chapter 120

"You both are absolutely mad," Kurotsuchi said, looking at Eiji and Tayuya like they had lost their minds. To be perfectly honest though, Eiji didn't think she was all that wrong, really. She was a little late to the party in that regard, however.

"And you've just noticed?" Kabuto asked, raising a disappointed eyebrow at the Iwa nin. "Tch tch tch, I thought we'd taught you better, Princess."

"All that effort," Jirobo started, shaking his head. "And she's still like that. We'll need to try harder, it seems."

As for Fu, the girl just giggled like Kurotsuchi was particularly silly.

Needless to say, the girl in question was not amused. She started looking all around at the squad as if they'd all grown a second head. She seemed to be unable to understand how everyone was ok with things, even after she'd spent the last however many minutes explaining how the Summit had gone. Or, at least, the parts that Eiji and Tayuya had been involved in, at least.

After all, the meeting was hardly just that. There was a lot of talking nonsense and politicking that neither of them cared much about. So, they settled on actually doing their jobs and standing there as guards as opposed to participating. Eiji truly pitied Tsunade for having to deal with all that nonsense.

"Why is everyone ok with this?!" Kurotsuchi demanded to know, evidently running out of her already quite low patience. "They… The way they talked, and behaved! They could have been killed for less!"

"Oh you sweet summer child," Tayuya mocked with a shake of her head. "At most we'd have been told to shut our traps."

"Why are you so sure?!" Kurotsuchi asked then, looking a step away from going hysterical.

"Because we are too important," Eiji answered that time, drawing the attention of the Iwa nin towards him. He noticed her eyes moving towards his new protector. The rest of the Squad looked at it too, occasionally, but they'd all already known about it since shortly after the spiders had deemed him worthy of it not so long ago. The only one that hadn't known was Kurotsuchi, really.

"What do you mean?" She asked, visibly calming herself down now that it seemed her questions wouldn't be mocked or ignored. She'd have to work on that, he supposed, if she was to be a Kage in the future. As it was, she had time to get better.

"The Squad's main mission is dealing with Akatsuki, a very dangerous group that is a danger to every big Nation. All of them have Jinchuriki that are being targeted. All of them have something to lose. So…" Eiji explained slowly, finishing with a wave of his hand as he signaled for her to finish the thought.

"So, they can't afford to do anything to you until you are done," Kurotsuchi finished, eyes wide. "They need you, so you are safe."

"She can be taught, after all!" Tayuya exclaimed in mock relief.

"You know what, Princess, I think we need to add non-combat classes to your "course", Kabuto, can you take care of that?" Eiji decided, making the girl pale. As for the medic and second in command, he simply regarded her with narrowed eyes for a moment.

"I guess that should be doable," He agreed reluctantly. "It'll be a break from all the training, if nothing else."

"That's the spirit," Eiji said before sighing and leaning back where he sat, resting on the palms of his hands. "There'll be a bunch of meetings while the Kages decide what to do and how to do it, so Tayuya and I will probably be going there for the foreseeable future. Although," He paused then, giving his girlfriend a look. "I guess she can stay out of it sometimes and I can bring Kabuto. I don't think there's that much risk of everyone starting a fight, honestly."

"Thank God, I'll be bored to death if I have to go to every stuffy meeting there is," Tayuya exclaimed, sounding supremely relieved. Eiji just rolled his eyes. He'd take the boring meetings any day instead of a fight for his or someone else's life.

"Don't worry, I'll leave some exercises and clones to make sure you are entertained," Eiji pointed out, making everyone in the Squad pale. For his part, he gave them a warm smile. "Wouldn't want you guys to get too complacent or anything, right?"

"Couldn't keep your mouth fucking shut, could you?" Kurotsuchi hissed at Tayuya, who for once didn't shoot something right back. Instead, she grimaced.

"Not like he would have let us laze around, you know?" The redhead grumbled instead, drawing a similar expression from the Iwa nin. Then both of them, together with the other three members of the team, sighed in unison.

"You know me so well," Eiji said, mock swooning and making Tayuya's eye twitch in annoyance. When she glared at him, face turning red, he simply grinned right back, unafraid. Off to the side, Fu snickered, drawing Tayuya's irate look towards her. "Anyway, I think I'll be taking some time off soon. There's stuff that I want to do and I'll see how that goes," He informed them. "So, you can do whatever at those times too, just so you can start thinking about what to do."

His words, however, were met with distrust. Not that he was surprised. Whenever he said anything that implied training wouldn't happen, or would be lighter, the Squad seemed to go all suspicious on him. Hell, he hadn't even given them a reason for it, since all the times he'd done so he'd been truthful.

Rolling his eyes, he unsealed his guitar.

"A small break before training," He announced then, getting ready to start playing.

[}-o-{]

Not long after that, Eiji found himself doing exactly what he said he would. Walking down the streets of Iwa on his own, he made his way towards one of the guest houses that had been pointed out for him. As for the team, Kabuto and Jirobo were doing some light work of their own. The former tinkering with puppets and the latter working with his mindscape once more.

The Earth Release user was fairly motivated to get his Curse Mark under control, it seemed. Not that he was the only one, since Tayuya also put a good amount of time on that, but the guy seemed especially determined to get that. Eiji wasn't too sure why that was, but he didn't question it too much.

As for the girls, they'd all gone together to the shopping district, guided by Kurotsuchi. How the Jinchuriki and the Princess had managed to convince Tayuya of all people to go with them, Eiji didn't know. What he did know was that it was likely to end in disaster. While Kurotsuchi gave fairly strong tomboy vibes, she still was in tune with her girl side, as it were. And Fu was a ball of enthusiasm that would be happy with any activity that didn't involve being alone.

His girlfriend though, was a little more… Picky, with what she wanted to do with her time. To put it mildly, that is. She wasn't likely to enjoy an outing like that. Hell, when they had gone shopping, most of the time had been spent in ninja related stores and other places, not regular clothes as he heard the other girls were planning.

Then again, maybe they'd work their girl magic and get a different result? Eiji knew full well that he wasn't anywhere close to understanding how their differently wired minds worked. He'd just apply the wait and see approach, he guessed.

Finally, as if to push those thoughts aside, he reached his destination. Knocking on the door, he waited for a moment. This would be a potentially awkward meeting, but that was fine. He'd come fully knowing that and he'd already gone through worse.

"Ah, Eiji!" Temari greeted him once the door opened. He grinned as she pulled him into a hug. "I've missed you… And the rest, a little bit."

"The smallest bit," He said, drawing a chuckle from the girl. "I mean, can't have missed us all that much, considering your brothers."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kankuro asked once Temari signaled for him to come in.

"That you are a handful, just like the Squad," Temari explained with a deadpan. "You still going by Suicide Squad?" She asked then, grinning as she turned towards Eiji once more. "Or has Tayuya already come up with something else."

"Still going by that. Although, an argument is being made to call us the Weaver Squad," Eiji explained, keeping his face perfectly neutral. Temari couldn't hold back a laugh at that. "I take it you found the names funny too?"

"Hilarious. I bet Tayuya was ecstatic about them," The blonde commented, clearly knowing exactly how the redhead had likely reacted to her title. Accurately at that, from what Eiji was gathering.

"Something like that," Eiji replied, his lips twitching into a smile. Temari made a decent effort to contain her laughter this time but ultimately wasn't very successful all the same. Meanwhile, off to the side, Kankuro was less than amused.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" He asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously and looking between Eiji and Temari.

"I know you don't have many friends that are girls, but do try to keep your overprotective brother act under control, man," Eiji commented, this time unable to suppress his amusement. Temari outright cackled at that.

"Eiji Satou," A new voice joined then, and the two siblings fell silent almost immediately. They didn't look nervous or afraid as they might other times, but they still held a healthy amount of respect for their little brother. "It's been some time."

"It has, hasn't it? Gaara?" Eiji said with a smile on his face as he approached the One Tail Jinchuriki. "And just Eiji is fine, man."

"Eiji then," The boy nodded, his expression bland as he stood there with his arms crossed. That's when he noticed that all Suna siblings had changed outfits.

"Fairly sure those are the pre-timeskip outfit change," Kage commented, likely checking through their notes on Eiji's foreknowledge. It wasn't useful for much, but noting this particular thing, for example, was interesting, if nothing else.

"Maybe focus on the now?" Hachi reminded him, making Eiji blink.

"So, what's new for you, Gaara? How's being the Kazekage treating you?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"It's been… exhausting," The boy said, in his flat, emotionless tone. "But it's been… good too," He added then, and Eiji noticed both of his siblings doing a double take at that behind him through his Web Sense. "People act differently now. They are still afraid but… There's something else there too."

"Respect?" Eiji offered, making the Jinchuriki tilt his head and consider that.

"Could be," Gaara replied, although he didn't sound very sure. "Can I offer you tea?"

"You can prepare tea?" Eiji asked, blinking with his eyes widening slightly. Last time they met, Gaara couldn't cook anything to save his life. "And sure, that's good for me."

"I learned… helps with long days of paperwork," Gaara said with a shrug. Then the boy started walking towards where Eiji guessed was the kitchen of the house.

"Not coffee?" He asked, following along. Just remembering those days living off of the bitter stuff almost made him shudder. He really hoped he'd never have to depend on that drink.

"Coffee is… not something that I enjoy," Gaara commented, as he started working. Eiji meanwhile leaned against the frame of the door that went to the kitchen, with the other two siblings taking a seat at the table in the dining room. The pair seemed to have decided to give their brother and his friend some time alone. It was appreciated, since it had truly been too long since Eiji had spent time with Gaara. "It's a necessity sometimes, however."

"Tell me about it. If I never need to take that stuff again, it'll be too soon," Eiji grumbled, his face twisting in distaste at the memories. "I needed some of that when work piled up and I hated it."

"I can understand that sentiment," Gaara replied. "Back to the original question though, it's been different since I became the new Kazekage. I also think that my changed… attitude has helped people be less afraid of me, perhaps. I'm not entirely sure, if I'm honest."

"I mean, I think people have to have noticed that you use your killer intent less. That's a fairly obvious thing, even to civilians," Eiji noted, considering how that could have been. Since he'd never actually witnessed anything that was talked about, not even been to Suna at all, he didn't have all that much information to work with, really. "I'm glad things have been going well for you."

"They have," Gaara agreed with a nod, turning around with a tray and the tea ready. "Konoha has been most helpful with my people, something that they've been… reluctantly grateful for."

"People are stubborn," Eiji nodded back, following him to the table this time and taking a cup that was offered to him. "They'll come around."

"They will," Gaara replied, sounding completely sure this time. "Some have already started, I gather. It's difficult to tell sometimes."

"Well, my Squad is bound to go to Suna at some point. Maybe we can do some intelligence gathering while we are there," Eiji offered, half-joking.

"That'd be appreciated," The Kazekage said though, as if he were completely serious. Eiji supposed he should have seen that coming, but well, it was what it was.

"So, how were things with Naruto?" He asked then, drawing a groan from Kankuro. Good, it seemed his brother was making him proud.

"Well, he's certainly lively," Temari commented with a smirk. "Shame we couldn't bring him here, but-"

"Bringing Konoha's Jinchuriki would be troublesome, I get it," Eiji nodded. "Was he sent back home?"

"He would have, but the Summit was too short notice and moving a Jinchuriki now needs a lot more power than we could spare without preparation," Gaara said, to which Eiji nodded. It was what it was, he supposed.

"He had fun setting up seals everywhere though," Temari pointed out with a grin. "Not even our own citizens were safe, if you know what I mean."

"I do, unfortunately," Eiji chuckled, shaking his head. "Any highlights?"

"Oh, too many to count. Your brother is a menace."

[}-o-{]

"Any idea what this is about?" Kabuto asked as they walked down a street towards one of the guest houses once more. It was a valid question, because while Eiji had already had plans to approach these people, getting an invitation had caught him off guard a little.

"No idea," He replied with a shrug. "Guess we'll see. Doubt it would be anything bad, honestly."

"You are a little too relaxed, I'd say," Kabuto noted, to which Eiji shrugged again with a smile.

"With all that's going on, this meeting is probably the least worrying thing happening," He said, looking ahead as he walked. He was being honest too. Akatsuki's silence was concerning. Peace actually being on the table was… Well, not concerning per se, but certainly something that made him a little nervous. Kumo still worried him, even with what was being said and done.

Kiri was, truly, not as high up on his list of things that made him uneasy.

"I guess I can understand that," Kabuto nodded, even if he looked like he didn't quite feel the same. He'd get it eventually, Eiji was sure. Or maybe not. Regardless, it was nice to have someone to worry about the little things. It allowed him to do so for the bigger stuff. "We are here," The medic said, looking at the door. "Should we… wait…" He started, before grimacing as Eiji knocked without a care.

"Much quicker this way," Eiji said with a shrug.

"Do you live to try to give me heart attacks?" The ex-spy asked.

"I mean, I'm sure you could save yourself from those. You'll be fine," Eiji replied, drawing a very unimpressed expression from his second in command. To that, he just chuckled.

"Ah, Weaver," Choujurou greeted, once he opened the door. He still seemed like a nervous guy, apparently. That was fine, Eiji preferred that to an antagonistic person any day of the week. "Please do come in, Mizukage-sama has been waiting for you."

"Thanks for coming so quickly," Mei herself said once they walked in and were taken to the table she sat at. Taking the seats opposite to her, with Kabuto to his right, Eiji looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Want to get straight to the point, huh?"

"I don't like formalities and beating around the bush all that much," Eiji answered with a shrug. "It's time wasted that I could use for other things. In friendly chats, maybe, but when I'm meant to be talking business, nah."

"Understandable," Mei replied, nodding and taking a moment for herself. Eiji wondered if she really needed to think about what she was going to say, or if it was a calculated move. Alternatively, maybe he'd thrown her off a little by being so direct? Who knew? "I don't want to talk about Nuibari, as you may have thought."

"Oh?" He wasn't exactly expecting that to be what she wanted to speak about with them, but he'd admit that the idea had popped up in his mind. However, considering that he'd brought it up during the summit to reassure her that he'd hold up on the deal they'd made some time ago, he hadn't thought it needed addressing once more.

"No need to act surprised," Mei told him with a smile. "No, what I wanted to talk about with you is the possibility of Kirigakure having a representative in your… Squad."

"I'll admit that wasn't within my guesses," Eiji replied, blinking as he processed that. "May I ask why?"

"Because you and your group will be at the center of whatever happens in the world," Mei started explaining, leaning back on her chair. "You are a basically unattached force that can stand up to pretty much anything and anyone. What you do and what you think will influence quite a bit more than I think you realize."

"And you want in on that? You realize that if you try to influence me, you are more likely to turn me against you, right?" Eiji asked her casually, and he saw the man on the corner, Ao, he was pretty sure was his name, tense slightly.

"I do, that's why that's not what I want," Mei answered with a nod, looking just as calm as before. "No, I want you to have a reason to keep Kiri's best interests at heart."

"Ah, influence me indirectly. Give me someone I care about that cares about Kiri," Eiji mused, completely unbothered by the attempt at manipulation. He couldn't say he hadn't seen it coming, and it didn't bother him all that much. "Well, that could work, I reckon."

"Eiji?"

"What? It's a good plan," He told Kabuto, not taking his eyes off of Mei. "Besides, she knows that it can only help her so long as it doesn't go against any of my other interests."

"Indeed," The Mizukage agreed, looking slightly amused. "And I imagine you'll receive similar requests from everyone outside of Konoha. I'd be surprised if Suna didn't have the Kazekage's sister re-join your group."

"And Iwa is likely to take your offer as a challenge of sorts, the guy that was listening in just left to deliver the new info," Eiji pointed out, making Ao turn sharply. "You didn't seriously expect me coming here to not draw attention, right?" He asked with a chuckle before turning towards a seemingly empty corner. "It's fine, no worries, man. Just tell the old man that it'd be better if he just asked to join the meeting or something. There's no need to be sneaky about everything," He said, rolling his eyes.

"You were aware that there were spies around?" Ao asked curtly.

"Of course I was," Eiji shot back with an amused grin. "You weren't?" That got the man to grit his teeth, but he was silenced by a gesture from the Mizukage before he could actually say anything. "So, about this offer."

"Well, I'd like to offer one of my ninja to your Squad, as I said," Mei said, seeming to think about it for a moment. "I'd offer more, but you must have noticed that everyone seems to be busy. Ironically, the closer we are to peace, the more we need to work. You must have noticed that Jounin barely have any free time at all too."

He had. It felt like an eternity since the last time he'd seen one of them, Anko included, sadly. Hell, the fact that Mei had brought Choujurou instead of, for example, Zabuza, spoke quite a bit about how things were for other Nations and villages too. With some luck, the period of unrest would pass soon.

"Eh, I don't think the Squad would work quite as well if we had a whole lot of people, anyway," Eiji replied with a shrug, giving Kabuto a look to see if he agreed. The med nin narrowed his eyes for a moment before nodding to his words.

"With that said, we have some theories, but I'd prefer to ask directly," Mei started, tilting her head. "What would you be interested in adding to your team?"

Well, she wasn't joking when she said she'd be direct, it seemed.

"Water Release, Fire Release, Lightning Release, weapon user, reconnaissance, sealing," Eiji listed almost immediately. "Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head." Evidently, he'd caught her off guard with how quickly he'd come up with those. It was something he'd given thought to before though, what his team lacked.

When Mei frowned a second later, he smirked.

"I can cover some of those myself, but that's not what I want. I want my team to be able to cover every base by themselves without me," Eiji explained before she could even ask. To that, the Mizukage nodded slowly.

"Well, it's good to see you are so open to the idea," The woman commented, visibly pleased with how things had gone so far. "I'll see who we can find to offer that'll cover some of those and possibly others," She added, but Eiji could see that there were gears turning in her head. It was likely she was getting what he had implied instead of said.

"We'll be around for quite some time. There's no need to hurry, really," He told her with a shrug. At least, he hoped they'd be around for a while. One never knew in the world they lived in. The acknowledging nod that the Mizukage gave him was equal parts agreeing and doubtful. Understandable, really.

"Now, if that was all, I actually wanted to talk about Nuibari," Eiji started, making the woman and the two Kiri nin straighten up. "Not to get your hopes up too much though, I won't be returning it just yet. I wanted to assuage some of your worries though, by giving a semi-fixed date for it."

"Oh?"

"Once Akatsuki has been dealt with, I'll go to Kirigakure and look for someone to give the sword to," He informed them, and the Mizukage nodded. Ao didn't look too happy with that, but Eiji cared little for what the man thought.

"That's sooner than we expected," Mei told him.

"Later than we wished," Ao said, seemingly unable to hold his tongue on that. The sharp look his Kage gave him made him withdraw into himself though.

"That's all I can offer at the moment," Eiji replied with a grimace of a smile. "I need to be at my best to deal with these people."

"And that's perfectly understandable. I myself want to see them dealt with, especially with…" Mei started before trailing off and seeming to decide that no, she wouldn't elaborate further. "Well, I can safely say that this was a-"

"Ma'am," Choujurou interrupted, looking very much like he'd prefer to have done literally anything else. When everyone turned towards him, he pointed to the window, where they saw a distraught Temari outside the entrance right before she knocked.

Eiji was at the door before anyone else could move.

"Eiji, they told me you were here-" She started, bringing up a scroll that he took from her immediately. Something was wrong, he could tell that much. The girl fell silent as he opened the scroll and started reading through it.

As he did so, he found that there was, indeed, something very wrong going on.

Tsuchigumo growled inside his mind and, for once, he didn't reel her in. Instead, he let her chakra wash over him. His eyes turned completely black and the dark blue chakra started building in him, almost immediately starting to pour out. His bloodlust was unleashed all around, only enhanced by the presence of a Chakra Beast that was just as displeased as he was.

"Eiji," Kabuto called, but he'd already flickered away. He'd let the scroll fall behind him though, so he was sure his second in command would read it and know what was up. Eiji couldn't waste any time though. The words he'd read burned in his mind, urging him to go faster than even his Body Flicker powered by Tsuchigumo herself could manage.

Three of those words in particular

"Akatsuki attack" and "Suna".

Maybe it was a trap, he acknowledged. Maybe it was like Kumo all over again, even though Suna was a solid ally of Konoha. One never knew, when Obito was out there with the power of cheat eyes on him. However, Eiji couldn't take that risk. He just couldn't.

After all…

Naruto was in Suna.