Naruto Shippuden -H-: Chapter 008: Internal Welfare
Naruto was headed towards the Hokage's mansion in order to speak with Kakashi about the events that have transpired.
"What could any of this mean, who would be out their that is willing enough to send an army to stage an invasion just to get my own attention?" asked Naruto to himself as he arrived at the door of the Hokage's mansion.
Elsewhere, Aoba, Raido, Genma, Ebisu, Shikamaru, Tsunade, Sai, and Sakura were discussing how to handle things in an orderly manner.
"I think it would be best if I went and retrieved this Sheppard guy, my Mind Reading Technique has gotten better since the war, and we would probably be able to find out just what we need to know." said Aoba thinking about what Lunesto and Antoine had said earlier.
"I will come with you, last thing we need is to fall into a trap set by those guys, without any back up." said Raido.
"The two of us should be enough, the rest of you decide what to do with those soldiers that were with Sheppard." said Aoba.
"I think we should just lock them up into a jail cell until they are willing to co-operate and help fix the damage that they decided to inflict on our village." said Ebisu.
"Not a half bad plan, any information we could get from those soldiers, Sheppard probably has it, since he appeared to be the captain of that unit." said Shikamaru.
"Me and Tsunade will follow Naruto towards the Hokage's mansion, since everything is decided, good luck." said Sakaru as she and Tsunade quickly ran down the streets in the direction of the mansion.
"Okay, let's go, however, me and Shikamaru will wait right here, you and Raido better be careful of any possible dangers that those bastards may have hidden." said Genma to Aoba.
"Roger, let's go Raido, the sooner we get this Sheppard guy into interrogation, the better." said Aoba as he and Raido ran towards the Eastern gate.
"Don't you find it strange though, that someone would go through all of this trouble just to offer a simple invitation to Naruto, I mean why not come to the village yourself and do it?' asked Genma.
"That is a good question, maybe it is someone who does not have a way to do it, or it could be someone with a disability, only time will tell." said Shikamaru trying to think of who the boss of these invaders could be.
Naruto had arrived into Kakashi's office. "I am sure you have seen what took place down their, right Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.
"Yes, some invaders took down the Eastern and Western walls in an attempt to rile up the seeds of war again, though they have appeared to fail in that aspect." said Kakashi.
"Well, that is not all that entails, you see, the whole gist of this attack was to get my attention specifically in order to give me this scroll." said Naruto as he pulled out a scroll with strange characters and showed it to Kakashi.
"You mean to tell me that this whole assault was orchestrated just to offer you a scroll, is someone trying to take you down, it could be possible since you are a war hero now, it might even be that Toneri Otsutsuki again." said Kakashi thinking back to that day.
"No, I believed Toneri, and this is not his work, he used puppet-like creatures to work for him, this were soldiers, who from what I understand, were under orders from this guy named Sheppard, but I believe Sheppard was also under the authority of this Jesei, Antoine, and Lunesto." said Naruto.
"Really, well it seems that someone that we have never met before has somehow figured all of this information and was able to devise a means of planning a false invasion, similar to Orochimaru and Pain's, in order to get our attention, and then they leave us with a mere scroll as an accommodation." said Kakashi who was a little confused on the matter at hand.
"In any case, it would be best to wait a few days to decide how to deal with this, Naruto, I do not want you to open this scroll right now, it could be some sort of trick, we will wait two days before I send out a task force to investigate the whereabouts of those three men that left after the assualt was concluded." said Kakashi to Naruto.
"Okay, I will wait two days, like you said, to read the contents of this scroll, but trust me, there is no trap that will catch me by surprise, especially with the power I have now." said Naruto thinking of his wife, Hinata.
"Don't get too arrogant, hehehe, even the strongest beings in existence can still have some sort of weakness." said Kakashi as Sakura and Tsunade had arrived in the office at about this time.
"You are here, I will brief you on what me and Naruto had just discussed, does that sound good?" asked Kakashi with a smile.
"Alright, but as long as the answer is a concrete and decisive one." said Tsunade.
Aoba and Raido had arrived at the location of where Sheppard was still tied down by Shikamaru's make-shift Shadow Binding Shuriken Jutsu.
"So, they left me behind after all, hehehe, you will not get anything out of me, I would never sell out the honor of Camp Abraham, do you here me!" said Sheppard with a look of determination.
"Sorry to shake your morale here buddy, but your friends left you here on purpose for the exact reason of interrogation, I guess they are not true comrades of yours after all." said Raido as he activated a paralysis jutsu on Sheppard in order for him to be restrained after Shikamaru's jutsu was deactivated.
"Hehehe, that is where you are wrong, you see, my comrades have sent me here with the exact purpose of giving you all information, the Knights of Dawn were to give an invitation to Naruto specifically, and my job is to give one to Konohagakure." laughed Sheppard as Aoba and Raido carried the paralyzed man back to the Interrogation Unit of the ANBU.
"I don't know what kind of tricks you are tying to pull over on us, but I assure you, they will not work." said Aoba as he and Raido were closing in on the interrogation building.
Elsewhere, Sasuke had arrived at the former location of what was once the Valley of the End, with the ability of Amenotajikara.
"Naruto is sure that he will be able to handle this, but I cannot shake the feeling that some other power is at work here, and whatever it could be, I will be sure to destroy it with my eyes which see all." said Sasuke as he sat on a rock near the destroyed valley and thought of what his next move would be.
"Maybe, yes, I can go ask him, he should have some sort of information on this Antoine, Jesei, and Lunesto, I can feel it." said Sasuke as he headed in the direction of the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Sound.
"Seems you have ran into a bit of trouble." said a voice from behind the woods of the forest that Sasuke was running through.
"Jugo, you were waiting for me here after all, so you must have been notified on what has occurred from the animals around here." said Sasuke.
"Not in detail, but from what I can feel with my Sage Chakra and yours, it seems that something has stirred you up." said Jugo.
"You bet, that foolish old man is mine next time we meet, no one simply leaves a battle and says it was for the sole purpose of an invitation, that pisses me off to no end." said Sasuke as he deactivated his Eternal Mangeyou Sharingan and his Rinnegan.
"Based on the direction you are headed in, it seems you want to go talk to them, eh?" asked Jugo with curiosity.
"Yeah, it has been over two years, it would be of my best interest to see what they may know." said Sasuke as he and Jugo continued to run in the direction of the border of the Land of Sound.
Antoine, Jesei, and Lunesto had arrived a an area surrounded by Mountains, a large lake, and several acres of woods east of the Land of Stone.
"I think Naruto will be itching to get the information of what to do next from that damned Kakashi." said Antoine as he had taken off his shoes and was relaxing on a chair near the lake.
"I hear that, but don't worry, Naruto will follow the directions, I know it, he will be so happy once he arrives in Lazarus." said Lunesto who was swimming in the lake.
"You two are always like this, so relaxed, what if that Uchiha finds his way here, or what if someone else is also on the prow for our location." said Jesei who was smoking a tobacco pipe as he was reading through a document.
"Well, excuse me Mr. Old Ass Boring Dude, not all of us our uptight and estranged." said Lunesto with a joking tone.
"I will let that one slide, just wait until we get back home, you will wish you had never said that." said Jesei as he had sealed his sword back into the scroll that he was given.
"I had received the item in my scroll, I assume the same is for you two?" asked Jesei.
"Yep, Heiwa is just as good as I remembered him." said Antoine speaking of the item that he received in his scroll.
"Mine will come in handy too, it has been a while since we had used these weapons." said Lunesto with joy.
A figure then appeared suddenly, standing on the lake that Lunesto was swimming in.
"It would be in your best interest to return home as soon as possible, with the recent turn of events related to that incident in Konoha, we could have some spies after us, we do not want anyone to figure out the location of our village." said the man with long, light blue spike hair.
"I read ya loud and clear, just give us thirty more minutes, we will be back home around eight in the evening, how does that sound, Dreatoen?" asked Antoine in response to the man.
"Yes, that should be fine, oh, and Jesei, be on the lookout for that vermin who is in the border of the Land of Sound, he will be a pain in the ass if not dealt with properly." said Dreatoen as he used the Flame Body Flicker Technique to dissipate.
"Who could be in the Land of Sound, that place is not in business, not since six years ago." said Lunesto as he had emerged from under the water.
"I have an idea, though I would not be sure why the Apathetic Judge would consider that worthless Sannin to be any trouble to him." said Jesei with a menacing look.
"In any case, we better head out now, no need in beating around the bushes, let's get home before Dreatoen gets mad at us." said Antoine as the three men prepared to head towards their home village, Lazarus.
Tsunade and Sakura were fully briefed on the events that were discussed between himself and Naruto.
"So we will wait two days before deciding to act, any particular reason why it is two days?" asked Tsunade with curiosity.
"Well, not really, it's just that we will need a little time to see if the promise that these rouges made to Naruto is genuine, I mean, they could just want him to leave the village, so that there would be no one who could defend it." said Kakashi.
"I would not worry about defending this village, I will ensure that a single one of those pieces of shit set foot into our village again." said Tsunade as she walked out of the office to return to her own office and deal with her duties as the sole member of the Konoha Council.
"You should go home to Hinata for now, Naruto, and keep that scroll in good hands." said Kakashi to Naruto.
"I am going home too, I just hope that nothing bad comes from any of this." said Sakura as she left the office.
"See you later Kakashi-sensei, I will be back tomorrow around one in the afternoon, for a follow-up report." said Naruto as he was headed to his home.
"Okay, I will think of something, I promise." said Kakashi as he turned on the blue night lights with his former Mangeyou patterns on them to decorate the office in the moonlight that had now fallen.
"I always prefer a solemn atmosphere at night after all, Obito, seems that someone else is trying to stir up trouble, just watch over Naruto for me, okay?" asked Kakashi in his mind as he was thinking of Obito, Rin, and Minato as he would always during this time of day.
Naruto had arrived at the front door to his house as eight in the evening had arrived.
"My goodness, I heard all of the ruckus, but I knew that you would handle everything." said Hinata as he hugged Naruto with joy.
"Yeah, I will help with repairing the eastern and western walls tomorrow, but I want to show you something, those men that invaded the village, they did so in order to give me this scroll." said Naruto as he was not hiding anything from his beloved wife.
"Huh, what could it be?" asked Hinata with a look of concern.
"It is an invitation of some sorts, seems that the boss of the men that attacked this village, is my so-called number one biggest fan." said Naruto recalling back to ealier in the day.
"I see, but you should not worry about that for now, I have your favorite meal prepared." said Hinata as she and Naruto walked into the kitchen.
"Miso Pork Ramen with extra Sauce, oh Hinata you sure know how to please a man!" said Naruto who had not eaten all day.
"After this, we can go outside and look at the stars together." said Hinata with a look of happiness.
"We will do more than just that, my dear, I want my angel with the most lovely eyes to feel nothing but joy this entire night." said Naruto as he finished eating and got up to hold Hinata in his arms.
"Naruto, uhhh...ummm, thank...you." said Hinata as she began to blush.
"No problem, now let's go look at those stars, and then maybe we can go the the hot spring afterwards." said Naruto with joy.
"Y...es, Naruto that is it, show how good of a man you are, until the dirge of the lost golem of Zenith is grasped around your feet." said a voice that spoke ever so faintly in the back of Naruto's mind.
"Huh, what was that... eh, must have been nothing." thought Naruto to himself as he and Hinata sat on the bench outside their house to look up at the stars.
-To be continued next time with Chapter 009...-