Climbing through the air tubes of the train, Natsumi tried to hide her presence the best she could (however she was not very good at it, yet). Once she reached the place above her uncle and father, the pink haired girl tried to listen to the conversation.
"How bad is the situation?" she heard her father ask.
"...Not good it seems, if we're not careful there can be more attempts like this." Gaara answered.
"They managed to control the situation?"
"They did, but it seems it was thanks to a genin who is close friends to Naruto's son."
There was a small pause.
"A genin...?" Natsumi heard her father's doubtful tone, but for some reason... she was having difficulty concentrating on the conversation as a whole. Her mind was reeling... a close friend of the Hokage's son...?
Her uncle was silent once again and so Kankuro continued to wonder aloud. "But... how could a genin affect such a matter?"
"I don't know all the details," Gaara admitted. "But perhaps it's not too... wise to speak about it in front of Natsumi. From what I gathered, it's not a pretty case."
Kankuro followed his brother's gaze before returning to look at him. He sighed. "So it is more complicated than it seems."
Gaara just nodded and Natsumi, finally snapping out of her thoughts but not entirely with her mind at ease, decided that it was time to go back to them before they started suspecting.
A few minutes later the girl was back in the company of the two adults. Silence had gone back reigning the place and Natsumi was on her knees staring outside the window. Who was Boruto's friend that had gotten involved in this apparently serious case...?
Before she knew it, the train entered the Konoha station and slowed down to a stop.
The girl was barely containing her anxiety, literally rocking up and down on her heels. When they got out with the escort of her uncle's bodyguards, into the safety of the leaf village, she turned to look at her father.
"Is it okay if I go ahead to aunt Temari's?" she was dying to know more about this situation, and she knew Shikadai would help her on the matter.
Kankuro raised an eyebrow before sighing and smiling. He ruffled his daughter's hair before pushing her forward a little. "Go ahead, we won't go there for a while."
Natsumi nodded and ran off towards the Nara household.
"Aunt Temari! Are you home??" said the girl as she opened the door and kicked off her shoes.
She looked forward and saw a blonde head peeking outside the kitchen. And in a moment, a smile broke into the woman's features. "Karura, Shikadai! Look who is in for a surprise!" she called out before wiping her hands to the apron she was wearing.
In the next moment, Natsumi had charged in for a tight hug, which made the woman giggle as she returned the hug and put a hand on her niece's hair. "I didn't know you would be coming too." she said lightly, drawing back a little to get a good look at her. "Oh my, you have grown quite a bit."
Natsumi giggled and gasped in surprise when she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her, lifting her slightly from the floor.
"How's my cousin doing??" Karura asked as she put her down. Despite being the same age as Natsumi, Karura was taller than the pink haired girl.
Natsumi smiled and hugged her back. "I'm doing great!"
She looked at the stairs when she heard the lazy dragging of Shikadai's feet. With his hands in his pockets, the green eyed boy wore his typical lazy expression despite not having seen his cousin in a while.
"Oh, hey."
Temari put her hands on her hips. "Greet her properly!"
"Too troublesome."
"Shikadai..."
"She knows what I mean, mom!"
"Shikadai!"
Rolling his eyes, the young boy did a mock, dramatic bow, the end of his ponytail almost touching the floor. "Welcome to the Nara residence, your highness. What can I do for you?"
His theatricals caused both Natsumi and Karura to burst in laughter while Temari just huffed, shaking her head. "What am I going to do with you..."
Karura took the chance to grin at her older brother and say, "...well, you can start by taking your highness's bag to her room."
Shikadai rolled his eyes as he stood up. "Don't push it." he eyed Natsumi. "What brings you here? I thought only uncles were coming..."
"I... might have snuck onto the train...?" she answered with an innocent smile.
[Flashback]
"Natsumi sweetie, I need your..."
Naomi came to a sudden stop as she entered her oldest daughter's room, while the young girl turned slowly to her with a sheepish expression.
There was a moment of silence.
"Okay..." Naomi said, raising an eyebrow, clearly amused. "What is going on here?"
"I, um..." the girl said, carefully drawing her right leg, which was out of the window already, back. "I... can explain?" she said with a sheepish, almost too innocent grin.
"I'm sure you can." her mother said, putting a hand on her hip, the corners of her mouth twitched as if she was trying to suppress a smile. "Spill."
"I heard that dad and uncle are going to Konoha..." Natsumi said. "And I... want to go with them. I packed my things last night." she said defiantly.
"And does your father or your uncle know about your decision?"
"Well... nope."
Naomi brought her other hand to her chest almost dramatically, her eyes going wide. "Natsumi, I'm shocked! You plan to sneak onto that train..."
"Yeah, but..."
"Knowing that they leave for an important meeting..."
"I know mom, but..."
"And above all else..." Finally, the woman broke into a grin. "Trying to sneak out on me, like I would do anything to stop you!"
Her daughter gaped at her. "You won't?"
"Oh, dear, I thought you know me better than that." Naomi said with a chuckle. "Now, go on already. I believe the train will leave in fifteen minutes."
[End of Flashback]
The hall was filled with laughter.
"I just missed you guys and Konoha." Natsumi finished her story with a big grin.
Shikadai raised an eyebrow. "Missed us huh? Or was it someone else...?" This caused Karura to elbow him.
Natsumi tried her best not to blush immediately - Shikadai was always one to tease her on this, and she didn't want to play his game. "Whatever do you mean by that, Dai?"
But to her surprise... The green eyed boy didn't say anything else on the matter, rather than flinging her bag around his shoulder and turning on his heels. "Nothing." he said almost too non-chalantly, which made the pink haired kunoichi frown a little, something was definitely off...
She waited until they reached her room before finally putting her card on the table.
"Shikadai... I heard that... whatever happened that made uncle come here involved one of Boruto's close friends... who is it...?"
Shikadai didn't face her and didn't tense up... like he already expected her to ask it. He dropped the bag on the bed. "It's nothing you should concern your little head at."
"I'm not a kid anym-"
"Shikadai," his sister started. "I think she should know."
"No, she doesn't."
"The village is big but not big enough to keep that from her, sooner or later she will find out and I would rather she finds out through us!"
Their words were triggering something... something akin to physical pain... why would Dai try to hide it from her... unless it was someone she knew well... and it was indeed... very serious...
"Dai... please..." the slight tremble in her tone was what finally made her cousin to turn to look at her. "Just... tell me...?"
Karura nervously glanced at her brother, who sighed. "We... don't know how serious his condition really is..." he tried to mollycoddle it, but it was a feeble attempt. Catching the 'his' in the sentence easily, Natsumi felt like her heart skipped a beat. Shikadai sighed once more before dropping the bomb. "It's Mitsuki..."
And her heart sank deeper than a sinking ship in a storm... her eyes widened and her hands quickly rushed to her chest. She found it hard to breath for a moment. Seeing that, Karura wrapped an arm around her cousin. "What... what happened...?"
"We..." Karura started. "We don't know the details... we just know that some people tried to attack the village and... Mitsuki tried to stop them and got hurt... like Shikadai said we don't know how serious it is..."
"Tried to st... all by himself...?" her voice had turned weak, fading off at the end. The Nara siblings didn't say anything to that, but neither of them was making eye contact with her by this point. "B- but why...? How...?!" her voice rose up again, against the injustice she felt in those words.
Shikadai sank down onto the bed, clasping his hands in front of him, his gaze still on the floor. "Because of some stupid, stuck-up people who thought it was a good idea to bully someone over something he can't control." was his mumbled response.
"B-bully...? He... he was... being bullied...? By who?!"
Karura sighed. "Some stupid kids... because of his origins."
"But that's not fair!" the blonde gripped her cousin's shoulder harder.
"We know... i-it's not clear but... some rumors say he did it to prove that he is part of this village as we are. Others... just say that... he was working with them and was betrayed..."
At that Natsumi snapped as tears formed in her eyes. "No! I refuse to believe that! That's not the Mitsuki I know! He cares for this village, he wouldn't betray Konoha! That... that's not true... he... t-that's nothing like the boy I know... the same boy that helped me heal my ankle and didn't even get angry despite having been crushed by me..."
"We know, Natsumi," Shikadai said in almost a resigned tone. "We don't believe one word of that type of rumors, either. In all honesty, although I don't know him as good as Boruto, I..."
He didn't finish his sentence but the implication behind it made the tears flow down the young girl's eyes. Sacrificing himself for the safety of people he loves, even after what he had been through... that just felt so much like Mitsuki... Her fingers tightened over the fabric of her outfit, over her heart, as if she was trying to hold it in place.
Karura rubbed her cousin's shoulders, knowing that her anxiety could take over her easily when she was distressed like this.
"I want... I want to visit him..." both siblings looked at her. "I have to... he's... he's at the hospital right...?"
Shikadai didn't meet her eyes. "Natsumi... we said we don't know the severity of his wounds... but we heard that... he's in a coma right now, induced or not we don't know... are you sure you want to see him like that...?" He was just two years older than Natsumi... yet he didn't want his cousin to see more than she had to until the time came.
Coma... good god... More tears threatened to fall, but her determination made the young girl close her eyes in an attempt to stop them. The look in her eyes left no doubt. "Yes. Y-you said he was b-bullied, right?" She lifted her head to look into her cousin's eyes. "Then at least we could... no, we should let him know that he is not alone." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Never alone."
Finally, the green eyes met hers, and the Nara understood that his cousin was not going to give up... no matter what she would see. He nodded as he slowly got up. "Alright... I will take you to the hospital."
...
It was indeed a very busy day in Konohagakure, and it didn't really have much to do with the Gokage meeting that was going to take place in a short while. Many voices could be heard, some angry, some calm but with a strong determination, but all discussing one matter that needed to be addressed.
"What do you mean, you won't permit our children from going to missions?!"one of the Hyuga asked, his tone practically enraged.
"Be glad that they get to get away with this kind of punishment," Hanabi said calmly, meeting the man's gaze with a level look. "Under these circumstances, I should have given a harsher punishment."
"This is already harsh enough!" another parent spoke up. "No missions means no money. He is the only one bringing home money! Lady Hanabi, you know what we had been through since my husband died at the fourth world war!"
"I'm sorry, Akemi," Hanabi kept her voice determined but the look in her eyes had softened just a little. "But you should bring that matter up to your son. He should've thought before ganging up on a poor boy who is equally alone in Konoha."
That was met with more protesting voices.
"What did they do to warrant such a punishment?! They are only children, any children can go a little far with their pranks!"
"We don't even know the true intentions of the 'poor boy' as you call him!"
That was the last straw. When Hanabi's impatient and harsh tone was next heard, no one dared to speak again.
"Intentions, right now, are irrelevant! Although allow me to say I believe Mitsuki has more of a backbone than any of you do! So for goodness's sake, stop pushing this matter over the edge already and consider this punishment as a token of my goodwill!"
There was only silence now following her words. Satisfied, Hanabi continued. "As is decided by the leaders of all the clans involved, the children are required to attend counseling sessions. Moreover, there will be mandatory community service, the details of which will be specified shortly. That is all for today. You may continue with your daily affairs."
As the crowd dispersed slowly, the young woman turned to one of the few remaining around her. "Follow every family and report back to me if there is anyone disobeying. If they do... next time, there will be fines involved."
...
"I... I'm not sure if I understand you...?"
"We would like you to claim the leadership of the Sarutobi."
It took Konohamaru another moment to snap out of his surprised state. He cleared his throat. "Yes, but... even when Kichiro is sacked..."
"Ichiro is still too young to take the position." one of the elders in front of him said, a serious look on his face. "That, and his compliance with his grandfather's decisions... make him an ineligible leader."
"Which is another thing we would like to talk to you about," said the other elder. "If you find this suitable... we would like Ichiro to be supervised by you... A tutor of sorts, someone we can rely on to make sure he is well-mannered and experienced before he takes the leadership seat."
"After all... who would be better than the grandson of the third, an excellent ninja himself?"
The brunet's facial expression remained the same, still doubtful. "You're giving me too much credit."
"And you are giving yourself too less credit. In any case, if you need help... you should know that all of the elders had conceded to your leadership."
"All of them?" he asked, now genuinely baffled. It was extremely rare... almost unheard of that the elders of any clan, lest Sarutobi, to collectively agree upon something.
"Yes, indeed. There is just one problem now, as you can imagine..."
...
"I will never accept your leadership! The rightful head is still my grandfather!"
There was nothing but insatiable fury and disgust in the teenager's eyes as he gazed up at Konohamaru, fists balled, teeth gritted. The young man stood his ground and said nothing, as the elder beside him spoke in a cool manner.
"You have no choice in the matter. Your grandfather was relieved of his position because of how poorly he led the Sarutobi, endangering not only the clan but the village too. When you are of age, and if you are fit to be the leader by then... you will acquire the title. Until then our new leader is Konohamaru-san, and he will also be your tutor."
"I don't give two shits about what you old farts think! My grandfather dedicated his whole life to this clan and this is how you thank him?! By just... just replacing him like he was nothing, only because that man is the third hokage's grandson?!"
"If you still believe that is the only reason behind this decision..." the other elder said, frowning slightly. "this only proves our point that you are not yet ready."
"You know what, I'm not gonna stay here to listen to your bullcrap!" With that, the young boy turned his back to them, ready to go.
"Ichiro." Konohamaru then spoke, in a calm but firm tone. It was clear that Ichiro was almost going to act as if he didn't hear him... but he stopped nonetheless. "I expect you to report to me first thing tomorrow morning."
Slowly, the teen's hands balled into fists once again, and he was visibly shaking, although most likely from anger. After a moment, he turned his head to glare daggers at the young man and then stormed out of the door, slamming it shut behind him.
The elder to his left sighed, shutting his eyes before shaking his head. "What are we going to do with this child...?"
Konohamaru sighed too, his eyes still on the closed door. "Well... at least he didn't say no to the last part."
...
The small terrace on the Hokage building was seeing one of its busiest times. The gokage meeting was just about to start, and the kages from four of the five main villages had taken their seats with their bodyguards standing around them. They were talking to each other in hushed voices, clearly curious, until a cough cut into the murmurs.
"First of all, I would like to welcome all of you to Konoha and thank you for heeding to the call." Naruto began seriously. "As we don't know the scale and scope of the threat yet, we found it necessary to hold this meeting." There was a brief pause. "Five days ago, Konoha faced an attempted attack by two rogue cloud ninjas and survivors from the sound village. The attack was averted thanks to a..." Naruto once again hesitated before moving on, even though this much time had passed, it was still a delicate subject. "...thanks to a genin who fought the rogue nins by himself."
Confused murmurs surrounded the room, and Kurotsuchi spoke up, a doubtful tone in her voice. "A genin? Surely you're not gonna tell us he was sent on a mission?"
"Of course not." The Hokage's voice was terse. "I would trust your judgment that none among us here would allow such a mission." The Tsuchikage didn't say anything to that. "No, he had left the village..."
"Left?" this came from Chojuro, and the tone in his voice made it clear what he was asking.
"On my knowledge." Naruto sighed. "I believe I must have made it clearer... The child chose to leave because of a misunderstanding and its consequences..."
"The thing here is, Naruto," the Mizukage continued, leaning a little forward and putting his arms on the table. "We are not particularly interested in why he left... We're more interested in..."
"...whether it's treason or not, leaving the village as a ninja is still a pretty dangerous move." Kurotsuchi finished.
"I assure you, this matter is not of utmost importance to our current topic." the blond said, in a tone that ended the debate. Gaara's eyes flickered for a moment to his friend, he was sure there was more to the story, but this wasn't the place to bring that up. "All of the culprits are captured or otherwise taken care of. During the investigation of the sound ninjas, however... that's when we came across something troubling." At that point the Hokage, too, put his arms on the table and leaned forward a little, looking at each of the kages in the eye. "The prisoners confessed that their aim was to pull an assassination attempt against me and to throw Konoha into chaos."
And once again, murmurings started. Naruto waited patiently for a moment for the voices to die down before speaking again.
"It is not yet clear whether this will imply a bigger plot... but it is apparent that their grand aim was to disturb the peace era in general."
"Of course... what better way than to kill the person who was the harbringer of the peace?" Darui said, straightening himself slightly in his seat.
"You sound like you expect things to take an ugly turn..." Gaara said with a serious look. "Does that mean we should prepare ourselves for war?"
The anticipation was perfectly tangible in the atmosphere now, it was apparently a question on everyone's mind.
"It might be too early for that," the Hokage admitted. "We still have quite a few pieces of the puzzle missing. But in any case..." His gaze flickered to Gaara, too. "It's best to be on our guard."
Chojuro was scratching his chin thoughtfully. "The sound... correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that the village one of your S-classed missing nins formed? Sounds to me a bit more like it can be a personal vendetta..."
The blond man nodded. "That's why I say there's no need for rash actions, we don't know the nature of their plans... in any case, Konoha will be on the lookout for the Sound from now on, because it's true, it's primarily our own concern."
"I didn't mean it like that..." the Mizukage began, but Naruto cut in with a weary smile.
"It's alright, I know... But, forgive me for being bold, I believe it will be downright foolish not to take your own precautions."
There were nods and agreeing mumbles. Everyone became a bit relaxed as the meeting came to an informal end and started talking among themselves.
Gaara approached Naruto, Kankuro close behind. "Naruto, can I have a moment?"
"Sure." With that, the three walked out of the terrace, back into the office building. "What is it?"
"I believe there is more to the story than you let us know..."
...
Natsumi hesitated a while before entering Mitsuki's room. She didn't know why she was so afraid... was it the fact that she didn't want to see him in that state...?
Sighing, the pink haired girl opened the door and took the first peek inside.
What she saw made her bring her hands to her mouth as a gasp got out of her lips, her eyes going wide... She tried to take in a few more breaths but it was becoming a hard job...
She tentatively took a few steps into the room, and came to a stop.
This... almost didn't look like the Mitsuki she knew... So fragile looking... Her friend was always strong... It felt like there was a stranger in his place, being connected to all those machines...
When she noticed, she was close to him, by his bed and she started taking in what she saw.
His chest was covered in bandages, cables on his chest that connected to the machines. Natsumi found herself thinking... if he was really alive or if it was just the machines keeping him alive...
No... She shook her head... she couldn't think like that... Mitsuki was strong... he would make it...
She noticed one of his arms was also bandaged... she guessed it was broken... she could only guess.
Then his head... too...
"What did they do to you...?"
There were no responses... Of course... Only the steady beeps kept her company as the pink haired kunoichi slowly and quietly pulled a chair, so quiet as if she was afraid... that any kind of noise... any kind of disturbance at all... would just make him slip away...
She sat beside his right side, and after a moment of hesitation, put a hand, gently, on his hand.
"Mitsuki..." she whispered, surprised at how much like a smaller child she sounded. "It's Natsumi... I-I don't know if you can hear me..."she gulped. "B-but I... just want to say... we're here... you're not alone..."
And just like it had happened when his team was present, the heart machine let out a bigger beep before returning to normal.
Natsumi looked at the machine and then back at Mitsuki's steady form. "Did you hear me...?" That brought a small smile to her face. "I'm right here, no one is leaving you... we're friends..." Feeling a few tears drop on her cheeks, she raised a hand to wipe at them. "So don't... let what a few stupid weirdoes tell about you get to you, okay? Because next time I see anyone talk trash about you... I will just kick them to the next village with my fan." A few more drops fell, and she found herself shaking a little. "Just please be alright... okay?"
And with those words said, Natsumi leaned in to kiss him on the forehead tenderly. "Tell me when you wake up... because I know you will."
There was a knock and Natsumi turned around to see who it was. "Uncle..." she sniffed and wiped the remaining of her tears.
"I thought I would find you here."
And the Kazekage made his way into the room, closing the door behind him. In the next moment, he was already taking a seat beside his niece.
"So this is the brave young boy..." The girl couldn't say anything, just nodded. "I didn't know you were close friends... I'm sorry, Natsumi..."
She squared her shoulders. "No... He's gonna be alright. And everything will be okay then."
Gaara just nodded, understanding how painful it would be for his niece to see a friend in this state.
"Why is life so cruel to those who don't deserve it...?" she didn't take her eyes off of him.
"I wish I could give you a proper answer but... I can't."
She sniffed. "You went through something similar... what can I do to help him...?"
The redhead turned to give her a warm smile, the look in his eyes soft. "For now? Just pray for him to be safe and be back among us as soon as possible. And when that happens, show him your support and that you will always be there for him, no matter what. That's how it worked for me." Then his smile widened a little more. "But... I take it that you already know these."
She sniffed and nodded. "I just want him back..." She looked back at her uncle. "I guess dad is looking for me...?"
Gaara chuckled for a bit before ruffling his niece's hair. "He is... we better head back before he decides to tear up the entire Konoha." His gaze once again turned soft as he looked back at the boy. "And don't you worry... I have a very good feeling that he will be back... sooner or later."
At that time, there was a knock on the door, and a medic peeked in. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kazekage-sama," she said respectfully. "I need to do some check-ups."
Gaara and Natsumi both stood up from their chairs.
"Of course," said the red haired. "We were just leaving." He looked at Natsumi, who nodded in return after taking one last look at Mitsuki.
