Return Of The Flash

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

AN: Wow, the previous chapter was a hit! First order of business, I would like to apologize to those who were against my bashing of Tsunade, but I've found that in the anime, she was let off way to easily. A shinobi of her caliber missing from the village is by all counts, a missing nin. I wanted Naruto to make her know how childish and petty she is being, before offering her a realistic perspective.

Another reiteration is for those who think I am sticking too much to the canon, I AM REMINDING YOU AGAIN. This fic was written to explore how the Naruto universe would be if Naruto was smart. I never said I would totally change the events.

Three days back, Sunagakure

Baki looked over with increasing annoyance as the meeting of Sunagakure's advisory council went on. His growing frustration was mainly due to the tactless arguments (more like shouting) weren't arriving on any conclusive course of action. He tuned them out, instead choosing to focus on Temari's report of her brother's defeat. It was a shock of great magnitude to him when he had heard that Gaara had been soundly defeated.

He shook his head mentally. 'Just great. We have a situation that requires us to act as quickly and decisively as we can and these fools can't seem to agree on anything at all.'

It was quite fortunate that the Sand had managed to work out a ceasefire with a leaf, but Baki knew that it was temporary at best. Konoha would not hesitate to retaliate if any of Suna's shinobi so much as scowled at them. Tensions were high, and Suna needed something to convince Konoha of their sincerity in drawing up a new alliance treaty.

Baki cringed as he thought about the reports from the teams stationed at the Wind-Earth borders: More than average number of Iwa shinobi had been showing up. While not up to anything, Baki would bet anything that Iwa was testing their borders, looking for any weaknesses.

In the worst case scenario, Iwa would conquer Suna, which meant that they would practically be neighbors with Konoha. Given the history between those two countries, it could signal the start of the fourth great shinobi war.

With a sigh, he took a sip of his steaming tea to calm himself down a bit while still trying to think up of a way to regain Suna's military alliance with Konoha. Absently, he mentally recounted just how they lost: they invaded Konoha...Konoha forces were ready.....Orochimaru attacked the Sandaime hokage....Temari and Kankuro took Gaara into the forests...followed by the Uchiha....Gaara went crazy...unleashed Shukaku...stopped by a giant-

The epiphany hit him with such force that he almost spat out the tea he was drinking. Almost scrambling for Temari's report, he flipped pages until he found what he was looking for:-

Gaara was cleanly and efficiently defeated by Uzumaki (or is it Namikaze?) Naruto.

There was the answer and the epiphany he was looking for. Namikaze Naruto. Son of the legendary Yondaime Hokage.

A child of the Hokage....savior of the leaf.....

Pieces of a plan rapidly came together in a mind, forming a picture that was not the best solution, but perhaps the only solution they had at the moment.

He stood up, clearing his throat to gather everyone's attention. "Honorable members of the council, some new facts have come to my attention, and I believe I have found a solution to our current problem."

He had the undivided attention of some of the most politically powerful people in Suna. He could not afford to go back now, nor could he afford to make a single miscalculation.

"As you may all know, Iwa is currently testing out our borders. Our only solution to this problem is to somehow regain our alliance with Konoha. This is the only way we can buy enough time to recover from the loss of our forces. This is where our problem currently stands: How do we prove we won't betray Konoha again?"