Chapter Text
The next morning, he was woken by something blunt and splintery jabbing his shoulder. He moaned in frustration and rolled over, but the prodding did not stop, and he was forced fully awake. He looked up and saw both Sasuke and Sakura there, gaping at him with concerned and surprised expressions, Sasuke holding a stick.
“What he heck, guys?! Were you poking me with a stick?” Naruto demanded, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before sitting upright. “What time is it even? It’s still dark out! I don’t need to be awake yet!”
“Oh, good, it’s going away…” Sakura breathed out, sounding deeply relieved. Naruto was even more confused than before.
“What’s going away? What are you going on about?”
“The Nine Tailed Fox, it seemed to be coming out.” Sasuke explained. “Your whisker marks thickened, and claws were coming out. I think I saw fangs too.”
Wait. What?
“No way. That’s not possible.” he replied, dumbfounded. But, he couldn’t help but test it himself, tongue reaching forward. And, it met sharp fangs where blunt teeth once lay- they really weren’t lying. But, why would something like that happen to him? Wasn’t his seal too strong for that? He knew Gaara’s tailed beast would come out whenever he slept, but he also didn’t have as strong of a seal as Naruto…
Wracking his brain, he suddenly recalled a point where Jiraiya had removed several prongs from his seal before. Initially, it improved his performance dramatically, suddenly able to do several things he struggled severely with before- but, was that only because the seal was weakened, and he had more access to Kurama’s chakra?
Jiraiya didn’t seem like the type to be careless and make a mistake that caused his seal to be too weak. He was a sage, he knew better about that kind of stuff than anyone else, right? But, still, he had the issue now. How come it’s only a problem now? He paused, thinking it over. Then, the realization struck him. Or, did Jiraiya know, and purposefully didn’t tell me?
He knew Jiraiya had been acting more strange as of recently. But, he couldn’t really piece together why, and it didn’t seem he was going to get the chance to think it over, both Sakura and Sasuke already ushering him to get a move on.
“We’ll figure it out later.” Sakura said, trying to mask her concern. “We have a mission to do. And plus, it’s going away now that you’re awake. You just need to stay awake.”
Naruto checked again, prodding at his teeth with his tongue, and he found that the fangs were slowly rescinding. They were right.
“Okay, wait, but why do we have to go now? It’s still dark out…” Naruto grumbled, sleepily rubbing at his eyes.
“The meeting is at sunrise. They do things earlier in Suna, probably before it gets smolderingly hot.” Sasuke answered, already ready to leave and lingering by the door, looking for all the world as if he were tortured by Naruto’s lack of haste. “Not to mention all the check-ins we have to do once we get there.”
“It’s never that hard in Konoha! When I wanna see granny Tsunade, I just kinda go up and walk in.” The blonde grumbled, irritated by the early hour and the disrupted sleep, but begrudgingly getting ready.
“That’s the difference. You’re very familiar with her. She’s the kage of our own village, too. It’s different going to visit a kage of a different village.” Sakura lectured.
“Hey, I am way familiar with Gaara!” Naruto protested, but they both just rolled their eyes in response.
“Yeah, that’s why you’ve been selected for this mission, dummy.” Sakura retorted, slapping the back of his head, albeit more gently than usual though.
“So, you’ll know exactly what to say,” Sasuke interjected “Right?”
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Soon, Naruto found himself before the looming conference room doors, extra arms tucked neatly inside of his jumpsuit jacket. Inside, he’d surely find dozens of stone-faced, dead-serious council members perched around a circle table.
He knew as Hokage, he’d need to be able to see himself in those sort of situations, but… Well, whenever he thought of his grandiose future excerpts as Hokage, his mind always had a way of omitting the more monotonous, less grandiose aspects of the job.
He found himself incredibly nervous to walk through those doors. What would he say? How should he act? What if there were some unspoken council-meeting rules he didn’t know about, or if he said something stupid that put the mission at jeopardy?
He was good at persuasion, but, in his own way and on his own terms. Sometimes, when in a battle, he’d see an opportunity that raised the urge for a well-placed, earnest speech. But, this was a conference room, not a passionate, heart-to-heart battle with people he could empathise with. It was probably just a bunch of old coots.
Except… Well, maybe Gaara. Gaara was all right. After all, he was the only one he really needed to convince, right?
“Enough dilly-dallying, Naruto! Get in there!” Sakura pressed fiercely, shoving him towards the door and nearly making him tumble through them- definitely not the professional entry he wanted to make.
“Okay, I’m going, I’m going!” He snapped back, but stayed rooted in his spot. Tentatively, he added, “In a minute.”
“You’re just making yourself more nervous doing that.” Sasuke observed in that stupid know-it-all voice. Naruto had half a mind to just grab Sasuke and shove him in there, if it was so easy!
“Oh yeah, laugh it up Sasuke!” Naruto spat.
“I’m not laughing.” He replied coolly.
“Okay, enough! Naruto, seriously, get in there!” Sakura finally snapped, grabbing Naruto’s shoulders. She then blurted out the quickest pep-talk she could manage. “You know Gaara. You’ll do great. Now get your butt in there.”
And, before he could procrastinate any longer, he was pushed through the doors unceremoniously.
It was basically exactly what he’d expected, but seeing it in real life rather than the mind’s-eye was a completely different, even more nerve wracking experience. Real stares and expectations all pinned on him the moment he walked in, harsh split-second judgements made of Naruto.
But, then, there was Gaara, at the apex of the table and seated on the tallest chair. He seemed to radiate power, but now in a different, almost regal way. Gone was the psychotic, deeply troubled and hurting boy he’d first met in the Chuunin exams, replaced by a confident and assured version of himself, capable of leading a village. That’s what a Kage should look like. That’s what I want to look like, when I’m Hokage.
Soon, Gaara’s eyes met Naruto’s, and to his surprise, he saw a smile. Or, at least, the hint of a smile, the crickling of his eyes and the slight upturn of his lips- still more than he’d ever have expected to see from Gaara. It made Naruto feel a little giddy to know he was friends with Gaara, a now powerful Kage, but in a different way than being friends with Tsunade.
“Welcome, Naruto. We’ve been waiting for you.” Gaara greeted, voice deep and smooth. It made him feel better to know he at least one friend in that room, who didn’t think he was completely stupid and unfit for the role.
“Hi, Gaara.” Naruto breathed out, a breath of relief. He noticed the only chair left empty was one of the chairs right next to Gaara, the place of an advisor. Gaara gestured to the empty seat with a languid movement of his hand, silky kazekage robes rippling with the movement.
Naruto wasted no time settling down next to Gaara, feeling the oppressive atmosphere of the room abating a little bit. Before on his own, he was still the knuckle-headed idiot ninja, who had everything to prove and nothing yet to show. But, sitting next to Gaara, nobody dare judge or comment on him, not when he had the respect of their Kazekage.
But, that comfort was short-lived, as he then was hit with the reality of the situation once more. He was really doing this right now. What did he say? Did he wait for them to ask him something, or did he just start going? And, if he did, what did he say? Think, Naruto, think. Tsunade wants you to convince them to keep the alliance. So, just do that. Even though you’ve not been in Konoha for almost nine months, and have no clue what’s going on…
The council members were all looking at him, which caused a nervous lump in his throat he couldn’t swallow. That was until he realized, they weren’t actually looking at him- they were looking at Gaara.
The Kazekage scanned the room one last time before giving a little nod to the council members, all of them seeming to understand the little gesture instantly.
“Battleground fatalities are up 16% from last quarter.” One of the council members piped up, an old man with a gravely voice and a thin, scraggly, white beard.
“Still no support from Konoha. Our forces are outnumbered, and we’re losing the element of surprise on the battle fronts.” Another said, an old woman, wearing some sort of traditional Sunagakure headgear of flowy silky fabrics, to keep the sand out and ventilate.
Gaara turned his head to one council member, who compared to the rest of the monotone members, looked particularly antsy to speak. A little nod was all it took for him to begin barreling on.
“The Hokage has sent forces that made several attempts to kill leaders of other villages, a brutal and provoking method of trying to wage her wars. When the attempts proved ineffective, she began to blame it on Sunagakure.” He blurted out. The room, somehow, went even more silent than before. It was clearly news to everyone there, including Gaara, who even in all his own monotony seemed surprised.
“She blamed us for these assasination attempts?” Gaara replied, voice calm and unwavering, even though internally he must be fretting right now. Ninja have started wars for much less, and would probably be seeking vengeance- towards Gaara himself.
Naruto, for his part, was absolutely gob-smacked. Was that true? Tsunade hadn’t mentioned that at all, and it seemed like a pretty important thing to mention. Part of him wanted to ask if that was true, but, it’d make him look like a fool, wouldn’t it? It’d show just how little he actually knew about Konoha’s affairs, and then who would listen to him then?
But then again, who would listen to him now? Gaara, probably. He reminded himself. He looked to Gaara tentatively, who stared expectantly back at him. His gaze flickered down to Naruto’s midsection, particularly where his second set of arms was tucked away, but his gaze flitted back up to his face just as quickly.
“That… That really just does not seem like her. She never mentioned anything of the sort to me. Are you… sure your information is right?” Naruto asked, voice wavering.
“We’re absolutely sure. We had our most competent anbu spies reporting this information back to us.” The antsy council member from before replied, looking mildly offended he’d even asked. So… Probably true, then.
“Then…” He faltered, at a loss. Why in the world would Tsunade do something so stupid? She was a very smart woman, meticulous and not impulsive like that. At least, not impulsive when it came to battle. But, that was a completely stupid move that put the alliance she wanted to keep in jeopardy. “It’s completely unlike her. It just makes no sense at all for her to behave like that.”
Hushed murmurs and glances were passed throughout the room at his baffled response. Naruto wished he could hear what they were thinking or saying right now, rather than just brewing in this oppressive atmosphere, and unable to do a thing about it.
“So, are you implying that the Hokage is unwell?” One of the council members finally asked, after a long while of hushed speculating.
Naruto faltered, trying to figure out something to say, which wouldn’t also jeopardize the entire point of their mission. Of his mission. But, he drew a blank every time. Instead of anything helpful, he kept on having the recurring thought, What if they’re right? Why in the world would she do that? Why should I lie to them- to Gaara?
“I don’t know why she’d act like that. I’ve known her since before she was Hokage, so I think I could say I know her. And that this is downright odd. So…. Maybe.” Naruto admitted, thumbs furiously fidgeting with each other under the table.
Feeling Gaara’s intense, calculative energy right next to him did not help his anxiety at all, knowing each word of his sentence was being picked apart by the Kazekage.
“If the Hokage is unable to provide financial or battle support, and is actively pinning dangerous targets on Sunagakure, it does not feel like much of a question what to do.” Another council member pointed out. Irritatingly, it seemed like the smart thing to do to Naruto too. Naruto really wasn’t able to argue his case well.
Then, Gaara turned to Naruto, with an air of finality surrounding him. But, surprisingly, he gave Naruto one more chance.
“Naruto, as a representative of Konoha- and on behalf of the leaf village- should we break ties?” It seemed whatever Naruto might say, it wouldn’t matter. But, this might’ve been a test- to see, that even if the Hokage might lie, if her subjects were still untainted and honest. Loyal to the greater good.
It was mind numbingly difficult to figure out what to say, two halves of him at war with each other. One half of him argued that he was sent on an extremely important mission, entrusted by the Hokage herself to handle the fates of their alliances, and that he couldn’t let his village down. Especially if he wanted to be Hokage one day. But, the other half argued he would be letting his village down by doing nothing about Tsunade’s clearly befuddled state, and letting down Suna as well. Letting down his friend, Gaara.
After several long moments of tense contemplation, Naruto took a deep breath, and finally he said…
“Yes, break ties with the leaf.”