Baby Baby Baby

A/N: Thanks to everyone who commented! I'm sorry that I've been so slow to update but I'm in the middle of a move and time to write is slim, unsurprisingly. I *do* have bits of the next chapter written out...you can probably expect it in about a week. On another note- This chapter has been brought to you by The Bravery and Reliant K, specifically their songs 'Believe' and 'Who I am Hates Who I've been'their, uh, other songs are good too. Mostly :)-Anlaaria out.


CHAPTER FOUR


The day started out miserably. Naruto woke up , face plastered to some trade agreement, ink all over his hands and face, to a beautiful morning of drizzling rain. His regular tea wasn’t there, his secretary had called in sick, and for some reason his ANBU backed away slightly whenever he happened to look at them. Halfway through his shower someone flushed a toilet and Konohagakure’s famed Hokage squealed like a little girl as he jumped out of the suddenly frigid water. His hair didn’t dry right.

Around his third outfit change Naruto gave up on the world, put on his tracksuit and stalked out of the office, deaf to the protestations of staff and the line of citizens and shinobi waiting for their appointments.

“Anybody want to spar?” He asked, knowing he looked a little wild, untamed and possibly dangerous, “C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

The office was very suddenly and disturbingly silent. A few of the citizens turned green and all of the shinobi paled, shaking their heads in minute, terrified gestures of surrender.

“That’s what I thought.” Naruto muttered, resuming his trek to the outside world. He paused at the threshold waiting for something, for Shikamaru’s scolding voice, but then he remembered that he didn’t want Shikamaru around anymore. Really.

Naruto sighed and covered his eyes for a moment, blanking all the excess noise and color out, removing them from the periphery. He tried to remember why he wanted to be Hokage, why it had mattered in the first place, and found that thoughts of his father, of Sarutobi, didn’t heal the little pains quite so much as they used to.
Then Naruto turned around, grabbed the first person in line and re-entered his office.

“Tell me what you want,” Naruto said, sliding papers away to sit on the edge of his desk.

The man wanted permission sell his goods in the public market, but was unhappy with the space the trade officials had allotted him. He wanted Naruto to do something about it.

“I can only give you advice,” Naruto said in his calm, adult voice, “Suck it up or go trade your wares in Suna. Next!”

The man walked out, eyes wide, and the ANBU ushered the next woman in.

“Tell me what you want,” Naruto muttered, crossing his arms.

A team of practicing genin had destroyed her roof, and when they’d fixed it the new tiles didn’t match the old tiles. It threw off the appeal of her home and the house was no longer nice to look at. She wanted those genin and the negligent Jounin fired.

“You live in a hidden village,” Naruto replied shortly, “I assume you have shinobi damage on your insurance.”
She did, but that was beside the point. If a claim were to be made her premiums would rise, and God, she put her hands on her hips and sneered, I should have known not to even bother coming to you. Naruto closed his eyes and counted until the anger faded into a dull, but excruciatingly familiar pain.

“In training there will always be accidents. I’m sure that Team Inuzuka did not intend to cause you or your property harm. I cannot and will not fire any one of them for doing their job…which is protecting you, incidentally. I suggest you contact your insurance or hire a genin team to repair your home. Next!”

The next person was a shinobi Naruto vaguely remembered from the administrative section. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and demanded a raise. No one seemed to appreciate how hazardous it was to file scrolls and he didn’t nearly get the respect he deserved, in fact-

“The chuunin exams are in three months,” Naruto cut in dryly, “Pass and you’ll get your raise. Next!”

Over the next five hours Naruto listened to complaints or demands that shouldn’t even have to take the time of the lower administrators, let alone the Hokage. A few of them were genuinely concerned even if they had small issues, and took Naruto’s advice with good grace, but the majority of the villagers made it clear exactly what they still thought of Naruto, Hokage or not. When lunchtime finally rolled around Naruto staggered over to have Ramen, wondering when his life had turned into a farce rather than the fairytale he’d always wanted it to be. He’d spent his whole life protecting Konoha, every second of every day, and nearly lost his life more times than he could count…where was the respect? He’d been treated better in Iwa, and that was saying a lot considering his parentage.

He wondered how his father had managed, if he’d ever hoped Naruto would follow his footsteps or if he had wished a different, easier life for his son.

“Just a miso.” Naruto sighed, tracing the scarred wood of Ichiraku’s outside station. They’d expanded right around the time Naruto was nominated for Rokudaime, but they’d still left the bar in the same place, to be manned by Ayame’s polite young daughter. She nodded and went to work.

After a few moments of reflection Naruto murmured, “Never mind.” He didn’t want Ramen to be associated with his day in any way. It might ruin miso for him and that would be true tragedy. Instead he headed back to the office, bypassing the growing line by simply jumping through the window instead. He got halfway off the ledge before he froze, his eyes catching a tell-tale shimmer that made him tense.

“Kai.” Naruto murmured, pushing his chakra into the room. The genjutsu fought back but Naruto gave another insistent nudge and the illusion fell away in a shower of strands, the mask leaving behind the sight of a man lounging in Naruto’s favorite chair.

Naruto growled through his teeth but didn’t call for his guards. He was trying to keep international incidents down to a minimum and attempting to jail the Otokage would probably make a few people angry.

“My, my,” Sasuke gave a mocking smile, “You get more feral every time I see you, Naruto.”

“I know you’re not in my planner.” Naruto ignored the jab and contorted himself to lounge in the window. “What do you want?”

Sasuke tilted his head back and gave that old, infuriating heavy-lidded stare. While the look had been unsettling on a genin it made the adult Sasuke look slightly petulant, more grouchy than intimidating. He’d also taken to dressing a little less dramatically and could even be mistaken for a civilian if he tried a little in simple cargos and what basically amounted to a lightly armored t-shirt. He certainly didn’t look like the Shodaime Otokage, but there was still that constant malevolent buzz of power that seemed to just leak from Sasuke’s skin.

“I heard a rumor.” Sasuke said softly. He looked away and for a moment Naruto was spared the glare of those dark eyes. “It would have been troublesome to send spies.”

Naruto stepped fully into the room and closed the window behind him.

“What rumor would that be?” Naruto grabbed the back of Sasuke’s chair and rolled him away from all the very important and private documents on his desk. Surprisingly Sasuke just allowed it, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged in the corner of the room furthest from the window and the door. Naruto took the acquiescence not as a sign of good faith but as a testimony to the fact that Sasuke had probably run non-stop all the way from Otogakure and was too tired to give a shit.

Sasuke blinked lazily and asked, “Think, Dobe. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Which was typical Sasuke passive aggressiveness, Naruto frowned. He’d go through all the trouble to find out a bit of information but he’d bitch about it the entire time if you let him.

“I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine.” Naruto tossed back, sitting on the edge of his desk. “Deal?”

Sasuke’s eyes brightened and he sat up, feet on the ground. “Any question?”

“That’s what I said.” Naruto made a face, “Of course, certain subjects will be ignored.”

“Naturally.” Sasuke replied without sarcasm, leaning back to look at the ceiling. “What is Gaara doing in Konoha?”

Geez, like Naruto hadn’t seen that one coming. There were two constants to Sasuke now that he was Otokage; passive aggressive behavior when it came to anything involving the politics of fire country, and a strange possessiveness over Naruto that he in no way deserved. After all those years of being the worst thing to ever happen to Naruto Sasuke seemed to insist on being the only one allowed to make Naruto miserable. The insistence was understandable; he had the most experience, after all. Naruto sometimes imagined that he was Sasuke’s favorite punching bag, worn in and frayed, but so familiar and forgiving that Sasuke refused to get a new one.
Naruto sent Sasuke a real punching bag for white day every year, but Sasuke hadn’t seemed to have caught the hint.

“Honestly, I have no idea.” Naruto shrugged and felt the slick edges of familiar disappointment settle on him at the sight of Sasuke’s long, sloped neck and his familiar, lazy glare.

“He hasn’t said anything?” Sasuke made that old, familiar ‘tch’ and turned his eyes away. The disbelief was thick in his voice. “He just shows up with his shit and moves in for no reason at all? I find that difficult to believe.”

Sasuke’s disbelief held a mirror up to Naruto’s own, and suddenly he could see himself wondering, searching, and hoping for an answer that would make the world spin again. Suddenly Sasuke’s gaze was on his own and a whirling red, the three tomoes blurring in a wild frenzy as he stood and entered Naruto’s personal space, so close that Naruto could smell the cologne he didn’t use.

“If you come after Otogakure I’ll kill you.” Sasuke hissed. He looked horrible, horrifying, but Naruto felt a calmness sweep over him because that, at least, was entirely familiar.

Naruto reminisced fondly on their boyhood days and punched Sasuke in the face.

“I’ve told you more than once,” Naruto whispered as Sasuke massaged his jaw, “Don’t show those eyes to me if you want to keep them in your head.”

Sasuke just growled back, and Naruto smiled grimly, not saying, ‘Who’s the feral one now?’

“Also,” Naruto frowned, “For someone who doesn’t send spies around you seem to be a little too well-informed.”

“Please.” Sasuke touched his jaw with glowing, green fingers and began to heal what would have been a truly spectacular bruise, “It’s practically a professional courtesy these days.”

Naruto mentally added spy-catching to his already full agenda with a sigh.

“Anyways,” He said, taking the chance of looking Sasuke head-on, “I have no desire to even step foot in Otogakure, let alone invade. You don’t have anything I want, Sasuke, so it’d be trouble for nothing.”

“Revenge isn’t tangible, but it’s worth the trouble.” Sasuke returned bitterly. “It’s the *act* that holds the worth.”

Naruto just rolled his eyes and looked out the window, “How very philosophical, Sasuke, but I happen to think that lives of my people outweighs any satisfaction I might take from crushing you and yours like tiny little bugs.”

“Tch. As if you could.”

But he could, and they both knew it. The true slight was the fact that Sasuke had made the trip at all. If Naruto’s dull desperateness could be viewed all the way from rice country, well, then something really needed to change.

“Unless you want to give me a reason to go to war,” Naruto smiled grimly down at his bright village, “I suggest you go, Otokage-sama, and leave correspondence to our more political counterparts.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I certainly did.” Is all Naruto said, before gesturing towards the window, “Don’t let the ANBU hit you on your way out.”

In a flash of color Sasuke was on his way, pausing briefly on the windowsill to give Naruto a hard glance, searching for something, for reassurance maybe, but Naruto was no longer the fresh-faced genin who could give his heart away with a look. Sasuke would find no comfort there, just a mask of pleasant animosity to hide the ache deep below. Despite himself seeing Sasuke, still as coolly elegant and beautiful as always, made Naruto wish for better, more selfish things. Looking into Sasuke’s eyes could make Naruto falter, always, if only for a moment as he tried to remember a time when he couldn’t see the future staring back at him.

“Don’t come after me.” Sasuke murmured, and Naruto finally understood the root of his anxiety. After years and years of chasing a promise, a desperate hope, Sasuke still seemed to think that Naruto might possibly show up behind his shoulder if he wasn’t paying close enough attention.

“Don’t give me reason to.” Naruto murmured back, leaning close enough to feel the warm puff of Sasuke’s breath on his face, “I’m no longer in the habit of pursuing indulgences, Sasuke.”

Sasuke’s expression changed into something slick, something knowing as he smirked, his eyes briefly flashing a satisfied red. This was the man Naruto was used to; the Otokage who might put his finger on the pulse of life if only he had reason to. Sasuke could be a good leader if he didn’t so despise humanity, whether it was his own or others’.

“Hnh.” Sasuke snorted, “Baka, I guess that’s why indulgences,” He drew out the word with a smirk, “have to come to you.”

Then, sneering as he left the office, “Better Gaara than me, the poor bastard.”

Naruto was briefly tempted to jump out after him and beat the shit out of the prick, but he contented himself with the sudden shout of the ANBU at guard. It gave him at least a little satisfaction that Sasuke had the courtesy to put the ANBU through their paces before fleeing Fire Country. At least Naruto wouldn’t have to reprimand them so harshly for letting the man sneak in the first place.

Then he realized that Sasuke had gotten away without answering a question, cursed, and split the windowsill in half.

Bastard.

****

“-so there’s been no activity of note at the border, but something is happening in lightening country that the operative can’t quite get a finger on,” Kakashi shrugged, “That’s all I could get out of him, anyways.”

Naruto leaned back in his chair and Ignored Kakashi’s sharp eye peering over the little orange book.

“You think it’s a triple-cross then.” Naruto sighed, “Our operative is no longer a Konoha ninja.”

“There is a seventy-percent chance that the man has switched back to his original master, yes.” Kakashi returned.

“Find out how much intel has been compromised, and try to distinguish lies from fact. I want to know how long he’s been working for us, if at all.”

“And if he hasn’t been working for us?”

Naruto frowned and deadened the part of him that called for mercy.

“Eliminate the leak.” Naruto leaned for ward and caught Kakashi’s stare straight on, “I think it’s time to clean house, Kakashi. All our outside sources need to be double-checked and I want discrete inquires made on the finances and backgrounds of all upper chuunin and genin above sixteen years of age. Immigrants especially.”

Kakashi pocketed his book and raised an eyebrow.

“Are we looking for Kumo spies specifically?”

Naruto thought back to his recent conversation with Sasuke, his careful, searching gaze and the fierce protection of the village he claimed as his own. He had admitted freely that there were Sound spies in Konoha, prompting this little social inventory, but in retrospect the Otokage had given Naruto a great deal of information for a fairly simple request. Sasuke was on high alert, and nearly frighteningly alarmed at the thought of Konoha approaching with ill intent.

If Sasuke was in defense mode then there was something happening in that corner of the world that must have made him so, and despite its size Otogakure could easily take Kumo ninjas with their Iwa ally’s help.

“Check for all the minor villages, Sound, Kumo and Iwa,.” Naruto frowned, desperately hoping that he wasn’t right, that his suspicions were groundless. If Sound was being threatened by invasion then Konoha would be obligated to step in and help, if only because Sasuke was the only thing standing between Konoha and Lightening Country.

“Is there something I should know about?”

Naruto ignored him, as was his right.

“Ask Ibiki to give me the dossiers on anyone he thinks could infiltrate Kumo or Mizu without suspicion.”
Kakashi looked a little frustrated but bowed anyways with a curt ‘Hai’ and a burst of smoke.

“Hanabi.” The girl stepped out of a shadow and knelt on the ground, mask over her heart. After Naruto’s little fit she had been much more attentive and cooperative. Naruto wasn’t sure if he missed her little rebellions, but this new respect made daily activities much easier.

“Bring me Sai, send Neji for Tsunade, and ask Gaara to come to my office when he has a moment.”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.” She reapplied her mask and then disappeared in a similar burst of smoke. A few moments later she was back, twitching as she said, “Hokage-sama, perhaps you should see to Gaara-sama yourself.”

****

Hanabi directed Naruto to training ground three while she went to finish the rest of his instructions. It took only a hand sign to arrive on scene but Naruto was so shocked upon arrival that he wasted a good thirty seconds just trying to get his mouth to shut again.

“It shouldn’t be much longer,” Gaara said, sounding bored, “Nara will pass out from blood loss sometime soon.”

Shikamaru hissed something but just kept dodging, sweat running down his face like water and mingling to make pink rivulets on his tanned skin. Every time he moved he left behind a trail of bright red drops that were quickly absorbed by the thick layer of sand beneath him. Gaara narrowed his eyes and a long, thin spike of stone shot out of the ground, narrowly missing Shikamaru’s neck as the Jounin weaved.

“Uh,” Naruto winced as another spike shot out and punctured straight through Shikamaru’s thigh. “What exactly are you doing, Gaara?”

“Practicing.” Another much larger spike shot out directly beneath Shikamaru and only an impressive display of limberness saved him from being skewered right through the head.

“What are you practicing, exactly?”

“Well,” Gaara frowned when Shikamaru shattered a spike with a kick, “I’m practicing accuracy and speed.”
Then he grinned, and Naruto had a flashback to their Chuunin exam, “Nara-san is practicing evasive maneuvering.”

Naruto took a page from Hinata’s book and poked his fingers together nervously, biting his lower lip as he decided just how to proceed without having to practice evasive maneuvering with Shikamaru.

He was about to speak when Gaara murmured, “Nara-san very graciously offered to spar with me, Hokage-sama.”
Shikamaru grunted as a sand spike nearly ran through his foot. Naruto became intrigued.

“Did he now?” Naruto stepped closer to Gaara and watched, amused, as the sand became a little sluggish. “Maybe the psych exams should start early this year.”

Normally that would have been Shikamaru’s cue to shoot him a dirty glare but Shikamaru just glanced up for a moment before nervously staring down at the floor again. After a long pause he dodged left as Gaara sent a much larger column bursting out of the ground.

“Good reflexes,” Gaara murmured, smiling, “but wait…”

Instead of shooting out again the sand began to slowly creep up the sides of Shikamaru’s sandals before wrapping around his legs in a thin, vein-like web. It looked like a much more subtle sort of sand coffin. Naruto was officially maybe a little worried.

“Gaara…”

“I’d gladly kill him, for what he did to you.” Gaara murmured, his voice unexpectedly quiet as he kept his eyes forward, “Should I?”

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, panting, bloody and about two seconds from death and smiled.

“Of course not.” He touched Gaara’s shoulder and the web of sand fell away, “but it’s sweet the way you show you care.”

Gaara turned with a small, mischievous smile on his face, “Ramen can be eaten…but murder is forever.”

The sand beneath Shikamaru’s feet gathered up in a sudden wave and turned into a chair. After a moment of tentative staring Shikamaru staggered over into it and passed out, his heavy gasps leveling into the steady breaths of sleep. He was still dripping a little, but the general rule for shinobi was that if your wounds weren’t big enough for a good sized puddle then there really wasn’t a reason to bother the medics who were probably working on someone who was hurt a lot worse.

“Did you want to speak to me about something?”

Naruto blinked and tried to remember why he had come down to the training grounds in the first place. It was a bit hard to think when Gaara was looking at him like that, intent, green eyes sharp as every ounce of the redhead’s attention seemed to focus on him alone.

“Uh-” Naruto cleared his throat, “I’m pretty sure it was important, but-”

Gaara took another step closer and Naruto stopped trying to think. This close…it was strange, but for the first time since they met…Naruto ducked his head down and breathed in.

“You don’t smell like blood, anymore.” Naruto whispered, nearly to himself. Even after Shukaku was gone Gaara had always had that certain smell to him and that dark, coppery odor, was how Naruto had identified him more than once but now, “You smell-”

Naruto closed his eyes and put his nose nearly in Gaara’s hair, bringing a hand to hold Gaara’s shoulder as Kyuubi rustled from his sleep to attend the issue at hand. With a little diverted chakra Naruto’s senses sharpened.

Gaara smelled sweet, sort of like strawberry milk, but sharp at the same time with an underscore of cut grass and overturned earth, like harvest, and, “Hot…” Naruto opened his eyes, frowning as Kyuubi broke into howling laughter in the back of his mind, “How can someone smell like heat?”

Naruto decided that Gaara’s vivid blush might have something to do with it.

Over in his sand chair Shikamaru burst into quiet, choked, yet somewhat hysterical laughter. Apparently he had been faking. Gaara glared and the sand chair rippled, ending Shikamaru’s laughter with a high squeal. Naruto winced and let his hand slide off Gaara’s shoulder.

“Doesn’t your sister want kids?” Naruto reminded gently. Temari would kill him if he let Gaara crush Shikamaru’s-
Gaara hmphed, but the chair returned back to normal just long enough for Shikamaru to bow hastily and then sprint off in the direction of the tower.

Speaking of castration, “I just remembered what I wanted to see you about.” Naruto tried to smile like he didn’t think there was an international war on the horizon, “I had an old friend stop by to visit this morning.”

Gaara frowned and Naruto answered the silent question by relieving a non-existent scratch under his eye.

“Oh?” Gaara’s expression remained passive but his eyes hardened and the rather large sand chair compacted suddenly into a fist-sized ball that hung suspended in the air.

“Just a quick visit,” Naruto shrugged, but started walking towards the tower, not all surprised when Gaara followed along. The little ball of sand followed them both, circling around them both like an orbiting planet. It would have been cute if Naruto hadn’t already seen Gaara use a similar jutsu to pop a hole through some poor nin’s stomach.

“Did your friend say if they were going to stop by again?” Gaara scowled, “It would only be polite to say hello.”

“Nope, didn’t say.” Naruto grinned back. He knew exactly what sort of hello Gaara would give Sasuke, given half a chance. The one and only time the two Kages had gotten together for a trade summit it had taken the combined forces of Naruto and the Tsuchikage to get them separated again. Strangely enough, despite having to walk funny for the rest of the visit, the Godaime had thought the whole exchange was hilarious.

Especially the part where Naruto had thought standing between two of the most powerful shinobi in the world would actually get them to stop fighting.

“Hn.” Gaara frowned down at the ground for a few moments before making a low groaning noise and holding a hand to his head. Naruto was just about to ask him if he was okay when what he had thought was a cat’s yowl turned into, “GAAAAAAARRRAAAAA-SSSAAAMAAAAAAAAAAA-” and a familiar blur of green and tan went barreling into Gaara’s midsection.

For a moment Naruto thought they would both tip over, but the ball of sand turned into a pair of hands; one of which shored Gaara back up while the other got a good grip on the back of Hikaru’s vest and shook him like a bottle of soda. Luckily, Hikaru strayed from the metaphor and didn’t burst into an explosion of sticky liquids.
He did, however, look more than a little dazed, while Gaara…well, Naruto couldn’t tell if that scowl/flush was fury or embarrassment.

“Gurg,” Hikaru added looking a little sick and a lot dizzy. He scrabbled at the sand hand for a moment, kicking his legs in the air, but eventually gave up, hanging limply but looking oddly pleased.

“You’ll never guess what happened,” He said, clapping his hands excitedly, “C’mon, Gaara-sama, guess.”
Gaara looked like he wanted to do a lot more than guess, holding a hand over his midsection with a low, spine-tingling growl as he advanced on the oblivious boy.

“Sakura-chan sucked all the blood out of my body!” He exclaimed, doing a little dance midair, “It was so cool, and she gave me this!”

Hikaru struggled around in his vest for a moment before pulling out a glass phial of what looked to be black powder.

Gaara paused, his eyes lighting up as the killing intent waned. Was that excitement Naruto saw on his face? If it was it looked good on him as the homicidal advance turned into a boneless sort of stalk as he plucked the vial out of Hikaru’s hands. Hikaru gave it up willingly, with a huge smile and a happy sigh.

“I feel tons better, too.” He said, finally calming down as Gaara’s sand allowed him to stand. “I feel…fresh.”
Naruto smiled.

“Sakura’s the best we’ve got. I’m glad she could help.” Naruto said. This time he didn’t make the mistake of initiating any physical contact with the chuunin, and though his eyes seemed about to pop out of his head at the attention Hikaru didn’t seem about to pass out.

“Hokage-sama,” Hikaru bowed. Naruto had to choke down a laugh when the ninja-to on his back slid partially out of its sheath and smacked him on the head.

“Hikaru-san.” Naruto nodded back politely. “Is everything alright?”

“It is now,” Hikaru frowned with a blush and straightened, “I just kept getting sicker and sicker, I was afraid-” Hikaru shot off a glance at Gaara who seemed entirely absorbed with the glass phial, “-that maybe I’d have to stop looking after Gaara-sama… But now I can train properly, and be Jounin and protect Gaara-sama with
everything I have.”

“Protect him with everything you have…” The words slipped into Naruto’s conscience like a blade.

Naruto very honestly, at that point, could have cried if it weren’t for the audience and Hikaru’s worshipful eyes on his master. Such bare devotion made a part of Naruto tremble because at that moment he understood the emotion that had been dragging him down for so many months, leeching him of dignity and care.

It was at that moment that Naruto realized he was slowly falling out of love with Konoha. He adhered to duty, protected the village ruthlessly, but the pride of being charged with such a task had been filed down to nearly nothing over long years of many disappointments. Was he resentful, Naruto wondered, because the title had changed him, turned him into a man who would have been unrecognizable by the passionately devoted boy he had once been?

Naruto needed *more* he realized. Sasuke knew it, and feared potential consequences of a Kage looking for something to fill the void that love had left behind, and Gaara…Gaara looked up at Naruto and gave him a small, close-lipped smile before peering at the phial again.

Gaara knew. Gaara knew that Naruto was faltering, and he had come to Konoha, for peace, he had said.

But what sort of peace had he been referring to?

****

For once in their long association Sai managed to make his presence convenient, giving Naruto the perfect excuse for a sudden retreat up to his office where Hanabi was patiently waiting with a scroll in hand. The scroll told him that Neji, being the excellent ANBU he was, had already taken off to Cloud country where Tsunade was surely gambling away every last cent she could borrow and/or steal. Naruto very reverently thanked god for Neji.
Sai however…

“Done yet, Dickless-sama?”

“Nearly done with you.” Naruto growled, tossing the scroll over to Shikamaru who had passed out in the corner, bruised and beaten but still whole. He made a small noise and instinctively shoved the document into his vest with a snore.

Sai raised an eyebrow. Naruto raised one back.

“I’m sending you to Otogakure.” Naruto finally spat out, pulling out a blank piece of parchment. “You leave tomorrow at dawn.”

Sai tried a smile which failed, yet again, to give Naruto any comfort.

“You’ll be going as a diplomatic envoy,” Shikamaru finally perked up, eyes wide open and poised to speak but Naruto glared him down. Despite being a weirdo Sai was perfect for the job, hell, he was perfect because he was a weirdo. Naruto stamped his official seal on the document with a feeling of grim satisfaction.

“What is my mission?”

‘To annoy the hell out of the Otokage’ Naruto didn’t say.

“There’s war coming,” Naruto said, as his shinobi watched, in rapt attention (or in Sai’s case, less apathy than usual). Even Hanabi had abandoned her cool persona and edged out of the shadows. “You will be there to a) determine the source of the conflict, b) determine whether or not Sound will be forced to ask for our aid in any way, and c)” Naruto paused for a moment and pushed, pushed, pushed the past away, “You will assist the Otokage in any way as long as your actions do not harm Fire country or our political allies. I need you to get close to him. In Otogakure you will *be* Konoha and I need Uchiha to see us as a solution, not a problem.”

“How often should I check in?” Sai was all business now, standing straight and listening intently as his Hokage gave him orders, “And, please forgive my impudence for asking, but why haven’t you picked someone else for this task?”

“Good question,” Shikamaru muttered, but he’d always seen a shinobi as their skills, as simple chess pieces, while Naruto could proudly proclaim that when he looked into Sai’s dark eyes he could see the man under the shell exterior.

“I’ll send a messenger summons every second Tuesday at midnight,” Naruto took three scrolls out of his desk and handed them over, “If you need to initiate contact these will summon the correct toad. I’ll leave it to your discretion whether or not you make it known that you are in regular contact with me.”

Sai pocketed the small scrolls and Naruto smiled, helplessly fond of the strange man, “And as for your last question…because of your honesty, your loyalty, and your courage. Sai, you are one of my finest shinobi and I trust you implicitly with this task. You will not fail.”

And did Sai stand a little taller? Did his eyes take on a new shine? Sai was difficult to read at the best of times, but despite their nearly ritual bickering Naruto knew that their bond held true. So Naruto’s last words were not an order, but a promise, and he felt a little proud when the nearly intangible aura of doubt seemed to slide away from Sai with a true smile and a low bow.

“I will not fail,” Sai repeated, straightening.

“Thank you for taking on this task, you are dismissed.”

Sai’s grinned turned a little plastic as he tried too hard and Naruto braced himself as he waited for Sai to ruin the moment, but amazingly not a single bizarre or wildly inappropriate statement left his lips. Instead Sai simply walked through the door with a cheerful, “Bye Bye, Dickless. Give my best to Gaara-sama.”

When the door closed Shikamaru turned to look at Naruto with a horrified sort of awe lighting up his eyes.

“You are a genius or completely out of your head,” Shikamaru said, “I can’t decide which.”

Naruto put his hands behind his head, sat back, and sighed.

“Well,” He returned, feeling tired all the way down to his bones, “Let me know when you decide which and we’ll both know, Nara.”

Shikamaru smirked, and then said, “Sure, Hokage-sama.”

For the first time since Naruto accepted his title he heard those words and didn’t feel like an outsider still desperately seeking friendships he could never fully realize. He would never be normal, Naruto realized, never completely accepted into the inner circle of friends, but Shikamaru didn’t want normal, Shikamaru wanted a Hokage.

Naruto silently promised the man that he would be that person, the strength, the figurehead that Konoha needed, even if he didn’t fully understand the need himself.

And when Shikamaru met Naruto’s eyes he stood a little taller, smiled a small smile, and snatched the planner from Naruto’s desk.

For the moment things were back to normal and Naruto found, with undeniable satisfaction, that this time he didn’t really mind.


Next up...an interlude in Otogakure (try saying *that* five times fast ;)