NARUTO POV:
"So you're supposed to be the leader of the Hashira?"
Naruto turned after introducing himself to the leader of the rebellion to look at the old guy beside her with an eyepatch.
"what kind of leader comes weeks after their team? back in my day-"
"Ao."
Naruto's retort died in his throat, and he turned back to see Mei looking at the old guy with a dark glare.
"Shut up or I'll kill you."
The jackass shut up at that.
"I'd appreciate it if you made statements in a less confrontative way next time." Sakura said angrily as she walked forward "Don't forget, we're the ones helping you."
The man shrunk back at the glare from both the women.
'Shikamaru was right. Women are scary. It's nice that Sakura got angry at my behalf though.'
'You're hopeless.'
"Come on Naruto, We have a Hashira meeting in an hour." She said as she grabbed his hand and stormed out.
Naruto entered the big tent in his full Hashira gear, except with dark metal wrist guards instead of the grey ones that he had been provided and a red cloak instead of the white blank one that came with the set.
It wasn't about looks as much as it was about practicality.
The wrist guards and cloak had been put with a bunch of layers of seals meant to not only protect him but also enhance his movements, and while the chakra armour was made with a good metal, he just felt like his were better right now.
The cloak had been a gift from the toads of Mount Myoboku for completing the first stage for Nature energy control (whatever that was) and was made with a special cloth that could harden when infused with chakra.
As he walked inside, he saw a conference table with a map of the Land of Water on it, a bunch of tokens on it, and Shikamaru, Sasuke, Sakura, Haku, Hinata standing around it while Yamato-sensei and Yugao-san talked about something else nearby.
Everyone's gaze turned to him, and while no one commented on the change in attire, he saw the confusion in Yamato and Sakura's gaze.
"Yo."
He walked briskly to the head of the table, and sat down.
"Before we do anything, I need to get a general idea of what the rebels managed before they called us in, and what exactly is still left to do."
Now normally, he'd zone out at this part of a mission. Boring information was not something he really cared about, and Sasuke or Sakura usually gave him the bare bones of a situation so he hadn't cared either.
His goal was to be Hokage though, and he knew he'd have to break the habit eventually.
There was no doubt in his mind that he'd been made leader of the Hashira so he could gain experience in leading, both on the field and in logistics.
So he paid attention. Haku, who knew the most out of anyone here, gave him the details of the rebel's skirmishes with Kiri's forces, Mei Terumi's confrontation with Yagura (the Mizukage), and how she'd been forced to retreat when he transformed completely into his Tailed beast.
He spoke up at that, asking Shikamaru to tell Mei-san that he and the rebel leaders would need to have a conversation regarding Yagura's techniques later.
Once given the signal to continue, Haku told him about the struggles of the common people. The people who had been forced to relocate because of infighting, and the rebel's issues with resources.
"alright" he said once he digested all the new info he'd been given.
"Our first priority has to be to take down Yagura's second in command. Buntan Kurosuki, was it?"
"Yes." Haku confirmed "Though I do feel like I have to ask, why are we focusing on her and not Yagura himself?"
Naruto pointed at the board.
"From what you've told me of Yagura's movements in the past year, he's only been actually involved in less than 1/10th of the shit happening in Kiri."
"So? He could just be delegating the work." Sasuke said as he shook his head "the locals all gave the full blame to him either way."
"My gut tells me there's something off about him." Naruto said "I spoke to Zabuza before I came here, and he used to know Yagura before he became Mizukage. From what I heard, Yagura's personality did a complete flip when he came into power."
"Power gets to people's head. It doesn't mean anything yet." Sasuke said with a dark look in his eyes.
"He always had power" Naruto refuted "he was the three-tail's Jinchuriki for years before he was even considered for the position."
Naruto realized that he had lost the room at this point.
"Point is, he's a puppet ruler. I'm not saying that Kurosuki is completely in charge either. If the report of her being married to Shizuma Hoshigake, and her brother being the wielder of 'Kiba' are true, there's a chance that the swordsmen of the mist are what is actually controlling Kiri right now along with those two."
"…that's an awful lot of certainty for a theory." Yamato said as he finally joined the conversation "Where did you even get to know that she's married to Hoshigake?"
"Pervy sage has the largest spy network in the elemental nations" Naruto said dryly "he's been integrating me into the system too as his successor, so I'm in the loop of a lot of things I'd honestly rather not know."
Yamato nodded at that.
"Either way, Mei-san is probably going to have shipments raided for resources, so as the Hashira we need to focus on only one thing."
He stood up, and pointed at the center of the map, where Kirigakure was.
"We need to draw out Yagura along with his swordsmen."
He looked up at his team now.
"I'm open to ideas, cuz I have no clue how we're going to do that."
SAKURA POV:
Sakura walked happily through the streets of the village the rebels had been using as a base for the past four months.
It had been great to see Naruto take charge, to see him bring up his ideas with a confidence she hadn't seen before.
He'd always been sure of himself, no matter how dumb he was being in the moment, but this had been different.
Usually, he had a 'I'll make sure it works out somehow' kind of aura, but in that meeting room he'd had a 'This is how we're going to make things work' kind of aura, if that made any sense.
She snapped out of her musings as she saw Naruto walk out of a building in casual clothes.
"Naruto? What are you doing here?" she questioned.
"I had to talk about the guy who manages weaponry about some stuff. Before I tell Mei-san and the rest of the rebels my plan, I need a good idea of things."
Sakura nodded, still slight caught off guard every time she saw Naruto actually acting like a leader.
"You're doing really good as a leader" she told him as they started walking side by side.
"Pervy Sage made me do all sorts of drills with the younger toads in Mt Myoboku" he said as he yawned "Honestly this is easier, cuz these guys won't get distracted every time I give Gamakichi candy."
They walked aimlessly for a while, talking about all kind of random things.
"So your dad is the fourth hokage!?" she half yelled half whispered "that changes so much! Why weren't you told that years ago!?"
"That's what I said dattebayo!" he said, any signs of tiredness gone now that he was annoyed "But Pervy Sage said that it was to protect me or something like that."
Sakura hummed in thought before turning to look at him with a small smile.
"Haven't heard you say that in a while."
He blinked, confused at the sudden topic change.
"Say what?"
"Dattebayo."
"I haven't?" he asked in slight surprise "I guess I just grew out of the Habit? Pervy sage said my mom went from saying it constantly as a kid to only when she was excited once she grew up."
"you got that from your mom?"
Sakura knew it would be a sensitive topic for him, but he looked so at peace every time he talked about his parents she couldn't help but want to know more.
"Yeah" he chuckled " apparently I get my face from my dad, but personality from my Mom."
"Sounds like she'd have been a fun friend then" she said.
"She had a temper though, apparently she beat up a bunch of people for making fun of her hair."
"Sounds like we'd really get along then." Sakura said as she slammed a fist into her open palm.
"I'm not sure if I'd survive that though" Naruto muttered before yawning again. "Yeesh. Travelling doesn't usually get me tired, but I guess the back-to-back missions stacked up the uh, tiredness? Is that the right way to use that word?"
"yes it is." Sakura said "Well, we should both go to bed. Come on, I'll show you which one is your room."
"I thought we'd live in tents?"
"No, we work in tents. We're technically the 'higher ups' of the rebellion, so we get to stay in actual rooms inside this village."
"Sweet."
NARUTO POV:
Naruto woke up with a start to see Gamakichi in the window beside him.
He sat up immediately, returning Gamakichi's greeting as the toad brought out as scroll with his tongue.
'I dropped my needle yesterday. My sister and the dog had a fight because of parents, and sister told her husband to bring in a third opinion from someone involved.'
'Dropped the needle must mean the user of Nuibari must have left the village for something. Sister and dog must mean Raiga and Buntan had some kind of argument. Parents…probably the Mizukage or the higher ups, and bringing a third opinion from someone involved….?'
"…We've been infiltrated."
He paled as the realization hit him, and grabbed he nearest sharp object (one of his twin Katana) quickly before making his way outside.
SAKURA POV:
Sakura was woken up by the sound of an explosion.
She scrambled out of her bed, grabbing her spear as she ran out to see half the village at the east portion, and the other half running towards it.
She looked back to see if Hinata had woken up, but there was no sign of the Hyuga.
'She wanted to catch up with Sasuke' she remembered as she hopped on the roof and ran towards the commotion.
"Man."
She turned to see Zabuza join her in her rooftop hopping.
"The kid comes for one day and already shit's going down. You sure he aint cursed or something?"
Sakura chuckled as they landed at the east Gate and pushed through the crowd.
"What is he doing here?"
"We're going to have to shift bases again…"
"How did that blonde guy dodge that!?"
Ignoring the mutters of the villagers +rebels, she finally reached the entrance to see Naruto, a katana in his hand and locked in combat against a mist Anbu with shaggy straw-blonde hair.
She glanced at Zabuza when he swore, and had to run to keep up with him as they got closer to Naruto.
"Why the hell are you here!?"
The Anbu jumped back to avoid a swipe from Naruto in a crouch, and glanced at Zabuza.
"Zabuza? You were still alive?"
"Cut the shit." Zabuza said angrily "How and why are you here Kushimaru?"
The Anbu straightened from the crouch he had been in.
"You're in a rebellion, and you ask why one of the Seven swordsmen is here? Are you really this dumb? It's obvious why I'm here Zabuza."
Sakura lowered the tip of her spear into the ground, and channelled earth ryou through it and into the ground.
The Anbu saw through it though, and hopped away from the suddenly soft ground and hopped onto a tree.
The tree moved though, and the Anbu had to hop away again, slicing through branches at a speed Sakura couldn't quite keep up with, and eventually they were out of sight.
"No one go after him."
She turned with a bewildered look to see Naruto walk back to them.
"I need to speak with Mei-san again." Naruto said as he looked at Zabuza "You, that cranky old guy, and anyone else in command need to come too."
He turned to look at Sakura.
"Hinata and Sasuke left for another town like 2 and a half hours ago to get intel about Buntan. I need you to call the rest of the Hashira and meet in the commander's tent in 10 minutes."
He looked at Yamato sensei, who had been trying to pursue their attacker using his wood style.
"Any luck?"
Yamato shook his head.
"He burned off the sapling I put on him to track. He was very fast for the time in which I could sense him though."
Naruto sighed.
"Yeah, he dodged one of my stronger moves earlier too."
"Was that the cause of the explosion then?" Sakura questioned.
Naruto nodded.
"It makes a loud sound, but it's damage is actually very focused, so it's great to use during one-on-ones."
He turned towards the rebel base.
"Come on, time for a horrible meeting."
"Preposterous!" a guy who looked just a bit older than Naruto yelled out in outrage. "You have no right to accuse anyone of treachery!"
Naruto pinched his brows in frustration.
"I understand that this isn't something you want to hear, but yelling isn't going to help." Sakura said firmly, standing behind Naruto along with Shikamaru.
"The only reason there were no victims from Kushimaru is because my informant got the message to me on time" Naruto said, glaring at the man who had spoken up "We don't even know how many people have died because their missions were leaked, or they were stabbed in the back without anyone knowing."
"How can we even trust this informant" the man argued "and for all we know, you could be the spy! That man only came here the day after you got here!"
Naruto sighed.
"if I wanted you dead…"
His eyes were glowing red now.
"Your head would be on the ground."
"and the same goes for my team too" Naruto said firmly "I've been here one day, and I don't even know how many times I've had to make clear that the Hashira are here to help you, and you have no reason to disagree because you've seen the Ice Hashira's contributions first-hand."
Haku, who had been leaning against the wall along with Zabuza, gave him a small nod at that.
"That's enough."
Mei, who had been silent till now, looked up sharply at the guy who had spoken up.
"It is not impossible for a spy to have made their way into our ranks Kanjuro. I agree with Uzumaki-san completely here."
Kanjuro sat back down, defeated.
Sakura couldn't help but feel a bit peeved at the idiot's outburst, but one glance at Shikamaru told her something else.
The Nara was looking at the man, not with irritation, but suspicion.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw part of Shikamaru's shadow leave him, and go under the table.
"Uzumaki-san, what is the delay for information transfer from Kiri to you?"
Naruto sat back into his seat, pulling out the piece of paper he had gotten the message on.
"It should be about 12 to maybe 15 hours. Depends on how much my toads need to sneak around."
She nodded, and then looked at the map sprawled on the table.
"Kushimaru is fast, but it'd be impossible for him to have come from Kiri to this part of the country in that much time."
"So they've gotta have a base or an outpost nearby" Naruto nodded "we find that, we can figure out a way to lure out Yagura."
"Lure out Yagura!?" Ao sputtered "why do you think we should do that!?"
"It's simple." Shikamaru said behind Naruto "We strongly believe Yagura is a puppet ruler. If we can get him out in the open long enough, the rest of Kiri's higher ups will be much easier pickings. Especially Buntan Kurosuki."
"Buntan?" A woman with dark brown hair questioned "She's not even one of the seven swordsmen. Why is she a valued target?"
She would have continued, but paused when she heard the sound of voices outside, followed by a faint thud.
Sasuke entered the tent in a rush, tips of his hair on fire and a panicked expression on his face.
"What is the meaning of this?" Ao thundered, but was silenced by a raised palm from Naruto, who slowly made way towards the Uchiha.
Sasuke blinked as he saw all the drawn weapons, before dismissing them and turning to Naruto.
"There's an army." He said "less than two hours away. The village me and Hinata went to gather intel from has already been burnt to the ground. One of their Anbu came from this direction, and I'm pretty sure this location is compromised."
Naruto didn't say anything, before sighing and grabbing as chair for Sasuke.
"You ran here didn't you." Naruto said as he gestured at Sasuke's still burning hair "clearly ran a bit too hard though. Where's Hinata right now?"
"She'll be here in an hour." Sasuke said as the fire finally went out and he sat down with a groan "I had to make sure everyone had enough time to pack up."
"Good job" Naruto said, clapping his shoulder "get your legs checked out though, you might have messed something up.'
He turned to face the still frozen room.
"What, you need a formal letter or something? You heard the man. Time to pack up."