Chapter 19
The next day the honourable daughter could be found in the apartment where the sand siblings were staying, under ANBU observation of course, with Sasuke as her support. She would have asked Sakura to be her support but she was working at the hospital after the attack, her second choice would have been Kakashi whose presence alone would shut people up if they so much as looked at her wrong.
Alas, Kakashi sensei was also occupied with the council. Apparently the sandaime wanted to hand over the hokage seat and there was some debate on who should get it. Danzo, Kakashi, Jiraiya or Tsunade.
She had a bright smile on her face as looked at the four foreign occupants in the apartment, no one besides Sasuke were able to read behind that smile.
She was on edge and high alert.
“Right… I was told the sandaime hasn’t come by yet, am I right?” she stated more than asked however she still received an answer.
Kankuro nodded, “Yeah. So we still don’t know… what’s really going to happen.”
She gave him a closed eye smile, “What do you think our next move will be Temari-san.”
Said blonde straightened her back and swallowed the bile in her throat. Never had the younger blonde used any honorific with her.
She cleared her throat, “Well I would have to assume Gaara wouldn’t be allowed to leave the village but that would only lead to further diplomatic problems since he is our jinchuriki so either Kankuro or myself would have to stay here whilst the other three return to Suna. There would an envoy from both sides going to and fro from our two villages to create a solid alliance… my hand would most likely go to a clan-head here in Konoha and I would have to stay here in order to- No that still wouldn’t work. If you left Konoha there would be no jinchuriki-”
Sasuke interrupted her, “What makes you think she would stay in Suna? She could always marry one of your brothers and go between the two villages. It’s been done before.”
Temari snuck a glance at Gaara and swallowed, “Well… she is most likely going to marry Gaara who hold more power than Kankuro. They are both also jinchruiki.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to Konoha. She is our princess and we’d be damned before we let some psychopath who doesn’t give a damn about her.” He glared at Gaara with sharingan eyes and she raised a hand to his shoulder, trying to calm down her teammate.
“I would not hurt her.” Spoke Gaara causing several pairs of shocked eyes to stare at him, except for Naruto whose gaze was carefully blank.
Sasuke reply was dry after he gave a humourless chuckle, “I was there when you threatened to spill her blood. I was there when you used your sand to try and suffocate her. I was there when the bijuu inside of you attacked her mentally. You cannot claim you will not hurt her when you have done so, physically and emotionally.”
Naruto spiked her chakra, a signal for him to stop and he did thankfully. “As it stands Temari-san is mostly correct, however so is Sasuke. I am still the jinchuriki to the kyuubi no kitsune and have my duties to my village. I have several other duties to be taking care of here in Konoha. Whichever of you two I marry, you will have to face the fact I will be going to and fro between the two villages.
“In return, Konoha will of course not argue over you going back and forth between our two nations and you were correct, you will most likely be marrying a clan heir and most of them were in my graduating class. Well, unless you count Kakashi sensei and Konohamaru. There are a few other clan heirs as well, however the more well-known took part in this exam. Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka are male heirs, Hinata Hyuuga is the Hyuuga heiress however you could marry Neji if you wanted. Ino is the heir to the Yamanaka heir and has no siblings so I guess the Yamanaka clan isn’t an option.
“Whoever you choose marry will be left for you to decide or we could choose if you don’t want to choose for yourself. They are all nice- mostly- and have their own personalities. We will send over information about each of them later today or tomorrow.” She finally paused long enough to look at everyone’s expressions and they were all… accepting.
She looked pointedly at Temari to make sure she understood where she stood in this, “I understand Naruto. I’m not going to argue or throw a tantrum. I am happy enough that you will allow me to go back and forth between our villages.” She bowed her head slightly and Naruto gave a small smile.
Baki cleared his throat and all the occupants looked to him expectantly, “What if the person you marry becomes kazekage? The only options for kazekage are those of the kazekage clan after all, hime-sama.”
She flicked her hair over her shoulder and shrugged, “I don’t wish to sound rude, but I don’t care whether I marry the godaime kazekage or not. The council will disagree with my saying this but it’s true. The four of us all carry the blood of the yondaime of our respective kage so I don’t see the immediate issue. The council may argue that it would be particularly fare since I’m in line for the title of rokudaime but it seems there’s nothing I can do about that anymore.” She felt a pang in her chest thinking that she wouldn’t be able to show Iwa and Kumo that after all their celebrating over Minato’s death, the Namikaze line hadn’t died out.
“I will also say this now, Gaara and Kakuro.” Both males looked to her when she paused, “I will not change my name. I will not give it up just for the sake of a treaty between our nations. When I say that, I refer to both the Uzumaki name and the Namikaze name.”
“I understand that but it’s not like the rest of the five nations know about the yondaime having an heir. We were all aware of him marrying Kushina Uzumaki however none of us were made aware they had had a child together.” Replied Kankuro as her took a seat beside his sister on the sofa whereas Gaara stayig perfectly still atop the kitchen counter.
“Not entirely true. Some people across the nations had known about my existence and had tried to kill me, they hadn’t been expecting me to have my own ANBU detail at such a young age.” She shrugged and continued, “Also, we intended to inform the other nations about me after I made chunin, which I have, which leads me to another reason for me being here today.
“As much as the sandaime hates to do this, he stated that Temari showed whatever it is they look for during these exams and said you may accept your promotions when you return to Suna. As for you boys, he stated that there was two things you lacked and therefore couldn’t make chunin. Out of the others who participated in this exam, Neji, Shikamaru and myself made chunin.”
One, two thr-
“Wait what?! Shikamaru?! The same Shikamaru who refused to fight me properly because I was a girl?!” yelled Temari and Baki held her shoulder to calm her down. Naruto understood her annoyance.
“Yup, the very same one. And if it makes you feel better, it wasn’t because you’re a girl, but because you’re the daughter of the yondaime kazekage and a blonde. It unsettles him. That I think he may have a crush on you.”
Sasuke spoke up and Naruto noticed his sharingan had been deactivated and she wondered just when he had done so, “Have the two of you decided amongst yourselves which one of you will be marrying Naruto? The longer it takes for you to decide the longer it’ll take for you to get out of our village.” Naruto hit him on his shoulder.
“Peace Sasuke. No need to be so rude.” He of course didn’t look like he heard her and simply glared at the two of them.
Baki was the one who replied, “We have not come to full agreement on this as we are still weighing the pros and cons but we will most likely have… Gaara marry Naruto-hime.”
Naruto already knew that, she had seen as much within her visions unless she and Gaara had been secretly going behind Kankuro’s back which wasn’t very likely. She also knew that within time she and Gaara would get over any problems they were brewing currently and allow things to take their course.
That didn’t mean she had make it easy on him though.
Sasuke gave them a sharp nod and asked if they needed any more information and when they all declined the two of them left the apartment and headed off in their own directions, Sasuke to the training grounds and Naruto to the hokage office.