50 Reasons Why

Chapter Thirteen

"Kankuro," I greeted him at the doors to the conference room. We watched as Ino walked ahead to join her sensei in the room.

"So she did it, huh?" He grinned and I nodded.

"She did." I stopped to nod at some council members entering the room. "It worries me. She's not going to be happy at the outcome of this meeting. I can already sense it." I murmured to Kankuro and he grunted in response.

"Gaara," I turned to face him and his face was stern. "Give her a reason why."

I furrowed my brow in confusion. He sensed it and he sighed before placing a hand on my left shoulder.

"Sometimes you have to show her why. Explaining things isn't enough. Action speaks louder than words, remember that, Gaara." He squeezed my shoulder and gave me a small grin before turning to enter the room.

That was Kankuro at his greatest. A small smile appeared on my lips before vanishing to a straight line. I had a little more confidence in the outcome of this meeting now. I entered the room and the chattering inside lowered to silence. I joined up front with my siblings. The council members took seats, while I stood with my siblings and Baki. Matsuri, Ittetsu and Sari were here as well as Zuko and Zenma.

"As we know, we had a group of rogue ninja enter the village and try to obtain our Kazekage," Baki reminded the council. "With failure of locating the remaining two ninja and failure of interrogating the other two, our investigation went to a halt. However, now we have had a turn of events as Yamanaka Ino here was able to retrieve information from the two ninja in captive."

A few murmurs could be heard through the room. Some were judgmental, while others sounded surprised.

"Miss Yamanaka here will explain their plan from what she has retrieved in her interrogation," I informed the council men while keeping my eyes on her. Her eyes locked with mine as she gave a small nod. She stepped forward and looked towards the council men.

"There is a group of them creating weaponry. The Kazekage and members from Konoha, as well as I, have met some before a couple years ago when they kidnapped his student, Matsuri." She paused to look at Matsuri and I. "They plan to take the Kazekage and put him for ransom. They will take the money from this village and the other, but not return him. In this process, Kazekage-sama will be used on a new weapon that harnesses one's jutsus and power which could result in death. The ninja then plan to make it look like this was done by the Village Hidden by Rocks so this results in a war among the great nations, where they can sell their weapons and earn money."

"This whole thing is about money?" Kankuro asked her and she nodded.

"And how do we know you gathered this information correctly? How were you able to get this out of him, but the interrogation group failed?" An elder woman on the council questioned Ino. I knew they had doubts, but I didn't believe them to start showing it so soon.

"She is of the Yamanaka clan, they special in mind control and manipulation," I answered her question, but Ino spoke up.

"I am, but I am not too skilled in interrogating in ways like that. I was able to find other means that retrieved the information from him," she added. I noticed Zuko and Zenma began to scratch the back of their necks while avoiding eye contact with her. What the hell did she do to them?

"And how, young miss?" The elder woman asked again. Her eyes narrowed on Ino but she didn't bulge.

"By doing something only Kunoichi can do: manipulation with their body," she answered. Her voice remained monotone. The elder woman looked her up and down before a small smile rested on her lips.