A heartfelt thank you to everyone who waited eight months for me to update. I am telling the truth when I say I expected it to take half of that time. Sincere gratitude to everyone commenting on and following this story.
I am gifting you with a 29-page 15k word update to hopefully make the long wait worth your while. Half of it posted today, and the second half will be posted this Sunday. I do hope you enjoy this update and let me know your thoughts.
Chapter 12: Fever
Posted on September 27th, 2023
Five days earlier:
Suddenly, Sasuke feels off-balance. The room is spinning around him and he falls to the floor. Dizzy and disoriented, he attempts to focus and get up. He watches Naruto calmly stand up and put on her clothes. She sits down next to him on the floor then, cross-legged, and brushes silky hair off his face.
"What… did you do…" Sasuke barely lets out.
"Hush. Just a little longer." Naruto speaks in a soft but sickly detached way. A few moments later, she makes a hand sign and suddenly Sasuke's dizziness is gone. He pushes himself up, takes deep breaths to ground himself.
"What… What was that?" Sasuke's chakra is blocked again. Naruto had reactivated the seals.
"Oh, just a new seal I made," she answers nonchalantly. "I needed you distracted so I could collect all the memories you stole from my mind. And get them recorded. You know, just in case you did steal national secrets."
Before Sasuke knows what is happening, Naruto is already on the outside of the cell.
Throughout the night, Sasuke gets rebound dizziness and weakness. He finds himself on the floor several times, gasping for air, feverish, with the world spinning around him. His heart is beating so fast he can feel it inside his ears and the sides of his neck. Whatever seal Naruto had just experimented with on him, she hadn't stayed to witness the rebound effects of her work on someone with blocked chakra that would normally give him capacity to be able to fight off at least some of the adverse effects.
It is early morning when Sasuke hears the door open. Hurried footsteps approach him. He looks up from where he is lying on the floor with the little strength he has left. A familiar figure approaches and crouches down next to him.
"Sasuke-kun… don't worry, I'll help you feel better," a familiar voice assures and Sasuke wants to protest as the green-lit healing hands make contact with his back and the drenched shirt he is wearing.
"Sakura… what are doing here… how did you get in…" Sasuke tries to move away weakly but with just a press on his back, Sakura has him lying on his stomach again, the Uchiha too weak to really move. She concentrates and her hands turn green again.
"Just be quiet, Sasuke-kun. Close your eyes."
Sasuke realizes he is left without protection with his chakra blocked off by Naruto's powerful seals and the way he was rendered incapacitated by her experimental seal she'd put on him the evening before.
Sasuke tries to fight it – the offered comfort and healing from the woman who had intentionally hurt his wife, his former teammate who had disrespected Naruto again and again in her mad obsession with Sasuke. But as the healing energy passes through him and Sasuke feels his heart slow down and his tense muscles begin to relax, he feels himself become warm and weightless. He blinks slowly, once, twice, and then he is asleep.
Sasuke wakes up hours later. He finds himself on the floor still, but he now has a pillow and has been covered with a blanket. It takes him a few moments to remember where he was and what had happened.
He sits up when he recalls Sakura being there and healing him. Had she really been there, or had that been a fever dream? No, it must have been real – Sasuke feels so much better now. On the table, he sees a new bowl and gets up to look at it. It has tomatoes inside and although the juicy fruits make his mouth water, he walks right past them.
In the evening, Sasuke hears the door open again. His hopes that it is Naruto coming to talk about the insanity she had pulled off the night before are squashed when he sees green eyes and pink hair again.
"Sakura. What are you doing here again." Sasuke's face and body language are closed off. He is clearly pissed off.
"Neh, Sasuke-kun. You never were very welcoming."
Sasuke remains quiet and watches as the young woman stands by the door to his cell, as if asking him if she can come in. As if a top-secret prison location had any guest etiquette.
Sasuke wants to protest her entry but since she'd previously come and healed him from what could have been his peril or at least a long, painful illness, he doesn't say anything. However, he gets the immediate feeling that the woman is there to ask something of him. He doesn't feel well about her coming.
She steps in and looks around, as if getting a feel for the place, as if she hadn't been there just this morning. Sasuke is already annoyed with how she was presenting, how forced everything she did was.
"It's spacious but not… very cozy." She concludes and Sasuke is already through with her.
"It's not my house for it to be cozy."
"That's right. Your house is sitting empty while you're locked away here… not by a choice of your own."
If he throws her out now with violence, that may get him another charge. At the end, Sasuke didn't know if Sakura was there on official business. Maybe she had a message to deliver to him from Naruto? Or had she faked her way inside here – had she forged the Hokage's seal, or paid someone off?
"What are you doing here Sakura?"
"Again with the questions," Sakura waives it off and looks away as if that would make Sasuke let it go. Upon his stern and growingly angry black gaze, Sakura sighs. "Very well. I'm coming to check in on my patient. After treatment, common practice and courtesy dictates that the patient be checked up on to assess the success of the course of treatment. Looking at you standing on your own two feet and your revigorated attitude, I'd say the treatment was more than successful."
Sasuke's scorching eyes let up a bit in intensity. It is true that she had saved him a miserable experience fighting the rebound effects of that seal. In his own way, that was enough of a thanks.
"You're not the medic they usually send."
"That's true." Sakura notes. "I'm better."
"Why would my wife send you?"
The question makes the corners of Sakura's mouth turn down. Sasuke's choice of words did not escape Sakura as purposefully hurtful.
"Maybe your wife wanted the best for you?"
"Or is it that she put someone else in charge of who visits me – maybe the Hyuuga? And in that moment you found a way to switch with the medic who was previously authorized to see me?"
Sakura's face twitches. She looks away and walks to pull a chair out and sit at the table.
"A lot of questioning going on, Sasuke-kun. I'm glad you're strong enough and feel well again."
"I'm going to ask you for the last time, Sakura, before I throw you out: why are you here."
Sasuke's dark eyes are scorching her and she looks away. The Uchiha notices a slight tremble to her lower lip. Then, she straightens up her shoulders as if talking herself into standing her ground.
"I wanted to make sure you're okay, Sasuke-kun. And I did want to see if the treatment worked."
"It did. Thank you very much. Now get out."
Sakura gets up and approaches Sasuke. "And I want to spend more time with you," she confesses with growing desperation in her eyes and tone of her voice. "I want you to think about what I offered before-"
"Get out!" Sasuke growls out.
"You have to think about yourself too Sasuke! Naruto threw you in here and didn't even come see you for the longest time until she came in and only hurt you. You deserve someone who will give you everything you want-"
"I SAID GET OUT" Sasuke grabs her by the arm and forces her out. The suffocating wave of anger at her insolence and disrespect make him see red. She was lucky he didn't have his chakra.
"She doesn't care about you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura is screaming from outside the cell, her eyes watery. "She just cares about her position and the village! When will you see that? You'll never be a priority of hers!"
Sakura's words make Sasuke nauseous. She hits right where it hurts. Sasuke thinks he may just come out and murder her when the ANBU guards rush in due to the commotion. Sakura as if takes only a second to collect herself, picks up her medic bag, and smiles at the guards pleasantly and then at Sasuke.
"You seem to be doing much better, Sasuke-kun. I'll be back to check on you soon."
The fact is, Sakura had deliberately attacked exactly where it hurt and she'd hit hard. Sasuke had always felt second in importance to the village and Naruto's position, which, Sasuke believed, was the root of all of the hurt in their relationship. He attempted to keep his composure but the fact was, Naruto wasn't coming in to see him. She wasn't checking in on him to see of her new seal was causing any damage. She hadn't checked for two weeks how he was doing under the hands of the torture and investigation team, locked away in solitude, only ever getting the company of professional torturers and his own maddening thoughts.
His thoughts always kept him company – loud and intrusive, they never failed to outline scenarios and suggestions that left him gasping for air from hurt and anger. Thoughts of Naruto being lost to him, him being second choice to her work, giving herself to other men. There was not a miserable scenario that his tortured mind had not proposed to his review in the confines of his solitude.
Topped with what Sakura had said, Sasuke finds himself emotionally and mentally off balance. He can't keep down the rising anger and anguish. He screams. His screams sound distant and not his own as he vaguely realizes that he is trashing the place. Trashing the place like Naruto had trashed him, discarded him away and threw him in this glass box the day before their wedding.
How could she have been so cruel?
How could she care so little about him?
She hadn't even given him the chance to explain. Hadn't come to speak for two weeks until she showed up only to rob his mind and leave him incapacitated last night.
She really loved him so little when the very breath in his lungs and the blood in his veins were branded with her being.
Another grand failure for the cursed Uchiha.
Guards are restraining Sasuke and pressing him down to the floor. He feels a jab in his arm and fights the effects of the potent sedative injected in him. He loses consciousness like he loses everything else in his life – involuntarily, screaming and fighting against the loss with every last strength.
When Sasuke wakes up, his surroundings betray nothing of the sheer extend of the anger he'd had earlier. If one was not familiar with the place, they wouldn't notice the new table and chairs substituting the ones he'd broken, the new blinds hanging in the place of the ones he'd torn. His right shoulder throbs with pain when he attempts to move it. He looks down at the sling his right arm is resting in and furrows his dark brows at it.
"Your shoulder was dislocated," a voice behind him says and Sasuke jumps. With the sedative and the exhaustion, Sasuke hadn't sensed someone being in the room with him. Sakura is sitting at the desk next to the bed, writing a note with neat handwriting. "We had to put it back in while you were out. If you rest it for the next few days and take the anti-inflammatories, you should be good to get out of the sling and then go back to moving it with light activity at first."
"I thought I told you to leave." Sasuke says quietly, too spent and mentally overdrawn for any energetic display of displeasure at Sakura's repeated presence.
"And I did leave. But then you decided to dislocate your shoulder and cut up your hands punching things, so naturally it was my obligation as a medic to come back. Or is it that you just wanted to see me again earlier?"
Sasuke slants a poisonous gaze at her and then looks down at his lap. The last two weeks have taken a great physical and mental toll on him and he didn't care for any more confrontations. He was just tired.
Sakura takes this moment of quiet defeat and uses it as an opportunity.
She kneels at the side of Sasuke's bed and looks up at him with pleading green eyes.
"Sasuke-kun, please. For the sake of our past together and all of the challenges we've been through as a team and during the war. I know you think you love Naruto, but she doesn't love you back. You don't treat someone you love the way she is treating you now. I mean, look around you! You're imprisoned and tortured at her command. You shouldn't love someone like that."
Sasuke feels defeated. At any other moment he would have gotten angry, would have defended Naruto and the orders she was obligated to give as a leader in the situation she was put in, even if none of the results had played out his favor. But he is just too tired and disappointed to voice any such thing.
"And I should love you instead?" Sasuke is being sarcastic, but Sakura scooches closer to the bed.
"Yes. I know I wasn't your first choice, but you never gave me a real chance. I would never allow any of what is happening to you now. I would do whatever you need me to – leave the village, give you children, anything."
Sakura reaches for Sasuke's good hand and rests hers on top of it. Sasuke looks at her hand on top of his, the first sense of compassionate human touch and warmth he's had in over two weeks of being locked up in this underground.
He looks down to where Sakura is kneeling by the bed. Her green eyes are big, open, pleading. Hopeful. Sasuke looks at her for a few moments, his face unreadable. As time stretches, Sakura's eyes grow even more hopeful, she smiles gently and begins leaning up toward him.
"Sakura…"
"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura lets out in a sweet, honeyed voice, laced with excited hope.
"If you ever disrespect my wife this way again, I will murder you."
Sakura suddenly withdraws, as if burned by hot water. For a moment she thinks that Sasuke has his chakra back and will set her aflame with the Amaterasu with the way his black eyes are looking like burning flames.
"Leave and never come back. I'll take a newbie medic if I have to. We don't owe anything to each other just because of our past half a lifetime ago."
Sakura feels something inside her chest break. The growing hope she'd had for a minute, the closeness she felt she'd been developing with Sasuke. All squashed and stepped on until it had turned to dust with his rejection. Sakura grabs her things and runs out, trying to hold in the tears until she was far enough. This wasn't the first time Sasuke had rejected her, but it hurt even more that he was rejecting her now even when he was at odds with Naruto and the blonde had caused him so much suffering. Sakura had thought that would be her chance, while Sasuke had the opportunity to see Naruto for what she really was – absorbed by her work, willing to sacrifice Sasuke for the good of the village, only having been with him for status as the last Uchiha…
Sakura takes in a deep breath and wipes at her eyes. It would be okay. Sasuke had rejected her before and she had been able to get over it. There was no way these two were going make it, not with the recent turn of events and not with Naruto willingly distancing herself from Sasuke. Sakura only hoped that with time, Sasuke would see that Naruto was not a devoted wife at all, and she didn't deserve his loyalty.
Sakura had offered to heal the sick mother of one of the ANBUs tasked with guarding Sasuke thus making sure she is notified the next time Sasuke required medical attention. Then she'd pulled rank on the already assigned medic to convince him that he had been replaced and that she was being sent by the Hokage personally. "Don't you think it's obvious that the Hokage would want her old teammate taking care of her husband instead of a stranger?" Sakura had said to the medic who was not at all familiar with the love interest history between the three.
Sakura wasn't sure if that plan would work, but as soon as Ino had told the pinkette what had happened to Sasuke, she'd gone right down to planning how to get in and see him while he was by himself. As a lucky turn of events, Naruto had decided to distance herself from the care of Sasuke's imprisonment and the appointed Hyuuga Naoto didn't seem to be stopping Sakura from visiting Sasuke.
Another opportunity would arise, Sakura knew. Soon. She'd waited so many years until an abyss deep enough had opened between Sasuke and Naruto for their relationship to fall through, but just narrow enough for Sakura to be able to jump over to Sasuke's side.
Present day:
Frantic knocking on the door has Sakura running downstairs to see what is happening.
"Thanks a lot Sakura! Is that what you really wanted?! For me to get blamed and punished?!" A frantic Ino with red eyes gets in Sakura's face as she opens the door. Sakura is startled at the commotion at first, then looks around and pulls the other woman in.
"Lower your voice! What are you talking about?"
Ino is sobbing, her red and tearful eyes a stark contrast with her pale skin. She points a finger at Sakura and the anguish in her voice lets Sakura know how upset she is.
"I shared the secret with you, trusting you! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone! And this morning I walk into my shop and Naruto is there with all her fucking ANBU army waiting for me! I got my security clearance revoked, Sakura! My security clearance! Do you know what that means?! I can basically never be a shinobi again!" Ino falls into a deep sob and wipes at her eyes. Sakura reaches out to her in an attempt of comfort.
"Don't fucking touch me! How could you do this to me?! I could have been arrested, tortured, locked up in a cell! I didn't tell anyone, not even Sai, only you. How could you betray me like that?!"
"I didn't say anything!" Sakura insists and before Ino can go on another spiral, Sakura hurries to continue. "I didn't repeat what you said to me to anyone else. I swear! Ino, I really didn't, you have to believe me! It must have been someone else."
Ino's sobbing quiets down as she looks at Sakura with measuring eyes. Then in a quiet and anguished voice, she lets out: "Who else could it have been Sakura? That info is perfectly set up to point to me as the source."
"It wasn't-"
"I don't believe you." Ino shakes her head. "Even if it really wasn't you, you should have never put me in a position to beg that information out of me. You wanted that info for something and I don't even want to know what it was. I'm out of your fucking mess. You've put me in such a horrible spot. The friendship that we've had until now – it's over. I need to do better, surround myself better. I can't be around you and your pathetic strive for Sasuke's love anymore. He'll never love you and you need to make your peace with that."
Sakura clenches her jaw in anger. She wants to scream at Ino, but Ino is already slamming the door shut on her way out. For some reason, it's Sakura's turn to break down and cry as soon as she is left alone.
"Reinforced security has been deployed, Nanadaime," Naoto walks with the Hokage through the underground tunnels and talks to her quietly. "There has been increasing civil unrest being registered in the last two hours. I've had my best ANBU teams scope the conference building for any dangers. They are finishing up checking all attendees from the press as we speak. People keep piling up in front of the Hokage building and conference hall in protest. Almost all are civilians."
Naruto clenches her jaw. This whole thing was proving to be a political murder worse than what they'd
ever dealt with before.
"Nanadaime-sama. Would you like me to deploy an ANBU team to question Haruno about leaking the info to the press?"
"No need. It wasn't her," Naruto cuts out.
Hyuuga finds himself confused at the certainty in the Hokage's voice. "Nanadaime?"
"I spent years in team seven with the woman. It wasn't her. It's just not her style and she is smarter than that. Whoever broke secrecy, we are playing with someone who wanted to frame Yamanaka Ino as the weakest link in secret keeping. Justified assumption - but neither of the two is our person. We need to keep looking as soon as we are done putting this fire out. Actually, Naoto-san. Have Sakura followed. And report directly to me." She slants a serious gaze at the Hyuuga. He nods.
Naruto goes back to the pressing matter. "What is the attendance at the conference?"
"The whole hall is full, most are standing," Shikamaru supplies from the blonde's left side. "There's more press outside that couldn't fit. The last time we had attendance like that was when Sasuke was on trial after the war."
"Tsk," Naruto clenches her jaw and her eyebrows furrow. They'd been so close to cleaning this up without too much noise. Naruto regrets her poor reaction at her wedding party when she had initially found out Sasuke had broken into her mind. If she had just had better restraint - as she should have had as a leader – and waited to confront Sasuke in private, they could have avoided this whole mess altogether. But it was too late now and they had to adapt to this new unfolding of events which unfortunately was probably the worst way this could have gone.
The tunnel leads them to the conference center. When they near the hall, Naruto sees a familiar figure she had not been expecting standing there, waiting for them.
"Gaara," Naruto is looking at the man astounded and confused as to why he was there. Gaara turns around and something about the fast-steadiness of his stance and the certainty of his eyes makes Naruto unclench the fists she hadn't realize she had been clenching. Gaara glances at the crescent shapes the blonde's nails had left on her palms.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asks, honestly surprised.
"One more Kage being on your side can only help your case as you face these vultures." Gaara's steady and confident voice reassures Naruto. Gaara's much longer experience as acting Kage shows and Naruto finds herself drawing confidence from him.
"This could be bad PR for Suna though. You shouldn't get involved in anything that could incriminate you and make them speculate about your involvement."
"I'm already too deep in." Gaara says and Naruto finds herself captured in the grounding way he is looking at her. Whether he meant too deep in this situation or too deep in something else, Naruto doesn't have time to ponder because in the next moment Kakashi and Shikamaru are whisking Naruto away to go through notes.
Hyuuga Naoto regards the Kazekage in a discreet and evaluating manner. There is no doubt that the man had always had the Hokage's back and had made the Hyuuga's job of protecting the blonde much easier on many occasions, as recently as the last Kage summit. Even today he was here and ready. Naoto wasn't aware of any oath Gaara had given to Naruto binding him to serve her like the one the Hyuuga had taken. Apart from the Hokage aiding in saving the redhead's life during a mission against the Akatsuki many years ago, Naoto wasn't aware of anything else binding the man to the Hokage.
There was only one possible reason the Kazekage kept standing at the Nanadaime's side with no reward to his own. One glance at Nara Shikamaru who is also regarding the two Kages walking side by side, confirms to Naoto that the Nara knows explicit information that the Hyuuga doesn't. He didn't need to know, anyway. He had plenty of extensive experience in intelligence gathering which let him know by the Kazekage's and the Nara's body language that Gaara was in love with the Hokage and the Nara was covering for him. Furthermore, Hyuuga was able to infer that it was very likely the Uchiha's anger toward the Kazekage stemmed from something possibly happening in the past between the two Kages.
He didn't need to know details. He just needed to know which people around the Hokage were safe enough to be around her, and who she could rely on if she was in need. The Kazekage had always been on the safe side in Naoto's book. People didn't call Hyuuga Naoto the "Hokage's watchdog" for nothing. His vigilance and loyalty to the Hokage's safety were well-known across the shinobi nations.
Then there was the question of the Hokage's increasing withdrawal symptoms from the breakdown of her karmic bond with Uchiha Sasuke. She'd managed to hold out from seeing the man for the last five days in her decision to finally separate from him. Naoto was doing his best to put back in order the dysregulated chakra flow she was experiencing during the withdrawal symptoms, but it was getting harder and harder for him to manage on his own. He'd never worked through anything like that before and although he was able to help the Hokage manage the symptoms for now with his Byakugan and targeted chakra therapy, he had no prior point of reference to guide him on how to possibly prevent those symptoms, how bad it could get, and how long it could last. For all they knew, the last episode of the withdrawal could have already happened, or this was just the beginning of it and it would be getting much worse.
Whatever it was, Naoto was prepared to handle it. Whatever the Hokage needed, he would do it. He had not given his oath lightly, all those years ago, and he didn't take lightly the responsibility of being the Hokage's protector. He would continue keeping an eye on the Hokage and on everyone around her, especially now when the Uchiha was locked away and couldn't aid Hyuuga in the protection of the Hokage.
He just hoped that the added stress of what was happening now and what was about to happen would not be the last straw in the increasingly more fragile state he was finding the Hokage in.
When they enter the conference hall, Naruto finds herself taken aback by the amount of people present and the chattering noise as soon as she comes out. The camera flashes make her blink. She'd never seen the conference hall so full – after the war, when Sasuke had first been trialed, she'd been in the audience, but never on this side of the hall and never the one to have to answer before all these people.
Naruto swallows in nervousness. A grounding, warm touch on her lower back make her look up and see Gaara, his posture and eyes steady. He steps in front of her and pulls his chair to sit in his spot calmly. He slightly turns his head back toward Naruto – not in an obvious way that would bring attention to how nervous she was, but reassuring enough that Naruto follows exactly in his example and sits in the middle of the table. The slight angle Gaara's glance had taken while making sure that Naruto is settled down now shifts to the audience. He scans each one of them with his eyes and while some are obviously whispering and gossiping, they stop immediately when he meets their eyes.
Kakashi and Shikamaru sit on either side of Naruto. Hyuuga Naoto remains vigilant, standing at a spot where he could see the entire hall. Ever the Hokage's loyal watchdog.
When Shikamaru begins speaking as the moderator of this and most conferences, the whole chatter in the audience dies down and everyone grows quiet.
"Thank you all for coming today, especially on such a short notice. We understand there has been new, classified information spreading in the village and the Hokage and us, the members of her office, would like to address it directly. Please allow the Hokage to speak and hold your questions until the end."
Naruto swallows, feeling all eyes on her. The silence in the room is the loudest noise she'd ever heard. Nevertheless, she focuses, her eyes sharp and voice confident.
"We will tell the truth." She begins. "As you all know, a wedding ceremony between Uchiha Sasuke and I was planned. Two weeks ago during a personal gathering before my then-scheduled wedding ceremony, I had a sudden recollection of Sasuke… Uchiha Sasuke having broken into my mind almost a year prior using his Sharingan. At the time, Uchiha Sasuke was arrested by ANBU, accused of high treason, taken into custody for interrogation to determine why he had done so and if he had done so maliciously. We wanted to determine if he possibly had wanted to obtain national secrets and somehow sabotage the village or its allies. Everyone present at the ceremony was sworn to the sacred oath of secrecy."
Naruto eyes the journalists sternly, does not allow them to start whispering about why that had been necessary.
"Everyone present was sworn to secrecy due to the fact that Uchiha Sasuke is our most valuable and most effective defense against outer threats. He is exactly what people started calling him through the years – the Shadow Hokage. The sole reason Konoha and our allies have been able to avoid at least two dozen catastrophes that could have wiped out their entire populations in the last eight years is just one – Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto gives them a minute to mull that over. "If word had gotten out that our strongest outer defense agent was now compromised without an immediate replacement, Konoha would be against immediate threat of outside attack. As we are now."
Whispering begins, panic growing in the air. Naruto continues.
"In the background, in the last two weeks, we were able to identify and confirm with one hundred percent certainty that Uchiha Sasuke did not in fact obtain any national secrets while being inside my mind, and he did not do so with any intention of harming Konoha or its allies. The reason he had done so was strictly personal and will not be discussed further. Following Uchiha's imprisonment and further extensive interrogation and evidence collection, the five Kages met and determined with majority that Uchiha Sasuke would not stand international trial for this mental trespassing, and that Konoha would be the only authority responsible with his jurisdiction. As leader of Konoha, putting all my personal feelings for the man aside, and with my council's faithful advise, it was determined that Uchiha Sasuke is far too valuable to remain in custody. His misdemeanor this time will not be tried in court as it did not threaten national security. Even more – out national security is threatened every minute Uchiha Sasuke remains in custody instead of out, protecting us. All of us."
Naruto looks around the hall slowly.
"Uchiha was supposed to be released this morning, as I said, after a meeting between all five Kages where this top confidential mater was discussed. That was until someone broke the oath of secrecy they had been sworn to – a crime, by the way, also called high treason. We will find out who broke secrecy." Naruto does not elaborate on what would follow after discovering the person in question, but the way her eyes darken and her voice lowers, it becomes clear there will be no leniency.
"In conclusion, I want to strongly advise against any civil unrest. While it is within Konohan citizens' right to protest, causing civil unrest is not an appropriate response to this. I repeat again that Uchiha Sasuke is our most effective defense against outer threats, our most efficient intelligence gatherer. This family dispute is not worth undoing almost a decade of strategic planning. I understand how mine and my office's actions regarding this seem deceitful. However, remember that this was a matter of national security, and most national security concerns remain confidential. The safety and wellbeing of Konoha's citizens is what I have dedicated my life to and I hope that I have served you well enough so far so you believe me when I say that this was the necessary path to take in order to salvage the situation in a controlled and accurate manner. Thank you."
There is silence as Naruto sits down.
Kakashi chimes in before they open the panel for questions: "As former Hokage, I would have done the same. Konoha has been safe and peaceful for so long, majorly due to Uchiha and his outer defense work. I understand how the oath of secrecy may seem controversial to the people that have never been sworn to one. But these oaths are often necessary, often for the safety of the whole village. I was tasked to keep the oath of secrecy the Fourth swore me to – I was sworn to not reveal that his one and only child had survived, and who she was until she was eighteen. I kept that oath for seventeen years and I would have kept it longer if she found out before that…" Kakashi smiles and glances at Naruto. "All of this is to say, there are just certain things that need to be done, certain people that need to be protected for the good of all. Uchiha Sasuke is someone we cannot afford losing as a village, and especially not over a personal squabble with his lovely wife." Kakashi smiles sweetly.
Shikamaru opens up the panel for questions. There are several reminders that only questions with raised up hands will be answered.
"Hokage-sama. Are you saying there are no back-up mechanisms in place to ensure Konoha's safety against outer threats in case of the incapacitation of Uchiha Sasuke? Surely, the lack of such would be a huge miss on your administration's end."
Naruto leans in toward her mic, slightly annoyed. "Of course there are back-up mechanisms and established planning, a lot of it set up by Uchiha himself in case of his compromise. These mechanisms have been deployed the moment he was taken into custody. The details of these plans will not be discussed in public as to preserve Konoha's borders and national security. However, I will say this – an incredible amount of resources is required to almost sufficiently replace the work and intelligence gathering Uchiha Sasuke was achieving almost single-handedly."
Naruto allows a few uninterrupted moments for the sake of Sasuke's importance maybe getting through to the press and civilians.
"How can you stay impartial in such a decision? Surely, your personal feelings and relationship with Uchiha Sasuke have influenced your course of action. I believe we all recall how adamant you were eight years ago, Nanadaime-sama, when the same man was to stand international trial for his previous treason and crimes. Are you suggesting it is not possible for him to be a recidivist?"
Naruto had done her best to control herself and her answers until now. Hearing the thinly veiled accusation that she put her husband in front of her loyalty to the village made a flash of anger pass through her. With furrowed brows, Naruto leans forward closer to the microphone to answer, fire ready on her tongue. Just then, another voice interrupts her.
"With Hokage-sama's permission, I would like to address this question."
Naruto looks to her right and sees Gaara, calmly leaning against the table, his body slightly turned to her. His body language grounds Naruto and instills full confidence in him. She nods and leans back.
"I am here to represent Suna as Konoha's biggest and strongest ally and trade partner." Gaara's smooth and calm voice begins. "I backed up the Hokage's course of actions in dealing with this situation in the course of the investigation, and I am here now, today, to back her up once again. Leaders sometimes have to do things, make decisions, that may seem deceitful at face value, especially when not knowing all of the circumstances and parties involved. I am here today to testify that your Hokage acted in Konoha's best interest. It is in Konoha's best interest to pardon this misdemeanor and have Uchiha Sasuke back out and protecting Konoha's borders. And this statement is definitely not coming from someone who harbors even the lightest ounce of positive feelings toward the man."
Chuckles are heard around the room. Gaara gives it a moment, then continues seriously.
"I hope none of you have forgotten the sacrifice Uchiha Itachi had to make to prevent a civil war and keep peace in Konoha – under the orders of the Third Hokage. In fact, nobody would have known if Naruto hadn't decided to unearth that confidential information and clear Itachi's name and honor him. The people who knew, kept their oath of secrecy. That is what needs to be done behind the curtains sometimes in order to protect the majority. Just because you don't see the threats on the outside, doesn't mean they are not there. You are just being sufficiently protected against finding out what really is out there."
"Kazekage-sama, forgive my bluntness," a woman journalist chimes in. "Why are you here today, sitting next to the Hokage, backing up her actions? This is hardly Suna's issue. Are you doing this out of personal feelings for the Hokage?"
Shikamaru immediately glances at Gaara, worried that his brother-in-law would falter at being publicly accused of having romantic feelings for Naruto, which was indeed true, and going as far as to do the woman personal favors. However, the Kazekage does not falter.
"There is no need for me to do anything out of personal feelings." Gaara answers and Shikamaru almost smiles at how he had alluded confirming or denying his feelings for the blonde. "The Hokage objectively presented myself as well as the other three Kages with authentic data and full report of what information Uchiha Sasuke had sought out in the Hokage's mind. I was personally responsible for peer-reviewing that information and its authenticity. My experts vouched for its authenticity and completeness. I have no reason to believe that Uchiha Sasuke was being malicious to national safety, and I support the Hokage in pardoning this misdemeanor for the sake of having your outer defenses back up and running at their ultimate level."
"Hokage-sama," a man asks this time. "Last Fall we had an attack on Konoha and while there weren't many casualties, there was a lot of damage. While everything is restored now, do you not consider it a huge miss on Uchiha Sasuke's part to allow that attack? At the end of the day, if he really is as essential to our outer safety as you claim he is, doesn't this very recent example disprove the functions and importance you claimed he has?"
Naruto is swift and confident with her answer: "For every "miss" that you know of, there are a dozen, much worse threats that you do not know of, that he has single-handedly prevented upon ours and neighboring villages."
Another question from the press comes in. "The popular opinion at this moment is that Uchiha Sasuke needs to stand public trial for this. Would you allow that to happen?"
"As I've said, and I will continue saying – Uchiha Sasuke is more valuable to all of us out and free, and not locked away and being trialed. My administration has determined his misdemeanor to be appropriate for forgiveness in exchange for his continued value as an asset. In other words – we have no more time to keep him locked away. We need him out and working."
There seems to be some commotion rising in the attendees from the press and the rest of the public. They forsake raising their hands to ask their questions anymore. Instead, they just stand up, insistent on being heard.
"The people of Konoha are tired of being played around by the Uchiha!"
"Yes!" Another man stands up without prior permission. "First, Uchiha Madara, then Uchiha Fugaku, Obito, Itachi, and now Uchiha Sasuke. The people of Konoha finally want justice for having suffered so much at the hands of the Uchiha!" Other people in the room stand up cheer for that. Suddenly the room becomes very loud as people continue standing up and begin moving around.
Naruto is taken aback by the blatant hatred demonstrated in front of her for the Uchiha clan. She had thought that hatred had been resolved years ago when she had unearthed the secret files of Uchiha Itachi's mission and had cleared up his name. Or at least she thought she had. Seeing how the statement by this one person was now being tossed around and repeated around the hall with approval makes Naruto's throat tighten with the realization that maybe Sasuke really was right and he really had no place in the village. Maybe he really never had a chance here, long before he was old enough to understand how unsympathetic his last name alone made him in people's eyes. Naruto acutely realizes that no matter what she says and how she tries to spin Sasuke's importance, Sasuke would always be the antihero in Konoha's eyes.
As Naruto tries to intervene and appease the beast of negative public opinion that was rapidly expanding in the hall, she finds nobody is listening to her anymore. As if electricity in the air, unrest buzzes around as people become more and more hyped with the idea that the Uchiha clan is the root of all their troubles and that Sasuke cannot be released.
"We can't have the Uchiha's whore deciding his fate again! We, the people, need to bring justice to that cursed clan!" The statement is greeted with increasing cheering.
Hyuuga Naoto pulls Naruto out of the hall before the unrest escalates. He pulls her through the tunnels to a safe part of the Hokage building. Naruto doesn't remember how she got there, she can't remember anything but the hatred she saw in the villagers' eyes, and how much of that hatred she recognized as having been directed at her when she was a child and everyone but her knew she was housing the demon fox who had destroyed their village and killed their beloved Fourth Hokage. Naruto's heart was clenching with pain - even though the villagers' eyes had softened to her exponentially through the years, Sasuke had had to live with that hatred even as an adult, with really no hope of ever winning back the sympathies he had undoubtedly lost even before he went rogue, consumed by the lie that Itachi had betrayed him.
Naruto grips her chest and holds it, agony eating at her for all the years she had been convinced Sasuke was wrong when saying he did not belong in this village and he was not welcome. If the villagers were willing to show such hatred in front of their leader, directed at her husband, Naruto could only imagine how Sasuke felt when he was alone, especially before they had gotten together which had somewhat softened the public opinion of him. Naruto begins to rethink everything Sasuke has said, every single time he had shared with her he had no place in the village. Maybe he'd been right.
They're in the Hokage building now and Naruto hears distant calls of her name. She turns to see Shikamaru talking to her with worried eyes but none of it is registering.
Suddenly, she is being pulled into a warm and comforting embrace, one that makes her eyes water with the recognition of her distress. Gaara holds her and allows her a moment where she does not have to be a strong leader, responsible for everyone else. She can cry if she needed to.
Naruto does not allow herself to break down though, not yet. She closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath – finds Gaara's scent comforting and steadying – and pulls back from his offered comfort. Naruto looks up to the man who has pulled her out of all kinds of messes through the years. Gratitude floods her chest once more.
"Thank you for having my back. As always."
Gaara just looks down at her, his face unreadable but so comforting in his mere presence. Naruto recognizes that something inside her seems to calm down and hush when he is there. Gaara doesn't say anything back, just gives her a slow nod.
"There is a lot to do," Naruto addresses Shikamaru and Naoto. "Let's go."
Gaara follows Naruto with his eyes as she walks away. He is almost startled when he notices a face he hadn't seen in years. Tsunade is leaning against a column in the hall, her arms crossed, looking at Gaara curiously. It is Tsunade, Gaara confirms by her chakra signature, and her next question leaves no doubt in confirming her identity.
"Still? After all these years?"
Gaara looks at the woman, unchanged by time. She had been the only one who had directly found out about the short romance Naruto and he had had during the war. At the time, she had caringly confronted him, warning him that his feelings for the blonde were in vain, and that his love for her would only bring him hurt and heartbreak. She had not been wrong as the years had proven, but Gaara was too deep then and he was certainly even deeper now.
"Always." Gaara finds himself uttering the only truth he was sure about in the world. He knew with the marrow of his bones that there would be nothing that would ever make him fall out of love with Naruto.
Tsunade's eyes soften and well up with sympathy. She turns around and begins walking in the direction Naruto had left with her advisors.
"Ahh, this gaki. Always making messes." Her high heels click rhythmically as she walks away.
Naruto feels the approaching woman before she sees her. The blonde interrupts the conversation she'd been having with her advisors and takes fast strides toward the door.
"Tsunade-baa-chan!" Naruto beams at seeing the woman. She immediately throws herself at Tsunade, wrapping her arms around her.
"There, there, gaki. You don't have to be so violently affectionate every time." Tsunade pretends she is annoyed but the warmth in her eyes and the loving way she cups Naruto's cheek when she withdraws betray the love she bears for the younger woman.
"I didn't know you were coming back to town! Honestly, I could have used you a minute ago. You didn't send a notice, I would have had everything prepared for you…"
"That's okay, gaki. I did well on your own with the support you had at the conference. I already have accommodations sorted out. I have an old friend with whom I will be staying."
The sly smile on Tsunade's face makes Naruto scrunch up her nose. "Gross, baa-chan."
Kakashi, Shika and Naoto all come to greet Tsunade. Naoto, always respectful, bows to the former Hokage.
"Jeez, gaki. When will you teach your watchdog there is no need to be this formal all the time." Tsunade muses, hands on her waist, as she smiles at Naoto and nods in recognition of his paid respect.
"Tell me about it," Naruto giggles and bumps Naoto with her elbow. "He still calls me sama all the time, even though he fixes all my shit all the time."
Naoto regards the Hokage and the much better spirits she appears to be in with the appearance of the Godaime Hokage. The Hyuuga finds himself almost smiling at the friendly and endearing jabs from the two women.
"I thought you were somewhere drunk in a ditch, baa-chan. You didn't even respond to the invitation to my wedding? I even deployed an ANBU squat to go see if you're okay – they came back and said you were in some dude's house, alive and well!"
"I must have been staying with my other friend at the time and missed your invitation." Tsunade says thoughtfully. "You know, you get disoriented when…"
"Gross, stop—I don't want to know. Glad you're enjoying your retirement though. It's been a shitshow here."
Tsunade face suddenly gets serious.
"I know, that I heard. That's why I'm here. I left you for too long and it shows."
With a new, more serious demeaner around, the group briefs Tsunade on what strategies they have so far, how their borders are being protected, and how the current scandal should be handled before it escalates. Given by how the conference had gone, escalation was almost certain.
"I want to nip this thing at the bud." Naruto says with a serious face. "Kakashi-sensei, when you were Hokage right after the war and people were protesting Sasuke's pardon, public opinion still was not this charged."
Shikamaru chimes in, "People were still freshly burned by the war back then and had a more forgiving attitude. They still felt what the war had done and taken away from them which made them more sympathetic of Sasuke's pardon because of his contribution in ending the war. Now, though, people don't see signs of the horror and destruction around them anymore. We've been living in peaceful times. There hasn't been much controversy to talk and protest about."
Tsunade huffs. "PR scandals are as old as time. Scandals and gossip were around when I was Hokage, and far before me. Sometimes you just have to indulge the public, give them what they want, until something bigger comes up and takes the attention off of your smaller, less significant thing. Maybe you'll have to indulge the public for now for the sake of preventing an escalation."
"Trial may be the only way, Nanadaime-sama," Naoto advises from Naruto's right side.
Naruto hears that and her face and body language immediately close off at the suggestion.
"No. Nobody will be punished under my ruling because of their last name, or because of their record of familial treason. Not the Senju, not the Hyuuga, who had put a seal on you, Naoto-san, branding you second-class clansman; not the Nara, and certainly not the Uchiha, especially the last Uchiha. I will just not allow it to happen on my watch."
Naoto regards Naruto - regards passion, her devotion to righteousness, to fairness. To protecting the people she loved. All the qualities that had made him kneel before her and offer her his loyalty and protection all these years ago. His vow weights in its place as heavily today as it did the first day.
Relief washes over the Hyuuga. Relief that Naruto was still in there, her soul and her true core were still alive in that shell of herself she had become lately.
"Understood, Hokage-sama. Let's keep looking for a solution."
I will not bore you with details of why it took much longer than expected to update – briefly: my life was exploding. At a better place now.
Second half of this update is coming on Sunday. It's already written out and edited.
I do appreciate everyone who takes the time read this story and share their thoughts. 🙏