Starting over

#22 Camp

Naruto POV

After seven hours of traveling we finally reached the border between Wind Country and Ishigakure. We had previously decided to set up camp at this point so that we could have a relatively decent rest before going into enemy territory. I unsealed a small rent and assembled it. “Naruto, come over.”, called Gaara me over. I finished setting up my tent and went to my teammates and my sensei. “Since we are not in enemy territory yet I will let a clone stand guard, so that we can sleep through the night. But for now I want Temari and Naruto to go and get some firewood while Gaara and me set up the remaining tents and make a proper fireplace.”, Baki instructed. Temari and I went into the woods that were surrounding us since we had left the desert a long time ago.

I was picking up some bigger logs when I noticed Temari seemingly staring at a stick which she had just picked up. I went to her and notices that she was in deep thought as she didn't even react when I put a hand on her shoulder. Then she slowly blinked twice and noticed where she was. She turned around and faced me slightly smiling. “What are you thinking about?”, I asked. “I just noticed that this is my first mission without Kankuro.”, Temari answered frowning. I looked at her sad eyes and immediately regretted asking. The rest of our assignment was finished in silence.

When we got back Gaara and Baki had already finished setting up the tents and the fireplace, so we just dumped the firewood and Baki lit it up with a small katon Jutsu.

After we had eaten and had extinguished the fire again we went into our tents to sleep while Baki created several clones to secure the camp while we all slept. I went into my tent and put my Kunai pouch next to my bed. Meanwhile Akira had made herself comfortable next to my pillow with her head lying next to mine. I crawled into my sleeping bag and listened to Akiras silent breathing.  Slowly I felt myself drifting into the darkness of sleep.

Meanwhile in Konoha

Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting in his chair, smoking his pipe, thinking about a certain blonde haired boy that he had to banish a year ago. On his desk were reports stating that his advisor Danzo had been secretly building up his own Anbu force, which he apparently had not disbanded after the third great ninja war. He knew that his old rival had been trying to become Hokage with himself but he had failed while Hiruzen had managed to become the successor of Tobirama Senju. Since then their relationship had frozen and had turned into a cold and calculated business for both of them. But with Danzo arming his root Hiruzen knew that he had to put his foot down.

He already had angered his rival enough when he had sent Anko away from the village for a long term undercover mission to get her out of Danzo wrath who still thought her responsible for the easy disabling of Naruto’s chakra suppression seal. He sighed and looked again at the order that lay in front of him on the table. It read:

Order #104

Anbu Squad 1, 3, 7, 9, 21, 27

Assassinate Danzo Shimura while trying to keep his forces unalarmed.

Deadly force against the forces of Root is allowed.

This order is effective immediately.

All that was missing was Hiruzen's signature at the bottom. The Hokage knew that the squads he was about to send were highly capable ninja but Danzo still held a lot of power even though he was almost as old as the village itself. Sarutobi also suspected that Danzo had learned a few more tricks and would be a very dangerous foe. He sighed again, took a new scroll, quickly wrote a few words, sealed the scroll and sent his secretary to go to the aviary to deliver the scroll.

Back with Naruto

Naruto POV

I suddenly awoke to the sound of something growling silently. I opened my eyes and saw Akira standing protectively between me and the entrance to my tent. I placed a hand on the Tigers back and she immediately fell silent. Then I heard something shuffling just outside of my tent. I took a Kunai and crouched away from the entrance before making a shadow clone to go check if it was clear outside. My doppelgänger stuck his hand through the zipper and after a few seconds he looked back at me, gave a thumbs up and exploded in a cloud of smoke. When the memories from my clone came into my head I noticed that it was just Temari who had apparently just gone in the forest. I went back into my sleeping bag and closed my eyes. “Go back to sleep Akira, it was just Temari.”, I whispered when I noticed that Akira was still on full alert. She just growled silently and didn't move a muscle. “Baki’s clones will deal with every threat that might stumble in the camp.”, I reasoned and with that Akira finally gave in and laid down next to me shrinking to her normal size again. I listened how her breathing started to slow down and smiled, beginning to fall into the darkness myself. That was when I heard the crying. It was silent at first but when I focused on it I could definitely tell that there was someone crying just outside of our small camp. I went outside, careful not to wake anyone else, and looked around. Luckily it was almost full moon which provided the light necessary to see the person that was sitting on a fallen tree sobbing. I noticed that Akira was following me silently but decided not to do anything about her. I went to the crying girl and sat next to her. “Hey Tema, come here it's okay.”, I whispered to my blonde teammate, putting an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. “Let it all out, I am here for you.”, I whispered trying to calm the girl down. “Akira can you get us a blanket, there should be one under my sleeping bag.”, I whispered to the tiger girl that was silently watching from the shadows. She immediately went away and returned a few moments later with the blanket on her back. “Thank you.”, I said and put the blanket over Temari's shoulders, while she just continued to cry into my shoulder.