Part 2
Chapter 41: Back At Home
"Here is the paperwork for the new laws you need to look over sir."
"Thank you," said Gaara as he took the files from the young jonin. "I'll read this over as soon as possible."
"I understand sir," said the male jonin as he nodded his head. He did a slight bow and walked out the room, leaving Gaara to his paperwork and his thoughts. Gaara did a quick scan of the files in his hand before putting it with the pile of other papers he had to look over for the elders. He let out a tired sigh and turned in his chair to the window, which gave him a perfect view of the setting son in the distance. Gaara began to nod off, but suddenly jumped in his seat when he heard the light knocking sounds coming from the door.
"Come in!" called Gaara as he turned around to face his desk, holding in a yawn as he fought off the urge to sleep. Izuka walked into the room with a tired expression on her face. She was dressed in her usual ninja outfit and she instantly made a beeline for the chair in front of Gaara's desk after she closed the door behind her.
"How was your visit to the Land of Iron?" asked Gaara as he let out a sigh of relief now that his girlfriend had returned. Ever since Izuka became the Sage of the Sixth Paths, the elders and Gaara have restricted the life threatening missions she would go on for safety reasons, but did allow her to go on the occasional diplomatic mission from time to time.
"It went well. Mifune sends his greetings." answered Izuka as she clasped her hands over her lap, a small look of annoyance evident in her eyes.
"What's wrong Izuka? Is it the missions the elders and I have been sending you? I know you want to be out in the field more but you are too big a target to be sent into high risk missions." said Gaara as he let out a heavy sigh, hoping to convince Izuka otherwise before she could make a big deal out of it.
"No Gaara, it's not the missions you and the elders have been sending me on. I understand that it will be too risky to put me in the field too much. I'm . . . annoyed, but I do understand your reason why." answered Izuka as she moved a stray hair strand behind her ear.
"Then why do you have this annoyed look in your eyes?" asked Gaara as he crossed his arms.
"There have been reports of Rain nin attacking outposts in the Land of Iron in the past few days." Izuka answered bluntly as she crossed her arms.
"Rain nin has been attacking the Land of Iron?" Gaara asked a tad incredulously as he sits up in his seat.
"And it's not just that. Rain nin have been spotted attacking small towns in the Land of Fire, Land of Water, and the Land of Earth in the past few weeks alone. Only the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind have not been attacked by the Rain nin . . . yet." added Izuka as she looked out the window. "You have gotten a report about the attacks have you not?"
Gaara slightly blinked and nodded his head no. He grabbed his undone pile of paperwork and looked through the papers till he found the report at the bottom of the pile. He put the other papers right on his desk and began to quickly read the report.
"Rain nin sighted with weapons of . . . mysterious origin?" asked Gaara in slight disbelief as he looked up from the paper at Izuka.
"Mifune's samurais managed to get a hold of one of the Rain nin's weapons. The weapon was a kunai engrained with a black chakra crystal that has the ability to absorb chakra and assimilate it to the wielder's own. Sound familiar?" asked Izuka as she raised a blonde eyebrow.
"Indeed it does," muttered Gaara, his memories going back to their tumultuous mission to Amegakure five months ago on behalf of the Wind Daimyo. It resulted in injuries, a foiled invasion mission, and one dead dictator. "I wonder if any of the other Kages have knowledge on this situation."
"Lady Tsunade, Lady Mei, and Lord Onoki have all communicated with each other over this situation with Mifune now joining the conversation. Lord A wants to stay out of the talks since his country haven't seen any attacks from the Rain nin yet." answered Izuka as she tapped her lap.
"How do you know all this?" asked Gaara as he curiously looked at his girlfriend.
"Ryu likes to travel . . . and to gossip." answered Izuka with a shrug. "Would it be best to inform the other kages of our mission to Amegakure five months ago? It may help them a little."
"I don't know. Seiriyu's focus was on Sunagakure. After I killed him, the Rain elders canceled the invasion force. I don't get the country's reasoning for attacking the other nations." said Gaara as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Remember the dinner we had with Seiriyu back at the tower? He had two of his elders join us that night. Maybe one of them shared Seiriyu's aspirations and just wanted to broaden the plan." suggested Izuka as she put a hand underneath her chin.
"Maybe" said Gaara as another knock emanated from the door. "Come in."
The door opened to reveal Temari, who walked into the room with a hard edge to her face. She held an official looking scroll in her hand.
"This just came in this afternoon. It's from our ambassador in Kumo." said Temari as she handed Gaara the scroll. Gaara took it from his sister's outstretched palm and opened it. He took his time reading the scroll and closed it when he was done.
"For the past few days, towns in the Land of Lightning have been attacked by Rain nin who carried weapons of mysterious origin." said Gaara as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It's only mysterious to anyone that's outside of Amegakure, except for us." said Izuka as she walked over to the window.
"What do you mean?" asked Temari in curiosity as she turned at the Lady Sage.
"The Land of Lightning is just the recent victim to be attacked by the Rain nin and their 'mysterious' weapons. Water, Earth, Fire, even the Land of Iron was attacked." answered Izuka as she watched as the moon began to rise.
"The Land of Iron too?" asked Temari complete disbelief.
"Before you came in here Temari, Izuka told me about how the samurai were able to get a hold of one of the Rain nin's weapons. The weapon is similar to Seiriyu's. It can absorb the chakra of any who touch it and assimilate that chakra to the wielder's own." said Gaara as he let out a small yawn.
"Should I have Baki send out more ninja to secure the towns nearby?" asked Temari as her face became serious.
"Please do. I want to make sure we stop the Rain nin before they can even set a foot in those towns. Make sure to warn them about the Rain nin's weaponry." said Gaara as he threw the scroll onto the table. Temari nodded her head in understanding and walked out the room, leaving the two younger teenagers in the room.
"Isn't this the time you usually come off work?" asked Izuka as she turned her head to see Gaara returning to his undone paperwork.
"It is, but I want to do a little bit more work before I'm done for the day." answered Gaara as he took up his pen. He was about to sign the report, but Izuka's hand stopped him before he could move his arm.
"Gaara . . . we both know you've been overworking yourself ever since we returned from that mission in Amegakure. You need to take it easy. You need your rest." advised Izuka as she shot him a worried look. Gaara let out a heavy sigh and put down his pen. Izuka backed away as Gaara silently got up from his chair and stretched out his arms.
"Let's go home." said Gaara as he looked at the Lady Sage with a sheepish look in his eye.
"Sure" said Izuka as she walked over to the door. Gaara followed her out the room and down the hallway and stopped her before she could go down the staircase.
"By the way Izuka." said Gaara as he held Izuka's hand in his own.
"Yes Gaara?" asked Izuka as she turned her head to face hm.
"Thanks . . . for caring about my wellbeing." answered Gaara as he sheepishly looked away.
"I'm not the only one you should be thanking Gaara. Kankuro, Temari, Ryu, Baki, Matsuri, some of the elders, the people of the village, we all care about you Gaara." said Izuka with a small smirk. Gaara let a small smile appear on his face as he thought over Izuka's words. He pulled her into his chest for a hug, inwardly thankful that he had a girlfriend like her.
"This isn't usual Kazekage behavior." muttered Izuka in a joking tone as she wrapped her arms around Gaara's neck.
"I'm off the clock." said Gaara as he dropped his hands to both sides of Izuka's waist. He leaned in and pecked Izuka on the lips before moving back. "C'mon, let's go home."
Izuka let a small smile grace her lips and let Gaara lead her down the staircase. The two said their goodbyes to the guards monitoring the tower's main entrance as they left and walked into the cool desert night, their sights set on home.
"We really dodged a bullet didn't we?" asked Izuka as the two walked down the main street toward home.
"We did. If we didn't succeed in our mission back in Amegakure, Suna would probably be under Rain control." muttered Gaara as he put his other hand in his pocket.
"But it's not . . . thanks to you." countered Izuka as she sent him a reassuring smirk.
"Yeah, but now we have to worry about those Rain nin invading our small towns." muttered Gaara as the two passed by a group of genin girls, whose stares reeked with envy as they looked at the couple. "And the occasional crazy fan girl who seriously doesn't like the idea of us being in a relationship with each other." Gaara further added as he whispered undered his breath.
"The fan girls will survive," said Izuka with a roll of her eyes. "But as for those Rain nin, they have to be stopped or else they will become an even greater problem."
"I agree." said Gaara as the two turned onto their street. The two soon fell into a comfortable silence as they walked to the house, but they stopped in their tracks when they saw a familiar ninja from Kumo sitting on their steps talking to Kankuro.
"Darui?" said Izuka as she and Gaara walked onto the Sand Siblings' property. The lazy looking Kumo nin and the puppeteer looked up to see the two approaching them.
"Lord Kazekage, Lady Sage, it's good to see you both again." said Darui as he stood up and gave them both a slight bow in acknowledgement.
"Likewise," said Gaara as he crossed his arms. "May I ask why you're here?"
"I'm only here as a messenger, so I'll be brief. The Raikage has called for another Kage Summit to talk about the recent attacks the Rain nin's have been causing in the various Great Shinobi Lands." answered Darui as he put his hands in his pocket.
"Well that was fast." mumbled Izuka as she looked down at the ground.
"He's even called for your presence at the meeting Lady Sage." added Darui as he took a toothpick out and popped it into his mouth.
"Me?" asked Izuka in slight surprise. "Why me? I'm not a Kage."
"You may not be a Kage, but you are the Sage of the Sixth Paths. In a way, you're an exception to the rules. Plus, the Raikage thinks your insight would be valuable in the meeting, especially since you were a part of that mission to Amegakure months' ago." said Darui with a shrug.
"How does the Raikage know about that?" asked Gaara as he narrowed his eyes at A's right hand man.
"Word travels," answered Darui as he started to walk past the two. "The Kage Summit will happen at week's end. I would stay a little longer, but I have to get back to the Raikage as fast as I can. See you in the Land of Iron!" Darui leapt all the way to the top of the house across the street before fully disappearing from view.
"This will be one interesting Kage Summit." muttered Kankuro as he crossed his arms and walked into the house.
"What do you think is going to happen at the Summit?" asked Izuka as she shot a nervous glance at Gaara.
"Who knows, but I bet it's going to be unpredictable." muttered Gaara for an answer. "Are you nervous?"
"To be honest, I'm a little nervous." answered Izuka as she rubbed her arm.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine." said Gaara as he took Izuka's hand in his own.
"Thank" said Izuka as she looked at the Kazekage. "Let's get inside, I'm starving."
Gaara nodded his head in agreement and followed the Lady Sage into the house, completely unaware that in a small town in Western Suna, the Rain nin were already on the attack.
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