“The situation doesn’t look good,” was the first thing Kakashi said.
Sakura had been summoned to the Hokage’s office along with Ino, with the message that he wanted to talk about Sasuke.
“Not good, Master?” Sakura walked over to his desk.
“Suna’s not the only place Sasuke’s been seen,” Kakashi said. “More than once.”
Sasuke had apparently been in contact with a number of black-market arms dealers and criminal organizations, and in every case he had announced his intention to carry out a terrorist attack on Konoha. When he demanded the help of these various criminals and was refused, he killed them; the same story Gaara had told them.
“Where did you hear this?” Sakura asked.
“Sai. He heard it from an informer.”
“Sai? Why would Sai be talking to an informer?” Ino raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, well, I asked him to look into something for me. This came up when
he was reporting on his progress with that.”
“By ‘look into something,’ you don’t happen to mean what you said before
about strange things going on in the village? Is Sai investigating that?” Ino
shot off.
“Mmm, well, yes,” Kakashi acknowledged with a wry smile.
“Is he alone? You’re not having him do anything dangerous, right?”
“He’s fine. I told him not to push too hard, and Sai knows how to keep his distance when it comes to things like this. He’s not Naruto,” Kakashi said. He perhaps noticed something in Ino’s constant worrying about Sai’s safety, but he said nothing.
“So Sasuke, then,” Sakura began. “If this keeps up, what will happen to him?”
“If this keeps up, well.” Kakashi cleared his throat before continuing.
“He’ll be put on the international wanted list, and people from all over the world will be sent after him.”
Sakura took a sharp breath.
“But, well, it wouldn’t come to that in one go or anything. I expect there’d be a meeting of the five Kage first. Sasuke’s a hero, after all; he saved the world with Naruto. No one’s going to put a man like that on the wanted list without some discussion.”
“So then he’ll be okay?” Ino said, brightly. “I mean, right now, the five Kage are friends. They fought in the Great Ninja War together, so they’ll totally know right away that the Sasuke people are seeing is a fake.”
Can we really be so optimistic as that? The unease in Sakura’s heart only grew at Kakashi’s next words.
“Even if the village chief feels that way, there’s bound to be people in the village who don’t. And the chief is in the position of speaking for the people of the village. If a village starts shouting that Sasuke needs to be eliminated, the five Kage aren’t necessarily going to be on the same page. Some villages might even say we should form groups to go after him.”
“That’s…” Ino’s face clouded over.
“If there is a meeting of the five Kage, please take me with you,” Sakura
said, forcefully. “Even if it is a mistake, I can’t let Sasuke be designated a
wanted criminal.”
“I know. If a meeting is convened, I’ll bring you. Although, well, if I’m going to be honest, the best thing would be if Sasuke were there to proclaim his own innocence. Where is he and what is he doing?” Kakashi grumbled.
