

Previously on King of Foxes, Queen of Hares;

"I don't usually take flattery but sometimes, I have nightmares late at night that my skills have finally been left to rust." Naruto said with a modest tone, fitting the scenario of a farmer called to be a king instead. It shows that even though Orochimaru was stopped and his army was nearly annihilated, the snake still got away for another attack.

"Will this still make up for what I did my lord?" Kiba asked, with a slight nervousness to his choice of words towards Naruto. And after seeing the blonde take out the rest of the army of snakes with ease, forcing Orochimaru to flee without Kabuto to save himself, anyone could be like that.

"It is a start but if you are determined, then you will have to work harder because you are dealing with a lifetime of suffering and ignorance." Naruto said with a serious tone that Kiba nodded. "And don't think that Orochimaru is just going to hide in his hole, waiting for his tail to grow back. He has connections and generals everywhere in my lands. And you were just a test to see how one of my kings handles one of his proxies. He will be back, where and when I am not looking."

Naruto said all that while leaving with his escorts and bodyguards, leaving Kiba in the tent to think. Think about how this will affect any future days, now that Naruto has fought Orochimaru for the latest and maybe the last time. Just how are the others going to handle such a warmonger like Orochimaru?

At the grand place, where the Council of Kings meet.

"So let me get this straight." Normally, Naruto and his wife Hinata will be there too as the former is the King of Kings. But they were extra busy since Kiba nearly lost against Orochimaru. They will need to see to it that the dogs get their training doubled and so will be their king. Now it is just all but those two in the room.

"You were told about Orochimaru, the Snake Warlord, invading your share of the land. Even after piling a few months of training and preparations, you still were on the losing side until Naruto came. Is that all?" Neji was like the replacing head of the council. He was that stern. "What is more is that you are willing to 'make up' for Naruto by doing what he asks!?"

"I know that it is humiliating but I've seen how Naruto is. He is a much better king than I am. Orochimaru barely broke a sweat against me and yet Naruto was more than a match for him." Kiba said for his throne, trying to get everyone to see the real big picture.

"I can't believe you!" Neji and Kiba just had to be interrupted, and by the worse person of them all; Sakura Haruno of the Territory of the Mice. "Aren't you angry for humiliating match from the Preliminaries, where he cheated to win!?"

"For the last time, he didn't cheat! He fought me like a Shinobi should, even better than you did!" Kiba, the new Kiba, is now someone who is at odds with Sakura. He may have never tolerated her loud voice, her obsession with Sasuke and all the other stuff that made her a disgrace to Kunoichi back in Konoha but now it is ever worse. Kiba's new respect and his determination to repent for the ignorance and betrayal against the blonde King of Kings had gotten Sakura to be even more disagreeable and edgy with him, all this is just to be nice.

"Enough!" Neji was the peacemaker since he was stern and strict like a hawk, with no room for nonsense to tolerate. "If what you are saying is true then we need to make sure that each of us will look out for anything that can be Orochimaru's connections. They could be anywhere in the land, and anywhere in our territory."

"And mine? There is nothing that Orochimaru can gain from my country! We, the Mice, have no weapons! Just knowledge and books that don't even have anything on warfare!" Sakura still protested. She foolishly believed that she was the exemption of the growing danger within the kingdoms.

"You have something Sakura. You have territory and you just admitted to be the weakest of us Kings! What warmonger won't pass the chance for some more easy land?!" Kiba shouted and the other Kings found it hard to argue against.

"How dare you!? I will show you who the real weakest King is!" Sakura shouted, excusing herself in a fit like a kid who was just sent to her room. The other Kings could safely say that Sakura won't be around to hear any other affairs that might concern them all. That was why they concluded their meeting a little early, to see if Sakura's claim is true or not.

XXXXX

And so a week after the Invasion of the Snakes in the Dog Kingdom had passed. And not a single soul of Orochimaru or any of his remaining army were spotted. Thankfully, the Dogs were good integrators in their own right; they even managed to make a fanatically loyal right-hand man like Kabuto to spill his guts. They were able to extract info on every single base that Orochimaru built himself (each one checked out okay), every connection in every kingdom and even some of the plans that Orochimaru had in mind but put on hold; there was so many that either one could be at the top of the snake's list.

It was so much that each kingdom took that long to digest it all and try to figure out what to do next. The Dogs, Foxes and Hares were having the most luck; they know enough to double the guards, double their weapons, and double their training and all the nine yards. The others were passive about it, just tightening their security for any attack. But Sakura and her Mice were not doing a single thing.

It seemed that Sakura was clear on her rant that Orochimaru was the type to not waste time one something that will not grant anything that the Snake Warlord will ever want. But that was just another excuse not to prepare her kingdom; it is just like Sakura is coming up with excuses not to train in her Ninjutsu in general during the academy days or when she was part of Team Seven.

{You Majesty.} One of the mice that acted as a messenger to Sakura was in her master bedroom, where the queen liked to rest while looking over her paperwork. {Are you sure about not accepting King Naruto's help or that of the other kings? King Kiba needed help against the snakes.}

"Of course he needed help. That idiot has his head in the clouds and not very impressive. Not as much as Sasuke." Sakura said while the messenger sweat-dropped. The mice found it hard to tolerate their queen's obsession with one of the other Kings, comparing everyone as inferior to the King of Hawks; Sakura was in love but never made a try to marry him, knowing very well that marriage between rulers was legal.

{But your Majesty. We are talking about the Snake Warlord, we are the most peaceful of the kingdoms so why not he will try to take us?} The messenger tried to bring this conversation back to topic.

"Unlike Kiba…!" Sakura, of course, was stubborn and lashed that out on one of her Mice; not even hesitating or apologizing. "I won't stoop to the level of following orders from a Baka and his whore only to be saved by him too!"

{Y-yes Queen Sakura.} The messenger left the royal chambers and the queen to her own devices. Meanwhile, on a hill top on the border to the Mice Kingdom and outside the land of Kings, a woman was gazing through a telescope.

"So the Queen of Mice think that Lord Orochimaru is a coward and won't even try against this pathetic excuse for a kingdom?" This woman looked a lot like a bandit wither her wild attire and even her voice could be that of a mother snake. And in nature, mother snakes are more deadly than the father snake. "We will show her just who the coward is before this day is over!"

XXXXX

And so, nothing happened for the rest of the daylight hours. So the night was young when a couple of guards noticed a large group of shapes within the moonlight. A closer look will show the same woman but with another army of snakes behind her!

{Send in the alert!} That same guard announced to his partner who nodded and ran to activate some kind of alarm bell that rang and echoed through the city that was the main one within the Mouse Kingdom.

{Looks like moving in moonlight didn't help us Lady Guren.} One of the foot soldiers spoke to the woman who just smirked.

"I understand that. And that makes our plan even more easy and enjoyable." Guren was probably one of Orochimaru's connections and several commanders scattered through the Land of Kings. And since she was stationed in the Mouse Kingdom, of course she will be asked to lead her portion of the Snake army against this kingdom.

Meanwhile,

"WHAT!?" Sakura roared from within the castle. "A snake army is approaching our city!? What could that snake be thinking, he is as unpredictable as the Baka!" Sakura ranted on and on as she struggled to get her battle armor on since she was about to go sleep in her bed robes.

{Orochimaru isn't leading this army, your majesty!} One of the Mice hired to maintain the castle shouted out to Sakura. {Our guards have labeled the leader as one of the warlord's commanders named Guren!}

"Still, we need to deal with this coming army!" Sakura wasn't the little bit relieved since she thought that no snake soldier will actually come near her kingdom. "Tell me the numbers and about this Guren commander!"

As soon as Sakura gave her commands, her Mice hurried to get the lookout's report while getting any files they have about Guren. Naruto did share some information that he wrote himself and some recovered from some camp raids from years past.

{Here is the file on Snake Commander Guren, your Majesty!} Not two minutes later, Sakura saw a folder with papers sticking out that all have the native language that said 'Guren'. Grabbing it out of the Mouse's hands, Sakura immediately took out every single page there was; to overlook them within the hour and half to react to this.

"What? What is the meaning of this?" Sakura said in disbelief while that section in the file remained invisible to the Mouse messenger. Back outside the castle, the Snake army finally marched right in front of the gate into the city.

"Alright, charge!" Guren shouted and the snake soldiers ran right into the city after the gates fell to Guren's strange ability. But there was something wrong with the assault, "What is this!?"

{Commander Guren…} One of the soldiers that happened to halt right next to her begun. {The city is empty. There are no scents on the streets anymore of the Mice.}

"So they think that they can hide from us and flee? Well we will show them!" Guren shouted, "Search every house, break down every door and flush out anything living! And bring the Mice to me, I want them alive!" Guren then marched on a street to do some searching of her own while the Snakes used their weapons to break down the doors.

But a half hour passed and not a single Mouse was found. And Guren was getting frustrated. "What the hell is this!? This is the weakest kingdom! How can they be so hard to kill!?" And Guren was answered with an explosion.

Turning, Guren saw that the houses that she sent her snakes into for searching had all exploded. While the sight was disastrous enough, the blood, embers and the flesh from her soldiers had covered portions of the streets; with some falling on her body. "What the hell is this crap and bullshit!?"

"Warfare." Guren turned once again to see the Queen of Mice, Sakura Haruno herself.

"And what do you know about warfare!?" Guren's shock soon turned to rage and hate. "You and your Mice never fought before! All you know is how to till gardens, how to run libraries and how to make snacks! You don't even know who to use a sword!"

"But I can learn." Sakura said calmly, for pretty much once in her life; in the middle of destruction and against an enemy Kunoichi that is. "I can learn warfare. After all, you didn't know how to fight a war when you were first born. You needed to learn how yourself; too bad it took years as it took me only minutes."

"Shut up! And what did you do with my army!" Guren shouted and was getting more and more angry at the sight of Sakura smirking. She had seen Naruto with that same smirk and it always meant that the opposing side she was against had already won.

"I was meaning of demolishing and rebuilding this portion of slums for a while. But since you were throwing a monkey wrench in our plans, I changed it a little." Sakura then said, looking away from Guren and the commander of snakes gasped to see that she was on the wrong side of the kingdom! "It was easy to line the slums with bombs since nobody wants to stick to these rundown buildings and they do want to help in rebuilding. In fact, everyone thanks your charge for the help."

"You…you bitch!" Guren shouted, lost all restraint and tried to go full out on Sakura. But something was still wrong and she soon collapsed to her knees. The world had started to haze and jumble, like something is going on in her head. "W-what the hell did you do?"

"Do you remember some picks on the way here from the boonies?" Sakura said. "That was the Fox King's idea." Sakura had now, suddenly turned from calling Naruto 'Baka' to simply 'Fox King'. "It was poison that doesn't act immediately or take its time. It waits for the body to enter certain conditions to activate. We both agree to call it 'The Venom of Patience'. Fitting name, don't you think?"

"B-but…even if…*cough*…" Guren then felt like her neck was an unused well which felt terribly dry. "The Fox King did…poison me and…my army…he never…found out…that I will…target you…*cough*…*hack*…"

"You are still hazy and haven't remember everything. Wasn't there something that you found on the way here but not on your map?" Sakura asked and Guren struggled to make sense of all this until she realized it. There was this fork in the road on the map but the snake army never found it and yet they went the other way on that fork, right where the plan had them arrive under the impression they reached the main gates. "You seriously need to scout things out yourself before trying to launch an attack at a location you never seen before. It is all we Mice know about warfare."

"Damm…*cough*…damm you…*cough cough*…DAMM YOU ALL!" Guren had finally lost it and tried for yet an assault on Sakura with a kunai but never got close when her life force and strength had fully died with those couple of seconds.

And, as Guren of the Snakes died, Sakura had actually broke out in sweat and lost the strength in her legs. 'Just how the hell did I do that? I was a nervous wreck the whole time. I defended my kingdom and I am this big of mess for a queen!' And Sakura just silently ranted to herself as the civilians and slum folk of the city found her like this, not even moving.

XXXXX

Later the next morning,

"I guess that you were right after all. Kiba." Sakura said with a regretful and remorseful look on her face that matched the tone of her voice perfectly. She had alienated and rejected everyone based on some bias and foolish vendetta against anyone that sided with Naruto. Sakura nearly lost her people and land just like Kiba but something within that ugly shell had finally broken out and saved it all.

"Just make sure that this doesn't happen again and if you have anything against still, leave my people out of it!" Kiba made it clear that his posture on Sakura finally apologizing was stiff and stern. Like the king that he was trained to be within a single week.

"That is what a ruler should do Sakura." Naruto and Hinata were actually present at that meeting. "To not only think about one's people and kingdom but not to surround both of them with enemies. We are not rivals, we are comrades. We are not here to scheme, we are here to save. And you will find yourself remembering that in this war."

"Right." Sakura felt a little better that she was only lightly scolded and then given some advice, hopefully to set her straight as Kiba learned through direct experience.

"Now we have seen just how ruthless Orochimaru really is, there is no relaxing or exemptions in this war. You better be ready by the time Orochimaru launches his next attack on your own kingdom. Both Hinata-chan and I will doing just that like always."

"Right!"

"Right."

"Whatever." Those first two were proof of something to be proud of but the King of Kings and his wife still have a lot of work to do and a lot of saving in order to do it. All in a war days' worth for the King of Foxes and Queen of Hares.

End of Chapter 7.

*Wow! I really pushed myself by making this extra chapter for the Monday that makes two years for this story! I guess that I am just that competitive.*