Behind the Waterfall

#18 Wedding

Fortunately the rest of their voyage went by smoothly. A day and a night had passed, with the two only sleeping a few hours to shorten their trip. Seeing the gates of Kusagakure they smiled under their masks.

"State your Business!" The guards demanded as the two rogues walked up to them.

"We have an important message from Takigakure." Fuu replied. The guard held out his hand, demanding to see the message meant for his leader.

"We can not give it to you. There is most likely a seal inside to tell if the letter has been opened before." Naruto hesitated.

"Give it to me. I will see if the seal is active when I open it and then I can tell the Kusakage that it had not been opened when you gave it to me." The guard said, earning a nod from his partner.

"Alright." Naruto said, unsealing the letter from Shibuki from his pocket, handing it to the tall man.

Reading through the words, the black haired man's eyes widened along with his partner's who was reading over his shoulder. A quick nod to each other, the taller of the guards quickly jumped away, along the wall.

"Follow me." The other shinobi instructed jumping into the village. The further they went into the village, the more shinobi surrounded them.

Naruto and Fuu looked at each other, worried thoughts evident in both of their eyes. They knew that they could best the village with the help of their tenants, however they hoped that it would not come to that.

"I don't think that they will attack you. They have a large force stationed just within their walls in the direction that the other guard went." Kurama relayed.

"Think, they have been expecting something from Sogen?" Naruto asked in his thoughts.

"Kusa is known for its impressive diplomatic skill and cunning. I think they have known something is up for a long time. See all the houses with their curtains drawn?" Naruto mentally nodded at the question, promting the fox to continue.

"Why would someone do that in the middle of the day? I suspect that the villagers have long been evacuated deeper into the countryside and that they have been waiting for either a message from Sogengakure or from Taki." The bijuu explained his thoughts.

"Let's hope, you are correct." Naruto mumbled as the two rogues were led by around twenty shinobi into a large dome in the middle of the village.

Walking through the dark hallways they passed a number of guards, all of them with their weapons at the ready. It took almost ten minutes until they got to the end of the mazelike hallway, stepping into a large room that seemed like it was directly under the roof of the building, if the curved ceiling was any indication.

In front of them stood another pair of guards, however they seemed a bit more relaxed. In between the two stood a middle aged woman. She had a smile on her lips, but her eyes showed no kindness. It was clear that she was not there to make friends. The guard that had led Naruto and Fuu into the building handed her the letter from Takigakure. A raised eyebrow was the only reaction they got when she unrolled the scroll, her black eyes flying over the paper.

"This has been opened." She stated, her voice cold, her eyes staring right into Naruto's.

"My lady, that was me actually." The guard stepped forward, his head bowed. The woman waved him towards her and a few whispered words were exchanged. The guard nodded, which seemed to somewhat relax the female.

"My guard has assured me that the seal indicating the letter was opened, had not been there when he opened it. Therefore, I can assume that you are sent by Shibuki to deliver this message and that you have not tempered with the letter." She addressed Naruto and Fuu, who nodded at her words.