67 Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 67
Tsunade felt so embarrassed from Naruto's stare- she felt as if she would faint any moment now when he started walking near her. Though she was shocked when his arm snaked around her waist and cradled the back her head, the other one resting just above her hip to wrap her up in a warm embrace.
"You'll catch a cold like this silly…" he chortled her in a scolding tone, and only then did she realize how cold she was.
She was shivering.
...
His head turned around a bit, glancing at Orochimaru who nodded silently. The boy could understand his message quite clearly and left after picking up a dazed Jiraiya on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes and walked out a moment later.
Tsunade's eyes did widen when his hand caught the edge of fabric holding the towel around her body in a loose knot.
"Naruto, what are you…" he gave her a squeeze of reassurance to shut her up. "…trust me princess." and just like that, her drenched towel fell down.
On instincts alone she pressed herself to him tightly and squeezed his chest with her arms - almost painfully in fact.
"Don't look please." she whispered, her eyes clenched tightly to stop the incoming flow of tears that threatened to fall free any passing moment. She felt so self conscious right now, how much more embarrassing could it get?
Naruto's hands caught the helm of his own shirt and raised it up slowly to let it come over his head, and turned it forward to cover her head.
His hands took a hold of hers to tuck in her arms in the sleeves and she didn't even realize when he had taken it off completely and pulled down the garment over her head with a soft plop and let it fall halfway down her thighs.
Tsunade finally peeked out from her embrace, blinking down at him with teary eyes and smiled a bit childishly feeling him brush her cheek with his finger to wipe off her tears without making her realize she was crying in the first place.
He failed miserably at that…
She tiptoed on her toes, raising herself to meet his height and pressed her lips on his cheek tightly in an innocent and grateful kiss for everything he did for her.
Never once asking for anything in return. Her face hid itself in his neck before he could see her blushing face, all the time smiling and crying like crazy.
What she was crying for? She didn't know…, but she was. And by Kami did it feel right.
"Don't tell anyone…" her soft and honest mumble only served to prompt out one reaction from the blonde boy.
A small wave of nostalgia hit him at having heard the same thing countless from her lips over the years, and he did the only thing he could think of in that moment while placing a soft kiss on the top of her head.
He laughed his heart out…
...
Meanwhile at the council chambers.
The whole council having gathered in a haste as soon as the funeral proceedings were now completely out of the way - decided to get back onto business.
And the business, as it was so called - was a complete and utter mess. The entire village's infrastructure laid down by Tobirama was in a state of turmoil.
The man himself was in the hospital, for which there was no information as to what had occurred in a simple peace talk he had went to have with the Raikage regarding the small skirmishes near their borders.
It wasn't a big thing to be noted that the village did encounter these small bouts of violence every now and then, most of the times villages just chucked them down in between mission reports as if they were nothing.
But the fact that they were getting more and more frequent each passing month - and bloodier than what could be ignored in favor of the peace they were enjoying on the inside…had made situations quite tense between the villages as a whole.
And that was never a good thing.
Bad blood was already warm between Cloud and the Leaf as the ashes from the last war hadn't even settled completely, before these minor annoyances had started budding up everywhere like insects.
But the situation had become a lot more dire with the news that Tobirama himself was in the hospital and out of commission - for at least two months before he could return back to office in full health.
And to make the situation even worse than it already was, Sasuke had joined him in his voyage of injuries as well. Actually going as far as to be in a worse conditions than the fire shadow himself.
To top it all off with a cherry on top, no one other than those two - the ones clogged in intensive care - knew what had actually occurred at the small summit other than the victims themselves.
The victims who were out of commission mind you…permanently.
"Troublesome…" a small grunt made every eye in the room snap to the man who had dared to finally break down the thick half an hour silence, while everyone tried to absorb what had happened.
"… we forgot that Misa and Roku were found dead with their bodies returned almost suspiciously back to us by an unknown source …" none other than the Nara clan head pointed out to everyone else.
And just like that - silence reigned supreme once more.
It was far too much of a coincidence for the Senju clan head to be injured at a supposed "Peace Summit" while his family was returned dead at the same damn time.
"Has there been any word from the Cloud?" the Hyuga clan head asked the others curtly to make some sense out of this web of confusion. But all he got was the expected negative shake of heads from everyone.
"No … " surprisingly, the Uchiha clan head decided to speak up and take an 'active part' in the village affairs for once.
"… they are keeping tight lipped for any and all information regarding their own Raikage and what actually occurred at the peace summit." he answered and got a nod from the Hyuga who let out a weary sigh of exhaustion.
"We can assume then that they are in the same boat as us then?" Daichi Akimichi asked, getting a silent nod from the Yamanaka clan head sitting by his side at the U-shaped table reserved only for the clan heads and the Hokage himself - who reserved the now vacant Senju clan seat at the same time.
"Then I guess it can be assumed that there was a preemptive attack on the summit with both Kage's unable to come unscathed out of it…" the lazy statement of the Nara clan head got him looks that clearly said only one thing from each and every clan head in the room.
A look that said "Are you stupid?" glared down at him from each and every damn direction.
It was almost laughable that someone would try and attack a summit with at least four Kage level shinobi present in one location. The Kages weren't a title handed out to everyone - they were called that for a reason.
"It is quite plausible though…" the Hyuga clan head chimed in once more, getting weird looks from all around him at the sheer stupidity of that statement.
"I mean the resentment Komogakure holds against the Shodai Hokage isn't unknown to anyone.
He did after all kill their beloved Raikage, while Tobirama-sama held off the rest of his forces from aiding or 'interfering' with their little fight." he goaded on undeterred.
And just like that, the council broke into a complete state of chaos. Each and every clan head started drawing on several assumptions and guesses of their own, or what actions must be taken.
But just like Tobirama had expected to when he had handed over his powers to them, they couldn't come to even a single point that all of them agreed upon to have some sort of countermeasures prepared for any of their previous assumptions.
The power he had handed to the council was virtually useless without a single mind to focus it all …
...
Konoha Hospital
Reserved ward non-accessible to anyone but the people who had privy to it.
..
..
Sasuke lay lifelessly on his bed, several machines hooked all over his motionless form. The only signs he displayed of even being alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest or the small mist he created within the oxygen mask covering his face.
With each beep the machines made, it gave his companion sitting by his side - looking none too good for the wear himself the time to think of everything that had taken place in their lives in the span of just shy of a couple of weeks.
His children…who were his responsibility - the responsibility his dead brother had left him with - were now dead.
He hadn't even been conscious while they were buried, not like he had the right to salvation by offering his condolences having been so powerless while they were tortured, maimed and Kami knows what not in enemy hands for so many days.
And now…due to his rashness and utter foolishness, the contempt he felt at himself was almost palpable at the moment. All because of him, the only man who had stuck by his side all these years - the man who had looked after his back for countless battles and saved his life numerous times…now lay lifeless by his side.
He himself was alright, all due to his Senju genes empowering his physical resistance to those toxins. But Sasuke hadn't had that privilege with him. Even with all his experience, the man could have done only so much.
They were well past their primes after all…
And by Kami did he know - oh he did know - that if not for his chain smoking friend - he would be six feet under right now.
...
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