Politics in the Mist

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

On to chapter 15, the end of the Kazekage rescue arc. I hope the fight scene in the last chapter was good, I think it was better than the fight with Raiga. We've got some major developments this chapter, so pay close attention and please review. As always, thanks for reading.
T

hey got Gaara back to Suna as fast as they could, everyone was very eager for this to be over. Once they got back Sakura had a very easy time healing him, Sasori's poison was designed to paralyze not kill. She took samples of all the poisons so that she could have cures on hand if she ever needed them again. All in all it ended for the best, they made out like bandits with everything they recovered. Kankuro was able to retrieve Sasori's puppet body which he would practice with as it was quite powerful, as well as other puppets of Sasori's to study and learn from along with Lady Chiyo. They were able to get several samples of Deidara's explosive clay lying around the wrecked battlefield, which could be useful if they could identify the elements of the compound and track down where he was getting the material to make it. Last but not least, they had found a very special poison Sasori had that a rare snake venom in it he only could have gotten from one person...Orochimaru. Either Orochimaru still worked with the Akatsuki or Sasori had a spy in his organization. Everyone agreed it had to be the latter, as there was no way the Akatsuki would trust Orochimaru after everything that had went down between them. Sasori had all of his personal notes stored in his puppets, the one thing he really trusted, and once they were able to break the code they were written, they may be able to figure out who.
After a lot of straighten things out, they had finally decided it was time to leave. Gaara insisted on seeing them off at the gate, "Thank all of you for help, I would be dead now if weren't for all of you."
Temari, who was over saying goodbye to Shikamaru, walked over to Naruto and gave him a hug, "thank you for everything you've done for us, we can never repay you."
Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head, "it's no big deal."
Gaara stepped forward, "no, my sister is correct. You've helped bring happiness into our family, something I never thought possible. If there's anything we can ever do for you please just ask."
Naruto nodded and shook his hand, "thank you, that means a lot."
They said there finally goodbyes and headed off, Naruto turned to Sakura, "would you mind just heading back with me, Mei's 22 weeks along now and it's time for her check up. I know we could just wait, but we're able to find out the genders of the babies and I'm really excited."
Sakura nodded, "of course, it wouldn't be any trouble at all."
Naruto smiled and they continued walking, he was extremely excited about this.
The Tsuchikage was aggravated, he didn't know why someone was walking him up from his nap but he was pist about it, "This better be important or I swear I'm going to bury under a mountain and fall asleep on top of it."
The aid smiled nervously, "I'm sorry Lord Tsuchikage but we all felt you'd want to know Deidara was finally killed."
Tsuchikage was surprised, he really though if anyone would kill Deidara it would be him, "Really, when did this happen."
The aid sighed in relief that Tsuchikage wasn't going to kill him, "we got the messenger bird a minutes ago, it was sent over as soon as he was killed. He's been dead less than a day."
The Tsuchikage nodded, "any idea who killed him?"
The aid pulled out a Leaf bingo book, "yes sir, he's in the bingo book we recovered from the Leaf a few weeks ago, 'The Red Mist', page 34."
The Tsuchikage turned the pages until he found him, he went frowned deeply when he saw the picture, "why am I only see this now."
The aid was confused, "we haven't looked very deeply into it, is something wrong with it?"
The Tsuchikage handed him the book, "doesn't this boy look familiar to you?"
The aid nodded, "a little, but we didn't really think much of it."
The Tsuchikage sighed, "I may be old but it looks like my memory is better than all of yours," he pulled a picture of his desk and handed to the aid, "I could never forget that face."
The aid looked at the picture and went wide eyed, "you don't mean…"
The Tsuchikage shook his head, "he's a splitting image of the 'Yellow Flash', set up a meeting with the Mizukage. She and I have a lot to discuss."
Naruto walked into the Mizukage's mansion with Sakura and looked for Mei, "Mei-chan, where are you? I've got Sakura-chan here for your checkup."
Mei walked out of the bathroom in just a towel, "Just a second sweety, I'm getting dressed."
Naruto nodded, "We're gonna find out the sex's of the babies today, are you excited?"
Mei walked out in her usual attire and smiled, "of course. Although I gotta admit, I'm much more excited to get these two out, I really wanna meet them. Not to mention I've gained 10 pounds thanks to these two," she said rubbing her extended stomach.
Naruto kneeled by her stomach and nuzzled it, "aw, I think Mommy's eager to get you two out, that's ok so is Daddy. Although I think Mommy looks great."
Mei laughed, "Daddy just likes that Mommy's boobs got bigger."
Naruto shot her a grin, "maybe a little," he gave her a kiss on the cheek, "missed you Mei-chan."
Mei smiled nuzzled into his neck "missed you too Naruto-kun, although there's one thing we've got to talk about."
She gave Naruto a smack on the head, "ow, what was that for?"
Mei put her hands on her hips, "you took on an S-ranked missing-nin by yourself, that's what."
Naruto's sweat dropped, "how did you know about that?"
Mei smirked, "Mizura sent a messenger bird to tell me everything happened while you were gone."
Naruto sighed, "I'm sorry, but Gaara's life was at risk, I had to act fast if I wanted to save him."
Mei sighed, "I know, I know. That doesn't make it any easier Naruto-kun. I guess I'm just glad you're ok," she said pulling him into a hug.
Sakura just shook her head, "you two lovebirds done yet, I'd really like to get started?"
Naruto smirked, "alright, and while we do you can tells us all about what's going on with you and Lee."
Sakura blushed, she really had walked right into the one.
It took about two hours for the gender tests to process, Mei was getting some paperwork done while she waited. After about an hour one of her secretary's walked in, "Lady Mei, we just received a message from the Tsuchikage Onoki, it says that he want's to come and thank Lord Naruto personally for defeating Deidara."
Mei raised an eyebrow, it wasn't like the great fence sitter to do something like this, "alright, I guess that should be fine"
The secretary nodded and left, leaving Mei to try and figure out what Onoki's motives could be.
_
After another hour Sakura finally came back with the test results, Mei and Naruto stood eagerly waiting to hear her results, "well looks like you guys get the best of both worlds, one boy and one girl," Sakura told them.
Mei squealed happily and hugged her husband, "oh, we get one of each."
Naruto laughed, "yup, think of any new names while I was out?"
"No, I couldn't think of a thing," Mei pouted.
Naruto smiled, "Don't worry, well think of a great name for them."
Sakura smiled, "well I gotta get going, I'll see you guys soon."
Sakura left the room while the couple continued to chat happily about different names.
_
Two weeks later the Tsuchikage came for his visit, putting everyone in the village on edge. The Mist and the Rock weren't on great terms, as the Mist had stayed neutral in the last great ninja war and refused to help the Rock, who in turn refused to help the Mist with their revolution. Mei was actually one of the few people who wasn't nervous, why should she be, she was a Kage as after all. The only thing that made her nervous was not knowing Onoki's true motives, as she really doubted that he really just came to thank Naruto. She stood in her with her husband by her side.
Naruto leaned over and whispered in her ear, "don't worry, whatever the old prick is trying to pull it won't work. You're way too smart for that."
Mei whispered back, "thanks, I just can't figure out why he would want to come and talk to us now, it doesn't really make sense."
Naruto was about to respond when the Tsuchikage arrived. Walked over to welcome him, "Tsuchikage-san, how are you?"
"Fine Lady Mei, just fine," Onoki replied.
Mei motioned for him to sit down and he did, "So, I understand you've come to congratulate my husband on a job well done."
Onoki nodded, "yes I have. Naruto did quite well, especially for someone his age."
Naruto shrugged, "I had help from my friend Shikamaru."
Onoki laughed, "humble to boot, I happened to know Shikamaru didn't show up until the very end of the fight. I took the liberty of having some of my ninja look into the fight, it must have been a big one. There was blood and other destroyed objects everywhere, it was quite impressive."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "ok then..that's nice I guess."
Onoki smirked, "we even collected some of the blood and found something quite interesting...Mr. Namikaze."
Naruto immediately jumped up and stood in front of Mei, "I swear if you touch my wife or unborn children."
Onoki chuckled, "I can understand your reaction, but don't worry I have no intention of hurting you or telling anyone of my findings...for now. For the time being it's in my benefit and the Rock's to keep you alive, only myself and one my aid's know about this. We've lost both of our jinchuriki's, these Akatsuki people are incredibly powerful if they could take down them. You however managed to take out Deidara with little assistance. If the Akatsuki continue like they are then I want to have a wepone I know can beat them. At the you're learning to control the Kyuubi's chakra you'll be more than able to handle them no problem. I can worry about you later, the Akatsuki are a threat now."
Naruto was about to responded, but Onoki but him off, "No need to discuss further I just wanted you to know I'm watching you, so be careful. There are people who hated your father, and I'd hate to think about what would happen to your poor family if someone heard about this."
Onoki floated out of the room, (yes floated you've seen the show/read the manga) leaving Naruto and Mei to sit there.
"So someone finally figured it out," Naruto mumbled.
Mei was grinding her teeth, "he dared to threaten our family like that. I'm gonna melt that little imp."
Naruto put his hand on her shoulder, "As fun as that sounds, you know it would bring more trouble than it's worth."
Mei grumpled, "fine, but if he get's any where near our kid's I'm gonna melt him." she gave him a kiss and they headed off to bed. Neither got much sleep that night, they kept thinking back to conversation with Onoki. Naruto had to get stronger than ever, he couldn't risk someone hurting his family.
Naruto got up the next morning and got dressed, he had to head of to the Leaf today and was very happy about it, he was very eager to have mission to get everything off his mind for a little while. Sadly for him this visit to Leaf would lead something even harder than a conversation with Onoki...it would lead to a visit with old friend...his best friend.