Inevitable
Chapter Fourteen

The council gathered into the large circular room, all quite confused to why they were there. It wasn’t like Tsunade to willingly gather them, nor was it normal for Kakashi Hatake’s name to be on the request form either. What really puzzled them was the way Sasushi, one of their eldest and most distinguished members, seemed to be chatting with Kakashi and Tsuande when they arrived. This didn’t go unnoticed to Teushi, either, who entered almost five minutes after the rest of the group gathered.

One member, Rahai, who wasn’t as distinguished as the others but respected all the same, sat forward in his seat and placed his chin in his palm. He watched Tsunade carefully as she took her position to speak. Curiosity was spiked throughout the room when Sasushi took the initiative and started the meeting, something she rarely did.

“Lady Tsunade, please state your business with us this afternoon.” It was then and there the council knew something was up. She was being way too formal.

“Our Hokage has finished his interrogation of Uchiha Sasuke. It was my understanding you would want to know of his discovery.”

“You’re right.” Rahai agreed, nodding as he spoke. “What is his verdict?”

Before Tsunade could answer, Teushi interrupted her. “How do we know what he actually saw?”

Tsunade and Kakashi hid a smirk. Sasushi didn’t bother to hide hers, she knew Teushi far too well.

“Well,” Kakashi began, “we were actually going to suggest a way. A truth serum.”

Rahai smirked and glanced sideward at Sasushi, who looked on innocently. “That’s a wonderful idea, Kakashi.”

Teushi glared at Sasushi before turning back to Tsunade and Kakashi. “There are ways around truth serums, Tsunade. You, of all people, should know that.”

Tsunade cocked her head to the side and looked innocently at Teushi. “But, Teushi-san, aren’t you the councilman who wrote an essay in the Konoha Journal of Medicine, with Danzou, explaining how effective and foolproof truth serum are? I was so sure that was you.”

Teushi couldn’t find any words, so he settled for fuming. Tsunade was right, he did write the essay based on his yearlong study of truth serum, their positives, negatives, and uses. Damn Tsunade and her amazing memory.

Rahai hid bouts of laughter while Sasushi smiled widely. “Well, that’s settled.”

“I agree. All those in favor?” Rahai asked, raising his hand. Sasushi immediately raised hers as well. The remaining members, except one, of course, also raised their hands. The vote was passed in a landslide. Naruto was to receive a truth serum and be asked a series of questions decided upon by the council.

All in all, the meeting went pretty damn well.

----

Jiraiya was quite enjoying the awkward scene in front of him. Naruto was fussing, yet not fussing, over Sasuke and his severely swollen, and probably broken, jaw. Sasuke was trying to bat Naruto’s fussing – yet not fussing – hands away, all the while trying desperately – and hiding it not so well – to keep Naruto close to him at all times.

Anko had long-since left, deciding she wouldn’t get anything accomplished with the state the Hokage’s office was in right now. With all the yelling Sakura had been doing, Anko had barely been able to get a word in. She left Jiraiya sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, smirking to himself, as she stalked from the office. The Hokage would hear about it later, he had enough to deal with right now.

Once everything began to settle down, Sakura went to stand in the hallway next to Shizune absolutely refusing to heal Sasuke in any way. She wouldn’t let Shizune near him either. Konohamaru was hanging out over the balcony to see if he could find anyone with medical training who would be willing to heal Sasuke. So far he saw no one he either personally knew or knew they had medical training.

ANBU guards were fussing over the broken window and door, frustrating the construction crew to the point where they refused to work until the guards backed off from looking over their shoulders. Sai was standing there, leaning back against the wall, with his creepy fake smile plastered on his pale face.

Eventually Konohamaru came back into the office, exasperated to no end. “Are there no freaking medical ninja anywhere in this village?”

“I’m fine.” Sasuke insisted for what felt like the millionth time in an hour. With a swollen jaw, however, his words were coming out like he had a mouth full of cotton balls.

“No, you’re not, ‘suke. You look like a damn chipmunk!” Naruto growled, stalking toward the doorway and glowering at Sakura. “Why did you hit him that hard, Sakura?”

Sakura, who was facing the opposite direction, whirled around, fire in her eyes. “Why did I hit him that hard, you ask? Gee, Naruto, how about because your boyfriend broke my fucking wrist!”

The whole room went totally silent. One could hear a pin drop; even the construction crew stopped their work. Naruto was stunned; he didn’t know what to say, or what to respond to first. The mention of his and Sasuke’s…relationship or the fact that Sasuke broke her wrist. Instead he turned to said man and raised an eyebrow. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders slightly, which only angered Sakura more.

“Why are you shrugging, Sasuke? Does it not matter? In all your vengeance and anger and pointless vendettas does the fact that you broke my wrist getting to Naruto not register?” Sakura’s voice was collected and quiet, a sign that Naruto knew meant sure destruction. It was the calm before the raging storm that destroys quiet seaside towns in disaster movies. Even her eyes screamed ‘wrath of woman with superhuman powers’. Naruto began fearing for his and Sasuke’s lives.

“I didn’t know, Sakura.” Sasuke mumbled out, his eyes showing the pain of his jaw. “When did I do that?”

“When you busted through me to lightning bolt the door down.” Her teeth were beginning to grit together, the first sign a storm was coming.

Sasuke’s mouth formed an ‘o’, but it didn’t cause the storm to dissipate any. If anything, it made it jump up a category.

“Sasuke, will you please just apologize to her?” Naruto asked, feeling a tension headache begin to form. He loved both of his friends, albeit for different reasons, and he didn’t feel like having them feuding.

Sasuke mumbled an apology and Sakura’s eyes softened minutely. She was still shaking with rage, however, and was still glaring. Just not as intently. Naruto began feeling at ease, if only a little, and turned around to Sai, who was still smiling his creepy smile.

“Yes, Naruto-sama?” Sai asked, cocking his head to the side in an effort to look innocent. It didn’t work.

“Sai,” Naruto paused to sigh and rub his temples before continuing. “Did you post an ANBU guard inside Sasuke’s apartment?”

“No.”

“Do you know who did?” Naruto knew, by now, how to handle Sai. You had to ask just the right questions, not leaving any inferences.

“Yes. Councilman Teushi.”

There was a murmur throughout the office, a buzz that only happens after scandalous information is announced. Naruto began rubbing his temples more fiercely as Sakura placed a hand over her mouth. Jiraiya was actually a little shocked. Tsunade had told him about the council’s worries and plans, but he never expected the elder to take such a drastic measure.

Sasuke didn’t really know what to think, except that the man who really did invade his privacy needed to pay. Naruto, being new at the whole ‘Hokage’-thing, was suddenly afraid of upsetting the wrong people.

There were still a lot of people in that particular office, a lot of which Naruto wasn’t at the liberty to speak freely in front of. Pointing at the few that were allowed to hear classified things, he motioned for them to follow him. This included Sasuke, whose arm Naruto grasped and practically drug out of the office. He led them, silently, down the windy hallway and into a large room. It was the Hokage’s personal conference room, which housed a large oak table large enough for twenty people to sit at comfortably. Today, however, only six would occupy it.

----

“You want to ask him if he had to choose a successor, who would it be and why?” Sasushi gaped at Teushi. “What kind of preposterous question is that?”

“Really, Teushi, the kid’s not a genin anymore.” Rahai agreed, sighing into his folded hands.

“Why don’t we keep the questions centered around Sasuke and his alignment?” Tsunade offered, feeling a headache coming on. She knew that Teushi would not make this task easy, but she never imagined he’d drag it out like this. This was just absurd.

Kakashi had long since brought out his manuscript of Icha Icha Voyage, which Jiraiya gave him to read back when Naruto was still inside the Dreamwalker jutsu, and was barely keeping up with the current conversation. What questions they asked Naruto wouldn’t really matter, especially if Naruto didn’t agree to this at all. Which, although slightly disconcerting, was still a possibility.

“Well what question would satisfy you, Tsunade-hime?” Teushi snapped, visibly shaking with frustration. This whole situation was slowly leaving his control, and it was not something he was prepared to deal with. He was always a man who kept control in his favor. No way was this happening to him, not again.

“It’s a truth serum, Teushi. Just ask him what you want to know. Does Sasuke have any intention of causing pain to anyone in Konoha? Does Sasuke still have the evil intentions he had while searching for Itachi? Does Sasuke still want to get revenge for his family by destroying the higher-ups in Konoha?”

Sasushi nodded in agreement, as did most of the council. “Exactly, Lady Tsunade. Thank you.”

Rahai exhaled with something akin to relief. “Write them down, Sasushi. Let’s wrap up this pointless meeting already.”

A murmur of agreement rose in the room as the other council members began to get up. Rahai imagined them all going home to find a dose of aspirin. He figured they all had the same headache he had now.

----

“Wait, I’m confused.” Naruto said, scratching his temple offhandedly. The words didn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone standing in the room. Honestly, it wasn’t the first time the blonde had been confused in his life, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

“What are you confused about now, idiot?” Jiraiya asked, tapping his long fingers on the wooden table. “The part about someone not liking the ‘all-mighty Uzumaki Naruto’ or about someone not liking the ‘all-mighty Uchiha Sasuke’?”

“Blow me, Jiraiya.” Naruto retorted, glaring at his master. “I mean, what did I or Sasuke do to this Teushi to piss him off so much?”

“Good question.” Sakura nodded in agreement. “You haven’t been in office long enough to really do much damage and Sasuke has only been released for barely a month or something. Right? So, unless it’s something you two did prior to all of this, there isn’t a real reason for this whole vendetta.”

Sai, who was utterly quiet throughout this whole situation suddenly decided to talk. “What about Kakashi?”

There was a pause before Naruto decided to ask the obvious question. “What about Kakashi?”

“You gave him a mission, Naruto-nii-chan.” Konohamaru said, bouncing in his seat. “Remember? You asked him to spy on the council!”

Naruto shushed him fiercely. “You know, there are ways of bugging places like this. Keep your damn voice down, Kono!”

The chuunin-turned-bodyguard gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Naruto.”

“Although,” Naruto said, scratching his chin thoughtfully, “he hasn’t reported back…at all. What kind of spy is he, anyway? I thought he used to be a damn ANBU?”

“He was, idiot.” Sasuke’s deep indifferent voice rang out, causing everyone to look his way. For a moment, a few of them – minus Naruto of course – forgot the Uchiha was brought along. “And if he didn’t report back, then something must be wrong.”

“He’s an ex-ANBU. I’m sure he can handle himself.” Sakura said, her voice still showing the anger she felt toward him.

“I didn’t say he couldn’t. I’m just saying that something obviously happened.” Sasuke still sounded a bit like he had a big wad of cotton shoved in his mouth, with his jaw still being swollen and all. Sakura was purposely not healing it. Payback was a bitch, and Sakura could be a bigger one.

While Sakura and Sasuke continued bickering, Naruto sat back in his seat and attempted to absorb all he’d learned within the last half hour. Teushi had some sort of agenda when it came to either him or Sasuke. He’d purposely used his authority – or abused it, as Naruto saw it – to post an ANBU guard inside Sasuke’s apartment, causing him to break the rules and leave his house arrest. The councilman either wanted to prove Naruto was incompetent or Sasuke was still an enemy to Konoha. Either way, Naruto decided he wasn’t standing for it.

He stood up abruptly, as if agreeing with his inner-conversation. The room stopped and looked at him, even his two ex-teammates stopped their bickering and raised their eyebrows at him.

“I’m getting to the bottom of this whole mess if it kills me.” He said, nodding in approval at his own words. “Sakura, please find Kakashi and drag his white-haired ass back here this instant. Find Grandma Tsunade while you’re at it. That old hag needs to advise me like her job title says to. Sai, go with her in case they are somewhere Sakura isn’t allowed to go. Konohamaru, please see how the construction crew is doing with fixing my door. Tell them to make my door out of concrete or something this time. Damn, I’m tired to replacing it when it’s not even my fault it’s broken!” The people mentioned nodded and left the room. All that was left was Jiraiya, Naruto, and Sasuke.

“What do you want from me, all-mighty Hokage?” Jiraiya joked, his only hand brought to his forehead in a mock-salute.

“Quit peeping you old perve!” Naruto growled, shaking a fist at him. “I’m gonna get reamed a new one when Anko decides to come back. Of all the women in Konoha, you had to choose her to peep on?”

“Well…she does have a nice-“ Naruto cut the old man off before he could finish by throwing both of his hands over Jiraiya’s mouth.

“Don’t finish that sentence, just leave.”

He heard Jiraiya mumble something sounding like ‘fine, fine’ and let go of the man’s mouth. Before Jiraiya was fully out the door, however, he added one more piece of thought.

“Just because the only thing you’re interested in anymore is an Uchiha, it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the beauty that only Konoha can provide me.”

As the door clicked shut, Naruto’s face had taken on a deep red tint. “Old perve.” He mumbled, directing his gaze to the floor. Then it hit him. The only two people left in the big conference room were himself and Sasuke. He froze, not sure of what move to make or what to say. With the way he left things last time they were alone, where could they actually go from here?

Sasuke was sitting in his chair as the same realization fell upon him, but he didn’t have the same fleeting thought-train as his love interest did. He was wondering what to say to the blonde that wouldn’t send him flying out the door again. They both exchanged sheepish looks – well, as sheepish as Sasuke would allow himself – and looked away again. Deciding it was better to put their relationship aside for the moment, Sasuke spoke up if only to break the tension mounting in the room.

“What are you planning on doing with this Teushi person?”

Naruto shrugged and sat down on the edge of the desk. “I’ll let Ibiki handle that. He’s better at it anyway.” Taking in the deep purple and blue hue that Sasuke’s jaw had taken, Naruto began feeling sorry for the man. Sakura did have one hell of a right hook, and Sasuke sure took the full force of it. “When Tsunade gets here, I’ll have her heal that.” He motioned toward the swollen jaw when Sasuke’s eyes met his, slightly confused.

“Oh, yeah…’k.” Sasuke mumbled out, gently probing his jaw line and measuring the damage done to it.

“I never could heal worth a damn, or I’d try myself.” Naruto said, giving off a nervous laugh. When all else failed, small talk sounded like a good enough idea.

“Never could do anything right, could you?” Sasuke said, forming half a smirk. The pain shot through his jaw at the movement of his muscles and he jerked back with pain. Naruto smirked.

“Serves you right, asshole. That’s what you get when you make fun of your Hokage.”

Sasuke snorted and held his palm over his jaw. When the pain subsided slightly, he looked up at the towering blonde and took a deep breath. “Are you going to shove me back in that apartment while you figure this mess out?”

“No.” Naruto sat on the corner of the table and began fidgeting with his necklace. “This involves you as much as me, so it will only be fair to include you in the investigation. Don’tcha think, ‘suke?”

“You…you can’t.” Sasuke said, sitting up straight. Naruto had to be joking. There was no way, even as the Hokage, Naruto had the power to overthrow a decision by the council.

As the flicker of determination coursed through Naruto’s eyes, Sasuke smirked inwardly. Then again, Sasuke thought, Naruto always did have a way of getting what he wants no matter what.

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