64. Treason Against Sunagakure

Sleep did not come back for the Konoha shinobi at the Kazekage's Mansion after Kankurō's arrest. Tension filled each room in the aftermath. Gaara and Temari had left immediately after to begin their own investigation. The Konoha shinobi had remained there attempting to sleep, but it became obvious after the first two hours that it was not coming.

Fully dressed and prepared for the day, Naruto, his genin team, Lee, and Tenten were all standing in a circle at the entrance of the mansion, discussing what exactly happened.

"That's a bunch of bullshit!" Katsumi hissed. Hanabi winced slightly at her word choice, but did not stop her swearing – she agreed with her teammate, after all. "I know we didn't know Kankurō for too long, but he definitely did not seem like the type of guy who would commit treason! His brother's the Kazekage for fuck's sake!"

"Kankurō-san is not the type." Lee spoke-up, frowning. "While I do not pretend to have known him well, I do know he has a genuine love for his village, just as we all love Konoha."

"So, the allegations are crap." Naruto stated as he crossed his arms. "So either everything about this is a bunch of bull, or someone else is framing him for their crime."

"But what type of crime occurred, though?" Hanabi asked.

That was the unknown question; the group had heard the charges, but not the specifics behind what had happened. They were ignorant and, therefore, could not do anything.

"So… where do we go from here, Naruto-sensei?" Kanji asked. Everyone turned their attention towards him. "Our mission is done. We can technically go home now, but…"

His voice started to drag on. They all knew what he was asking; should Team Nine return back to Konoha or get involved?

"Well, Lee and I have to stay here." Tenten noted. "We have a mission to complete at the academy. And honestly, we probably won't be able to do much other than that during the days."

"Yeah, I think that's what you two should focus on." Naruto nodded his head in understanding. "Hokage-sama and Gaara really want the academy thing to go through and improve the relations. It's important that you two still keep up with that."

"We shall." Lee replied. "And you, Naruto-kun?"

The Uzumaki sighed. A part of him felt moderately anxious; he did not know what was going on in Suna and he was not certain if this was something he should be concerned about. He did not know if staying in Suna would be dangerous for his students. Returning back to Konoha did make sense.

However, he knew Kankurō was in trouble. While he trusted that both Gaara and Temari would uncover the truth and get his brother out of serious trouble, he did not like the idea of just leaving him in his situation and just 'hoping' that his siblings would be able to bail him out. If there was anything he could possibly do to help with the situation, he would want to do it.

If it were up to him, Naruto would stay. However, he had his team to take into consideration. Therefore, it was only fair that he honored their wishes.

"… Hanabi, Katsumi, Kanji; what do you three want to do?" The jōnin questioned.

"I want to help Kankurō." Katsumi said quickly.

Kanji nodded his head in agreement: "You yourself said we might stay a day or two to just see what Suna was like. Why change that just because of this?"

"Besides, we could maybe help." Hanabi added. "We should try and help Kankurō-san with these accusations!"

A large smile developed on Naruto's face. He looked at his students with pride in his eyes as he nodded his head, giving the group a thumbs up.

"Then it's official; let's help out Gaara and Kankurō." The jōnin stated.

Kabuto smirked as he looked down at the corpse on the ground. It was the body of a woman of a young woman with green hair that was tied in a bun with two orange tips framing her face. She was dressed in a white robe that covered her body. Her skin tone was pure white.

The silver-haired shinobi pulled out a scroll and opened it. He placed the open end of the scroll on the woman's body. As he began to run through a series of hand signs, the door to the room he was in opened up as Yūra entered.

"Is everything finished, Kabuto-sama?" He questioned.

Kabuto said nothing for a few seconds as he finished his hand signs. A cloud of smoke appeared around the body before quickly dissipating, revealing the corpse of the woman to be missing, sealed inside the scroll. The former right-hand to Orochimaru smirked as he walked over and picked up the scroll.

"How long has it been since Pakura has been dead?" He asked. "I must say, your village has done an incredible job preserving her body. To be completely honest, looking at her corpse, I almost don't believe she died in battle!"

"Pakura was a hero to Sunagakure; one of the finest. Of course the village would do its job to make sure her body is preserved and kept clean after death." Yūra replied. His eyes narrowed on Kabuto, a scowl developing on his face. "You are done now, correct?"

"I am." Kabuto nodded his head. "There are a few things that I must still do with in regards to D.N.A samples I have taken, but I am done with everything that required me to be here."

"Good." The Suna jōnin's eyes narrowed onto the scroll. "You are not going to keep that one, correct? You returned all the other bodies you've taken."

"The previous bodies were all just parts of some experiments I've been doing; of course I'd return it. This one, however, I think I might just keep." He proceeded to smirk as he pocketed the scroll. "It'll be a gift to Sasori-sama for allowing me to have your assistance."

Yūra's scowl turned into a smirk of his own. He nodded, accepting that response, before walking forward towards Kabuto.

"We should start planning your escape. Mukade and I have already pinned the blame on the Kazekage's brother and have caused enough of a stir in the village; tonight, it should be easy for you to slip away." He stated.

"Excellent." Kabuto chuckled. "I'm honestly impressed that you two decided to accuse him. This should make the politics in this village quite interesting for a little while."

"It shall. While he will probably be acquitted shortly, the chaos will be enough for you to slip away." Yūra chuckled as well. "To be honest, we almost thought of accusing the Konoha shinobi that just arrived in the village, but we opted not to. We already were committed to Kankurō and we couldn't steer from that option."

"Oh? Konoha shinobi are in the village? Who?" Kabuto asked.

The Suna jōnin nodded his head: "Two chūnin and a genin team under the command of Uzumaki Naruto."

Kabuto's eyes widened slightly for a split second. His face then developed into a grin as he adjusted his glasses for a second.

"Naruto, huh? Haven't heard that name in a while. His jōnin-sensei had a hand in killing my old master." He noted. 'Perhaps I should pay him a visit about that before heading out!'

Gaara sat alone in the Kazekage's office and rubbed his hands against his head, trying to ease his developing headache. Due to years of being a jinchūriki and working to prevent Shukaku from gaining control of his mind, he had developed little need to ever sleep and could function well at peek levels of exhaustion. Right now, however, he wished he could rest for a little while, for the current situation with Kankurō was particularly annoying to him.

A knock on the door caused him to turn his attention towards it. After giving permission to the person to come in, the door opened up. Naruto and his genin team walked in.

"How are you doing Gaara?" Naruto asked. "What's the situation?"

"The situation is frustrating and I have made little progress so far." Gaara said, shaking his head. "The specific situation is that bodies have been disappearing from tombs throughout Sunagakure."

"Bodies?" Hanabi frowned. "Is that where the grave robbing accusation came from?"

The Kazekage nodded his head. "Important bodies. For periods of time, the bodies of the Shodai, Nidaime, and Yondaime Kazekage would disappear and reappear from their tombs with slight modifications. As did the body of Monzaemon Chikamatsu, the founder of Suna's puppet-style ninjutsu. Most recently, the body of Pakura, a legendary warrior shinobi of Suna with a unique kekkei genkai, was discovered missing."

"And how does this relate back to Kankurō?" Katsumi asked. "They think he's the guy who is responsible?"

Gaara nodded his head, frowning: "D.N.A samples were found in Kankurō's personal workshop in Suna's Puppeteer Corps Building. While most were small samples of D.N.A that were only just sampled and confirmed, the more damning piece discovered was the full right hand discovered hidden in his workshop."

"Yondaime Kazekage?" Naruto questioned, frowning.

Gaara nodded his head: "My general inclination is that this evidence was all planted there, but I am struggling to obtain evidence."

"Was anything discovered missing yesterday?" Kanji questioned. "We had first ran into Kankurō upon entering Suna as he came back from visiting a nearby village for meat. Could we maybe talk to the person he bought from, confirm that he was there at that time, and if it coincides with a disappearance of one of the bodies, would that confirm an alibi that would show he has no involvement?"

"Based off what Kankurō has said, there was a body that went missing when he left for that village. As such, I sent someone to that village to speak with the merchant and confirm that alibi. For now, I'm just waiting." Gaara said. "I have a meeting with the council in two hours. I am just trying to rationalize more arguments that I can make to them."

"Would it help if we showed up to the meeting as well? Or at least if I did?" Naruto asked. "Konoha's presence serving as a backup could be useful."

"I would appreciate that and I believe, at the very least, you could come to the meeting, Naruto. However, I am not certain you will be able to sway the council. They are adamant about my brother's guilt and seem to be convinced that I am someone who would twist logic and evidence to defend him of his crimes." Gaara said.

"Would I be able to attend maybe?" Kanji asked. "As a Yamanaka, perhaps my testimony could hold some merit. I could enter Kankurō's head, for example, and provide answers based off my own perusing of his mind that he had no knowledge of this."

"I had thought of that, actually." Gaara mentioned as he brought his right hand to his chin. "I think testimony of yours could have some merit, but I do feel as if the council could reject it with the logic of Konoha trying to interfere and assist me, as both the Hokage and I are currently in talks of improving our villages' relationship. It will be useful, but I am aware of the counterargument."

"That's stupid, though." Katsumi frowned, crossing her arms. "If Kanji has the ability to enter someone's mind and can confirm that he had no involvement, then that should be enough evidence!"

"In theory, it is enough. But I understand the concern if they think we are biased." Kanji shrugged. "Whatever, if you want though, I can confirm that the memories don't exist in his head and that can supplement what other evidence you could find."

Gaara nodded his head in agreement: "That would be helpful to have. At the very least, I can feel more confident in my assertions that Kankurō has nothing to do with this." The Kazekage then stood up and started to walk. "I'll take you all to where my brother is being held."

The Konoha shinobi nodded their heads in agreement and proceeded to follow the Kazekage out of the room.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Gaara and the Konoha Shinobi wasted no time upon arrival at the holding cell where Kankurō was located at. Upon arrival, Kankurō submitted himself to Kanji's jutsu and allowed the Yamanaka to start prodding his mind for information.

The remaining shinobi waited patiently as the search continued. Roughly seven minutes passed by before Kanji's body became activate again.

"Sorry about that; just wanted to doublecheck every area I could in his mind." Kanji said to everyone as he proceeded to shake his head. "But I looked everywhere and I couldn't find any memories related to the missing bodies. I don't believe there's anything whatsoever to suggest he is responsible."

"Damn right I'm not!" Kankurō stated sharply, crossing his arms.

"We just need some other type of evidence to show its merit." Hanabi mumbled.

"Kazekage-sama!" The group turned around to see a Sunagakure shinobi rushing in. Naruto recognized the man as the guy who had intercepted them upon entering the village – Mukade, if he recalled his name. "I couldn't find you in your office, so I assumed you were over here!"

"Mukade." Gaara greeted the man.

The Suna jōnin looked around the room for a brief moment, eyes focusing on the Konoha shinobi, before speaking: "Kazekage-sama, do you mind if we speak in private? I have information-"

"If it is information regarding my brother's arrest, you can speak it freely here." Gaara declared, crossing his arms. "The Konoha shinobi here are assisting me in my own investigation and my brother deserves the right to hear information regarding his own arrest."

Mukade nodded his head in understanding: "Very well then. I have received news from the shinobi you sent out to speak to the meat vendor that your brother claimed to have purchased from."

"I see." Gaara crossed his arms. "And what did the vendor say?"

Mukade frowned in response: "He said nothing; the man your brother claimed to have met with is dead."

"What?" Kankurō shouted, nearly blanking at the man. "You've got to be pulling my leg! How can he be-"

"As you reported earlier, it was a man named Kiyo, from Saba village, correct?" Mukade questioned. The puppeteer nodded his head. "As said earlier, he was found dead at his home this morning."

"That's…" Kankurō shook his head. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."

Naruto shook his head as well, scowling deeply as his hands tightened into fists.

"Obviously the vendor was killed because he could prove Kankurō was out of the village during one of those grave robberies. They killed an innocent man that literally did nothing but sell food. Whoever is responsible for all of this is absolutely fucked up!" He growled.

Gaara remained silent for a moment. He closed his eyes as he processed the information.

"Mukade, I sent Satetsu to investigate. Why did he report to you instead of me first?" The Kazekage questioned.

"Forgive me, Kazekage-sama, but I am not at liberty to discuss that with you." Mukade answered, frowning.

"Pardon?" Gaara opened his eyes, glaring slightly at the man in front of him. "Elaborate."

"I have discussed the matter with the council and they have requested me not to say to you." Mukade answered.

Gaara's eyes closed again. A scowl developed on his lips as he crossed his arms.

"Gaara, you're not going to take that, are you?" Katsumi asked, frowning. "You're the Kazekage! You are his commanding officer! You should be able to order the information out of him!"

"It's not that simple, Katsumi." Naruto spoke-up, frowning. "The council is doing all of this investigation because they do not trust Gaara, for whatever reason. Gaara needs to play slightly by their rules, otherwise he validates their concerns that he might overstep the words of other people."

"Overstep? It's the council that is overstepping! Gaara is the Kazekage!" The civilian-born kunoichi shouted.

"Yes, but only for a short time and in a village that hasn't had a central leader figure for long." Hanabi added, frowning as well. "Gaara-sama is not in a place where it benefits him politically to against them too much, or else he will appear like someone asserting authority."

'The fact that this happened to Kankurō and that Gaara just became Kazekage is so bad. Gaara really can't do anything without it coming across like he's potentially obstructing justice.' Naruto's frown deepened as he looked at his fellow jinchūriki. 'This is the politics related to being a Kage… it's got to be the worst part of the job.'

"Make no mistake; I could force you tell me the information Mukade and it is within my authority and right to do so." Gaara stated sharply. "However, I will play by the council's 'game' for now. If they genuinely are concerned about me this information in the moment, then I'll ease their concerns." The Kazekage's eyed shot open and they proceeded to glare at the man in front of him. "However, I will remember this later."

The Suna jōnin immediately started to shiver and bowed his head: "P-Please forgive me."

"Still, it's weird that the council would put in a request like this. I don't care what happened; this is still shady stuff." Katsumi spoke-up. "That Yūra guy that came to the Kazekage's mansion last night was part of it, right? He seemed suspicious to me."

"Oh?" The Kazekage turned his head to her. "What makes you think that?"

"Just based off how he talked to you, speaking with authority and without any care of intruding in your mansion at night and seemed to just be a really disrespectful guy. He seemed like a real jackass!" She replied.

"You can't simply accuse someone for such trivial reasons!" Mukade shouted, glaring at the Konoha genin. His fear of the Kazekage's warning seemed to fade and he was now staring with pure anger at the girl. "I think you're being disrespectful right now! Could I accuse you of the grave robbing? No! So, don't spread false accusations like that with no evidence!"

The brown-haired girl gasped slightly and took a second back. Naruto immediately put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. A second passed before she took a deep breath and calmed down. The Uzumaki then turned his attention towards the Suna jōnin, glaring at the man.

"Mukade, right? I understand that Katsumi may not have had the best reasoning right then, but I want to inform you something; she did nothing to warrant that level of killing intent. So do not do something like that to one of my students ever again!" The Konoha jōnin hissed. "You got that?"

Another cold spell immediately rushed over Mukade's body after Naruto's words. His knees started to feel weak and it took all of his strength to remained standing. He nodded his head in understanding, mumbling a 'Of course' under his breath, before turning away. Naruto seemed to accept the response and turned his attention to Gaara.

"So, where should we move on from there then? We should probably check the burial grounds that your brother supposedly stole from, right?" He asked.

"That would make the most logical sense." Gaara nodded his head. "Let's not waste any more time then."

The group nodded their head and, after bidding farewell to Kankurō and Mukade, they began to leave the room. Gaara led the group, followed by Naruto and his team.

The Uzumaki's eyes glanced back and noticed that Katsumi was walking at a slower pace than the rest of the group. Naruto closed his eyes for a second before opening them and slowing down his pace, allowing Hanabi and Kanji to pass him. He then walked side-by-side with his third student.

"Doing alright?" He asked her.

She looked up to him and quickly nodded her head: "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine…"

"Sure about that?" The blonde asked, eyes narrowing in a knowing fashion. "You seem a little preoccupied."

"Well-"

"It wouldn't happen to do with that Suna jōnin jackass would it?" Naruto interrupted.

Katsumi frowned. She brought her hands together and took in a deep breath before nodding his head.

"Does killing intent really feel like that?" She questioned. "I know you've released some at us before during training, but it didn't feel like that. That was… overwhelming…"

"Because that felt like legit killing intent. I'm not particularly good at faking killing intent – I need to be in the right mindset for it. What he did though… there was definitely malice behind it." Naruto admitted with a sigh. "However, that's all that it was. He did not do anything and could not do anything."

"I know, but…" Katsumi shook her head. "Is that how all fights are like? Do we have to deal with that every time we battle another shinobi?"

"To be honest, if the shinobi you are battling is in direct opposition to you, yes." Naruto nodded his head. He then smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder again. "However, and I know this will sound weird, but you will get used to it. It's just a matter of learning how to handle it. As you get stronger, you'll be able to counter it with your own killing intent, or better yet, your own actions."

"I'm… not sure about that." She mumbled. "That was really overwhelming…"

"Because he is a jōnin and you're a brand new genin. Give it time. Once you get stronger, you'll be able to stand your ground to it." The Kyūbi jinchūriki informed her, smiling. "So don't let that jackass bother you. You've already come a long way from when I first picked you all up from the academy and you're only going to get stronger! After all, you said that you're going to become Hokage someday, right?"

The brown-haired kunoichi nodded her head. She looked up to Naruto and finally a smile developed on her lips – one that was progressively becoming more-and-more confident.

"You're right." Katsumi stated. "Thanks Naruto-sensei!"

With that confidence, the girl started to walk faster. Within a few seconds, she caught up to her teammates in the middle of the pack. Naruto chuckled to himself as he walked closer to the back, keeping his eyes on his students.

'I'm sure they'll become great shinobi. I know so!' He noted.

The smile on his lips started to fade, however, as he glanced back. The group had now made just enough progress that they were away from the cell entirely. Naruto's eyes narrowed in the direction, however, as if it was still in plain sight.

'Mukade… I don't know why my student making a general statement like that would upset you. If Yūra wasn't suspicious, he'd show himself not to be suspicious. But now, I think there might be something there to consider. Both of you now seem pretty suspicious to me…' The jinchūriki pondered to himself as the group headed towards their next destination.

"Thank you all for coming. Please, come in." Masakado greeted.

Hinata bowed her head, greeting the elder Uzumaki as she entered the large open sitting room in the Uzumaki Compound. Both her father and her cousin entered the room after her. The three proceeded to kneel in front of a table as Masakado set down three teacups.

"I figured we could have something to drink while we discussed this." Masakado noted.

"It is much appreciated." Hiashi replied, bowing as he took a sip of his own tea.

Hinata grabbed her cup of tea, but did not immediately take a sip. She proceeded to look around the large room for a brief second before shaking her head with a sigh.

"Room feels empty without Naruto, doesn't it?" Masakado questioned with a laugh. Hinata looked up to the red-haired man, who started to laugh. "Try looking around the rest of the compound! In general, only four Uzumaki live here at the moment and since Tayuya's always out on missions, when Naruto is actually gone from here, it is noticeable. It's a hell of a lot more quiet!"

"I'm aware." Hinata nodded her head as she finally took a sip of her own tea. She smiled after taking her sip. "Your tea tastes amazing, Masakado-san."

"Of course it does! You should come over here more often. The door's always open, even if Naruto's on missions." The Sandaime Uzukage stated. He then looked at her cousin, his eyes narrowing. He took in his appearance – the long, brown hair, the white eyes standard for Hyūga Clan members, the white kimono shirt with a grey apron over it – before nodding his head. "I assume you are Hyūga Neji, correct?"

"That is correct. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Masakado-san." Neji bowed his head.

"Pleasure's all mine." Masakado stated. He then reached into his jacket and pulled out two scrolls. "Please keep drinking your tea; I just figured I must just get the conversation started."

The three Hyūga shinobi nodded their heads. Masakado rolled out the scroll and revealed the layout of a seal. There was a lot of small writing and general notes around the center – writings that Hinata could not help to understand, even if she focused on trying to read them. At the center of the scroll, however, was a large symbol that seemingly depicted an eyeball that was closed shut and completely encased in a ball of fire.

"So, Hiashi, as we have discussed before, this is the general scroll that I have for the new seal. It will accomplish what the Main Branch's seal does and will seal the Byakugan once anyone with the seal dies. This will help keep the bloodline safe from enemies who would seek to steal the bloodline for themselves." Masakado noted. "However, the main difference is that this seal targets specifically the eyes and has no connection to the brain. No matter how hard anyone could try, not a single person would be able to use this seal to physically harm one with it."

"Good." Hiashi nodded his head. "I assume the seal works?"

"I haven't tested it out, obviously, but I'm one hundred positive it does. The formula does not lie." Masakado answered as he gestured the scroll forward towards the Hyūga Clan Head. "You can take a gander if you want to check my work."

"I am not nearly as well versed on fūinjutsu as you are. I will trust your work." Hiashi nodded his head. "However, what about the other scroll?"

"Yes." Masakado nodded his head as he rolled up his first scroll. He then moved the second scroll forward, but did not yet unroll it. "As I mentioned earlier, my new seal for your clan targets the eye and does not target both the eyes and brain, unlike your family's previous seal. The brain element, however, makes it difficult to apply something to people already afflicted with your original seal. Removing a seal or applying a seal on top of a seal is difficult as it is; doing so to a seal on the brain is even more so, since slight tampering to the seal could cause damage to the brain and potentially kill the person afflicted."

Hinata's eyes moved over to her cousin. Neji seemingly had no reaction to elder Uzumaki's words, only taking a sip from his own teacup.

'I wonder if Neji-nii-san is worried at all about this…' Hinata thought to herself as she took a sip of her own teacup.

"We are aware of those difficulties." Hiashi noted. "Do you have a solution, however?"

"Tentatively." Masakado nodded his head as he unrolled the scroll.

Depicted on the scroll were similar notes scattered throughout the page that Hinata was not fully able to understand. In the center was the 'cursed seal' of the Hyūga Clan. Surrounding the 'X' in the center how was a ball of fire. The fire connected the edges of the 'X' perfectly, blending it into the new design.

"So, this is the working design for the additions. As you can see, it involves directly sealing onto the original seal." Masakado noted. "I feel confident that this is the correct seal and will do its job overriding the secondary 'brain damaging' effects of the original seal, but I am not one hundred percent certain and I'm not going to fully know until I actually practice with it."

"By practice with it…" Neji started to speak-up, setting his teacup down, '… Do you mean-"

"Yes, I need to actually apply it to someone's seal." Masakado stated. "I'm confident in my formulas and fūinjutsu, but I am aware that directly working on top of a seal that had already been applied to an organ as sensitive as the brain is a very difficult task. I've been studying this specific topic for over two years now and I believe that I have done all the research I can. I just need to attempt placing the seal."

"And you are positive this will work?" Hiashi questioned.

Masakado nodded: "This one, I will admit, I'm not as certain as the brand new seal. However, I do feel confident in this one overall."

"… And I assume you are bringing this up because you wanted to ask me to be marked with your seal?" Neji asked.

Masakado nodded his head: "I ask Hiashi-san to come over and bring over Hinata and one Branch Family member with the original clan seal that he felt he trusted would be able to overcome anything. By that token, he chose you."

Neji and Hinata turned to face the Hyūga Clan leader. Hiashi turned his attention towards his daughter and his nephew before he nodded his head in agreement with the Uzumaki.

"Masakado was going to brief me on the subject of the seals here, but based off his request, I felt like he had a seal that may be ready to put on with maybe some risk." He admitted. His eyes zeroed in on Neji and a small smile developed on his lips. "Neji, you are truly Hizashi's son. I see so much of him in you. You have grown so strong and I believe you have the inner strength to overcome any hardships. As a result, I felt you would approach risks associated with a new seal with complete confidence. The choice is up to you whether or not you wish to accept this seal right now, but as Hizashi's son, I wanted to offer you the new seal first."

Neji remained silent for a few moments. He looked at his uncle in disbelief at the words of praise. For the briefest of moments, his vision of uncle started to blur and he saw the image of Hiashi's twin brother – his own father, Hizashi.

"Father…" Neji shook his head for a moment. 'You would have killed for such an opportunity. I do not care what risks there may be. Hiashi-sama and Masakado-san believe this will work and it will mark the first stroke in completely destroying the divide between the Main and Branch families!'

With that thought in mind, Neji undid his forehead protector and revealed his own Cursed Seal on his forehead. He brought his hands together and bowed towards the Sandaime Uzukage.

"Masakado-san, whenever you are ready, I am ready." He stated.

The Uzumaki nodded his head: "It will be a long process. I'm giving you the scroll for the new to look at and study. You will come by tomorrow and we will begin. The process of reapplying a new seal delicately to not do any damage to your own brain will most likely take the entire day. Is that acceptable?"

"Very." Neji stated simply.

With those words and upon making final arrangements, the Hyūga shinobi took the scroll for the new seal – the one to be applied to the existing Branch family members – and thanked Masakado for his time and work. They then started to walk off towards their own compound.

"Neji-nii-san." Hinata said her cousin's name. Neji turned to look at her. "This… this will be the beginning of our dream."

"The beginning." Neji nodded his head. "You will have to receive the other seal yourself, as well."

That went without saying; although she was not necessarily addressed during the meeting, Hinata knew that was why she had been invited. She would be receiving the new seal that would be applied to all Hyūga Clan Members from here on. Together, she and Neji would serve as the perfect models for the next generation of their clan.

"I cannot wait!" Hinata exclaimed.

Neji smiled in response. He gave no verbal reply, simply nodding his head in agreement.

As they both had noted, this was only the beginning. They would not only appear as the perfect models for the next generation; they were going to have to prove it to the Hyūga Clan elders. Getting marked with seals was going to be the easy part.

'After all this time, though… I can finally see an end. I see a point that I can actually work to!' Hinata noted to herself as she tightened her hands into fists, looking forward in determination. 'And I'm not going to waste it! I'll make sure it ends up happening!'

The three Hyūga walked back to their compound, filled with confidence and excitement for the future.

Nearly two hours had passed since Gaara, Naruto, and the genin of Team Nine had left Kankurō's cell. The Kazekage had led them to the burial grounds and to his brother's personal workshop where the DNA samples were discovered. Their investigation, however, proved fruitless as they did not discover anything that had been previously unknown.

The 'Tomb of the Greats' Burial Grounds were still heavily guarded and it seemed as if someone should not have been able to entered the area unless they had clearance – clearance that Kankurō had. It also hurt that the guards had admitted that they had seen the puppeteer enter the burial grounds one night to pay respect to his father, which added credence that he was the one responsible overall.

Kankurō's private workshop did not help the investigation either. Medical shinobi had already examined the room and marked containers that they had studied and contained 'traces' of DNA of the various shinobi that Kankurō had allegedly stolen. More damning, though, was the hand of the Yondaime Kazekage and the father of Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari. It had apparently been hidden in a scroll within a trapdoor in the room, and still was hidden amongst hundreds of scrolls on various puppet related ninjutsu.

They had discovered evidence, but none of it was positive. Gaara, Naruto, and Naruto's genin were now sitting in the Kazekage's office, trying to think of what to make of their investigation.

"What do we even do now?" Katsumi asked. "Nothing looks good! It all looks as if he did it!"

"I mean… at some point we may have to accept we read into this wrong." Kanji admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "If everything points to one direction, we have to accept it at some point."

"But Kankurō-san does not seem like the type of person!" Hanabi quickly stated. "He would never go behind his village's back and do any of this! You even confirmed that when you went looking into his mind!"

"True, but I have to accept that I might have not done a good enough job of looking into his mind. Besides, he's a jōnin and I'm a genin. If he really wanted to try and keep a secret from me, even when I'm peeking into his mind, he would be able to." Kanji said, frowning. "You can't just have blind faith, otherwise you'll only be setting yourself up for disappointment."

"What are you thinking, Gaara?" Naruto spoke-up over his students.

Gaara was quiet at his desk, his hands folded on top each other. His eyes were closed shut, as if he were in deep thought.

"… I do not believe Kankurō is the type to do this, but I would have accepted him as a culprit if evidence suggested otherwise. I'm not naïve enough to believe being family and being 'a loyal shinobi' is enough to exempt him from crimes." Gaara answered. "However, the thing that concerns me is the evidence. It is almost too perfect."

"Too perfect?" Kanji looked towards the Godaime Kazekage. "How so?"

"We as shinobi are trained in the art of deception. What better way to deceive than with faulty evidence." He answered. The Ichibi jinchūriki's eyes opened. "Guards who can confirm that he was seen, evidence of the DNA samples so easily found… it almost feels too much. If Kankurō had been as careful to avoid detection for this long, why is it all just bubbling out now like this and in such great fashion?"

"True." Naruto nodded his head. "It also seems suspicious that the vendor Kankurō claims to have met was found dead. They can argue Kankurō was involved with his death, but it seems really fishy that a man who could confirm an alibi for him was just found dead."

The Kazekage nodded his head: "More so than that, I distinctly remember that the last missing body reported was one of our finest shinobi, Pakura. Her body still hasn't been returned to the tombs, so it is obviously not missing. They found DNA samples of hers in his workshop, so why did they not find her body as well?"

"Wait, so her body is still gone?" Hanabi spoke-up, her eyes widened. "Then wouldn't that be enough to prove his innocence? It couldn't possibly be him, because they didn't find her body!"

"Not enough evidence. I'm certain the council will just claim that they haven't uncovered it yet." Gaara said. "It's concerning, though, that they haven't found it. That's dubious to me."

A knock on the door caused conversation to stop. The door opened and Temari entered the room, followed by Lee and Tenten.

"Hey." Naruto waved at the group. "Did the academy stuff go?"

"Quite!" Lee spoke-up, his voice brimming with excitement. "The academy students are filled with the passion of youth! They will be an absolute joy to work with!"

"We did cut today's session short, though." Tenten noted, her eyes focusing on Gaara. "Due to stuff related to your brother."

"Gaara, it's almost time for the meeting with the council, isn't it?" Temari asked. The Kazekage nodded his head. "Do you have a plan for how to approach this?"

"I'm going to try and be as neutral as possible." Gaara admitted, crossing his arms. "They didn't report this to me because they felt I might have a bias towards Kankurō. I need to approach this tactfully so that way I can make them realize that I am trustworthy."

"That still just seems so weird to me." Katsumi spoke-up, frowning. "You're the Kazekage – the leader of the village! Going behind your back like this sounds so much like insubordination."

"In theory it seems like it is, but Suna is a bit different than other villages. Namely because we went almost three years without having a person ascend to the title of Kazekage." Gaara stated. "As a result, the council has a bit more authority than most other village's shinobi councils. Especially since I have not been Kazekage for long. It's a power balance issue right now. Now that I have authority, I should be taking back my power, but the council is now naturally suspicious of someone like me, who just became leader, and are now looking at every action I make intently." He then proceeded to shake his head. "I don't mind, as I understand they are looking out for the village's best interest and making sure that I'm not going to undermine it for my own gain. However, it does not mean I appreciate this in the slightest. It puts me in a precarious situation."

"So, you're going to have be seen as neutral as possible so it doesn't look like your pardoning your brother because he's your brother?" Naruto summarized. His fellow jinchūriki nodded his head. "Well, if it's cool with you, I can speak as freely as I want and be the advocated you need!"

"I am aware, and I appreciate that a lot, Naruto." The Godaime Kazekage smiled slightly in the direction of the Kyūbi jinchūriki.

"As am I, you know?" Temari spoke-up, crossing her arms over her chest. "I didn't end that academy session early to just come and stand and watch this meeting. I'll be arguing like hell for our brother, Gaara!"

"Kankurō-san has everyone's support!" Lee stated confidently. "I'm sure he will be able to proven innocent to anyone in the council that is suspicious!"

A smile developed on Gaara's lips – one much larger than had been seen before. The red-head nodded his head, accepting the words of his sister and the other Konoha shinobi.

"With this support, I assume we will be able to argue appropriately. Kankurō will be proven innocent." The Kazekage noted. His hand then tightened slightly and the smile dropped. "And the traitor responsible for this experimentation will be caught and sentenced appropriately."

Thirty minutes had passed. Gaara proceeded to lead his sister and the Konoha shinobi through the large administration building of Suna towards the council room. Upon arrival, Gaara opened the door and led the group into the room.

The council room was a large, open room surrounded by four statues depicting the four previous Kazekage. Other than the statues, however, the room was rather plain with dull brown, red, and grey colors on the floor and walls. In the center of the room was a large roundtable made of light brown sandstone. There were thirteen chairs along the table and twelve of which were occupied by men and women dressed in the same garbs – light brown robes that covered their whole body and a white face-guard.

In front of the base of the Yondaime Kazekage was a single chair. Kankurō was sitting in and was seemingly chained down to it. He had a large scowl on his face as he glared at the council, but his eyes seemed to soften as they focused on his family and the Konoha shinobi.

"Hey, you're all here!" Kankurō called out.

The twelve people at the roundtable turned around to face the new arrivals into the few. A few of them nodded their heads in acknowledgment of the Kazekage and his sister, while a few others zeroed in on the Konoha shinobi and glared at them.

"Godaime-sama, if you mind me asking, why are there Konoha shinobi following you?" One of the councilors – a slightly-older looking man with black hair that was just starting to grey – asked.

"Tōjūrō, these Konoha shinobi volunteered to assist in my investigation into the grave robbing. As a result, I want them to be able to speak of what they witnessed and speak on behalf of that investigation." Gaara answered as he walked forward towards the thirteenth, empty chair at the roundtable.

"You relied on Konoha shinobi for this investigation?" Another councilor – an elderly woman with lavender-colored hair that was put into a bun – noted, frowning. "You are the Kazekage; you should not have to rely on the help of another village such as Konoha to conduct your own investigation."

"Chiyo-baasama, I didn't need their assistance; I only welcomed it." Gaara replied. He crossed his arms slightly. "Under normal circumstances, I would have asked the council for assistance with such an investigation, but since the council already saw fit to investigate without my knowledge or opinion on the matter, I see no wrong-doing on my part."

"Godaime-sama, please forgive us for that." The first councilor, Tōjūrō, spoke again. "However, you cannot blame us for being suspicious due to your relationship with Kankurō-"

"If Kankurō is guilty, then he will be found guilty and I will willingly employ any punishment his way. However, that is if he is guilty." The Kazekage finally took his seat and proceeded to stare intently at each member of the council, his eyes narrowed. "I do not approve of you all going behind my back in this way and making assumptions that I would hide a crime that he committed. As such, I trust you will allow this concession and approve of any testimony that the Konoha shinobi can give based off their investigation."

The council remained silent for a moment. Many of them looked down, not meeting the hard gaze of the Ichibi jinchūriki.

"I understand your anger, Godaime-sama." Chiyo proceeded to speak-up. "However, they are still Konoha-"

"Let it go, sis." The councilor to her right spoke-up. The councilor was an elder man that had very thick white eyebrows and had his hair completely covered in white bandages atop his head, underneath his face-guard. "Godaime-sama is speaking the truth. He is also the law of this village and has the right to grant permission like this. Just let this pass."

"Thank you for your understanding, Ebizō-jīsama." Gaara nodded his head in approval.

"Well, if the Konoha shinobi have any pressing evidence to give one way or the other, I would personally like to hear it." Another councilor – Yūra – spoke-up. "What was the fruit of your investigation like?"

"You are the ones who began this investigation in the first place without discussing it with me." Gaara said as he crossed his arms. "It would be better if the council begin revealing evidence first."

"Surely you all know the evidence by now!" Tōjūrō noted, laughing in disbelief. "Kankurō was discovered with DNA samples of the deceased shinobi he grave robbed and experimented on, including the arm of the Yondaime Kazekage – his own father – hidden deep within his workshop."

"Where did the initial suspicions come from?" The Naruto questioned, frowning. "Because you all kept Gaara in the dark like this, you must have suspected Kankurō early. Why?"

"The initial suspicion developed because of the likelihood of a puppeteer shinobi being involved." Ebizō spoke-up, frowning. "Bodies disappearing like that… we suspected someone was following in Sasori's footsteps."

"Sasori?" Katsumi spoke-up, frowning.

"Akasuna no Sasori – Suna's most infamous missing shinobi." Temari answered, frowning. "The most infamous puppeteer shinobi. He is known as the first practitioner of creating human puppets – puppets made from the corpses of other humans that still maintain the individual abilities of the person when they were alive."

"It's a disgusting practice. And as Sasori's grandmother, I resent that he followed such a path. It is my deepest shame." Chiyo commented, shaking her head. "Nevertheless, it is an idea that one day, a puppeteer could follow in his footsteps. So when bodies started disappearing of high-profile shinobi – the exact ideal candidates for human puppets – it became clear that a puppeteer would be the biggest suspect. And since Kankurō is one of the best 'rising stars' of Suna's puppeteer shinobi, he made a prime suspect. It would make since for him to move on to that step at some point based off his own personal development."

"But that is presumptuous!" Temari shouted. "Kankurō is the son of the Yondaime Kazekage and one of the most patriotic people towards Suna itself!"

"And isn't one of Konoha's most infamous missing shinobi the 'rising star' of the Uchiha clan, who ended up slaughtering his entire clan?" Yūra countered, frowning. "You can never predict a person's true motives, no matter how ideal they seem on the surface. Kankurō's family and his 'patriotism' do nothing to defend him from suspicion."

"But you said he was trying to create human puppets, yes?" Hanabi spoke-up, her hand going to her chin. "If that were the case, then why would he return the corpses after some experimentation? Wouldn't he have kept them?"

'That's a good point!' Naruto glanced over at his student and smiled. 'Just as perceptive and smart as your sister, Hanabi!'

"While that is true, we can assume that he was just doing some basic experimentation. That is all." Tōjūrō countered, frowning. "We can confirm that he had some interest, since the Yondaime Kazekage's arm was missing and found in his room."

"Need I also remind the council that one of the bodies was not found at all?" Yūra added. "The honorable Pakura's body was never found. As her body contains the fabled Scorch Release kekkei genkai, it makes sense that she would be an ideal candidate for a human puppet. Kankurō must have chosen her after experimenting with other corpses and figuring out how to approach the subject!"

"Bullshit!" Kankurō hissed. He tried to get out of the chair, but the chains holding him down were too much. After struggling for a few minutes, he finally relented to his confines again and settled on glaring at Yūra. "I would never dream or doing something like that, especially to someone who died for our village like her!"

"Might I also add that her body was never found when we investigated Kankurō's workshop? And you all didn't find it either." Naruto noted. "I don't think that should be used as set-in-stone evidence."

"We simply haven't discovered that body yet. We'll find it eventually." Tōjūrō replied dismissively. "Once we do find it, we'll see it probably with some modifications to turn it into a puppet. Make no mistake; we will have proof soon."

"You don't know if you will, though." Katsumi spoke-up. "You're 'expecting' to find it at some point with just the right evidence? That's a bunch of-"

"In any case, you do realize that Kankurō had an alibi the night Pakura's body was stolen?" Temari spoke-up. "Please, remind me when the body was first noticed missing?"

"Seven in the morning." Yūra announced. "Nothing about Kankurō's alibi grants him full exoneration, however."

"How so?" Temari asked.

"We believe that the body must have been stolen sometime after two in the morning; that was the last time one of the guards peeked into the tomb and noticed no disturbances in the area." Yūra continued as he brought his right hand to his chin. "Kankurō was reported to have been seen leaving your mansion, Godaime-sama, at four."

"He was consistent with his reason why." Gaara stated, crossing his arms. "He was going to Saba village to buy steak and spices for dinner."

"Which by the way, when my squad arrived in Suna, we came in at the same time as Kankurō, who had the steak he went out to buy." Naruto added.

"We can confirm his location when your team arrived and that he did, indeed, have steak. However, we cannot confirm that he did go to Saba village. There is nothing to prove that he did." Ebizō noted. "He claimed to have a witness – the shopkeeper he claimed to have met – but that ended up being a false lead, since the man he claimed to have met is dead."

"Which I find suspect." Temari stated, crossing her arms. "Isn't that convenient, huh? The man who could confirm Kankurō's alibi is mysteriously dead?"

"You could also interpret it the other way around; the person who could prove his alibi was a lie is dead." Tōjūrō added.

"This is going nowhere." Chiyo spoke-up, rolling her eyes. "This topic is going nowhere, as both sides can argue their part. There is no evidence to suggest either the vendor Kankurō died because he could prove or deny the alibi; one cannot be proven over the other."

"Actually, I believe we can prove that the vendor died because he could prove Kankurō was lying about his alibi." Yūra commented. "There is testimony that backs it up – the testimony of the shinobi who reported the death to us."

On cue with his words, the door to the council room opened up. Mukade proceeded to walk in. He bowed his head in respect to everyone in attendance before walking forward, closer to the roundtable.

"Honorable council, Godaime-sama, visiting Konoha shinobi." He greeted.

"I reject Mukade's testimony. I ordered Satetsu to investigate Saba Village and to meet with the vendor and, as such, would prefer his testimony." Gaara stated. "However, I understand that there is apparently some information the council was concerned about me having related to this."

"Please understand that we temporarily hid information because it was most distressing to us and leads to a pretense of a cover-up." Tōjūrō said, frowning. "Satetsu, indeed, was the man who reported this information. However, some time before returning to the village, the man had been attacked."

"What?" Temari nearly gasped. "What happened?"

"Satetsu-san was limping by the time he returned to the village and was incredibly wounded. He had many injuries on his back and looked as if he was struggling to maintain consciousness." Mukade answered, frowning. "As the shinobi on guard duty to the village, I approached him and he informed me of his testimony and told me to share the information with the council and the Kazekage." The jōnin's face then steeled itself as he looked at Gaara. "He then fell unconscious. Fearing the worst, I brought him to the hospital to get his wounds attended. Afterwards, I then went first to the council and, from there, was ordered to keep quiet about this."

"And why, specifically?" Gaara questioned, his eyes narrowing angrily. "I am the Kazekage and a shinobi I had just sent on a mission was attacked!

"Godaime-sama, you must us understand it from our point of view." Yūra said, frowning.

"Satetsu-san would also be able to confirm that the vendor had died and maybe was done to cover up Kankurō's lie. Before he can give the information, though, he gets attacked along the way. It is highly likely that someone was sent on Kankurō's behalf to 'silence' the vendor. It is highly likely that this same person also attempted to do the same to Satetsu-san."

"While we acknowledge that it might be paranoia, it is best to be safe and assume that you could have been the person to order the hit. As such, we wanted to keep you in the dark of Satetsu-san's condition, lest you did not know he survived and would go to finish the job yourself." Another councilor spoke-up.

"… The shear level of distrust for me is disgusting." Gaara stated. "Make no mistakes; I will not forget this in the slightest when this trial is over."

"For what it's worth, the entire council was not in agreement over this. My brother and I, for example." Chiyo commented, frowning. "This is why we compromised with the rest of the council and still ordered Mukade to report the information of the vendor's death to you."

"I appreciate that and will remember that as well, Chiyo-baasama. However, I am still furious at the amount of overstepping this council has done." The Kazekage stated.

"We can discuss any overstepping may have done once we prove whether or not your brother committed treason and is responsible for the grave robbing." Yūra stated with a sigh.

"Bah. You mortals waste too much time on meaningless chatter." A voice boomed in Naruto's head.

The blonde's eyes widened: 'Kurama?'

Despite developing a relationship of sort that maybe resembled friendship – or more likely, acquaintanceship – the Kyūbi no Kitsune and Naruto did not speak too frequently. The fox was not a horribly 'talkative' creature and kept to himself mostly. He mostly only spoke whenever directly spoken to. It usually meant something whenever he was the one to initiate conversation.

"Humans have always been obsessed with this political crap. It's hilarious how much you value you place in words. It'd be much simpler to just wipe out this 'council' and assert Shukaku's container's word as the rule of the law." Kurama stated.

'It doesn't work that way. Doing that could cause people to fear Gaara and could potentially motivate someone to try and rebel and potentially divide the village!' Naruto explained.

"Again, you mortals waste too much time on this." The bijū snarled. "… For what it's worth, though, you should ask the jōnin who spoke earlier about his guy that was attacked."

'Why?' Naruto questioned. 'The focus needs to be on Kankurō-"

"I know where the focus needs to be. If you want this shit to end and potentially prove your friend innocent, you need to focus on what's suspicious. And that vague account he gave seemed… interesting, to say the very least." Kurama replied.

Naruto was silent for a moment as he processed the fox's words: 'I understand, Kurama, but I don't really see what that means. Mukade's an ass, but I don't get how this has anything to do with him-'

Immediately, the Uzumaki's thoughts changed direction as realization dawned on him. His eyes then turned to Mukade and they narrowed on him.

"Mukade, what was this Satetsu guy's injuries like again?" Naruto asked. "Be specific."

Mukade frowned in response, but nodded his head: "He had multiple wounds on his back and his jacket was covered with blood. It looked like stab wounds. He was also limping, so he might have had injuries to his leg. He looked like he was on the verge of collapse. I'm not fully certain on specifics though."

"And how long did he stay conscious?" Naruto asked again.

"I'd say a minute or so after he got to my position. Just enough time to tell me the relevant information." The Suna jōnin replied.

Naruto's eyes narrowed further: "I find it weird, then. Because based off your descriptions of his injuries, he should have passed out somewhere in the desert between the villages, unless he was close to the village when he was attacked. But if that were the case, then why did you not come help him fend off his attacker?"

"What do you mean?" Mukade questioned, frowning. "I didn't sense an attack, so I couldn't help him! I don't know how close he was to the village, so-"

"You said he was limping, through the desert. While I do believe people can do amazing things when determined and their bodies are full of adrenaline, I don't think moving through the desert is ideal. Plus, if he was bleeding extensively, he'd have to eventually pass out from blood loss. It's just… super convenient he managed to get back just in time to give you the information. Unless he was close enough to the village, but if that were the case, then why would you not have helped him? Cause you would have definitely been able to sense or see a fight if it were happening!"

"No, I wouldn't have, cause I swear I didn't sense any fight!" Mukade shouted.

"Uzumaki-san, isn't it?" Chiyo spoke-up, looking at the Kyūbi jinchūriki. "What are you implying with this questioning?"

"My point was, maybe we are thinking about this incorrectly. You council people and Gaara sent one shinobi out to get testimony from the vendor about Kankurō's alibi, since this is not a difficult task and doesn't require a whole group. What if we look at it this way; what if Satetsu got testimony that was 'inconvenient'."

"Inconvenient?" Tōjūrō asked, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"What if the vendor that sold Kankurō was the steak WAS alive? And confirmed to him that Kankurō was there at the time he claimed he was?" Naruto questioned.

"Satetsu told me that the vendor was dead!" Mukade shouted in response. "He-"

"See, the thing is, we're assuming that all parties in this case are loyal." Naruto interrupted. "Your testimony holds merit because we are assuming you're loyal to Sunagakure. And in theory, why would anyone doubt you? You haven't done anything wrong." The blonde's gaze proceeded to turn icy. "Except ignore your comrade having a major battle that wounded him gravely… unless maybe you were the one to attack him?"

"Uzumaki-san, you can't be insinuating that Mukade attacked Satetsu, are you?" Yūra questioned, frowning. "That's-"

"What I'm insinuating." Naruto continued, nodding his head confidently. "Cause otherwise, it doesn't make sense. It'd be super coincidental for this fight to have occurred far enough away that Mukade couldn't sense a battle, but also close enough that Satetsu could limp his way back to the village just in time to pass out right after giving information."

'Naruto-sensei's logic makes a ton of sense!' Kanji noted as a small smirk developed on his lips. 'Heh. This is actually pretty cool!'

"If Mukade was involved in this, then that would potentially mean he had a reason that the testimony would be problematic for him. It would prove Kankurō wasn't the culprit." Ebizō noted.

"Ebizō-jīsama, are you actually starting to believe Kankurō is innocent?" Yūra questioned in surprise.

"I know I'm starting to assume that." Chiyo spoke-up, frowning slightly. "I didn't really think anything about Mukade's interaction with Satetsu, but Uzumaki-san's logic makes sense. I got to see the injuries Satetsu has; I highly doubt he would have been able to remain conscious after his fight. Now that I am thinking about it from this perspective, for Mukade to have had any interaction with him now seems suspect to me. But then, it makes no sense for Mukade to try and attack Satetsu about whether or not the vendor was alive… unless…"

"Mukade is the one doing the grave robbing." Gaara realized, crossing his arms. "And the vendor's testimony – and by proxy Satetsu's – would clear Kankurō's name and open up investigation in other shinobi, which could expose his guilt."

"But Mukade is not a puppeteer-shinobi. He wouldn't be trying to follow Sasori's footsteps." Yūra stated.

"That's because we are assuming the culprit was stealing the bodies for that reason. Mukade could have done such a crime for other reasons." Temari commented as her eyes narrowed on him. "You're responsible, aren't you-"

"There's no proof of this!" Mukade hissed loudly, interrupting her. "Where is the proof any of this happened? You can't believe any of this bullshit!" He then turned his head to Naruto and started to glare at the blonde. "Well? WHERE'S THE PROOF OF ANY OF THIS?"

"Well I know an easy place to find prove, maybe. Why don't we all take a trip to Saba Village? And maybe try to find this meat vendor one more time." Naruto suggested.

"The meat vendor is dead!" Mukade hissed. "Satetsu reported-"

"It's your word that Satetsu reported this. We do not know. For all we know, he is still alive." Gaara spoke-up, crossing his arms. "I'll send another shinobi to check. Perhaps I could even do it myself, in case there is another 'ambush' set up. Perhaps a council member would like to accompany me to verify my report."

Mukade's eyes widened ever so slightly: "K-Kazekage-sama, I do not believe that is necessary-"

"I concur with Kazekage-sama. I'll accompany him. We can get a confirmation." Chiyo spoke-up. "In the meantime, we can do a brief investigation on Mukade's movements these past couple of days."

"You… You suspect me…" The Sunagakure jōnin mumbled quietly. His hands tightened into fists as he turned to face Kankurō. "He's the culprit! Don't waste your time!"

"I'm not the culprit. As they're going to find out." Kankurō replied. "And they'll find you guilty."

"It is decided; Chiyo-baasama and I will go to Saba Village. I should not be gone long." Gaara stated as he held out his hand towards Mukade. "In the meantime, Temari, please apprehend this suspect for the time being until his guilt is either confirmed or denied."

"With pleasure." Temari said with a smirk as she walked towards Mukade.

Mukade instinctively took a step backwards. His eyes started to scan the area around him before he exchanged a look with Yūra. The councilman steeled his eyes and shook his head.

'They'll confirm Kankurō's innocence, then I'll be locked up permanently. I can't assist Sasori-sama like that. I need to escape! Somehow!" Mukade's eyes scanned the room. Before he could do anything, however, the ground around his feet started to open. "Wh-"

Rocks rushed forward from the ground and surrounded his lower-body. He looked in horror as he turned his attention towards the other shinobi, looking for the source. They narrowed in on Katsumi, who had hands crossed in a hand seal.

"Strange. I don't recall your student being named 'Temari'." Gaara commented to Naruto with the slightest hint of a smirk on his face.

"Sorry, Kazekage-sama. But I thought he looked like he was going to escape. Figured I might as well give it a chance to help." Katsumi spoke-up, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "He wasn't paying attention anyway. Some jōnin, huh?"

"Don't mock me because you go the jump on me! You're just some fresh Konoha genin! You got lucky that I was focused on more pressing matters!" Mukade hissed, giving up all pretenses. "You think you're so special! You're not! You're nothing to me!"

Within an instant, Mukade channeled chakra to his lower body and blew-off the stone prison holding him in place. Eyes filled with anger, he turned to Katsumi and rushed forward, reaching for a kunai. He got to her quicker than he could react, causing her eyes to widen.

'Mukade, you idiot!' Yūra shook his head, closing his eyes. 'Sasori-sama will surely not miss a 'spy' this foolish.'

Before Mukade's knife could connect to her, however, Naruto jumped in. The Konoha jōnin was standing right behind Mukade, holding his own kunai with his right hand against the man's back while his left hand locked him in a chokehold.

"What kind of miserable piece of shit are you? You're so bitter that a genin got a jump on you that you sacrifice whatever plans you had to escape just to get some revenge! You're a fucking idiot!" Naruto growled. His eyes then moved over to Gaara. "I assume you want this asshole alive to question?"

"I do, so unfortunately, I do need you to not kill him." Gaara replied.

"Gotcha." The Uzumaki nodded his head before turning his attention back to the man. "Lucky bastard. Whatever torture Gaara gives you will be infinitely better than what I would do to you. No one dares try to touch my students and get away with it!"

Mukade did not get a chance to respond; Naruto tightened his grip around his neck. The man struggled and tried to pull away, but was unable to. He quickly fell into unconsciousness. Naruto finally lightened his grip and dropped him to the ground. Temari then rushed over and picked him up.

"He'll be in a cell, locked up when he wakes up. Gaara will be alerted when he wakes so he can 'talk' to him about the missing bodies." Temari stated.

"Good." Naruto nodded his head. He then turned his head towards Katsumi. "Hey, you okay?"

Katsumi was shivering slightly in place, her eyes focused intently on her unconscious body of Mukade. Naruto, Hanabi, and Kanji all were looking at her in concern. The kunoichi was silent for a moment before she finally turned attention to Naruto and nodded her head.

"I-I'll be fine." She said softly. "J-Just need to get more used to things like that."

The blonde jōnin frowned, but nodded his head in understanding.

"Regardless, we have at least a prime suspect. I will interrogate Mukade when he wakes up and see if his testimony provides any more info for me." Gaara stated. He then turned to the council members, still sitting down in their chairs. "I trust that this is enough evidence to confirm my brother's innocence?"

"Indeed, Kazekage-sama." Chiyo nodded her head.

"We apologize for the overreach in our powers in our arrest and investigation." Ebizō added, bowing his head.

"While I understand your motives, this is something we will discuss again at a later date. I am your Kazekage and you are my council; we need to have a better working relationship to prevent situations like this from happening again. It does our village harm if we do not fully trust each other."

"We understand and apologize once more, Kazekage-sama." Yūra replied, bowing his head as well.

With the council now at ease, Gaara turned his head and made a gesture with his hand. One of the council members immediately rushed over to the puppeteer and unlocked the shackles holding him in place.

All accounts of treason were gone; Kankurō was officially innocent.

"What an utter shit show…" Yūra grumbled.

When he arrived at Kankurō's trial, he was convinced that they had enough evidence to get Kankurō convicted temporarily. He had spent so long fanning the anti-Kazekage sentiment amongst all council members that would listen to him and enough quality false evidence was planted. He was not naïve to believe the accusation would hold for too long, but it would for just long enough to cause chaos.

'Mukade, you should have just gone and killed that meat vendor! Why did you do something so stupid as simply attacking Satetsu?' Yūra's thoughts were sour. 'You're very life right now puts Sasori-sama in danger, now that you're in custody! I'm going to have to arrange an accident for you!'

The council member sighed to himself as he entered his mansion. As he walked in, however, his eyes widened at the sight that he saw.

"Kabuto-sama?" Yūra mumbled. "Why are you still here?"

Standing in the living room with a bag over his shoulders was Kabuto. The silver-haired shinobi was currently sitting in a chair in Yūra's kitchen, reading over a scroll. He turned his attention to the council member upon hearing his voice and he smiled.

"Ah, Yūra. I was wondering when your trial would have ended." He stated. "How did it go? I presume Kankurō was found guilty."

"No. Innocent. Mukade was found guilty in his place. In your place." Yūra replied, eyes narrowing. "What's the meaning of this? The whole purpose of the trial and the chaos associated was to give you an opportunity to sneak out while the Kazekage was busy. Why are you still here in the village?"

"Oh. My apologies." Kabuto frowned as he pocketed the scroll. "I suppose I should have made my own personal changes to schedule known."

"Changes?" Yūra's eyes narrowed further as he began to growl. "Mukade is now in prison and is a liability and could potentially leak information about Sasori-sama to the Kazekage! This puts Sasori-sama at risk! And you had the gall to just remain here and make that risk entirely meaningless?"

"If it makes you feel better, I can sneak in and slit Mukade's throat before he leaks anything too sensitive." Kabuto offered. "Actually, you don't have to give me a 'yes'; I'll do it anyway."

"You seem awfully confident in your abilities to sneak through the village for someone who needed our assistance to get into Suna. Do you really think you can avoid the Kazekage's detection?" The council member asked.

"Yes." He replied, adjusting his glasses. "To be honest, I didn't really need your help getting into the village." A small chuckle escaped his lips. "I just used you two as an excuse to reestablish a relationship with Sasori. That was the real purpose for you two."

"'Any relationship' you hoped to establish with Sasori-sama will be gone once he finds out about this." Yūra snarled.

"Hmm… I guess that would be your opinion." Kabuto shrugged his shoulders. He proceeded to stand up from his chair. "Are you not even slightly curious why I am still here in Suna?" He walked towards Yūra, who remained quiet. The council member reached for a kunai. "Hmm, guess not. Well, I'm still here because I have two things I would like to test out. The first of which is the Konoha shinobi. The jōnin shinobi, Uzumaki Naruto, is a person of interest to me. He's the Kyūbi jinchūriki the student of someone involved in killing Orochimaru-sama. I would like to see how he has developed as a shinobi."

Within an instant, Kabuto disappeared. He was now directly in front of Yūra. Before the Suna shinobi could react, Kabuto had grabbed him by the throat and pushed him forward, pinning him against the wall of his own home. Yūra winced as he dropped the kunai in his hands. The man looked at Kabuto with pained eyes as he could feel his consciousness starting to fade.

"A-And the second?" He managed to ask.

"I wish to test out a jutsu that I've been studying. It's an old favorite that Orochimaru-sama learned and I feel like I just figured out the specifics of it, so I'd like to try it out. And I feel as if Suna gives me a chance to try it out and see the extent of its damage." Kabuto replied. "Have you ever heard of the Edo Tensei?"

Yūra's eyes widened in horror, as realization dawned on him exactly what was going to happen to him.

"God, that was a mess." Naruto chuckled as he laid down on a chair in Gaara's library.

He and his students were back at the Kazekage's mansion. It was eight o'clock in the night and they were currently alone; the Kazekage was currently in his office, awaiting to hear word that Mukade had woken up. Temari, Lee, and Tenten were out at dinner, currently discussing plans that they had for tomorrow's lesson for the Sunagakure academy students. With the mansion to themselves and after a long, busy day, Naruto and his team decided to simply relax.

"That felt a lot more complicated than I think it should have been." Kanji admitted, frowning.

"Tell me about it." Naruto grumbled. "I'm not the biggest fan of political crap. I don't understand what the council's big issue was today."

"'I'm not the biggest fan of political crap.' Ironic statement, coming from a man who wishes to be Hokage." The Yamanaka replied, grinning.

"Touché." Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, it's my weakest aspect, but I'll just learn to deal with it. I think I'm getting better at least."

"If you aren't, at least my sister will be there with you." Hanabi stated, giggling. "Hinata-nee-san I think is getting pretty good with politics."

"Damn right she is! Then again, she's good at most things!" The jinchūriki stated proudly. His eyes then moved towards Katsumi, who was being quiet. "Hey… you sure you okay, Katsumi?"

"I'm fine, Naruto-sensei." She spoke, sighing. "I just need some time to process things."

"Fair." Naruto nodded his head, frowning. "… For what it's worth, know that as long as I'm here, nothing bad will ever happen to you three. I'll give it everything I got to keep you all safe."

"I know." Katsumi said, frowning. "But… look, is the power difference between a genin and a jōnin really that big? You handled that guy so easily and effortlessly, but he already overwhelmed me with killing intent earlier and he even blew off my jutsu without so much as breaking a sweat!" She crossed her arms, looking down slightly. "It's demoralizing, just seeing how useless I am right now."

"We're going to get that level some day!" Hanabi stated, frowning. "Don't talk down to yourself like that!"

"I mean, I don't think there's something wrong with wondering thoughts like that." Kanji admitted with a shrug. "I mean, I already know that I'll never reach the level of that Suna jōnin, let alone the level of Naruto-sensei!"

"That's where you're wrong, Kanji." Naruto stated. His genin turned to face him. "Look, I understand the general feeling you all have. On my first C-rank mission, I had to face off with an A-rank and S-rank missing ninja who tried to attack Han-nii. And-"

"Whose Han-nii?" Kanji questioned.

"A close friend of mine. Basically a brother to me." Naruto admitted. He then shook his head. "But that's not the topic! The point is that I was completely overwhelmed in power at that point in time. And believe me, it felt very noticeable. I don't think I acknowledged it for a little bit out of stubborn pride, but I know I felt completely outclassed and useless afterwards. But you know what? My jōnin-sensei trained me and my team into the ground and we got stronger. And we continued to get stronger from there."

The jinchūriki smiled as his eyes moved each of his students. "You all are fresh genin, just like I was. And even if you feel weak right now, know you're not. You all did impress the hell out of me when I gave you all your graduation test and you all are still impressing me. You're all going to be great shinobi one day, whether you all believe so or not." He then brought a fist up to his face, as a smirk developed on his lips. "So don't look back at that Mukade asshole and think you're weak! Use him as motivation to grow stronger. It won't take long before you start noticing improvements. You'll all grow strong; I know so."

The three genin students looked at Naruto for a moment in silence. Katsumi and Hanabi both quickly started to smile, nodding their heads in agreement.

"Thanks, Naruto-sensei." Katsumi said as she brought hands together, her smile turning into a grin. "I'll try. I'll try harder in ever to make up for the difference in strength!"

Unlike his fellow teammates, Kanji had a bit of a mixed expression on his face. Naruto could tell he was not fully believing his words. A second passed before he had a relaxed smile of his own and he chuckled.

"You've got a way with words, Naruto-sensei. Such a strong way that Hanabi didn't even correct your swearing." He stated with a chuckle.

Naruto proceeded to chuckle as well as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Hanabi's eyes widened momentarily.

"I mean, he was an asshole. That's gotta be okay to call him out as one, yeah?" The jōnin asked.

"Jerk would have worked just as well, just saying." Hanabi commented, crossing her arms slightly. She tried to look annoyed at her jōnin-sensei, however, she had an amused look on her face that betrayed her intent.

"I do have to second your student, Naruto-san. You do have a way of words that's quite laudable."

Team Nine immediately tensed up at the sound of the unknown voice. All three genin proceeded to stand up and get into a defensive formation, each pulling out a kunai. Naruto stood directly in front of them and started to look around him.

'I know I recognize that voice. I can't place it exactly, but I know that's no friend.' Naruto's mind was trying to pinpoint who was around them. "Show yourself!"

"Well, since you asked so nicely…"

Immediately afterwards, Kabuto walked into the library. Naruto tensed up even further as he reached for his own kunai.

"Yakushi Kabuto." Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You remember me Naruto-san? I thought the last time we met was back during the preliminary round of the Chūnin Exams." Kabuto stated with a chuckle. "Or did your friend Dosu tell you anything more about me."

"He did. Believe me; I know all about you and your motives for being in Konoha, you traitor." Naruto growled. "Again, what the hell are you doing here?"

"You want to get down to business right away? Ah, that's no fun. I wanted to talk for a little bit." Kabuto sighed, shaking his head in mock-disappointment. "If you most know, I had a few errands to attend to here in Suna. But when I heard you were in the village, I just had to see how you are doing?"

"Naruto-sensei, who is this man? What 'errands' is he talking about?" Hanabi questioned, her eyes narrowing on the man. She instinctively activated her Byakugan.

"Hyūga-san, am I correct? You don't need to worry about my errands." The silver-haired shinobi said as a grin developed on his face. "You three genin have nothing to worry about right now. At this moment, I'm just here for your sensei. I'm here to see how Anko-san's 'prized student' has developed."

"Damn right they have nothing to worry about!" Naruto exclaimed as he brought his hands into a hand sign. "Cause I'm gonna wipe the floor with you before you can do anything! I have no clue what you are doing here in Suna, but coming up to me was a big mistake! I'm taking you back to Konoha - dead or alive."

'What is going on?' Gaara questioned to himself as he ran through Sunagakure's prison.

The Kazekage had been in his office, waiting for word that Mukade was conscious, when he was alerted of a new presence in Sunagakure – an entity that had kage-level chakra reserves that had seemingly materialized at Sunagakure's Prison. Gaara immediately rushed over to the prison as fast as possible and was now rushing through the prison hallways towards the source.

'All Suna shinobi should feel this. I trust they'll be coming this way. I may need backup for this.' Gaara realized as he turned the corner through the prison hallways. 'Who the hell is this, though? And how big of a threat are they?'

'… and… why does the chakra source feel familiar? It almost resembles-'

Gaara's thoughts were interrupted as he finally reached his destination. A door to a private cell was completely blown off, rock and brick scattered throughout the hallway. Gaara proceeded to walk into the room and his eyes widened.

In the center of the bare cell was Mukade, blood dripping from a gaping hole in his chest. Standing directly above the body was a man with spiky, short auburn-colored hair, wearing a simple black long-sleeve shirt with chainmail underneath and black sweatpants. He had two cannisters that were tied neatly to the side of his pants.

The man looked up over to Gaara. The Godaime Kazekage stared directly into the man's eyes – completely black eyes that were devoid of pupils, coloration, or any life in them.

'How is he alive?' Gaara wondered in disbelief as he stared intently at Rasa: the Yondaime Kazekage and his father.