Nindō 0036: Minor Conflicts

Temari came home late that night. Late enough that Shikadai was already asleep and Shikamaru was dozing on the couch with the TV still on.

Looking at her husband, she sighed and grabbed a blanket before pulling it over the man's body.

"I need some water," She mumbled to herself before walking to the kitchen.

"Temari …" Shikamaru's voice came from the living room.

"Why the long face?" The blonde asked as she reentered the living room with a glass of water in her hand. "Something happened?"

"I was talking to Naruto today. About what to do since Gaara …"

"You guys should be planning to send someone like Lee or Sai with Kankurō to help him ease into the position, right?"

"About that," Shikamaru showed a hesitant expression, "That was Naruto's initial plan. But I gave him another offer."

"What did you do?" Temari frowned, feeling a weird premonition.

"You see, Suna needs someone who wouldn't just get caught up in the politics and end up as a puppet of the elders. Gaara had the strength that was needed to keep everyone in check, but Kankurō, while strong, does not have the same deterrent effect that Gaara had."

"Get to the point, Shikamaru, what did you offer to the Hokage?"

"Instead of Kankuro, it would be better for someone else to become the Kazekage. Someone who has the backing of Konoha and isn't afraid of making threats and following up on them. Someone who can use an iron fist to suppress the ambitious elders of the village who would suck everything dry."

"Shikamaru …" Temari said with clenched teeth.

"You would be a much better candidate for the Kazekage. Not only do you have Konoha behind you, but you also have the royal blood of the Kazekage line. You especially have the guts that are necessary to truly take control of the village by any means."

"I am not abandoning my home of over a decade to jump into meaningless political struggles, Shikamaru. I didn't leave Suna and come here just to get back into their politics years later," Temari said with a defeated sigh. "I see no benefit for Suna in succeeding Gaara as the Kazekage. Kankurō, as long as he has the support of the Hokage and Konoha, can easily take over as the new Kazekage. He can keep the general stability of the country and also maintain good relations with Konoha."

"Temari …" Shikamaru sighed, "I don't want you to become the Kazekage to manage Suna and the Land of Wind in general. I want you to take over Suna, with you in charge we can have far deeper relations between the two villages. Once you're done, Konoha will have —" A resounding clap echoed through the room, shutting Shikamaru up.

"How dare you talk about my home as some kind of cattle that you want to butcher and swallow!" Temari stood up after slapping Shikamaru, calming her agitation. "One of my brothers is injured horribly and the other is in a coma, and my husband, instead of comforting me, is telling me to go to Suna to annex it for him? My own goddamn childhood home, are you out of your mind, Shikamaru?"

"Don't be so loud," Shikamaru rubbed his reddened cheek, "you'll wake Shikadai."

"I don't fucking care," Temari shouted in Shikamaru's face. "I'm going to the hospital to tend to my brother. I can't look at you right now."

"Just … think it through. Naruto will ask you about it tomorrow," Shikamaru heard Temari slam the door on her way out of their home.

"I need a smoke," Shikamaru sighed.

…

"Tou-chan! Are you going to teach me now?" Boruto heard Himawari's pleading voice the moment he entered his home before he could even announce his arrival.

"I'll do it soon, Hima. I need to not only take care of things inside the village but also outside the village. Your Tou-chan is going to be very busy until tomorrow, so I'll teach you the day after that, okay?" Naruto said, much to Boruto's astonishment.

"Dad, seriously, how are you home even more than me?" He asked after walking into the living room.

"Wasn't this what you wanted?" Naruto asked with a smile. "I'm home now."

"Yeah but …" Boruto didn't feel right about the situation. "You're the Hokage, you are supposed to be tending to the village after everything that happened, or whatever, dattebasa."

"Onii-chan, if Tou-chan stays at work, you complain, if he stays home you complain. What do you want?" Himawari was the one who shut Boruto up, making Naruto laugh as he kissed her hair.

"Come here, son," Naruto called, patting the couch on his side. "Tell me about your day."

"You already know what I did today."

"From Konohamaru's report, yes. I want to hear from you what you did. Sit."

"Fine …"

Hinata looked over from the kitchen with a happy expression on her face. She wanted the current moments to last forever. With Naruto taking care of the kids with her and spending quality time with everyone. However, there was an undoubtedly troubled feeling in the back of her mind. She, unlike the kids, knew how many preparations Naruto was making for whatever was about to come. She also knew how strong her husband was. If he needed to make so many preparations for that, then their enemies were going to be truly fearsome.

'I just hope that you can stay safe, Naruto-kun … You are putting yourself in the center of all that's to come.'

…

"Mom's not coming home today, Daddy?" Sarada asked Sasuke after reaching home, happy to see her father waiting for her.

"No, she's busy tending to the wounded at the hospital. I made us dinner instead," Sasuke said to Sarada, only for her to show an astonished expression.

"You know how to cook?" She asked with shining eyes.

"Of course," Sasuke smiled awkwardly. "I spend most of my time outside the village on missions. Cooking is a very necessary skill for me."

"Wow!" Sarada smiled excitedly, "I get to eat my father's cooking for once. Awesome!"

"Don't expect too much. I cook out of necessity, it can't be that good," Sasuke said. "Now go wash up and change. Everything has already been set on the table."

"Okay~" Sarada chirped while running off to wash up.

When she came back down, Sasuke was already waiting at the table.

As they started eating, "Did you watch my fight, Daddy?" Sarada asked excitedly. "The one that I won against Mitsuki. Did you see how I beat him?" It was clear that she wanted to be praised.

"I did," Sasuke nodded. "Your movements seemed a little awkward when you tried to make the seals mid-combat. And while Mitsuki wasn't able to use his full strength, you did emerge victorious."

"Right …" Sarada trailed off, having expected praise instead of criticism. "The food's pretty good." She said somewhat dryly.

"Thank you," Sasuke nodded. "I still have some time before I leave, so I can continue training you for the next few days. Do you have anything specific that you wish to learn from me?"

"I don't have anything specific that I want to learn, Dad," Sarada said with an exhale. "You've already taught me the basics of your techniques."

"I was planning to train you in the use of the Sharingan. Genjutsu in particular. Or if you're interested in learning Uchiha Style Kenjutsu, we could focus on that as well," Sasuke said.

"I think that genjutsu might be suited for me. I've read that the Sharingan has a wide range of innate genjutsu that the Uchiha clan specializes in. You taught me a little about it before the third round, but we didn't go too deep into it."

"The Sharingan does have a much wider range of Yin Release abilities that I haven't shown you yet," Sasuke nodded. "We can work on your genjutsu in that case."

"What about Boruto? Are you going to continue teaching him?" Sarada asked, casually making conversation.

"Not for now, no," Sasuke said. "I asked about him and Naruto has assigned him a high-profile mission to act as the bodyguard of the daimyo's son. He's going to be busy with that. Because of that, your cell is on a de facto leave from any long missions for the week."

Hearing about the cell reminded Sarada of her situation. "Do you think Seventh-sama is going to announce the results of the chunin exams soon? I really wish to know if I'm going to become a chunin or not."

Sasuke looked up at her, "Your jōnin sensei didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Since the exams were interrupted before the final three-way battle, the promotions have been canceled. None of the participants are getting promoted this time around."

"Wait, so you're telling me …"

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded. "You have to wait until the next exam to become a chunin."

"No …" Sarada looked like she had lost her soul.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke frowned. "It's no big deal, the promotion wasn't going to change much for you guys anyway. You're on the higher end of the genin cells in terms of abilities, which makes your team the most probable to receive higher-end missions."

"You don't understand … Seventh-sama had put my becoming a chunin as the condition to take me as his disciple. If I'm not getting promoted then …" The tremble in her voice told Sasuke that she was really devastated by the news that he gave her.

He couldn't help but feel both amused and a little jealous at how desperately his daughter wanted to become his rival's disciple. He decided to mess with her a little since, knowing Naruto, the man would still take Sarada as his disciple despite his previous condition. "It's fine, you don't have a lot to learn from that dolt anyway. I can teach you much more even if you don't become his disciple."

"You're going to be gone in a few days for who knows how long again. How much can you teach me anyway?" Sarada lashed out at Sasuke, shutting him up. She had tears in her eyes, "I'm going to my room. Thanks for the food, Dad."

***

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