Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 47 Heart of an avenger

“The land of Iron doesn’t have any ninja,” Karin said, “it has samurai instead. It has been neutral territory since the origin of the ninja world, but it will be hard to get across the border with all the Kages here.”

“We’ll just have to make sure not to be detected then,” Sasuke commented.
“Hey,” Suigetsu questioned, “where did that Madara guy go?”
“He said he had some things to take care of,” Sasuke shrugged, “We don’t need him anyway.” He narrowed his eyes. He was so close to his goal now. He wasn’t going to let anyone get in his way. Danzou would be the first to go. The rest would follow after. They had to pay. All of them. Who did they think they were, deciding over other people’s lives like it was nothing. Using people as pawns in their war games. Like they meant nothing more than flies you swatted away. Like their lives were unimportant.
Sasuke’s eyes grew murderous. “This way,” he said and stalked towards the border.
“Couldn’t we just wait here for the Hokage to come by?” Suigetsu questioned, “It would save us a lot of trouble.”
“If the Hokage doesn’t show up at the meeting, they’ll know something is up, you idiot,” Karin growled at him, “they’ll be after us in no time. We’re going to the meeting. All the Kages will be assembled. Besides, we need to figure out his powers first.”
“Be quiet you two,” Sasuke said, “do you want us to be detected? Hurry up already or I’ll leave you behind.”

***

Taryn carefully made her way between the trees. She had to be careful. Guards were everywhere. It wasn’t going to be easy to get out of the village. She knew where the meeting was going to be held, even though meetings like this were rare. She had escorted her father once. The land of Iron had been neutral since the beginning of time. Whenever there was an assembly, this was were they came with no danger of treason.
Iron was as mall country that was surrounded by the other nations. It wouldn’t dare form alliances with one nation over the other. It was far too fragile for that.
But Iron was miles away. She had no time to lose. And she had to make sure she wouldn’t run into Danzou along the way.
She pulled her cloak tighter around her and put up her hood. It would be cold in Iron. The snow would not have melted yet.
Taryn sighed. She didn’t like the cold. Even though the desert nights were cool as well, snow was a different matter. She wasn’t looking forward to it.

Her thoughts wandered off to the upcoming meeting. Gaara would be there. Would he be very angry with her? She wished she could just have told him everything. He would have understood.
And her team. She had left them behind again and so close before the Chuunin Exams.
        She hoped she still had a home to return to when this was over. She wouldn’t know where else to go.
Her hand slid to her stomach again. She sighed. Why did things have to be so complicated?
She thought of Naruto. Would he have reached the Raikage yet? She was almost certain his plan would go to waste. Too much had happened. Every nation would want Sasuke’s blood by now. And that Danzou was in charge in Konoha now wouldn’t help things at all.

       She had to get there. As soon as possible.

***

“She went looking for Sasuke, didn’t she?” Kakashi appeared at Sai’s shoulder.
The boy looked up and gave a curt nod.
Kakashi sighed. “I wish I knew what is going on in her head,” he said, “why is she doing this?”
“She wants to save Sasuke,” Sai answered softly, “for Naruto’s sake.”
Kakashi slowly turned his head towards him and eyed the boy for a moment. “No,” he said softly, “not for Naruto.”
Sai looked at him questioningly, but he didn’t explain himself.
“Do you remember what to tell Danzou?” he asked instead.
“Hai,” Sai nodded, “Naruto hasn’t made a move. He’s still in the village. Nothing suspicious.”
“Good,” Kakashi smiled, “we’ll be leaving soon. Yamato placed a tracker on one of the Kumo ninja. We can’t lose sight of them.” He patted Sai’s shoulder. “You can do it. I have faith in you.” He walked back into the tent.
Sai stared after him stunned. A warm feeling swept through him and he smiled to himself. It really was nice to be part of something.
Now came the hard part. He had to lie to Danzou. He wasn’t sure he could pull it off. A year ago, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but ever since he had been placed in this team, he had changed.
He knew emotions now. He had formed bonds now. He had something worth protecting.

“I have faith in you.”

The boy’s face became determined. ‘I can do this.’