"This is ridiculous," Elder Chiyo spat. "This insolent pup thinks to tell us that he should be Kazekage? Boy, you don't frighten me."
Gaara gave no reaction to her hostility, even as others cringed away from the tantrum they half-expected. Not so long ago, even Elder Chiyo would not have dared to speak to him thusly. In a way, he chose to take it as a show of faith. "I do not wish to lead by fear," he said finally, slowly. "It is my dream that I can use my strength to protect my people. I know that my past actions still reflect heavily on me, but I am no longer that person and wish to make amends." Then he stopped. It was almost physically tiring to use so many words, after years of monosyllabic response and brief promises about the pain he would inflict. He much preferred to wait and listen.
Temari was torn between being proud of her brother for his nobility and irritated at the show of what others would see as weakness instead of a new font of strength. She clenched her jaw, knowing that this was the moment of truth. The council could bend knee, or make life very difficult. She would eventually bring them down, of course, but Gaara wouldn't like it.
The wizened old hag narrowed her eyes at him, gaze flickering to his stomach gate. Then she laughed, wheezing and coughing. "He has spirit," she forced out between cackles. "All right. I will support it."
Most of the room looked aghast. Many of them were probably thinking that the elder (and her brother who immediately fell in agreement) had finally gone completely senile. It was a stupid assumption- the honored siblings had been eccentric for as long as Temari could remember. This was probably a normal sort of weirdness. But no one dared to speak those doubts.
"Well then," Baki raised his voice over the horrified rumble and incomprehensible murmurs. "Long live with Fifth Kazekage." He was the first to bow. Shinobi stumbled to follow his lead, many shaking.
It was not the acceptance that Gaara wanted. Temari could see something twist in his eyes at the sight of his people so cowed by a combination of fear and tradition, but he merely nodded gravely. "Thank you, honored Elders and council. I will do my best to serve Suna's interests and guard from her enemies."
When the siblings were alone, Temari gave her brother a one-armed hug, bending slightly to rest her chin on his deceptively frail shoulder. "Congratulations, otouto," she murmured into his ear. She nestled into the hug, not minding that he barely responded. She knew that he appreciated it, but he still didn't know quite how to reciprocate affection. "One day, they'll accept you. I know that you will make me proud."
"You two are full of feelings and I'm leaving," Kankuro muttered, doing just that.
Temari ignored her significantly less cute brother for the moment. A warm hand rested gently on her shoulder blades. She didn't react, but was immensely pleased by the uncommon show of affection.
"Thank you Temari," he rumbled into her ear.
She teared up a little and pulled back, turning her face away and wiping at her eyes with a sleeve. "My little otouto, all grown up with a big manly voice and becoming a military dictator."
He froze like a rat facing a predator. "Temari, stop."
"I'm so prooouuud," she faux-wailed to tease. Gaara winced at the high pitch.
"No."
"They grow up so fast. You haven't even hit puberty."
"Temari."
"We should talk about girls. You'll need to know now that you're a big stud with a fancy hat. They'll be on you like brown on rice and you'll have to protect your virtue."
"I'm leaving."
"You know this means you can't go to Konoha to visit your pretty girlfriend anymore," she called after him as he hustled out. He paused slightly, but didn't turn around as he escaped. She didn't really believe he'd hold to that at all. He had been getting occasional letters from Uzumaki Naruto, but had never agreed to exchange letters with his second friend before they had needed to leave Hi nu Kuni. Now that Gaara had a taste for human socialization, he didn't want to give it up. Temari didn't begrudge it. Very few people could treat him normally, and so of course he would prize that when he found it.
But it was her job to tease him, and she had years to make up for. Speaking of sisterly duty…
"When are you going to achieve anything, huh? Gaara is Kazekage, your sister is the most beautiful kunoichi in the world, and you're still playing with dolls. Ugly dolls, too."
"Oh hell, Temari, just go away. And they're puppets, not dolls!"
~~~
Apparently, it was considered too aggressive to bring four bodyguards to a single meeting. For at least the first meeting, Kakashi and Sai were the assigned bodyguards.
That left Aiko and Yamato awkwardly waiting in the apartment, avoiding each other's eyes and not talking. The others had left in the early morning, and it was almost noon by the time Aiko finally cracked.
'This is ridiculous,' Aiko sighed, stealing a glance at the man as he poked around in their tiny kitchen, muttering something baffled about the strange array of foreign implements in Suna. He'd found a spatula, wooden spoon, and several pots that looked exactly like what Aiko had seen in Konoha. 'We have to be able to get along. I don't want to be fighting with him.' Then she paused. 'Plus I want to be able to eat at some point.' ANBU must not teach anything practical like how to survive between missions. Shame. Maybe it was a conspiracy funded by all the stall owners in Konoha to force them into patronage.
"Yamato." He turned to look at her, eyes dark and slightly suspicious. The serious expression was slightly undermined by the pile of metal cradled against his chest. Aiko balked a little at having to be the mature one, but swallowed and went on with it. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. I wanted to apologize for teasing you."
The man put down the pots he'd been fiddling with onto the counter with a clatter, absently flicking the wooden spoon he'd found between his long fingers. One of the pots fell to the floor, rolling under the table with obnoxious sound. He pretended not to notice. "That was unexpected," he mumbled, using his free hand to ruffle his hair. Then he sighed. "You're probably right. I should apologize too. I took out irritation from other sources onto you when we first met."
"So…" she touched her big toes together, raising her calves up and balancing onto the balls of her feet. Fidgeting was a bad nervous habit, but she didn't mind now. "Are we good, then?"
At his nod, she relaxed, moving to pull vegetables out of the fridge. "Good, because I was starting to get seriously worried about what you would do to this kitchen. Do you know how to wash rice?"
"Um…"
"No wonder I'm shishou's favorite student," she sighed, nudging his ribs with her elbow and demonstrating while she talked. "Pay attention, then. How are you ever going to win his loooove if you can't cook, huh?" At his bright flush, she cackled. "Sorry, but you just seem like the homemaker in that equation." She shoved the bowl into his hands and gently nudged him into place in front of the sink, ignoring his stunned expression. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that feeding his publically acceptable base desires is the best way to get to feed his other base desires. Don't you want to be the 'Yamato Nadeshiko' instead of just an awkward Yamato?"
"Why doesn't anyone believe that I don't want to have sex with Kakashi-senpai?" Yamato wailed, still dutifully agitating the rice like she'd shown him. He took orders well, she'd give him that.
"Well," a husky voice drew out teasingly from behind them. Yamato stiffened and slowly began to turn around to see his amused senpai and a smirking Uchiha. "That hurts my delicate feelings. Why would my cute little kohai say such a thing?"
"Denial," Sasuke dead-panned, walking past Kakashi to relax against the counter and stare curiously at what the others were doing. Aiko gave a little half-wave of greeting with her shoulder, not daring to lift the chopping knife she was using on vegetables.
"You two are back early," she half-stated, half-asked.
"Yupp." Apparently Kakashi felt it was fine to leave the conversation at that and pulled out his book. As he wandered into the other room, Aiko and Sasuke rolled their eyes in unison. Yamato was still doing his level best to sink into the floor.
"Long story, but the Mizukage's paranoid half-blind bodyguard thought that I was too young and Kakashi was too obnoxious, so to soothe hurt feelings, Shizune sent us back."
"Pandering to that sounds like a terrible idea," Aiko muttered, chopping with a little more force.
Sasuke shrugged indifferently, peering into the bowl where she was tossing vegetables as she worked. "It wasn't very interesting anyway. The Mizukage has something she wants to ask but is talking around it, and Shizune is politely not committing to anything but saying nice things that ultimately amount to nothing."
"That does sound boring," Yamato agreed. Sasuke looked up at him, condescension written on his fine features.
"You're still here?" Yamato looked mildly outraged. Sasuke blinked heavy-lidded eyes at him, clearly unimpressed. "Why don't you go and try to seduce Kakashi again. Just don't say anything. Doubtless you'll only drive him away with your lack of wit." The sheer hypocrisy inherent in that –Sasuke was hardly a wordsmith himself- was probably making Yamato see red, but Aiko just snickered quietly into her sleeve.
She'd agreed to a general truce to Yamato, but that didn't mean she intended to be too nice.
They did their best to wait, but Shizune and Sai were gone through lunch and they ended up eating without them. Out of sheer boredom, Aiko had turned to baking while everyone else lazed around like a pride of lions- dangerous but bored and waiting for something to happen. When Shizune made it back to the apartment, she didn't pull any punches.
"It was a bad idea to bring you, Aiko."
Aiko blinked in surprise, a little hurt. "What'd I do?" She hadn't even left the apartment since they'd been ushered inside and told that they shouldn't wander, someone will be here for your group in the morning, thank you goodnight.
The older girl slumped down into a comfortable chair, shaking her head. "That's not what I meant. Terumi-san asked in a faux-casual way how Konoha had squirreled away the Uzumaki when everyone else thought they were dead. I dodged the question, but she wouldn't have asked if you weren't on her mind." She took a deliberate pause. The room was silently watching her, except for Sasuke who frankly looked confused. "Not too long after, the conversation came around to the former Mizukage and the problems left from his disposal."
Kakashi cursed, lowly under his breath.
'And he told me not to listen to Anko.' She didn't have time to tease him for his hypocrisy.
"I suppose it would be a bit rude to leave," Yamato asked a bit dryly.
Shizune snorted tiredly. "I would say so."
"I don't understand," Sasuke interjected. "What's the connection?" Doubtlessly he sensed the tension but didn't know why. Aiko was maintaining a diplomatic silence. She wasn't sure what she could reasonably pretend to have inferred or figured out on her own, and she had never been told a thing about Kushina. As much as she'd like to wipe the frustration off her kohai's face, it was more intelligent to play ignorant.
"The Uzumaki were famous for their fuinjutsu prowess." Sasuke for once fixed a look at Sai without a trace of hostility, though it was intense. "They were said to be experts nearly from childhood."
"Well, I'm not," Aiko pointed out self-depreciatingly. "I can't give them what they want."
"Do you think they'd believe that if we told them," Shizune groaned, rubbing at her temples. "Although there is quite a bit of merit to what they want done. It would save a lot of lives."
"We're not considering this." The tone of command made everyone straighten involuntarily and look at Kakashi as if waiting for orders. "Shizune, I want to talk to you alone."
"Fine. Everyone out."
~~~
It was a terrible time for her apprentices to be gone. Tsunade felt so old and so tired. Something thoroughly strange was going on, and she had the fear in her gut that the feeling she couldn't quite identify was the premonition that war was brewing.
It had seemed a good idea at the time, and given a chance she would do it again, but forming that alliance with Sand had apparently started something altogether odd. Villages were solidifying alliances and courting each other and shutting down information. Even their allies were quiet. Sand had called some sort of internal summit and closed up last week, although that in itself wouldn't normally be so alarming because it was probably to choose a Kazekage. They hadn't heard from Grass in weeks, not even from their plants in the village. The minor villages were banding together for protection against some threat that Tsunade did not yet see.
'Perhaps that Terumi woman knew something I didn't,' Tsunade thought rather sourly. The timing certainly was convenient, and it was far too late to tell the team to pull back. If something was about to happen, Konoha would need all the allies they could handle. That in mind, she bit her thumb savagely and healed it with a kiss of minty chakra in the very same instant, using the blood to summon a smaller slug. "Could I have you deliver a message to Shizune-chan?" She asked politely. At the affirmative wiggle, she took a deep breath. "Shizune, I need to make that alliance. Do what you need to do in order that it happens and then get your team home. Something is very wrong, but I don't know what yet. Be safe."
With that, she released her hold on the summon, knowing that even now she would be tugging on her link to Shizune. The instant the girl had a moment, she would excuse herself and take the message.
With at least one thing off her to-do list, Tsunade gave a longing look at the window and strode out to check the pileup of information that Keiko was busily compiling. "Anything I need to look at first?"
Then she noticed just how pale and drawn the older woman looked. "Hai, Hokage-sama. I just got notice that an envoy from a foreign village is at the gate awaiting approval for admittance."
She had to take a moment to be sure she'd heard correctly. That… that was not usual. It was almost always considered a hostile act to arrive at a foreign village without invitation or notice. No wonder her secretary looked nervous- something was about to happen. "Alright then. ANBU." The guard who habitually waited in the office with Keiko flickered into view. She idly noticed the mask- squirrel- and gave out her orders. "I want a low key escort to the fifth meeting room. I will meet with them immediately."
When she saw the forehead protectors, Tsunade paled a little bit. 'Nadeshiko? What the hell?' The all-female village was famously isolationist, staying on their island chain home and only venturing to the closest part of the continent for missions and supplies.
The two women in front of her bowed in unison, letting long braided hair slip over their uniforms. "Greetings, Hokage-sama," they murmured. "Thank you for your hospitality." The light-haired one remained in a bow, but the other straightened to fix her with a fearless gaze. "We have come to negotiate alliance, after the fall of Grass."
"W-what."
That was news to her. They exchanged a look that implied they weren't surprised. "We had wondered if you were aware. They were razed almost two weeks ago, by a village calling themselves Sound."
"We did not know what Grass had done to anger this Sound so," the other continued seamlessly. "But when they immediately turned on other small villages, it became clear that they are only interested in wanton genocide."
"Our glorious leader has selected the two most civilized of the major villages as potential allies, and sent teams to gain strength."
She was momentarily perplexed by that- by what standard had they selected the most 'civilized' villages? Nadeshiko was notoriously eccentric- and then she had the bleakly amused thought that this was probably the first time Mist had been referred to as 'civilized.'
"Konoha and Mist," she asked, just to confirm. The placid nods she received in return confirmed her thought, but she was polite enough not to break into hysterical laughter. "Very well. What can Nadeshiko offer Konoha? Konoha offers our strength and protection in times of unprovoked war."
~~~
Danzo scowled, unhappy with the reports he'd been receiving that day. Koharu and Homura were weak to have given up their positions in such an important time. He would never similarly abandon Konoha. He had known about the women at the gate before the Hokage had, and had used the information from his own operatives to discern their motive.
If he'd had the chance, he might have had them killed before they could meet with Tsunade. She was weak, looking for strength outside Konoha instead of by digging deep into the core of their village. His operative with the team in Mist had sent a trail of ink mice that had arrived early in the morning, updating him with what was going on there.
Apparently, Shizune was eager to make alliance on her mentor's orders and had agreed to help Mist seal the Three-Tailed beast in one of their shinobi. This was pure foolishness. Konoha should reach out and take the weapon within its grasp.
Danzo could not allow Tsunade to make such a decision. It was undoubtedly for the best that he had planted some of his operatives in the main forces after she had unceremoniously pushed the Elders out the door. But it was not enough. He needed more information. The missive he wrote in reply was short and to the point. Gain the trust of your companions while you have the chance. The source of information he'd gathered was different from what he'd had from the Elders before, but no less potent. That idiotic Uzumaki girl and the ill-tempered Uchiha whelp must have had no training in counter-infiltration safety.