Starting over

#88 Last Wills

Naruto POV

Two days had passed and I could tell that everyone was getting more nervous by the minute. We had spent these two days training together, trying to get familiar with the fighting styles and jutsu, that our new teammates had in store and I could tell, that it would be hard to find a good mixture between the aggressive and straightforward fighting style that the konoha shinobi held and the more defensive and calculated style that Temari and I had drilled into our Anbu teams. Anko was somewhere in the middle, which made her able to comfortably shift from a formation with the konoha shinobi to one with team Daiku and Shiro without too much trouble. When I had picked Sasuke, Shino, Ino and Neji I thought that they could be a valuable part of the team but it turns out that that was a mistake, and I could not just go to the Hokage and tell her, that I don't want to take her shinobi with me on the mission, since it would be highly disrespectful and could be seen as an insult to the Hokage herself.

It gave me headaches trying to work out a functioning strategy that didn't involve just sacrificing the konoha shinobi as a diversion, since contrary to what I had said to them in Gaara’s office, it was not meant to be a suicide mission. The main part of the mission was to get the council out of Iwa. 

Sitting on the couch in the living room, I had my head laid back and eyes closed, thinking about the mission and still trying to come up with a plan for our dysfunctional team. I didn't react when I heard the front door open, since there was only one other person that held the keys to this house. When the footsteps reached the living room I opened my eyes and smiled at my girlfriend. “Hey.”, I greeted Temari as she sat down on the couch next to me. Still smiling, I held out my arms, expecting her to lean into my embrace and give me a kiss, but I only received a slap across the face. I was stunned, not knowing why she would do something like that. “What are you thinking?”, the blonde girl asked in a quiet and yet extremely angry voice, as she slapped a sheet of paper on the coffee table in front of us. I looked confused at the paper until I read the first line. I instantly knew why she was so mad and looked at my girlfriend with apologetic eyes. “I want you to be safe, if something should happen to me.”, I started to try to explain, why I had set up a testament. Temari cut me off however by putting her hands over my mouth. “I don't ever want to think about stuff like that. Nothing will happen to us and you will not die without at least marrying me.”, Temari said with a few tears running down her cheeks. I pulled her into an embrace, stroking her hair as she cried into my shoulder. “I know and I really hope so too, but I just want to be sure, that you will not have to give everything that we have to Konoha, since we both know that their civilian council most likely is still searching for a way to get the inheritance from my parents back into their hands.”, I murmured. “And besides, don't play so innocent, I know, that you have written a letter just like this. Don't think, that you can hide something like that from me.”, I said, teasing her a bit. I smiled at seeing her smile at that. “So much better, than crying isn’t it?”, I said, making her smile even bigger. “I know, that you worry about me, but don't think, that I do not do the same. This letter is just an absolute failsafe, for if something goes wrong, nothing more, nothing less.”, I said, before giving the blonde a quick kiss. “I love you.”, Temari said as she put her head on my chest. “I love you too.”, I replied, folding my last will back into its envelope. Throwing it back on the coffee table I put my arm around Temari as we sat there, doing nothing.

“Now, if you are already here. Help me figure out a strategy for tomorrow.”, I said, with a smile on my face. 

“Alright, everyone ready?”, I asked as team Daiku and Shiro blurred into existence at the gates. They were right on time, as expected. The konoha shinobi nodded, while smiled and our teams just stood there, their masks slowly swinging in the wind. “Alright, we most likely will travel through the night and reach Iwagakure by midnight. When we are there, I want Neji to find the whereabouts of the council, if they are still alive. If he can not find anything, then we have to rely on Anko to find their corpses, I think her snakes will come in handy. Once we have located the targets, we will scout out the are, most likely with the help of Neji again and after that try to extract them without triggering any alarms. The details will be handed out on the fly. I expect everyone to suppress their chakra and to not make any unnecessary noises whatsoever.”, I said, my voice commanding and not leaving any room for arguments. This time I received a nod from everyone. “Alright, then. Let’s go.”, I said and we immediately blurred away into the dessert.