Enemy of Mine [Naruto Uzumaki]

Chapter 11

Coming home from the hospital the next day Naruto peeled off into the kitchen claiming that he was making dinner. Shoulders shrugging, the teen tore off the wristband from the hospital and threw it in the trashcan before moving into the living room. Her eyes landed on the ceramic pot sitting on the table that now had a blue flower sprouting from the soil placed inside.

"You can take a shower if you want," Naruto's head poked out from the kitchen. "Emi?"

"You brought it back with you..." she said.

"Of course," he grinned. "I couldn't leave it there on the table since I knew how much you like it. Ino's the one who planted the flower for me though. I'm not good at gardening."

But that was just fine with Emi. She had seen flowers before, had a few as a child and learned from her mother how to take care of them. It had been years since having one to call her own, but the excitement made the singer feel warm.

In the shower Emi stood under the running water basking in the heat and allowing her muscles to relax. Though now was hardly the time to be doing that. They were under incredible pressure with the appearance of the Sound Ninjas, needing to come up with a plan quickly so Brutus didn't become suspicious. It was a lot to take in. A knock at the door broke her thoughts. "Emi, everything all right in there?"

"I'm fine."

"Well, dinner's ready."

Half an hour she had been inside and her brows furrowed. Ramen didn't take that long to make. Stepping out in one of Naruto's shirts that he had given her, and a pair of Sakura's lounge pants, she ran a towel through her hair and sniffed. It smelled good in the apartment, finding the young man setting their plates on the small table.

"I didn't know you could cook," she said.

"I can't really, but wanted to try," he answered sheepishly. "I'm a little worried with how it tastes." Sitting down the two took a bite of the set out food. Naruto's face instantly turned green, Emi's chopsticks having frozen against her lips as she went to chew.

The taste was so overpowering it made their taste buds cringe, nose burning as the seasoning traveled up into their cavities. The blonde brought a napkin to his mouth to remove the vial thing. "Please, spit it out," he coughed. "Don't force yourself to eat it."

But Emi swallowed the food before setting down the chopsticks. "It's not that bad once you get around the first taste," she said. "Something tells me you forgot the proper seasoning and added too much soy." Her fingers picked at the side of white rice and tossed it in her mouth. "The rice is editable."

"That's good. Now you know why I only eat ramen. I'll leave the cooking to you."

Her lips twitched in amusement. "You just need practice."

Emi shifted uncomfortably in front of the one-way glass staring at the Sound Ninjas in the interrogation room. It wasn't going successfully at the moment, Ibiki leaving the room with a hard look on his face. "We aren't getting anywhere with this," he muttered. "And the longer they are here the worse it is for us."

"I know," Tsunade answered.

"They can hear you," Emi said.

Jiro smirked from inside staring right at the glass. "Good job, sweetheart," he mocked. The comment made Naruto's hands clench into fists, glaring at the enemy. Fingers rising to her lips in a hand sign, the teen muttered something under her breath. The man's expression grew irritated moments later upon realizing he couldn't hear anything.

"What did you do?" Sakura asked.

"Noise canceling," Emi answered. "My father would use it when holding meetings so nothing was leaked."

"That room is sound proof," Ibiki stated.

The teen cocked a brow in his direction. "Please." The way she spoke to the head of ANBU startled those in the room. "Even I could hear you behind the glass when I was first brought in. Shizune said it was impossible when I told you they had created their own ANBU force." No one knew what to say exactly. "A Sound Ninja's hearing is much better than others, no matter how 'sound proof' something is. You need a jutsu."

"Noted," Ibiki grumbled. "What I would like to know is how they managed to slip in."

"I don't know."

The room fell silent as the ninjas wondered what to do with their prisoners. "They can't stay here," Shikamaru spoke up. "If Brutus is waiting for them to return and they don't he'll know something happened. His plans could change."

"He won't change the date," Emi stated. "Brutus will still attack on the day of the summit because it's the only way he'll be able to gain access into Konoha. And he'll try and deny all accusation against him towards an impending war. Only the attack plans will alter if he sees fit, so everything I told you will be useless."

"And we'll need to be ready," Shikamaru stated. "Prepare for anything and we'll have to come with our own tricks."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"But for now what do we do with them?" Sakura asked.

"Ino."

"What?" the blonde questioned.

"She can manipulate a person's mind. If she can dive in and erase what has happened in the last few days and replace them with new memories we could release them so they can return to the Sound."

"And what will we put in place?" the Hokage asked.

"That they killed Emi. We can't exactly create a clone to return with them. That would blow up in our faces."

"I like it," the singer agreed.

"That's a lot to reverse," Ino stated. She was nervous about entering their minds and wonder just what she could find. And if they could put up a fight against the jutsu then she was putting her mental health at risk.

"You've done this before. We believe in you." Choji grinned, giving his partner a thumb up in encouragement.

"Fine," she sighed.

"The quicker we start the better," Tsunade stated. "Tomorrow morning we will begin the process." Her eyes landed on the teen. "If you're 'dead' then what do you think Brutus will do?"

Emi thought for a moment before responding. "He'll continue to keep up the act and go ahead with the treaty. There are two paths he may take: either Brutus will enter the gates to hold council and while inside give the order to attack or he will march up to these gates with his numbers hoping to catch us by surprise by the fact that this negotiation will not be peaceful."

"Then I guess it's a good thing we have an ace up our sleeve," Naruto grinned.

The others hummed in agreement, Emi giving him a small smile. She hoped this worked.

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To say Ino was drained the next afternoon was an understatement. Shikamaru picked up his teammate to take her home for rest as ANBU Ninja entered the room slinging the enemy over their shoulders and rushing to the gate discreetly so the public was unaware what was happening. Tsunade was waiting just outside with Kakashi to be sure everything was in order as the men were laid out in the forest as if they had been camping out before returning home. They were far enough away so they weren't suspicious has to how they managed to get way without being spotted by a guard. During the exchange of words the woman and Ibiki had before taking off after the others Emi stood atop the gate with Naruto by her side.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Just nervous," she answered.

"I think it'll work. Ino's father taught her everything he knew before dying in the last shinobi war. They are talented, and I wouldn't be surprised if she's surpassed him by now." Something pressed against his shoulder, glancing down to see the singer leaning the side of her head against it.

"Thank you, Naruto."

The young man grinned wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Come on, let's go find Sakura and Sai. It's too nice of a day to be stuck at home."