Team 7, the rest of the Konoha 11, and the Kage with their entourages stopped at a noodle shop in Tanzaku Gai, courtesy of Naruto's birthday. The Daimyo also came in as well with their security teams. Team 7 sat closer to the Fire Daimyo so Sasuke could still do his job while catching up with his team.
Multiple conversations were happening at the same time. Some talking about the good of the war, some talking about the bad. Some were talking about future prospects, while Team 7 was talking about their own future as well.
"I'm curious about you three, you're all about seventeen to eighteen now. What's next for each of you now that it's been a full year after the war." Kakashi asked.
Sakura blushed a bit, having been thinking about an idea that she wanted to propose to Kakashi for a while.
"Well, I've been thinking about revamping the medical system in Konoha. Creating different schools of medicine for different parts of the body, on top of that, I've even been thinking about opening a mental health facility as well." Sakura said.
Kakashi was somewhat surprised by her plan. It was well thought out and implemented some concepts he hadn't even thought of before. Medical ninjutsu being used to heal psychological wounds had been done before, but only by Tsunade on himself and Sasuke. If Sakura was successful, she could heal the post traumatic stress of many ninja in the village and heal a lot of the men and women who came home with no physical wounds, but deep psychological ones.
"That's so cool Sakura! I don't think anybody else woulda came up with an idea like that ya'know!" Naruto said.
Sakura shyly smiled and blushed, surprised that her idea was accepted so openly.
"Well, Naruto, what about you?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto nervously rubbed above his upper lip.
"Well, I'm thinking of shadowing under you for a while Kakashi-sensei. My goal is still to become Hokage and there's nothing that I'm gonna let stand in my way. With Pain and the Akatsuki gone, I can finally focus on my actual goal now." Naruto replied.
Kakashi smiled, happy that Naruto was still dedicated to become the next Hokage and finally relieve him of this hellish paper-work job.
Kakashi then turned to his final student.
"Well Sasuke, what about you? You're working with the Feudal Lord now which is quite unexpected." Kakashi said.
Before Sasuke could answer, he felt eyes on him. He looked across the room and as soon as he did, Hinata's younger sister; Hanabi, looked away. Sasuke decided to think nothing of it, maybe she was looking at one of the nearby Hyugas.
"Once my job with the Daimyo has concluded, I'll be returning to the Land Of Snow. I'm not entirely sure what my job will be there in terms of government or administration but since I've been there I've been clearing bandit clans out of the mountains and making the area a safer place for Koyuki's citizens." Sasuke replied.
"Well, it seems like you're a one man police force of the Land Of Snow." Kakashi replied with a smile.
In spite of what the Police Force truly signified politically, Sasuke couldn't help but warmly accept the comparison Kakashi made between him and his clan's police force.
Sakura was visibly defeated by the fact that both Kakashi and Naruto seemed unbothered by Sasuke not even mentioning returning to the village. She keeps feeling like there's something she isn't allowed to know about concerning Sasuke's refusal to return to Konoha. At first she thought he just didn't want to do any jail time, and who would? But every time she thought back to the day that Sasuke had gone insane, attempting to kill her, Naruto, and Kakashi; she wondered what exactly happened behind the scenes that is stopping Sasuke from coming back home.
She's in love with this boy and yet it seems like there's always something; Itachi, Orochimaru, Obito, and now this well kept secret that everyone else in her team seems to be well aware of besides her.
She's tired of it.
Team 7 along with everyone else continued talking into the rest of the night.
Sakura Haruno was determined to confront Sasuke about her feelings just one last time.
The next day, after the celebrations. The Daimyo Of The Land Of Fire had to return to the town of Tanzaku Gai. A post celebration political summit was going to be taking place, with all the Kage and their respective Daimyo.
As Sasuke was walking with the rest of the convoy, he surmised that Kakashi, Naruto, and possibly even Sakura would be there. Naruto would obviously be shadowing Kakashi, learning all the necessary skills and perspectives a Kage would need in order to lead a shinobi village. Sakura would probably stick around, because why not, and of course Sasuke assumed his presence would also be another reason for her to stay.
While slightly lost in thought, Sasuke thought about who could possibly be targeting the Daimyo, and why. It wasn't uncommon for a Feudal Lord to be targeted for assassination, but to employ the Hyuga clan for a 12 month mission is a pretty last resort type response to a threat like this. Sasuke was also pretty confident that the Hyuga weren't the first shinobi team he'd hired and that the last team just didn't make the cut.
As Sasuke pulled his eyes away from the forest line, he turned his eyes to the front of the convoy, as soon as he did, a small bird landed on a tree to the right of the convoy and an explosion went off, immediately killing one and severely wounding the two other Hyuga Clan members that were all the way at the front. The carriage and the horses at the front of the convoy had been completely destroyed and blown to pieces.
All Hell had broken lose, with the other Hyugas in the security team panicking and calling for their squad medic. Everyone else in the convoy began yelling and screaming.
Sasuke immediately activated his base Sharingan, fell back to the Daimyo's specific carriage and remained calm. The Daimyo is in the back of the convoy and more than likely still safe seeing as though his carriage hadn't been blown up.
Sasuke then began to survey the area with his Sharingan. Without the Byakugan, he couldn't see if the enemy was hiding meters away or miles away, which meant he'd have to stay where he was.
Immediately all the other Hyuga began searching for any possible assailants with their Byakugan.
Sasuke ran up to the Daimyo's carriage.
"What the hell is going on outside?!" The Daimyo yelled to everyone around him.
"An explosion went off. One of the Hyuga team is dead and the other two might be next as well!" Sasuke replied.
Sasuke activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and formed his demonic Susano'o around the Daimyo's carriage.
'How the hell had the Hyuga not seen any bombs?" Sasuke thought.
The only bombs that were capable of that covert level of destruction were bombs of that Akatsuki member, Deidara, but he was dead.
There was no good explanation for what exactly just happened.
To make matters worse, no following attack came. Whoever planned this attack had no intention of direct confrontation, which was smart. There was no one in the world currently who could directly challenge 9 members of the Hyuga Clan in combat, supported by Sasuke Uchiha of all people. The issue was the incredibly covert and well-planned nature of the attack.
Whoever had done it had been able to figure out where and how to strike without exposing themselves, and were far enough away to be able to avoid detection from the Hyuga.
'Whoever or whatever this is, is a professional attacker. From genjutsu that can slightly affect your decisions to bombs that a Hyuga can't detect.' Sasuke thought.
Sasuke watched from his Susano'o as the Hyuga squad medic of the team began rendering aid to one of the three Hyuga who were hit in the blast. One was dead and it looked like the other one of the two that had originally just been wounded, couldn't be saved. Some other members, like the leader of the security team; Ro Hyuga of the convoy, had been hit by shrapnel, but their wounds weren't as severe and could be tended to later.
Sasuke turned to Ro Hyuga.
"Did you notice anything before the explosion?" Sasuke asked.
"No, my Byakugan can see up to 8 miles and yet I saw nothing." Ro replied, applying a bandage to his arm which originally had a large splinter in it.
The Daimyo poked his head out of his carriage to join the conversation, albeit incredibly afraid.
"Sasuke, what is the best course of action from here? I can't afford to miss the information shared at the summit...even if there are shinobi trying to kill me!" The Daimyo said, looking left and right with his eyes darting everywhere, almost anticipating the next explosion.
There was yelling and swearing all over the convoy, with everyone still shell shocked and stressed from what had just happened.
It was a shit-show, but the Daimyo was still concerned about the information at the summit.
Whatever would be discussed at the summit would obviously be of great importance. Classified intel would be discussed there that the general shinobi populace wouldn't be allowed to know about, which would be important for the Daimyo to hear.
Sasuke had to wonder. Was the attacker simply trying to stop the Daimyo from reaching the summit instead of killing him? If the attacker knew their route and that their convoy was carrying the Daimyo, then why blow up the very front of the convoy, and not the back?
It could have easily been a slight mistake. Not all well-planned plans go the way you intend them to, even if you did everything else correctly.
"I'll make sure you make it to the summit untouched. We'll fly there." Sasuke replied to the Daimyo.
Sasuke then pushed his chakra even further, bringing forth the perfect Susano'o, shocking everyone in the convoy.
"Ro, I suggest you gather your wounded and dead and return to the palace. I'll bring the Daimyo to the summit." Sasuke said.
Ro Hyuga narrowed his eyes in frustration. The wind from the Susano'o's wings slightly burning and watering his eyes.
His team had just taken a massive blow, and the Hyuga team leader not only wanted revenge but also wanted to continue the mission that was originally belonging to his team. A former rogue-ninja can't just come along and whisk the Daimyo away from a mission commissioned to the Hyuga Clan. How would he even explain this to Lord-Hiashi who would obviously be livid once he get's the status report of the casualties, the Daimyo being in danger, and the Uchiha continuing the mission without them.
"Does that plan even make sense to you my Lord?" The Hyuga asked the Daimyo.
The Daimyo growled, pulling his hair in frustration, not even wanting to deal with this situation.
"Arghhh; YES, YES, YES! Go back to the palace and secure it for my return! I will leave with Sasuke for the summit!" The Daimyo replied.
An order was an order.
The nine-man Hyuga team was now knocked down to six, having two KIA and a third wounded-in-action and unable to continue. The remaining members of the team and their medic put the bodies in a sealing scroll and loaded up the third and final wounded Hyuga on a stretcher into one of the carriages in the convoy.
Sasuke looked over to his left to see one of the Hyuga squad members visibly shaken, and literally shaking. He seemed young, younger than Sasuke by maybe three years. He had to have been fourteen or fifteen and yet was already being fielded on the battle-field, clearly psychologically unready for what had taken place, his innocence now shattered by combat.
Even though Naruto had promised to end all war and conflict, and The Fourth Great Ninja War was over...was war ever truly going to go away? Someone would always find themselves on some kind of battle-field, even if major battle-fields had been put to rest.
Sasuke pulled the Daimyo up into the top of his Susano'o, visibly scaring him with the height that they had just reached and began flying to Tanzaku Gai.
The Raikage Ay was getting fed up with the Fire Daimyo's tardiness.
"Calm down Lord Raikage, he is only thirty-minutes late, I'm sure he'll be here soon." Said the Tsuchikage with a smirk, always entertained by Ay's brashness.
The door of the large luxury suite opened, revealing the Daimyo and his taller bodyguard, Sasuke Uchiha.
Many in the room rose their eyebrows. Chief among them being Lord Hiashi of the Hyuga Clan.
'Why the hell would he be here...? It'll be a pain explaining what just happened, he probably knows absolutely nothing about it.' Sasuke thought.
"Did you know he'd be here?" Sasuke whispered to the Daimyo.
"No, I did not.." The Daimyo replied, raising a brow.
Hiashi noticed the lack of the Hyuga guards' presence. He'd hold his tongue for now, but would make his curiosities known after the summit meeting was concluded.
Ao, the Mizukage's bodyguard noticed a fresh scar on the face of the Daimyo and a tear in his otherwise expensive and elegant robe.
"Ah, welcome in Lord...I trust your journey was safe?" Mifune asked.
Mifune, ever since the Five Kage Summit, had become the Five Great Nations' peace-maker. He would be at every meeting with his samurai, tempering the flares of the Kage and helping them see reason in these diplomatic discussions.
"I apologize for my lateness...but my security convoy was attacked and I had to be escorted here under less than enviable circumstances." The Fire Daimyo replied while walking toward his seat.
Sasuke surmised that flying in a purple-winged demonic chakra spirit wasn't really considered high-class travel amongst the nobility of the Five Great Nations.
Ohnoki rose his eyebrow to the Daimyo's statement.
"Attacked? Attacked by whom?" Ohnoki asked.
The Daimyo immediately rose his hand.
"Now is not the time. I am already late and would like to be briefed on anything I might have missed if that's possible and to then begin discussions where they may have left off." The Daimyo replied.
"Very well." Mifune said.
Mifune then began to brief the Daimyo on the current socio-economic state of affairs. With it only having been a year since the end of the last Great War, the shinobi villages had only just begun to feel the effects of their new era of peace. With a lack of conflict of course meant a significant decrease in jobs for ninja. The nations weren't feeling it quite yet, but everyone knew that as time went on, the situation would only get worse.
Some suggested simply downsizing the respective shinobi forces.
"Wouldn't that simply encourage more rogue ninja, who could simply find jobs on their own by deserting their village, rather than waiting around to see if they qualify to be state-recognized shinobi?" The Mizukage asked.
"It's our best solution at the moment. It'll have to be gradual, over the course of decades, but it's imperative that we change the system to give our children a better and safer future." Kakashi replies.
Gaara clenched his fist on the table.
"For other villages this may be a fair solution, but my village has little to no arable land and no economically meaningful exports. Without shinobi contracts, the Village Hidden In The Sand may cease to exist." Gaara replied.
In Sasuke's mind, this was just one the prices that would have to be paid for peace in Naruto's world where shinobi continued to exist. Sasuke intended to execute all 5 Kage, destroy the Tailed Beasts, and then undo the shinobi culture that was plaguing the world with war and death. Of course, none of these things came to pass. There was no way that the sand village could economically survive demilitarization.
At best, they'd invade a smaller village to expand their territories in order to preserve their village while simultaneously being able to properly feed themselves and maybe even have access to trade-resources.
Sasuke could see a new war on the horizon, within the next five years or so.
And although the Tsuchikage hadn't said much, his mountainous, rocky region wasn't anymore beneficial economically either. With a lack of shinobi missions, the Hidden Stone would also be short on resources. The Land Of Stone, was just that, a land of stone. They'd be broke without ninja missions and would have to considerably downsize as well.
"Don't worry, The Land Of Fire can increase it's exports to The Land Of Wind until a more permanent solution can be sorted." The Daimyo said.
'But how long can that even last.' Sasuke thought.
Gaara tensely nodded.
Discussions continued into the day until it was time for everyone to part ways.
Sasuke was still quite bothered by the Tsuchikage's silence.
As Sasuke and the Daimyo were leaving Tanzaku Gai, they were approached by Hiashi Hyuga.
"My Lord, how are you this evening." Hiashi said, lightly bowing.
The Daimyo took in a deep breath, clearly having no care for pleasantries after nearly getting blown up earlier in the day.
"I am doing fine Lord Hyuga, feel free to speak." The Daimyo replied.
Clearly that "fine" was referencing the attack earlier in the day, that Hiashi was still completely unaware of.
"That is good to hear my Lord. If I may ask, where is the Hyuga security detail that I assigned to you my Lord?" Hiashi asked.
The Feudal Lord huffed louder than last time and simply turned away from Hiashi, contradicting his previous allowance for Hiashi to freely speak.
"Young Sasuke, speak to Lord Hyuga about this. I will retreat to my carriage." The Daimyo replied, stepping away and then entering his carriage a few feet away.
While they were at the summit meeting, Sasuke was asked to send a hawk to relay a message to the Daimyo's office to send a two carriage convoy. It would seem as though the Daimyo absolutely refused to fly again under any circumstance. Hiashi Hyuga would simply have to eat the Daimyo's clear sign of disrespect and complete disregard, and Sasuke knew that Hiashi wouldn't like to hear what he was about to tell him.
"Feel free to speak, Uchiha." Hiashi said, tilting his head over to where the Daimyo retreated to.
"Three of your security team members were hit in an explosion on the way here. I believe two are KIA, and one is severely WIA." Sasuke replied.
Hiashi narrowed his eyes.
"An explosion!? That's impossible!" Hiashi replied.
"It happened." Sasuke replied.
"How?" Hiashi asked.
Sasuke simply shrugged.
"The front of the convoy simply burst into an explosion. I was in the rear, with the Daimyo. One of the surviving members of the team; Ro, should be able to explain the situation better than I can. I only possess the Sharingan, meaning that I couldn't have seen what your men might have seen instead." Sasuke replied.
"I know very well that your Sharingan cannot see as much as the Byakugan. That still does not explain my team's inability to see whatever the source of the attack was, before it could even attack in the first place." Hiashi replied.
"I'm afraid that's all I know. I offer my condolences." Sasuke replied, and then turned around to walk away.
Hiashi found this explanation completely unacceptable. Two dead Hyuga and one wounded.
"Uchiha." Hiashi called out.
Sasuke stopped and turned back, raising a brow.
"If I find that this is any one of your new schemes or plots against Konoha or the Land Of Fire, I will deal with you, personally." Hiashi said, narrowing his eyes.
A moment of tension passed, and Hiashi's aggression slightly faltered, unsure if he had actually provoked the young Uchiha or not.
Sasuke simply scoffed and returned to the Daimyo's carriage.
One Day Later - Village Hidden In The Leaves
"You called, father?" Hanabi asked, sitting down in her father's office.
Hiashi had been mulling over the incident for a day now. He had arranged funerals for the two Hyuga that were killed and hospital treatment for the one that was wounded. Two main-house members killed, and one wounded. This was entirely unacceptable. He assumed that if he gave behind the scenes official leadership to those three while placing Ro as the figure-head, then the mission would run perfectly.
Branch members were still incapable of properly serving as official leaders of any Hyuga squad that involved members of the main house.
He had merely placed Ro as the figure-head of the unit because he was the only one with actual experience in combat, having fought in the Sound Invasion and the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Now, Hiashi felt like something was amiss, and that something was the Feudal Lord. Not to mention his new associate, Sasuke Uchiha. How the Daimyo could openly associate with a traitor of that magnitude, was beyond Hiashi.
Hiashi turned from his thoughts back to his daughter, who began looking at other things in the room while waiting for him to turn his attention to her.
"Yes, I called for you, and I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say." Hiashi said.
Hanabi nodded.
Hiashi took in a deep breath and then exhaled.
"I spoke with the Daimyo yesterday. Kaito and Akio were killed in an explosive attack yesterday, with Ichiro losing his arm and some of his foot." Hiashi said.
Hanabi froze, her eyes glazing over.
Those three were members of the main house, people she'd grown up with, trained with, and played with. She had just spoken to them the last time she saw them at the Tanzaku Gai celebration, two days ago.
She began to feel chills, and couldn't even speak. They were gone...? Ichiro was missing an arm?
"H-How? Wasn't it just supposed to be a low risk mission to guard the Daimyo?!" Hanabi asked.
"Low-risk missions become high-risk all the time. You know this Hanabi. In spite of what we thought the mission would be like, it did in fact take a different turn." Hiashi replied.
Hanabi felt her heart race and her anxiety spike. This was the biggest loss that the main-house had taken since the Third Great Ninja War. Members of the main house usually didn't fight often or do missions such as this, and usually served in a more logistical capacity for the Hyuga clan, who instead fielded members of the branch family in conventional shinobi combat. However, wanting to impress the Feudal Lord, Hiashi allowed more green and inexperienced main-house members to take on this mission and they were unfortunately killed.
'This is war.' - Hanabi thought.
"Ultimately Hanabi, I called you in here to not only relay the news but to give you an assignment." Hiashi said.
Hanabi's somber face turned up to Hiashi.
"You are to travel to the Feudal Lord's Office and take over as leader of the security team. You are not to directly participate in any patrols, nor are you to engage in any combat. I will arrange a place for you to stay and do your task as team leader." Hiashi said.
This was the last thing Hanabi wanted to here. Here she was, broken by the tragedy she had been informed about, and facing the reality of how grim this ninja world truly is every day and now her father wants to place her in the middle of combat? Sure she had been a better shinobi than her sister, but Hanabi had never seen combat and honestly at this point, didn't even want to.
After how her father returned, along with her sister, she wasn't sure she wanted anything to do with real confrontation. Real shinobi combat.
"I also want you to relay any information you might gain about Sasuke Uchiha to me as well. I don't trust his presence alongside our security team." Hiashi said.
Hanabi had completely forgotten about the presence of the Uchiha in the Daimyo's entourage.
The weight on Hanabi's back became even heavier. Not only was she supposed to get closer to whatever killed her clansmen, but she was also to meddle with a ninja like Sasuke Uchiha.
Hanabi looked down to the floor.
"Yes father, I understand." Hanabi responded.
Hiashi sighed.
"Good. You are leaving tonight." Hiashi replied, leaving the room.
The fear Hanabi was feeling was now incalculable. She felt that she was being sent to the terrifying world that her sister and all her classmates had been sent to.
