The Namikaze Legend by Aerotyl

The Namikaze Legend, Chapter 51

The sake swirled in the small cup twirled between two nibble fingers before it was tipped against pink lips. The warm liquid poured down into the woman's throat and the cup was flicked onto the table, the cup landing perfectly stable next to the small bottle of sake.

"Mou...it's getting boring around here. Nee, nee! Can't we do something fun?"

The woman threaded her fingers through her short strands of electric green hair and flicked them out of her eyes.

"Akarii...you're incredibly impatient for a kunoichi of your stature..."

Akarii turned to the man standing in the corner of the room and pouted.

"Sakurai-sama~! That's why I left, dontcha know? It was incredibly boring sitting in a cave watching a bunch of tomato heads fight over a throne! Besides that whole ruse with the Uzumakis wasn't so fun after a while..."

The man closed his eyes in annoyance, letting his white fringe cascade over his eyes.

"It wasn't suppose to be fun..." he replied, crossing his arms.

"Mmm, what are we gonna do now then?"

"Akatsuki is doing their job like expected and they managed to get the Shukaku..."

"And, and, and~?" Akarii chirped.

"Sasori was wiped off the board."

"Oh? By who?"

"A Konoha chuunin by the name of Haruno Sakura."

"Hmmm...never heard of her~!" Akarii saluted.

Sakurai only sighed heavily before hoisting himself off the wall and began walking out of the room.

"Sakurai-sama? Where ya goin'?" Akarii leaned far back on her chair and watched as he turned the corner of the hall.

"No fun..." She muttered.

"We have received intel from our spies with Kabuto which I have now declared as urgent and must be dealt with swiftly. I'll be sending your team out immediately."

"But sir, Narut-"

"I am fully aware your jounin sensei is not present but you are all chuunin and above. You don't need to be babied around anymore. However, I will be adding an extra jounin to your team."

Namikaze Minato leaned back into his chair and rolled his shoulders, a motion meant to relax his muscles but his tense pose never leaving. Sakura guided Konohamaru back to the lineup after his outburst and shook her head gently. Konohamaru only frowned and crossed his arms. Sai held his blank stare at the Hokage and only shifted his weight to the other foot every once in a while.

Minato could say work had been slow for him lately, but with the amount of stress he had, it was like he was pushing a boulder uphill. Sayuri's complications died down a bit so he and Kushina were starting to get a bit of sleep, if they weren't already sleepless from the disappearance of their son. With the sudden activity of the Akatsuki, chuunin exams coming up, his missing son, his worried wife, his newborn daughter, and his son's team constantly asking for search parties, Minato felt like he was neck deep in quicksand.

"Look," Minato exhaled, "Sasori had a spy in Orochimaru's ranks and we need as much information as we can get. I am just as worried about Naruto as all of you, but you need to put aside personal issues for the sake of Konoha at least for now. You know the shinobi code. And I expect you to follow them as shinobi of Konoha. You are all no longer genin, you should be able to function with or without your jounin sensei. Disappearances and deaths happen every time and if you're going to act like this every time someone you care about disappears from you, you should retire from the shinobi life now before it gets only worse."