Chapter 3: Old Cracks and New Foundations
Tsunade pressed her fingertips against each other as she looked over her desk at Haruno Sakura. Mission reports from Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, and Rock Lee were laid out before her, but now her attention was fully on her student and the particular details she had left out of hers. "Alright, lets go over this one more time…"
Sakura sighed and tugged at her collar nervously. Once again a supposed simple mission she was on had gone to hell. The pinkette was starting to feel cursed at this point. "Which part, Shisou?" She asked tiredly, the stress of this whole situation starting to get to her. Shaking her head softly, she held up a hand in apologies. "Sorry, it's just been a long week…"
"I understand." The Hokage stated calmly, leaning forward and picking up Sakura's mission report. "Let's just hit the highlights here. Your team went to the Land of Demons as requested and escorted Shion to the shrine in the Land of Swamps. You were attacked by a group of cultist, but they were then ambushed by another group…and this is the part where I'm confused…a group of ninja wearing the symbol of the Land of Vegetables." Sighing deeply, Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. The Land of Vegetables was one of those small nations that had no trained shinobi of their own, if this had changed it could have ripple effects on the entire economy of Kohona.
"That's who they said they were, Shisou. Neji said it was possible they were mercenaries, but we don't really have any proof one way or the other…." Sakura clarified, lowering her head as she remembered the details.
"And then, the fight in the shrine-"
"It was him, Shisou." Sakura snapped, cutting off her teacher. "He was there, he was the one who saved Shion, saved us all just like he always does…" Unconsciously her hands balled into tight fists. "Bright orange tracksuit, blonde hair, an army of shadow clones…who else was it if not him?"
After a long silence, Tsunade closed the reports and stacked them in a pile. "Thank you Sakura, that will be all. Go home and get some rest…."
Sakura snapped her head up in surprise, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "Lady Tsunade, please…we have a lead now…please, just let get a team together and we can bring him home…"
"Haruno Sakura." The Godame Hokage snapped loudly, standing up from her desk suddenly. "I said, you are dismissed. And if you say one more word on the matter, I will bust you and your whole team down to D ranks for a damn month for insubordination! Is that understood?"
Startled and shaking, the younger kunoichi gave a quick stiff bow and quickly left, slamming the door on her way out. Watching her student leave in tears, Tsunade sighed deeply and opened the bottom drawer of her desk, pulling out a particularly strong bottle of sake. "Damn brat…" She muttered to no one as she pulled the cork from the bottle. "Couldn't just stay hidden and quiet, had to end up where the world was ending like always…"
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Sakura wandered the streets of Kohona in a daze, blinded by the shock of her meeting with the Hokage. None of this was making any sense. When Sasuke left, she had sent an entire team to get him back. But Naruto she practically ignored, even though she treated him like a son half the time….
Her wanderings somehow lead her to the door of Yakiniku Q, a place she didn't often frequent. Still upset and now set to eat her feelings, Sakura stepped in and found herself a quiet booth in the corner. Sadly her quiet wouldn't last long, as once she put in her order she found herself surrounded by Team Asuma minus their jonin.
"Don't see you often here Forehead." Ino smirked as she slid in beside her best friend, her two teammates taking the other side of the booth. But when the usual playful taunt only elicited a sad-looking side-eye, the Yamanaka heiress slipped into serious mode, taking Sakura's hand and staring at her intensely. "What happened?"
Looking up, Sakura took inventory of those around her. If there was anyone she could trust, it was this group. Not only was Ino her best friend, but these were her classmates, her comrades, two of whom had put their very lives on the line to bring back her own teammate. Making sure no one who could overhear was around, she laid out the story of her last mission and her recent debriefing. By the time she was done, the group was on its second round of BBQ and beer, and Shikamaru was deep in thought.
It was while Sakura was rubbing the diamond mark on her forehead. that the realization of something hit him. A dry chuckle leaked out of the normally quiet Nara, drawing the stares of his comrades. "You know Sakura, sometimes I forget you aren't part of a clan…" Shikamaru stated calmly, taking a swig of his drink before continuing. "You get left out of all the troublesome problems the Village Counsel likes to drag up, like the whole shitstorm that followed your teammates."
The heir of the Nara clan now had Sakura's full attention, her eyes narrowing as she cracked her knuckles under the table. Sure her team may be dysfunctional, but it was hers. As if forseeing the impending disaster, Ino placed a hand on Sakura's arm and began to play peacemaker. "That was years ago Shika, what in the world would it have to do with a mission that just happened."
Sakura's eyes opened wide in confusion. Shikamaru putting together something she had missed was one thing, he was the only student in their class smarter than she was, and honestly he was the smartest of their entire generation. But the way Ino spoke….how did they know things about her team that she didn't? Quickly her eyes darted between the three members of Team Asuma, her brain desperately struggling to put together this puzzle. But there were just too many pieces missing.
Sensing her confusion and frustration, Shikamaru leaned forward and started to lay out his theory. "Okay, so you know about the Council right?" Dumbly, Sakura nodded. It was a safety measure put in place by the First Hokage to keep a tyrant from coming to power, made of a joint combination of the clan heads and a number of elected civilians. "Well, it's like this…" Shikamaru continued, taking a rib bone and idly playing with it in his hands. "Back when Naruto brought Sasuke home, the incident was brought before the Council, partially because they both looked like hamburger when they showed up…"
"You don't have to remind me…" Sakura shuddered, the memory lodged in her mind. The two had done a number on each other, and she still to this day hasn't figured out how Naruto was able to keep walking with a hole in his chest and lung. "Naruto healed fast like he always does, but Sasuke was in the hospital for a month…"
"Yeah, which someone on the civilian side used to their advantage." The chuunin in the group cut in, spinning the rib bone he had been playing with on the table, almost like he was fidgeting with it. "From what I heard from my old man, the whole clan side of the council was in agreement, Naruto had completed the mission. But there was a worm of some sort in the civilian side, kept bringing up that Naruto was a danger, and that they weren't very happy with the results….it's possible they might have gone over the Hokage's head…."
Sakura's head began to spin from this new realization. The Hokage answered directly to the Fire Damiyo himself. Would someone really go that far? And why? "I've been thinking about this ever since Lady Tsunade announced that he was a missing-nin." Shikamaru finished calmly. "I've put a few pieces together, but I'm still missing a few important details…"
TTTTTTTTTT
Somewhere the winding streets of Hosaku no Sato (Lit. Village of Good Harvest), a group of ninja excitedly stood outside a streetside food vender. There were many other places to eat here in the Land of Vegetables, but this one, run by a retired shinobi and his family, had become their traditional spot in the short time the group had been working together. As the sticks of mitarashi dango were passed out, the ninja finally let themselves relax after the long and stressful week.
It was Tori the Wanderer who broke the communal silence of dango munching. "So, what's the plan now?" She asked plainly, licking the savory-sweet syrup off her fingers to keep it off her fine silk kimono. Aside from the sideshave-undercut style she had given to her long blonde hair, they were the epitome of traditional beauty, something Tori loved to use to their advantage.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I need to get back to the training yard." Yoko the Blind replied from her spot on the branch of a tree. "That and I need to find a good blacksmith. Boss wasn't joking when he said that Uchiha brat would be a problem…" Sticking the dango in her mouth, the blind swordsmistress dragged her fingertips over the blade of her unsheathed ninjato, taking in every notch and gouge it had obtained in her previous excursions.
"Hell I could have told you that." Sensui the Fire Dancer replied with a dry chuckle, picking his teeth with a spent dango stick. The oldest of the group, he spoke with an air of authority from under his nondescript straw hat. "Uchihas are always a problem, as allies or as enemies…and their worse when they can't pick a side to be on, like that….what was the name you used for him Boss?"
"Duckbutt." Furukawa Nen interrupted with a smirk, adjusting his sleeveless vest that showed off his wirey frame and clan markings, a pair of winding serpents that wrapped down and around each arm. "And with that ridiculous hairstyle, I can definitely see why you call him that." Tossing his spent sticks into the evergrowing communal pile, the last survivor of a dead clan joined everyone in turning his attention towards their new leader.
With a grin, Uzumaki "The Boss" Naruto carefully wrapped up the last two sticks of dumplings he had grabbed. "Well, I have to do the boring part of the job and go report to the Damiyo. No doubt she's going to be interested that we almost started an international incident while also saving the world from a huge demon." Adjusting the new hitte with the symbol of the Land of Vegetables [A stylized carrot or slender radish, it was impossible to know exactly, drawn as if it was made in a single stroke without lifting the pen] that hung around his neck, the official leader of the Land's armed forces (or "Veggie-kage", as his new team sometimes jokingly referred to him as) took one last long look over this band of misfits. They were all former mercenaries who had banded together, and not only was their bond thicker than family, but they had accepted Naruto as one of their own from the moment the Vegetable Damiyo had hired them. It gave the Kohona transplant a sense of comfort on just how easily this team had jelled, and really put into context what real friends were.
With a grin, the blonde turned and headed to the large platform mound. "Take the rest of today and tomorrow off, we'll meet the day after and go over some potential jobs." He called over his shoulder to his new team. Even in the short time they had been together, this group was earning a reputation, and Naruto was sure the recent events would help build that. They were the only constant fighting force this side of the Land of Lightning, and because of that they were cheaper to boot.
The feeling of close-knit community only grew as he walked through the village towards his destination. His time hiding out in Suna had opened his eyes as to what a village is supposed to be like, and Hosaku had reinforced that tenfold. Although it always helped when the daimyo introduces you to the people as their savior…Still, Naruto had learned long ago how to notice when people weren't being honest with him as a defense mechanism, and his interactions with the people of the village showed that they were honest and hard-working folk who valued what you do over who you are. Again, using Shadow Clones as free labor didn't hurt…
Finally reaching the highest point in the village, Naruto gave a quick nod to the guards who let him in with a smile. A smirk grew across his face as he utilized his shinobi training and snuck into the Daimyo's office. Just as he expected, he found the Lady Haruna at her desk, reviewing some paperwork. The eternal prankster could not help the obvious setup provided here, and carefully sticking to the shadows, he quietly placed himself in a lazy reclined position in the visitor's chair, waiting to see how long it would take for her to notice him.
Several minutes passed before Haruna finally noticed, the sudden appearance of an orange-clad blonde causing her to jump in her seat before throwing a stamp block at the now laughing ninja. "I told you to stop doing that!" She growled and huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at the still-grinning blonde in front of her. Haruna had promised herself she would get better at trying not to fall for that damn trick, but she was trained in politics not the shinobi arts.
"I will when it stops being funny." Naruto replied with a smirk, dodging another stamp block and setting the wrapped up dango on her desk. "So, has news reached you about what happened yet?" He asked, taking a seat on the corner of the desk itself.
"Hard not to, considering an entire mountain somehow blew up." Haruna replied with a sigh, leaning back and staring daggers at her new commander. "This was just supposed to be a simple request to investigate some cultist on behalf of the Land of Swamps, and somehow a mountain gets blown up. I hope and trust you and your "Vagabonds" didn't have anything to do with it…"
Nervously Naruto chuckled and layed out the details; of how the cult wanted to sacrifice the leader of the Land of Demons, about how the Land of Demons had sent it's own request to Kohona to keep that from happening thanks to their leader Shion's ability to see the future, and about how Shion and Naruto had worked together to take down the demon that was eventually summoned despite her foreseeing Naruto's death…and blew up the mountain in the process. By the time he was done, Haruna was banging her head on her desk. Somehow, every task she had sent Naruto on seemed to escalate like this, but this was a new level even for him.
Groaning in frustration, the young daimyo unwrapped the dango and shoved a stick in her mouth. "At least you're learning how to apologize for the headaches you cause me…and since I've only gotten stories from merchants and not an angry letter asking for your head, they may be willing to overlook things since you did stop the end of the world…although…" A playful glint flashed in her eyes as she rolled up the scroll she had been working on. "I can think of another way to apologize…" Haruna added in a sultry tone as she started putting away her seals and brushes.
The shift in tone made Naruto freeze. There had been some flirtatious trades between the pair in the time he had been in Hosaku, but Naruto had managed to slip away before things got too serious. This time though he was trapped, as Haruna stood and faced him very close from the spot he had put himself on her desk. His face was turning beet red as she stepped closer, their bodies only millimeters apart. A sultry smirk on her face, Haruna leaned in and whispered into his ear. "You can…buy me dinner at that expensive new place in town." She gave a wink and stepped past the desk, heading to the door of her office. "You might want to get cleaned up, they have a dress code….Veggie-Kage."
Somewhat stunned, Naruto sat in silence blinking alone in the office. He had survived a near death battle with the last of the Uchiha, he had bested Gaara and conquered world ending events. But this girl, she was going to be the death of him.
A/N:So, this is kind of a weird expositional/transitional chapter that's really to set the foundation of where we are going from here. The Vagabonds are a group of personal OCs from an old old fic I started back like almost 20 years ago and I can't even find the original story they came from XD. We will get more details on them as we move forward.
As for why we didn't end up in the Land of Waves, I just feel like that's a bit overdone personally and wanted to take things in a different direction. I was a bit inspired by Seven Years Later by shikilove, another Banished Naruto fic that sadly is still unfinished but is still a fun read.