Namikaze Naruto- The Unpredictable Shinobi

Chapter 34: Konoha-Suna Peace Treaty

Kurama allowed Naruto the luxury to wake up an hour & half later than usual. Naruto, though grateful, reprimanded him that if she wakes up late every time she exerts herself beyond her limits, then the enemy could take advantage of that. Kurama assured that he would always keep a watch. Moreover, she was emotionally tired as well. She had been thinking of her father, and Tobirama's words, 'Be true to yourself, Go with the flow'.

A lot of thinking from her side and few inputs from Kurama Onii-sama made her realise that she was expecting too much from herself. It's good to aim high, but it's not good to exert oneself too much to gain what we want in a short time. She was too selfless, Kurama pointed out, but she didn't believe him. "I don't think so, Onii-sama. Like Hashirama-sama said, it's just the Will of Fire." Kurama tried his best to change her mind, but could only tweak her thinking a little.

Naruto trained as usual for two and half hours and went to the Hokage in her Shinobi attire. She sensed the presence of the Suna Team in the office along with Jiraiya. She knocked and entered when given permission. "Good morning everyone!" She chirped. "Good morning Naruto. We were just talking about the Peace Treaty with Sunagakure." Sarutobi supplied. "Who is the new Kazekage?" she asked."That is not decided yet. I am filling the position till the Godaime is officially decided." "Then we hope you will speak on the behalf of your whole village and also the soon-to-be Godaime Kazekage." Naruto stated seriously.

"Don't worry, he will." It was Gaara who replied. Baki smiled at him. The events in the past month, from the changes in Gaara's behaviour to the swift change in plans gave him a rough idea that the blonde was behind this in some way, atleast in the case of Gaara. The boy was loyal to Suna and he saw the same spark in him that he had seen in some of the great Kazekages. He could safely assume that the two of them were on the same page in deciding their Godaime.

"The mistrust between Konoha and Suna has caused this rift. Therefore, we would like to help strengthen our pact with Sunagakure by helping with your Academy- Shinobi Training System. Of course we ourselves don't have the best, but we are improving." Sarutobi said as gave a discreet glance towards Naruto. The Yondaime Hokage's daughter had him be sterner on the Civilian Council that was trying to control the Shinobi of Konoha, also changing the syllabus of the Academy, so that mere civilians with no Shinobi background can pass. He was slowly changing the standards of the Academy. The results had been evident but no one might have noticed it immediately. It had been designed in such a way, and Nara Shikaku had been a huge help in this. He didn't know of Naruto's role here, but he suspected that she might have coaxed the hell out of the old man to do so. It was half truth. Naruto had given Hiruzen the plans Tobirama had made for the Academy, she found in the library. There were many plans, many cases. And many versions were missing (could be in his private lockers or simply lost).

"We appreciate the help. However, Suna had taken the initiative to break the old treaty first. It is only right that we contribute significantly as well. We insist." Baki replied. Sarutobi hesitated and turned to Naruto for help, who pointedly looked away, hinting that HE was the Hokage, and he was in this ALONE and didn't need her opinion. 

"If you insist. We would like to for financial and non-financial help in repairing the damage to Konoha and a pact that our villages shall be allies, mutually helping each other in times of need, that shall not be broken unless circumstances are dire. More terms shall be discussed by me, my advisor Nara-kun, yourself and one or two of your advisors later." "That sounds very lenient on us, not that we aren't grateful." Baki said in a low voice, not wanting to anger the Hokage.

Sarutobi chuckled, "You have NOT attacked us. In fact, Suna helped Konoha in defeating Oto." "Well, we shall keep in mind of a favour we owe you, and you can demand anything in the future as long as it is reasonable." Baki stated. Sarutobi sighed, "You won't back down, will you? Fine then." "Hokage-sama, we would be leaving today evening. I need to go attend the matters in Suna that have been pending for longer than necessary. It would be helpful if you the meetings on the treaty are culminated by 4 p.m." "I will."

The Sand team left, with Gaara saying after hesitating, "You will come to send me off, right Uzumaki?" "Of course Gaara, but stop calling me that. We are friends, aren't we?" "Who knows?" Gaara joked as he smirked and left.His siblings were shocked. Okay Gaara was becoming more social, but a joke?! Naruto simply chuckled and shook her head.

Once they left, Sarutobi asked the ANBU to give them privacy. It was only himself, Jiraiya and Naruto in the room. "Alright, tell me now. Was that Zabuza in the village yesterday?" Naruto looked away, caught in the act. "Yeah, I met him in that mission to Nami no Kuni. I asked him to help us in this with his apprentice." The Hokage sighed, "What am I to do with this kid?" he grumbled. "Well, what did Tobirama Sensei tell you?" he asked. "Didn't you hear?" "More like could not." He replied. "He must've not meant for you to hear. So, I can't tell you?"

Jiraiya grabbed her in a headlock, "You cheeky brat!" Naruto slipped away from the hold and smirked. "What sensei? It's how we talk. You reprimand me now, when it became a habit?" "Hmph!" Jiraiya turned to look away. "Awww, Sensei has a cute pout..." She cooed. "Anyway, Nidaime-sama did ask you to grant me access to his locker." Hiruzen's eyes widened. "You mean his only, private locker? That would mean-" "Behind his portrait." Naruto finished. "But why?" he questioned. "I don't know. Perhaps to learn some more jutsu? Yesterday's seal for the Edo Tensei was barely perfect." The other two paled at the thought of Naruto researching on the Jutsu and sacrificing living humans to perform Edo-Tensei." 

The loss of the colour on their faces told Naruto what they were thinking. "Jiji! I am looking for counter measures to that technique, not sacrificing people for the technique." 'and if possible, try Edo-Tensei without sacrifices. Tobirama-sama did challenge me to find a way to summon him without a sacrifice. Wait, was that a challenge? Oh my Kami-sama!' she thought. They sighed relieved at her answer. The vaults open only to a Hokage. Thus, it opened to Sarutobi. 

There were numerous scrolls in it. One standing out compared to others. It surprisingly opened to Sarutobi's chakra, since others didn't. He read the first paragraph of it and gave it to Naruto, since she was the one officially given the permission to go through the owner's scrolls. Naruto read the first paragraph, more like a couple of sentences:
                "This scroll is the guard scroll of others, to be used if I am unavailable to do so- M.I.A. or dead. It can be opened only by a Senju, Uzumaki, and my student Sarutobi Hiruzen and Uchiha Kagami. The guidelines to open the other scrolls are given below."

She examined the vault and found some sealed secrets, as expected from the crafty Nidaime. She took the scrolls and flickered ('shunshin'ed) to her home, or that's what everyone thought. She had actually used the Hiraishin Jutsu to the seal mark in her home, slight tweaking to make it seem like Shunshin no Jutsu. She stored the scrolls in a bigger scroll before returning to the office. She gave the Hokage a questioning look, asking for her agenda of the day.

He chose this moment to ask the bugging question, "I told you today was your day off, why did you wear your shinobi attire?" She replied, "One- As a shinobi, you never know what to expect. Two- If someone asks me why I am given a day off, what am I supposed to say?" Silence... "That's what I thought." "Gaki, you can lie." Jiraiya said before he sighed. "Anyway, speaking of caution, I know you are stronger than most of your age group-" Kurama snorted; It was an understatement since he, the mighty Kitsune Biju helped train his Kit; "-but you should be careful. There is a group Akatsuki- the Dawn or Daybreak- that aims to capture Bijuu. It comprises of S or SS-Ranked missing nin of various villages. You have to keep your guard when you leave the village for missions. Also maybe in the village, but the chances of making a move when you are in the village is very low, right?" He muttered the last sentence more to himself.

"Ero-sennin, I appreciate your concern and will heed your advice, but do you call me 'Gaki' just for fun?" She stressed on 'ero-sennin' and the last three words. "No Naruto, it's just a call of fondness." Jiraiya said sincerely as he paled at the sickly sweet smile on her face. 'That brat takes too much after Minato.' He thought. Hiruzen simply laughed at the exchange.