Chapter 12
She yelped and placed Konahamaru on the ground, waved goodbye and shunshined away all in three seconds.
There were very few things that could get Naruto embarrassed, all namely being three words; Gaara No Subaku.
The other was getting ‘the talk’ from the sandaime as well as his old teammates. That was just awful, Koharu’s had been the worst.
Her face was red, and she cursed herself for not sensing him, Kurama for not telling her and Konohamaru for bringing up the topic when he there had been no need.
Sighing she smacked her cheeks in a desperate try to calm her cheeks however her hands were too warm for that. Thankfully someone with hopefully cold hands arrived.
She went over to Temari and gripped her hands and placed them on her cheeks, thankfully they were cold and she let out a long sigh.
This all caused Temari to look confused yet amused and thankfully she didn’t immediately question it, “Okay. How comes we’re using me as a refrigerator?”
She released her hands and gave an impish grin, “I was talking to Konohamaru and his friends about Konkuro being on my never ending list of potential suitors when he mentioned your other brother and he just so happened to be behind us at the time. I shunshined straight here without even asking what it was he wanted.” She whined and clung onto Temari who was grinning at her.
She ruffled the younger blonde’s hair as she though an arm over her shoulder and the two of them began walking, “You know Naruto… You’re kinda like the little sister I never had. But I guess that sounds a bit weird since you’re trying to date my sister.”
In return Naruto shrugged, “It’s not like family relationships like that are forbidden in clans, it’s quite normal really.”
“Hmm. You’re right, but the citizens would never see it that way if people of close relation married each other.”
The reason why it wasn’t frowned upon was to keep the blood of clans strong. The most known were the Uchiha’s who hardly ever married outside of the clan the same as the Hyuuga and Uzumaki, however the Uzumaki often married into the Uchiha and Senju as they all had similar chakra.
Naruto stopped them and pointed them to Ichiraku’s and Temari went with it, having felt hungry after training. “Hey guys! I’ll have my usual and she’ll have the same as me, just less.” She grinned as the two of them took their seats at the counter, Temari giving a blank face as she looked at the two of them cook and have a short conversation with her.
“You don’t know how happy I am that Konkuro isn’t here. I swear… ever since that treaty was thrust in the sandaime’s face it seems your sensei and brother can’t keep me alone enough. And it’s only been like three days!” she groaned and planted her face on the table which was nicely cool.
Temari simply laughed, “He does seem to be laying it on thick but only since he wants the best for Suna, and he knows marrying you would be very beneficial for us. He really does need to act like himself if he wants to win you over.”
Looking up at Temari she saw the other female’s eyes were glinting, “You know I would much prefer the attention from your other brother. Why can’t people shove the treaty under his nose?” she pouted as she sat up and crossed her arms, silently miffed by the situation.
“I could always put in a word to Baki sensei, saying you would be far more… complacent if it was Gaara.” Naruto tried her best puppy eyes causing Temari to break her calm façade and let out a few chuckles.
Getting down to business Naruto looked on seriously, “Speaking of Gaara… I wanted to discuss something about your brother’s seal.” Temari gave a nervous glance at the Ichiraku’s and she waved her hands, “Everyone comes to Ichiraku and talk’s confidential things and not a word of it leave the tent. So as I was saying, I need to see his seal again but this time not a picture, but in person. If I find him I’ll need to ask Sasuke for a few minutes as well but that depends if Gaara agrees.”
Their ramen arrived and the two of them started eating, once Naruto had finished her first bowl Temari spoke up, “”Why do you need to see it again and why do you need Sasuke’s help?”
“Well… the image you gave of it doesn’t show me everything. I need a few other things off your brother as well if I’m gonna override the seal with a new one-”
“I thought you were going to completely replace the seal?”
She shook her head, “I can’t fully remove the seal without Shukaku breaking out and Gaara dying. The best I can do is make a more powerful seal over it in order to override the old one, then after some time the new seal will remove the old one.” She waited for Temari to nod her head before continuing, “As for Sasuke, well he would make things a little bit easier for me but if Gaara says no then I’ll have to do this part on my own. I need to see Gaara flow of chakra, get a chakra sample and a blood sample. If Sasuke is there then he could see the chakra flow for me and tell me anything I need to know about it. His blood is something I need no matter what.”
Temari chewed her lip as she looked cautiously at Naruto, “Gaara… I don’t think he’ll agree…”
“Unless he wants Shukaku driving his insane forever this is his best bet. The blood sample will break things down for me… if I don’t have everything perfect I run the possibility of something going wrong during the sealing. The seal I make may not cater to something because I didn’t know about it and that can have severe consequences. I’ll speak to Gaara myself when I- uh- when I get a chance and tell him this. I’m sure he’ll come around.”
She gave a large smile which caused a dubious look to take over Temari’s face, “I don’t know… he doesn’t really seen to like you very much Naruto…”
She threw her hands up in exasperation, “Well there’s nothing else I can do. Well there is, I can knock him unconscious or use my female wiles to get him to see things my way.” she allowed her eye brows to dance on her forehead leaving Temari in a fit of chuckles.
Temari had just finished her bowl as Naruto finished her second one and paid for the both of them.
As they left a figure came into light causing Temari to raise her brow since Naruto had taken shelter behind her, “Well little brother, what seems to be the matter?” the sound of her voice left little to the imagination. She was enjoyed both of their discomfort far too much.
Understanding what she was doing, Gaara glared at his sister as he spoke, “They told me to come and apologise to her for having been rude initially. As well as to watch her to make sure nothing happened.”
Naruto’s face thankfully didn’t change colour, but she remained behind Temari, “Um I was talking to your sister about your seal. Are you two free to come with me to my apartment?” she asked as she looked over Temari’s shoulder.
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Temari gave her brother a stern look, making sure he agreed. The plan to invade Konoha was going well however it would go a lot better if Gaara had better control over Shukaku.
It would go even better if she could stop feeling guilty. Every time she saw Naruto, a small stone would settle in the pit of her stomach as she tried to fend off the image of the younger blonde upset. It wasn’t something she wanted to see however she knew it was going to be reality.
When that happened she wished she wouldn’t be anywhere near the blonde. Whilst Naruto may have an infatuation with her youngest brother, there was no doubt in her mind she would unleash the wrath of the nine tails on them all.
She had however thought of another plan. If Naruto and Gaara became close enough, their father could ask for a new treaty to be drawn up where the alliance between the nations would depend on them. Whilst Naruto would surely have no problem with the, Gaara would.
She would have to speak to Baki sensei about this new idea, no doubt she wouldn’t be able to do her duty for her village if the image of a desolated young blonde kept entering her mind.
Her thoughts only stopped when the three of them arrived at a door. She hadn’t even noticed they had been walking never mind made it to what she assumed was Naruto’s apartment.
Upon entering she could see a large mess of scattered papers, vials on the tables, desks, bookshelves and other things a scientist would have. However when she saw Naruto’s eyes gleam she changed that assessment.
Mad scientist was more fitting.